Economic doom hits Germany

Last Modified: 05 Oct 2008
By: Channel 4 News

A summary of stories from tonight's program

The financial tsunami looks like its hitting Germany's shores tonight. The country's finance minister is in emergency talks tonight to rescue Hypo Real Estate, the country's second largest mortgage lender. The government there is trying desperately to find a private solution but nationalisation could be inevitable.

The government in the form of Chancellor Angela Merkel only yesterday agreed with President Sarkozy and our own prime minister that it would coordinate across Europe any guarantee it offered bank depositors, has just said it would offer unlimited guarantee, will we and the rest of Europe be forced to follow suit? We'll be finding out more.

Read about yesterday's £25bn EU trade fund roll-out:

Meanwhile in the UK, Alastair Darling gave his clearest indication yet that he'd protect the taxpayer temporarily by letting government borrowing grow rather than put up taxes. He also quickly slapped down an idea by Vince Cable from the Liberal Democrats that the politicians should reign in the independence of the Bank of England and enforce a hefty rate cut on Thursday.

American presidential race gets nastier

It's got nastier in the American presidential race. Sarah Palin has accused Barack Obama of 'palling around with terrorists' - nothing to do with al Qaeda - but a reference to a University of Chicago academic who once belonged to US-based militant group the Weathermen, which opposed the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Mr Obama once served on a charity board with a member of the group, but he has denounced its activities.

Read the latest on the McCain campaign:

All this plus today's sport. See you tonight at 6:45.