New York - Two more regional US banks - in California and Texas - have collapsed amidst the worst finance crisis since the Great Depression, bringing to 19 the total number of US banks that have gone under in this year alone.
More collapses are expected among the nation's 8,400 banks. The US mortgage crisis, which has seen more than 3 million homes foreclosed since the crisis began in late 2006, has crimped shut credit flow worldwide and prompted unprecedented global government interventions in the private sector.
The latest two victims were the Houston-based Franklin Bank and the smaller Los Angeles-based Security Pacific Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said.
Woerth - Police early Sunday ended an 11-hour protest blockade that held up a tightly-guarded rail convoy of spent nuclear fuel, freeing the train to enter Germany on its way to a waste dump.
The waste train had been waiting nearby at Lauterbourg, France.
A spokesman for German police said officers had been able to remove the last of three demonstrators who had chained themselves to the tracks by embedding their arms into a huge lump of concrete under the track.
Earlier, police had managed to drill away enough of the concrete to detach one protester's bonds at the small border town of Berg. Police said they had to be careful not to harm the protesters.
Noted filmmaker, Deepa Mehta, known for issue-based movies, will produce and direct a film from the 600-page script she will co-write with Salman Rushdie, based on the writer's prize-winning novel 'Midnight's Children'.
Jakarta - The bodies of three Indonesian Muslim militants who were put to death by firing squad early Sunday for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings have arrived at their respective home villages for burial.
A helicopter carrying the bodies of brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas, alias Ali Ghufron, landed at Tenggulun village of East Java province, before being brought by ambulances to their relatives' residence.
Another chopper bringing the body of Imam Samudra had also reportedly landed at police headquarters in Banten's provincial capital of Serang, then brought by an ambulance to his family's residence, witnesses and media reports said.
Hong Kong - Some of Asia's wealthiest people were Sunday preparing to shrug off the slump by spending hundreds of thousands of US dollars on a small, pungent, edible fungus.
The super-rich, including nine Hong Kong tycoons, were gathering in Tokyo to take part in the 10th Annual World Alba White Truffle Auction.
The Hong Kong bidders have a rich history in the annual charity auction and are favorite to win Sunday night's auction for the delicacy which is nicknamed "white gold" because of its rarity and high price.
Last year, the winning bid at the Alba Truffle Auction came from a consortium of property developers from Hong Kong who paid bid 208,000 US dollars for a comparatively small 750 gram truffle.
Washington - Congressional leaders Saturday joined president-elect Barack Obama's call for support of the ailing auto industry, sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to tap money from the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package.
"A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability, the overall health of our economy, and the livelihood of the automobile sector's workforce," said Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Noted filmmaker, Deepa Mehta, known for issue-based movies, will produce and direct a film from the 600-page script she will co-write with Salman Rushdie, based on the writer's prize-winning novel 'Midnight's Children'.
Washington - Congressional leaders Saturday joined president-elect Barack Obama's call for support of the ailing auto industry, sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to tap money from the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package.
