Germany became the latest country to act over the financial meltdown, with a new rescue plan for its second biggest commercial property lender and a 100% guarantee on private bank accounts.

The German government said today that it will guarantee all private savings accounts.

Shooting began today in a forest outside Berlin of a film starring Tom Cruise as Germany's most famous anti-Hitler plotter.

US President George Bush today seemed resigned to the possibility that World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz could lose his job over conflict-of-interest charges involving his girlfriend.