BERLIN/FRANKFURT, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Germany drew up a
framework for how to consolidate its troubled public-sector
landesbanks on Tuesday but made little headway, agreeing to
meet again on the matter in November.

A meeting between Berlin and regional owners of landesbanks
was a constructive start to consolidation talks but all options
remain open, said Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter.

BERLIN, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Infuriated by government plans
for a nuclear tax, Germany’s utilities have suggested paying the
state tax-deductible, fixed charges instead, according to a
draft proposal seen by Reuters on Friday.

In return for extending the lifespans of their nuclear power
stations, the country’s four top utilities would set up a fund,
into which they would pay a fee for being allowed to run the
plants longer, the documents showed.

BERLIN, July 7 (Reuters) – Germany’s government agreed on
Wednesday on a four-year, 80 billion euro austerity plan,
committing the country to slashing its bloated budget deficit
and shoring up Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right
coalition.

The seal of approval from the cabinet on the $107 billion
package is welcome news for Merkel, who had been under pressure
to tone down measures criticised at home as unfair and abroad as
a threat to the global recovery.

TORONTO/HUNTSVILLE, Ontario (Reuters) – G8 wealthy countries said on Saturday that the global economic crisis threatened to undermine 2015 global targets for reducing extreme poverty worldwide, but avoided bold new aid promises.

At the end of a two-day summit in a lakeside resort north of Toronto, the Group of Eight failed to acknowledge its unmet aid promises. The group fell $18 billion short of a $50 billion pledge to double aid to poor countries by 2010.

TORONTO/HUNTSVILLE, Ontario (Reuters) – G8 wealthy countries said on Saturday the global economic crisis threatened to undermine 2015 global targets for halving extreme poverty around the world.

In a communique at the end of a two-day summit in a lake resort north of Toronto, the Group of Eight failed to acknowledge its unmet aid promises, which fell $18 billion short of a $50 billion target by 2010.

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario (Reuters) – The world’s richest economies, saddled with huge debts after spending their way out of the credit crisis, papered over differences on Friday on how to clean up their finances with minimal damage to growth.

Leaders from the Group of Eight, a club that spans the large industrialized nations and Russia, met in Canada before a broader summit with China and other rising economic powers of the G20, now the world’s dominant economic policy forum.

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario (Reuters) – Rich countries shied away from making bold aid pledges at a Group of Eight meeting on Friday, mindful of their own tight budgets and past broken promises.

The wealthy nations pledged $5 billion over five years to reduce deaths among mothers and their newborns in Africa.

HUNTSVILLE, ONTARIO (Reuters) – Rich countries on Friday will figure out how to catch up on their missed aid promises and find new ways to help the world’s poorest nations at a time when their own budgets are squeezed.

The Group of Eight (G8) nations meet in Huntsville, Ontario, north of Toronto on Friday, short by an estimated $18 billion on a 2005 pledge to raise their combined aid to the poorest countries by at least $50 billion.

PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany, France and Britain announced plans on Tuesday to introduce a bank levy to help meet the costs of the financial crisis, without waiting for a G20 summit this week, underscoring a rift with key partners.

A joint statement said the three biggest European economies were “committed to the full implementation of the ambitious G20 financial sector reform agenda,” but the timing of the tax move suggested the Europeans have low hopes of any global deal.