The Canadian maker of the BlackBerry family of smartphones, Research in Motion has unveiled its first ever touch screen device ‘The Storm’ on Wednesday. 

Targeted at business and consumer markets, the newly launched device is BlackBerry’s official answer to rival touch-based smartphones launched recently including Apple's 3G iPhone, Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1, T-Mobile's Google Android-powered G1 and Nokia's 5800 music phone launched last week.

‘The 3G Storm’ will be available through Verizon Wireless in the US, and Vodafone in the European market by November 2008.

Washington - Europe is edging toward recession and its banking system faces "extraordinary financial stress" that will not ease quickly, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

Economic growth in the 15 countries using the euro will slump from an average 1.3 per cent this year to 0.2 per cent in 2009, while unemployment will rise to 8.3 per cent from 7.6 per cent, an IMF report said.

Stock market trading around the world Tuesday was uneven as investors appeared uncertain where to turn next in the ongoing international financial turmoil and new trouble spots emerging.

Frankfurt - The European Central Bank (ECB) on Tuesday provided 250 billion euros (338 billion dollars) to commercial banks in a regular one-week loan at an interest rate of 4.99 per cent.

Brussels  - Europe's carmakers Monday asked governments to provide them with a 40-billion-euro (54-billion-dollar) loan and to approve an incentives scheme for the scrapping of old vehicles to help them develop more environmentally-friendly vehicles at a time of financial and economic crisis.

"Car makers face increasingly hesitant consumers and call on governments to respond, stimulate the economy, relieve the credit crunch and restore consumer confidence," said Christian Streiff, head of the automobile industry's trade association, ACEA.

"Only then will consumers have the means and the confidence to invest in new vehicles," said Streiff, who is also the CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroen.

Luxembourg  - The euro area's finance ministers were meeting in Luxembourg on Monday amid plummeting stock market indexes and charges that governments were not coordinating their efforts to protect citizens' savings from the credit crunch.

About a third of the 15 European Union countries that share the common currency have already moved to safeguard bank deposits in some way or other - among them Germany, Austria, Greece, Ireland and Belgium.

But unilateral initiatives taken by some governments have irked neighbouring countries because of concerns that savers might move their money to where they think it will be safer.