GENERAL Re, the reinsurance company whose Dublin branch is at the centre of an international investigation, yesterday agreed to respond to a regulatory probe in Australia.

Workers from Indonesia to India rushed to bury corpses to ward off disease today as cargo planes touched down with promised aid – from lentils to water purifiers – to help the region cope with its tsunami catastrophe.

Germany’s stock market regulator is investigating claims of suspicious short-selling ahead of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington last week but said it was too early to say what shares might be involved.