Washington - The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 1 per cent on Wednesday to the lowest level since June 2004 in an effort to keep the US economy out of a prolonged recession.

The US central bank acknowledged that economic activity had "slowed markedly," in a statement from the Fed's board of governors. Turmoil in financial markets had intensified and further restricted the availability of credit to both households and businesses, the Fed said.

Paris - Inspired by a strong surge on Wall Street overnight and driven by bargain hunters looking for undervalued stocks, stocks on the Paris Bourse soared on Wednesday.

The CAC 40 blue-chip index finished the session up by a healthy 9.23 per cent, closing at 3,402.57 points. Thirty-nine of its 40 listed stocks gained ground.

Building materials producer Saint Gobain was the day's biggest winner, rising by 18.57 per cent, to 28.63 euros, despite substantial drops in building permits and housing construction starts in the third quarter.

Prague - The Czech parliament's lower house Wednesday approved a treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), a body set up to punish war crimes and genocide.

The Czech Republic, which takes over the European Union's six- month rotating presidency on January 1, was the last EU member to ratify The Hague-based tribunal.

The house ratified the treaty 140-6 in a vote that required a majority of 120 votes in the 200-seat chamber. Thirty-seven lawmakers abstained from the vote.

Jerusalem - Israeli Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert telephoned Egyptian President Hozny Mubarak Wednesday to apologize "in the name of the state of Israel" for a remark in which a hardline Israeli lawmaker told the Egyptian president to "get lost."

Moscow/Astana, Kazakhstan - Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew to the Kazakh capital of Astana from Moscow on Wednesday for the last leg of a tour focused on China's energy ties and the global financial crisis.

The official purpose of Wen's visit is a summit meeting on Thursday and Friday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security grouping of central Asian states, including Russia.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will also attend. The two leaders will hold talks on the sidelines.