New York - Credit card company American Express said Thursday it would cut 7,000 jobs, or nearly 10 per cent of its workforce, amid rising defaults on payments.

American Express hopes to save 1.8 billion dollars in the next year through the cuts, which will come primarily through managers and others who do not deal with customers, and other measures.

London - Britain and Germany will work together to prevent the spread of the current global financial crisis by seeking a reform of international institutions and encouraging banks to start lending again, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Angela Merkel said in London Thursday.

Both leaders agreed to "strengthen" the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a new facility on which countries threatened by the global crisis - especially the emerging economies - could draw.

Cairo - Egypt imprisoned and said it would deport a German family that tore up its German identification papers upon arrival, fearing the documents would connect them to an "infidel state."

Egypt accused the family of Islamic extremism and imprisoned the family, which consisted of a man, his wife, his two sisters and his mother. They were being prepared for deportation, Egyptian Independent al-Badeel newspaper reported.

According to media reports, the family does not want to return to Germany.

Berlin - DBA, an airline which pioneered competition in Germany, is to cease operations at the end of next month, its owner, Air Berlin, said Thursday.

The move will complete DBA's absorption into Air Berlin, which operates 124 planes and is Germany's second-biggest carrier after Lufthansa.

The management and ground staff of DBA have already been wound up, with functions taken over by the parent.

When open-skies policies came to the European Union, British Airways established the line as Deutsche BA in 1992 to challenge flag carrier Lufthansa, which had been the sole major airline flying German domestic routes.

But it was not a success and was sold 11 years later for a token price to Hans Rudolf Woehrl, a businessman.

Brussels - The European Commission announced Thursday it was providing 4 million euros (5.1 million dollars) in emergency aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as diplomats raced to find ways to help stop unrest in the African country.

The European Union's aid commissioner, Louis Michel, met Congolese President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa on Thursday and planned to meet his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, in Kigali on Friday, officials in Brussels said.

Kagame held talks over the phone with the EU's top diplomat, foreign policy chief Javier Solana, on Thursday.

Lusaka - Allegations by Zambia's opposition leader Michael Sata of vote rigging cast a pall over Thursday's election to choose a successor to deceased president Levy Mwanawasa and stoked fears of violence in Africa's largest copper producer.

The mood on voting day itself was calm as Zambians made their way from dawn to over 6,000 polling stations nationwide to choose a successor to Mwanawasa, who died of a stroke in August.