Asia-Europe leaders call for cooperation
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Asian and European leaders said Saturday they will work cooperatively to tackle the financial crisis threatening the economies of both continents.
The vow came at the end of a two-day Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing, which saw leaders of 43 Asian and European countries consult with the chiefs of the European Commission and ASEAN, a group of southeastern Asian nations, CNN reported.
"Europe and Asia have come together in Beijing at a time of global crisis, and indeed, we are in a moment where we need global teamwork," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the broadcaster, adding, "We either stick together or we sink together."
Summit attendees on Friday called for new rules to govern international finance and urged a more expansive role for the International Monetary Fund in helping countries such as Iceland and Pakistan, whose finances have put them in imminent economic peril.
"We need even more financial regulation to ensure financial stability," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told reporters. "We need to properly handle the relationship between savings and consumption, or accumulation and consumption. We need to keep savings and consumption at a normal, balanced and coordinated relationship with each other."
Wen says he'll attend G20 meeting
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, fresh off the Asia-Europe summit, says he will also attend the G20 meeting being called to tackle the global economic crisis.
"We will discuss with world leaders on measures to cope with the financial crisis in a pragmatic and cooperative manner," Wen told Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency, at the end of a two-day summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting on the financial crisis in Beijing.
The G20 meeting is set for Nov. 15 in Washington.
"I think what we should do to cope with the crisis can be summarized as confidence, cooperation and responsibility," he said. "We are very glad to see that many countries have taken measures that have initially proved effective. But this is not enough given the current situation, and more needs to be done."
Wen told Xinhua the Asia-Europe summit succeeded in sending an important message to the world of "firm confidence, and I think confidence is the source of power to overcome difficulties."
Palin gives deposition in ethics dispute
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has given a deposition in the state's Troopergate investigation, her attorney says.
Timothy Petumenos, an investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board, interviewed Palin for two hours Friday night in St. Louis, CNN reported. The governor has been named in an ethics complaint alleging she unfairly fired the state's public safety director, Walt Moneghan.
Palin's attorney said she met with Petumenos and gave him "detailed" information about her role in the Moneghan affair, in which the governor is accused of unfairly dismissing Moneghan because he allegedly would not fire a state trooper, Palin's former brother-in-law, against whom Palin held a personal grudge.
"The governor was very pleased to finally get the chance to get an opportunity to get the whole truth out to an unbiased and independent investigator," Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein told CNN.
The Personnel Board investigation was launched after she was selected by Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain as his running mate.
A separate probe of "Troopergate" by the Alaska Legislature found Palin was within her rights to fire Moneghan, but violated ethical standards by pressuring him to fire the trooper, who had divorced Palin's sister.
Briton, S. African slain in Kabul violence
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Three people, including foreigners from Britain and South Africa, were slain Saturday during a gunfight in the Afghanistan capital Kabul, officials said.
The victims were identified as a British man, a South African man and Afghan guard, all killed in the crossfire of a gun battle near the presidential palace in Kabul, CNN reported.
The fight reportedly was outside a DHL courier office in Kabul's Sher Pur area, where many foreigners have their homes, the BBC said.
The slayings come days after another foreigner, identified as international aid worker Gayle Williams, 34, a dual British-South African citizen, was shot to death. Taliban militants claimed they killed her because she was working with a Christian group, the British broadcaster said.
Police search for Hudson's missing nephew
CHICAGO, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Chicago police were searching Saturday for the 7-year-old nephew of singer-actress Jennifer Hudson after finding her mother and brother slain, police say.
The boy, identified as Julian King, has been missing since Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and her brother, Jason Hudson, were discovered shot to death Friday in the South Side Chicago home owned by Hudson's mother, The Chicago Sun-Times reported. Officials say the boy is the son of Julia Hudson, Jennifer Hudson's sister.
A suspect in the slayings, identified as William Balfour, has been taken into custody, the newspaper said. Balfour is identified as Julia Hudson's husband and stepfather to the missing boy. An alert issued Friday as police were searching for Balfour indicated Julian might be with him, but the boy was not found, sources said.
Police were also looking for a white SUV that police believe Balfour could have driven from the Hudson home, several sources told the Sun-Times.
"I'm not going to let them put my son down," Balfour's mother, Michele Davis Balfour, told reporters. "My son had nothing to do with this … and I'm very upset with the police because they are refusing to let me see my son."
