Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), Oct 21 : With the final countdown progressing without any hitch on Tuesday, India’s maiden unmanned moon mission -- Chandrayaan-I -- is all set to lift off on Wednesday to launch a two-year space odyssey that will catapult the country into an exclusive club of moon-faring nations.

Johannesburg  - South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said Tuesday he was confident the country would ride out the international financial storm and announced a increase in government spending, while predicting slower growth.

Presenting his annual medium-term budget policy statement, Manuel said: "The storm has arrived, it is fiercer than anyone could have imagined, and its course cannot be predicted. But we saw the signs early and we took appropriate action. We can say to our people... the thunder will pass."

Sao Paulo  - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva believes the ongoing financial crisis will lead to the election of Democrat Barack Obama as US president.

"This crisis, among other benefits it will cause, will get Obama elected as president of the United States. It will get a black man elected, which is no small matter," Lula said late Monday, during an awards ceremony for outstanding personalities held in Sao Paulo and sponsored by the magazine Carta Capital.

Vienna - The World Bank Group has launched a new office in Vienna on Tuesday to help a wider range of countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia attract direct foreign investment.

Expanding its previous work in Vienna that was focused on the West Balkan region, the World Bank's investment climate advisory service FIAS is expanding to countries such as the Ukraine and Armenia, programme coordinator Margit Mischkulnig said.

"It's going deeper and wider," she said.

Strasbourg, France - European Union governments should take over strategic industries which have been hit by the global financial crisis to keep them out of foreign hands, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the European Parliament on Tuesday.

"Stock exchanges are at historically low levels. I wouldn't like European citizens to wake up in a few months' time and realize that European companies belong to non-European capitals," Sarkozy told the parliament as the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency.

Mumbai, Oct 21 : Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray would spend the night in jail, following the denial of bail by the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate court, in connection with the attack on Railway board examination centres.

The MNS chief was sent to judicial custody till November 4 on Tuesday.

Special Public Prosecutor Majid Memon said, “Thackeray would probably spend the night in jail.”