Berlin - High fuel costs and deepening economic uncertainty resulted in European car sales slumping sharply in September, the industry association said Wednesday with auto registrations at their lowest level in a decade.

Annual registrations fell 8.2 per cent last month, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) said as the fallout from the world financial crisis hits Europe's car markets.

"The credit crunch weighs on the sector's ability to finance daily operations," the ACEA said.

Berlin - Thirty-three countries, chiefly in Africa and Asia, are experiencing "very serious" to "grave" food supply problems in what is a "scandal for humanity," two food assistance groups said Tuesday in Berlin.

Presenting the annual Global Hunger Index (GHI) for 2008, the German food relief group Welthungerhilfe and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the groups warned against neglecting the fate of starving people amidst the current financial crisis.

Berlin- German investor confidence plunged in October, a key indicator released Tuesday showed, with the survey representing an early test of sentiment in Europe's biggest economy following the global share meltdown.

Drawn up by the Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research, the ZEW index for this month slumped more than forecast to minus 63.0 from minus 41.1 points in September.

Analysts had predicted that the index would fall to minus 51.1 points in October.

Berlin- Legislation on a r

Berlin  - The federal government is to demand that Germany's 16 states shoulder about one third of the end costs of a massive rescue of banks, an associate of Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin Monday.

Ronald Pofalla, general secretary of the party Merkel leads, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said, "The idea is that the states carry 35 per cent of the costs that have to be met when this is all over."

Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet approved on Monday a financial rescue package involving a sum of 470 billion euros (644 billion dollars), sources in Berlin said.

The German rescue package for banks assumes that 5 per cent of a federal guarantee will ultimately be lost, according provisions of the legislation leaked Monday to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The guarantee will have a maximum volume of 400 billion euros, meaning 20 billion euros is likely to be lost.