AP - As the world suffers a hangover from the financial excesses of the past few years, the tiny island nation of Iceland has a bigger headache than most. Read more…

AP - The global financial crisis is forcing the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Italy to come together for an emergency summit this weekend, but differences on how to respond to the economic turmoil could drive them apart. Read more…

AP - The 468-page French indictment makes seamy reading: secret arms deals feeding bloodshed in an oil-rich African country. Envelopes of cash changing hands in a Paris mansion. A cast of defendants ranging from a debt-ridden tycoon to a Chinese opera singer. Read more…

AP - Human rights activists from China and Russia are considered front-runners to win the Nobel Peace Prize next week, while betters are putting their money on an Italian, a Syrian or an Israeli for the literature award. Read more…

AP - The man credited with toppling communism in Czechoslovakia says the global economic crisis is a warning not to abandon basic human values in the scramble to prosper. Read more…

Reuters - Europe must find a united response to a financial crisis which risks pushing the global economy into an abyss, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Friday ahead of a meeting of EU leaders to discuss the turmoil. Read more…

Reuters - American International Group Inc , the insurer crippled by losses on bad mortgage bets, said on Friday it will focus on its property, casualty and foreign general insurance businesses. Read more…

AP - Toyota Motor Corp. has announced zero-percent financing on 11 models as it tries to woo would-be buyers sidelined by the consumer credit crunch. Read more…

AFP - European stocks fell Friday, with losses less acute than in Asia where Tokyo matched Wall Street by striking a three-year low, as US lawmakers prepared to vote on a multi-billion-dollar rescue package. Read more…

Reuters - Europe's top banker echoed a mood of growing alarm in EU capitals on Friday, urging U.S. Congressional approval of a $700 billion plan to tackle a financial crisis now shaking the world economy. Read more…

AP - Judging from the glamorous parties and store openings in Paris this week, you would be forgiven for thinking the economy is thriving — prompting some observers to say the fashion industry is fiddling while Rome burns. Read more…

AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages have risen for a second straight week, climbing to the highest level in a month. Read more…

AP - The Paris Motor Show had both vroom and gloom as it opened Thursday under the cloud of global financial turmoil. Read more…

AP - France says it will host a European financial summit Saturday in Paris, bringing together a handful of European countries to deal with the international financial crisis. Read more…

Reuters - The chairman of euro zone finance ministers sided with Germany on Thursday in rejecting any need for a European rescue fund for distressed banks, but the Dutch government endorsed a similar idea. Read more…

Reuters - The U.S. Senate's approval of a revised crisis bailout bill helped boost European stocks and lift the dollar on Thursday but economic worries weighed on Asia and concern about final passage of the proposal lingered. Read more…

Reuters - General Motors Corp. (GM) Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said on Thursday he expected U.S. and western European markets to stay weak in the first half of 2009. Read more…

AFP - European shares steadied at the start of trading on Thursday after the US Senate approved a modified financial rescue package for the stricken US financial sector. Read more…

AFP - Stocks in FTSE 100 were flat in initial trading on Thursday, gaining 0.08 percent to 4,963.47 points, after the US Senate approved a modified rescue plan for the stricken US financial sector. Read more…

AFP - Switzerland's biggest bank UBS, one of the worst-hit by the subprime crisis, said Thursday it expects a small profit for the third quarter after sharply cutting its US mortgage-related positions. Read more…

AP - The European Central Bank is expected to hold its benchmark interest rate steady later Thursday as inflation fears outweigh the growing financial crisis. Read more…

AP - Paris designers whipped up a rainbow burst of colors on Wednesday as an antidote to the economic blues plaguing the luxury industry. Read more…

AP - Congress has embraced an idea to help prop up the financial system: Give banks a break by letting them value their bad mortgage assets at a price they could fetch later, not now. Read more…

AP - Growth in the construction of new nuclear plants worldwide is at risk because of the global financial crisis, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday, adding that short-term projects like oil drilling are more likely to go ahead. Read more…

AFP - The European Commission called on Wednesday for a coordinated European Union response to a crisis ravaging the financial sector as it proposed tougher regulations and cross-border oversight. Read more…