KARALETI, Georgia, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian forces abandoned buffer zone posts around Georgia's rebel regions Wednesday in a major pull-back expected to be completed during the day, two months after the war with Tbilisi.

EVIAN, France, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday backed a call by his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy for an enlarged Group of Eight meeting to tackle the global financial crisis.

WASHINGTON, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Europe is being hit by 'extraordinary financial stress' that is pushing several countries into or close to recession, the IMF warned Wednesday as it slashed growth forecasts for the region.

The IMF said the world is entering a serious downturn 'in the face of the most dangerous shock' in financial markets since the 1930s Great Depression.

TBILISI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian forces withdrew completely Wednesday from a buffer zone around Georgia's rebel region of Abkhazia, and were doing the same around South Ossetia, Georgian and Russian officials said.

The posts in Abkhazia were dismantled and 'all Russian soldiers have left' the buffer zone, Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

TBILISI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian forces have completely withdrawn from buffer zones around Georgia's rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Georgian interior ministry said Wednesday.

'They have withdrawn from all of the buffer zones,' Interior Ministry Spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

BRUSSELS, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Monday that EU member states had to do more to coordinate their responses to the financial crisis, despite recent efforts to cooperate.

KARALETI, Georgia, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian forces completed a withdrawal from buffer zones around Georgia's rebel regions Wednesday, two months after a war over South Ossetia poisoned relations ybetween Moscow and the West.

TIRDZINISI, Georgia, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Watching a column of Russian armoured vehicles and military trucks pass near her house Wednesday, Shoreva Beruashvili hoped her life, on pause since August's war in Georgia, might finally get back on track.

BRUSSELS, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Dramatic, coordinated interest rate cuts by leading central banks on Wednesday won high marks from European businesses, with umbrella association BusinessEuropee saying it would help restore confidence.

KARALETI, Georgia, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian forces Wednesday abandoned military positions deep inside Georgia in a major pull-back the Kremlin vowed to complete by midnight, two months after the South Ossetia war began.

EVIAN, France, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has 'kept his word' in promising to pull out troops from buffer zones in Georgia by midnight Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

LONDON, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote to EU leaders Wednesday to urge them to follow Britain in guaranteeing loans between banks, proposing a 'European-wide funding plan' to help ease the financial crisis.

EVIAN, France, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday the Russian troop pull-out from Georgian buffer zones would pave the way for talks to resume on an 'ambitious' EU-Russia partnership agreement.

EVIAN, France, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has 'kept his word' in promising to pull out troops from buffer zones in Georgia by midnight Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

TBILISI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian forces withdrew completely Wednesday from a buffer zone around Georgia's rebel region of Abkhazia, and were doing the same around South Ossetia, Georgian and Russian officials said.

The posts in Abkhazia were dismantled and 'all Russian soldiers have left' the buffer zone, Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

LONDON, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Britain has proposed a 'European-wide funding plan' to help ease the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday, after giving details of a British rescue package for banks.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union battled Tuesday to protect people's savings by more than doubling deposit guarantees to at least 50,000 euros, taking joint action against the global financial firestorm for the first time.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union battled Tuesday to protect people's savings by more than doubling deposit guarantees to at least 50,000 euros, taking joint action against the global financial firestorm for the first time.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - EU finance ministers reserved the right on Tuesday to kick out executives of failing banks that get state bailouts without their 'golden parachutes' -- fat payoffs at the end of their contracts.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union battled Tuesday to protect people's savings by more than doubling deposit guarantees to at least 50,000 euros in its first joint action against the global financial firestorm.

BRATISLAVA, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Slovak and Hungarian foreign ministers will meet in Brussels next week to try to quell renewed tensions between the two neigbours, according to diplomatic sources in Bratislava and Budapest.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - EU finance ministers called on Tuesday for a relaxation in bank accounting rules for valuing their assets on concerns that recent US changes could put European groups at a disadvantage

'We want to put European groups on an equal footing with their American counterparts,' French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said after chairing talks in Luxembourg.

WASHINGTON, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The US Federal Reserve and four other central banks announced plans Tuesday for coordinated efforts to get funding for year-end cash needs into the global banking system strained by a worldwide credit crunch.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - European finance ministers were on Tuesday to unveil an emergency action plan to protect savers a day after the financial crisis saw a nosedive on global markets amid widespread investor panic.

KARALETI, Georgia, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Russian forces sped up their pull-back from a buffer zone around Georgia's rebel region of South Ossetia Tuesday ahead of a looming deadline as part of a European-brokered ceasefire.

As soldiers were seen packing up and removing equipment, a Russian army spokesman said six posts in the buffer zone would be removed on Wednesday.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - EU ministers were looking at ramping up bank deposit protection to 100,000 euros and aligning their guns against the global financial forestorm for the first time, at a crisis meeting here on Tuesday.

WARSAW, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Poland is calling for a more gradual introduction of EU measures to slash CO2 emissions by 2020, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

The country, which joined the EU in 2004, supports the measures but would prefer to see them implemented more slowly to protect its economy, Environment Ministry spokesman Michal Milewski told AFP.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - EU finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to support troubled big banks in order to protect the broader financial system, the deputy German finance minister said.

'We have agreed to support systemic financial institutions,' Joerg Asmussen told reporters after talks in Luxembourg between EU finance ministers.

ZAGREB, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Croatia is pulling out all stops to quell a slew of mafia style attacks in the capital Zagreb to allay fears that a crime wave could hamper its bid to join the European Union, analysts said Tuesday.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - European finance ministers agreed Tuesday to increase minimum bank deposit guarantees in Europe to 50,000 euros (67,500 dollars) from 20,000 euros, officials said.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Belgium has decided to raise its minimum level for bank deposit guarantees to 100,000 euros (136,000 dollars) from 20,000 euros, finance Minister Didier Reynders announced.

The minister, who stressed that the protection would not be necessary because Belgium would not allow any banks to fail, gave no more details of the measure.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - EU finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to coordinate their responses to the financial crisis whipping across Europe, said French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

'Europe is united in the face of the financial crisis and determined to act in a coordinated way,' she said after chairing a meeting with EU counterparts.

WARSAW, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Poland is calling for a more gradual introduction of EU measures to slash CO2 emissions, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

'We are not blocking the EU plan, in fact we fully support it,' Polish Environment Ministry spokesman Michal Milewski told AFP.

ROME, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Italy's fishing of bluefin tuna is 'totally out of control,' the Worldwide Fund for Nature charged Tuesday, calling for a three-year moratorium on fishing for the species in the Mediterranean.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - European finance ministers faced pressure on Tuesday to offer savers more state protection for their bank deposits as Europe struggles to restore dwindling confidence in the banking system.