Jakarta - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left Jakarta Thursday for a two-week overseas trip, during which he is to attend a Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Washington, followed by an Asia-Pacific regional summit in Peru.

The first stop for Yudhoyono - who was being accompanied by his wife, Ani Yudhoyono, and a number of cabinet ministers - was to be the United States, where he was to arrive Friday.

Manila - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Thursday it was providing a 700-million-dollar multi-tranche financing facility to Kazakhstan to help create a "new Silk Road" that would boost its economy and link Europe and Asia.

The Manila-based bank said the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation Transport Corridor I project will run 2,715 kilometres from the city of Khorgos on Kazakhstan's border with China, through Almaty and Shymkent, to the country's western border with the Russian Federation.

Washington  - US president-elect Barack Obama has turned down the chance to meet with foreign leaders at Saturday's economic summit in Washington, choosing instead to keep a low profile during the emergency gathering.

Obama intends to remain at home in Chicago when 20 foreign leaders meet to outline a plan to stave off a global recession following the autumn meltdown in financial markets.

Washington  - A summit Saturday of leaders of the world's 20 largest economies, which will begin the process of rebuilding the global financial system, comes at the invitation of a humbled global superpower.

Chastened by a global meltdown that began in the US mortgage market, the Washington summit of the Group of 20 nations represents an acknowledgement by the United States that it cannot resolve the financial crisis on its own.

Riga - State bail-outs of financial institutions have become almost commonplace in recent months, but still cause a mixture of surprise, fear and sometimes even panic when they are suddenly revealed.

Berlin  - Germany slumped into a recession during the third quarter, data to be released Thursday is forecast to show, amid signs that a global economic downturn was taking hold.

Europe's biggest economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, analysts predict Thursday's figures from Germany's statistics office will show after it contracted by 0.5 per cent in the quarter to end June.

As a result, Germany will fulfil the technical definition of recession after clocking up two consecutive quarters of negative rates.