Dublin  - In a move aimed at restoring confidence in the banking system and encouraging lending, Ireland's government on Sunday announced a 10-billion-euro (13.4-billion-dollar) rescue plan for the country's banks amid the deepening global financial crisis.

The government said it would use money from the 18.7-billion-euro state pension fund to invest and also wants existing shareholders and private investors to support a recapitalization.

Tokyo  - Business confidence among Japan's largest manufacturers fell the most in 34 years, the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey revealed Monday.

An index that measures confidence among the largest makers of cars and electronics dropped to minus 24 from minus three, according to the survey. The decrease of 21 points is the largest since February 1975, but analysts said it was expected.

This indicates that many companies are likely to slash more jobs and drastically lower spending, which will push the economy into a deeper recession.

Berlin  - Chancellor Angela Merkel and key members of her cabinet held talks Sunday with industrialists and financial experts in a bid to hammer out an economic strategy to help Germany out of recession.

"We want to study the possibilities of reacting quickly to a worsening of the crisis," Merkel told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag ahead of the meeting at the federal chancellery in Berlin.

Quito - Ecuador President Rafael Correa announced that his government would default on foreign debt that he called illegitimate, and vowed to assume "the responsibility of the consequences."

The leftist economist ordered a halt to paying 30.6 million of interest on the Global 2012 bond issue that is due December 15.

"We know whom we're up against, true monsters that will not hesitate to try to destroy the country and make Ecuador an example," he said. "We accept this responsibility."

Tokyo - Japan and South Korea pledged greater cooperation to overcome the global financial crisis ahead of a summit with China in the Japanese city of Fukuoka on Saturday.

London  - Spanish banking giant Santander is to axe 1,900 jobs in its businesses in Britain next year, the company announced Friday.