World briefs

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - The Taliban are furious about the latest apparent U.S. missile strike in Pakistan, indicating a senior militant may be among two dozen people killed, officials and residents said Sunday. The attack Friday on the North Waziristan tribal region was believed to have killed several Arab fighters but government officials have been notably quiet.

Two Pakistani officials said insurgents were moving aggressively in the area using harsh language against local residents, calling them "salable commodities" — an accusation of spying.

DEAUVILLE, France - Momentum is growing for coordinated international action against pirateering after the stunning seizure late last month of a Ukrainian cargo ship laden with tanks and heavy weaponry — as the pirates demand millions in ransom.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Germany joined Ireland and Greece on Sunday in guaranteeing all private savings accounts, putting the country at odds with calls for a unified European response to the global financial meltdown. The decision came as governments across Europe scrambled to save failing banks, working on their own a day after leaders called for tighter regulation and a coordinated response.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said that no citizen should fear for the safety of their investments, speaking to reporters as her government held crisis talks on the collapse of a US$48.4 billion bailout of Hypo Real Estate AG, the country's second- biggest property lender.

In Iceland — particularly hard-hit by the credit crunch — government officials and banking chiefs were discussing a possible rescue plan for the country's overstretched commercial banks.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Give up your gas-guzzler and get a free car. That's President Hugo Chavez's offer to Venezuelans. Chavez says he plans to start a program next year that will give away cars running on less-polluting natural gas to people who turn in old cars that consume "too much gasoline." The socialist leader says he'll even throw in a year of free fuel — though that's a relatively minor bonus in oil-rich Venezuela, where gasoline goes for 12 cents a gallon.

CAIRO, Egypt - An American member of al-Qaida pointed to economic troubles in the United States as proof that "the enemies of Islam" face defeat, in an English-language video released Saturday. In a half hour video message, California-native Adam Gadahn urged Pakistanis to unite against their government and U.S. forces, and taunted Americans over their economic crisis, relating it to their military interventions. "The enemies of Islam are facing a crushing defeat, which is beginning to manifest itself in the expanding crisis of their economy.”