Reuters - Fortis faced a takeover or break-up as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet held emergency talks with Dutch and Belgian lawmakers to restore faith in the Belgian-Dutch financial group.

Reuters - Britain's government will nationalize troubled mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley and is discussing the sale of its savings book and branches, people in the banking industry familiar with the matter said.

Reuters - Congressional leaders locked themselves behind closed doors on Saturday and worked into the night with the aim of nailing down a deal on a $700 billion bank bailout and halting a downward spiral in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

AFP - The US Senate has approved 25 billion dollars in loan guarantees for the financially strapped US auto industry, intended to spark a wave of automotive innovation.

Reuters - Shares of Wachovia Corp and National City Corp tumbled on worries about heavy mortgage losses, as talks on a $700 billion financial sector bailout bogged down and regulators seized Washington Mutual Inc in the largest bank failure in U.S. history.

Reuters - Britain will nationalize troubled mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley , the BBC reported on Saturday, but the government said discussions on the bank's future were still going on.

Reuters - Washington Mutual Inc has filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors in U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Reuters - Iraq has signed preliminary deals worth billions of dollars with General Electric Co and Siemens for equipment to almost double electricity generation capacity, an energy official said on Saturday.

Reuters - Congressional leaders locked themselves behind closed doors on Saturday with an urgent mission to reach a deal on a proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Reuters - Regulators and politicians were locked in talks over the future of troubled lender Bradford & Bingley on Saturday, raising the prospect that a second British bank could be nationalized.

Reuters - Financial authorities are holding discussions over the future of Fortis this weekend, while the troubled Belgian-Dutch financial group is seeking to close key divestments deals.

Reuters - The U.S. Congress raced to strike a deal on a proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry in an intense weekend negotiating session aimed at alleviating the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

AFP - Global markets saw more tension Friday as the White House and Congress wrangled over a proposed bailout of the ailing financial sector, but Wall Street shares managed to finish mainly higher.