AFP - London's FTSE 100 index of top shares fell 1.64 percent to 4,529.64 points at the start of trading on Wednesday after the government announced the part-nationalisation of eight major banks. Read more…

AP - The British government has announced an $87.5 billion plan to partially nationalize its major banks in a bid to restore economic stability. Read more…

AFP - European Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen defended on Wednesday bank nationalisations to prevent bankruptcies, in an interview with the German daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. Read more…

Reuters - U.S. life insurance company MetLife Inc on Tuesday said it expects to report income from continuing operations of $1.38 to $1.58 per share and premiums, fees and other revenues of $8.6 billion in the third quarter. Read more…

Reuters - Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain on Tuesday said that if elected president he would order the Treasury Department to buy bad home mortgages and renegotiate them to help homeowners in trouble. Read more…

AP - Wall Street's woes extend far beyond Main Street and all the way to Law Street — the hulking headquarters of the European Union. Read more…

AP - This volcanic island near the Arctic Circle is on the brink of becoming the first "national bankruptcy" of the global financial meltdown. Read more…

Reuters - U.S. consumer borrowing fell for the first time in more than a decade in August amid tighter credit markets, tougher lending standards and declining consumer spending, a Federal reserve report showed on Tuesday. Read more…

AP - Government data show consumer borrowing fell in August for the first time in more than a decade as households, battered by rising job layoffs and the worsening economy, cut back sharply on their use of credit. Read more…

AP - A committee of EU lawmakers approved an ambitious climate change plan Tuesday, resisting heavy pressure from lobbyists who sought to water down the bill because of the financial crisis. Read more…

AFP - The European Central Bank pumped 50 billion dollars (37 billion euros) into money markets on Tuesday and said it would double to 50 billion euros the amount of the single European currency it would lend for six months as it tried to ease a tightening credit crunch. Read more…

AFP - The EU moved to increase support for big banks as the international finance chaos deepened Tuesday, with Russia setting up a huge rescue package for its banks and markets again panicking. Read more…

AP - European stocks posted modest gains Tuesday ahead of Wall Street's opening on hopes the world's leading central banks will cut interest rates soon, possibly in a coordinated manner to deal with the world financial crisis. Read more…

AP - German carmaker Daimler AG joined GM subsidiary Adam Opel AG and the German unit of Ford Motor Company on Tuesday in announcing production cutbacks given the current financial situation. Read more…

AP - European stocks shed early gains Tuesday as ongoing fears about the health of the banking system, particularly in Britain, offset hopes that the world's leading central banks will follow Australia's lead and cut interest rates aggressively. Read more…

AP - Iceland nationalized its second-largest bank on Tuesday under day-old legislation and negotiated a euro4 billion ($5.4 billion) loan from Russia to shore up the nation's finances amid a full-blown financial crisis. Read more…

AP - Ireland's finance minister says the European Union is mulling increasing government guarantees for private savings in banks across the 27-nation bloc. Read more…

Reuters - Regulators last week relaxed a rule allowing U.S. companies to borrow from their foreign subsidiaries, without triggering a 35 percent corporate income tax, in a move ease access to capital. Read more…

AFP - Battered world markets shook off some of their recent gloom Tuesday as European stocks rallied and Asian bourses pulled back from the brink on hopes of cuts to global interest rates. Read more…

AFP - London's FTSE 100 index of top shares rose 1.50 percent at the start of trading on Tuesday, one day after plunging 7.86 percent on growing fears about the global financial crisis. Read more…

AFP - A global recession can be avoided with a coordinated plan to restore market confidence shattered by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, the former International Monetary Fund chief said Tuesday. Read more…

AFP - European finance ministers were set Tuesday to begin preparing their first joint measure to reassure savers unnerved by the financial crisis by ramping up minimum bank deposit guarantees. Read more…

AP - Individual European governments issued a cascade of deposit guarantees to shore up their banks but fell short of any coordinated action Monday to deal with the crisis sweeping financial markets, even as stock markets crashed and the euro sank to its lowest level for over a year. Read more…

AP - European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet called Monday for calm in the continent's jittery markets, saying they are overestimating risks and the euro-zone central bank stood ready to provide all the liquidity needed for as long as necessary. Read more…

AP - The son of a former French president, an Israeli-Russian billionaire and a tycoon with ties to Arizona's jet set were among the headliners Monday as 42 defendants went on trial in Paris, accused in a worldwide web of trafficked arms to Angola, money laundering and kickbacks. Read more…