the government has ordered a series of nationwide cutbacks to deal with massive budget deficit germany. a court sentence ago group of retirees to jail for kidnapping their american financial advisor. officials say they forced him to send an order to transfer millions of dollars to their accounts. the 74-year-old ringleader got six years locked up. india. a fire destroying hundreds of huts in a slum in the east. one witness says a family might have left a wood fire stove burning near one of the hut's walls and that the fire was so intense it destroyed trees outside. residents reportedly had to help put out the flames. a committee at the 175 nation convention on international trade and endangered species rejecting a u.s.-backed proposal to protect hammer head sharks. the united states and other countries say illegal fishing has hurt the hammer head population.