AP - Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata PLC dropped its US$10 billion bid for British rival Lonmin PLC on Wednesday, saying the turmoil on the financial markets makes a takeover of the world's No. 3 platinum producer too risky. Read more…

AP - The jobless rate in the 15 nations that share the euro climbed again in August to 7.5 percent as worries over European economic growth deepened, EU statistics agency said Wednesday. Read more…

AFP - London's FTSE 100 rose 1.1 percent in mid-morning trade on Wednesday, following a rally across global markets on investor optimism that the US Senate would later approve a revised financial rescue package. Read more…

AFP - European shares rose Wednesday, after gains in Asia and overnight on Wall Street, amid renewed hope that a revised version of a US financial rescue plan would be adopted by Congress. Read more…

Reuters - Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Barclays Plc , retained its spot as top underwriter in the $3 trillion federal agency debt markets in 2008 year-to-date from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters. Read more…

AFP - US and European markets were higher Tuesday as investors hoped another vote on the US financial bailout package would see the plan passed and a start made on reining in the global turmoil. Read more…

AP - A top Vatican official said Tuesday that the world's financial crisis is the result of the search for short-term profits as a goal in itself — and an example of what happens when basic rights and the common good are ignored. Read more…

AFP - Shares in London closed higher on Tuesday, getting a boost from a rebound on Wall Street as investors hoped another vote on the US financial bailout package will see the plan passed. Read more…

AP - Most Asian stock markets fell Tuesday in stunned dismay over U.S. lawmakers' rejection of a $700 billion bank rescue plan aimed at stabilizing the U.S. financial system. European markets opened mixed. Read more…

AP - Regulators quickly halted trading on Russia's two major stock exchanges Tuesday after share prices dropped sharply in response to the economic bailout turmoil in the United States. Read more…

AFP - London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares opened down 0.71 percent at 4,784.53 points on Tuesday after a rout in Asia and on Wall Street overnight. Read more…

AP - Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that her governing conservatives must focus on the economy and education in the wake of a dramatic loss for her allies in Bavaria that could bode ill for her in national voting next year. Read more…

AP - As retail stocks plunged on Monday, Paris designers came up with antidotes to the economic blues plaguing the luxury industry. Read more…

Reuters - The House of Representatives began voting on Monday on a bill to authorize the Treasury Department to spend up to $700 billion to purchase broken mortgage-backed bonds from troubled banks with the goal of jump-starting stalled global capital markets. Read more…

AFP - The leading stock exchange nosedived by more than 5 percent on Monday as the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley rattled investor hopes that the financial crisis can be contained by a massive US bailout plan. Read more…

AP - European governments had to step in with a flurry of major bank bailouts from Iceland to Germany as fear and turmoil from the U.S. credit crisis spread through the financial system. Read more…

AP - A federal grand jury is investigating accounting and disclosure issues at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance companies said Monday. Read more…

Reuters - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. mortgage finance giants that were taken over by the government this month, said on Monday they were subpoenaed for documents as part of a federal grand jury investigations into their accounting. Read more…

Reuters - Stock index futures fell on Monday as part of a global sell-off on fears that fallout from the U.S. mortgage crisis was spreading, threatening the stability of some European banks. Read more…

Reuters - Wachovia Corp is in talks with rivals to be taken over, sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday, after the U.S. bank's shares fell 27 percent on Friday due to concerns about its portfolio of illiquid mortgage assets. Read more…

AP - Fortis NV said Monday it will become a smaller but financially stable bank after three European governments agreed on an 11.2 billion euro ($16.4 billion) bailout package. Read more…

AFP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU presidency, on Monday met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a summit focused on global warming, terrorism and the global financial crisis. Read more…

AP - The British government is nationalizing troubled mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley, the Treasury confirmed Monday, taking over the bank's 50 billion pound ($91 billion) mortgage and loan books as turmoil from the U.S. credit crisis spread across Europe. Read more…

Reuters - Shares in Europe's second-biggest travel firm, Thomas Cook, were the biggest FTSE-100 riser on Monday after its 53 percent shareholder Arcandor said it would not need to sell any of its stake in the group. Read more…

AP - Britain' Press Association says Spanish banking giant Santander is taking over British mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley's retail deposits and branch network. Read more…