Abuja/Berlin - German President Horst Koehler leaves Friday on a six-day visit to Nigeria, during which he will take part in a conference on Africa and hold political discussions with his hosts.

The German-sponsored fourth Africa Forum of the Partnership with Africa initiative is likely to be overshadowed by fighting between government forces and rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has turned more than 200,000 people into refugees.

London/Frankfurt - Faced with a looming recession and rapidly falling inflation, Europe's leading central banks delivered hefty rate cuts Thursday as monetary authorities around the world stepped up efforts to trim the cost of money.

While the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting in Frankfurt lopped 50 basis points off its benchmark refinancing rate, the Bank of England meeting in London announced a more dramatic 150-basis-point reduction.

Frankfurt - Stocks plunged in Germany on Thursday amid tumbling factory orders and profit-taking following a cut in interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB).

The blue chip DAX index slumped to 4,813 at the close, a drop of 6.8 per cent from the previous day.

All but one of the 30 companies listed on the index posted losses. Among the biggest losers were Deutsche Bank, down 12.8 per cent to 30.16 euros and Siemens, down 10 per cent to 40 euros.

Sporting goods manufacturer Adidas was off 9.6 per cent at 26.64 after withdrawing its forecast for 2009 because of the uncertain economic outlook.

Tehran - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, in a rare move, congratulated the US president-elect Barack Obama on his success in the recent US presidential race.

"Mr Barack Obama, the president-elect of the United States of America, I congratulate you for being able to attract the majority of votes in the elections," said Ahmadinejad at the start of the message address to to the next president of the country which happens to be Iran's arch-foe.

Wiesbaden, Germany - Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing conservatives in the German state of Hesse called Thursday for fresh elections, three days after the failure of a bid to topple them.

The state's Christian Democrat (CDU) leadership said it would present a resolution at the next sitting of the regional legislature, calling for the dissolution of the assembly and new elections on January 18.

Taipei - A visit by China's highest-ranking official to Taiwan since 1949 continued to draw protests Thursday from Taiwanese concerned that his visit could lead to eventual Chinese control of Taiwan.

Thursday's event - a five-minute meeting at the Taipei Guest House between Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin - was held as thousands of Taiwanese outside shouted "Taiwan is Taiwan, China is China," and "No selling out of Taiwan."