AFP - London shares closed up sharply on Friday as investors pinned their hopes on the revival of a 700-billion-dollar rescue package which goes to the vote in the US House of Representatives tonight.

Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) -Wall Street ended its worst week in seven years with another tumble on Friday on fears that the $700 billion financial rescue package may not unblock credit markets and stave off a U.S. recession.

Reuters - Unsecured creditors of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc asked a court overseeing Lehman's bankruptcy proceedings for permission to investigate how the firm ran out of money, The Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Friday.

Reuters - American International Group Inc, plans to sell its three Japanese life insurance businesses, an AIG spokesman said on Saturday, in sale Japanese media estimated could top $9.5 billion.

Reuters - Wells Fargo & Co agreed to buy Wachovia Corp for about $15 billion, upstaging a government-backed Citigroup Inc bid for Wachovia's banking assets with a deal that would catapult it into the top ranks of national consumer banking.

Reuters - The U.S. government enacted a landmark $700 billion bank bailout on Friday, but investors questioned whether it could contain a panic that began on Wall Street and spread to become a global financial crisis.

Reuters - Shares of Citigroup fell 8 percent to $20.69 in pre-market trade after a merger deal was announced between Wachovia Corp and Wells Fargo & Co .

Reuters - The sluggish service sector was barely growing in September as the country's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression reached new heights, according to a report released on Friday.

Reuters - U.S. employers cut 159,000 jobs last month, a ninth straight monthly reduction and the deepest in 5-1/2 years, the government said in a report on Friday that suggested the economy may be in recession.

Reuters - Stocks fell, shedding earlier gains on Friday, as concerns about the economy overshadowed the U.S. House of Representatives' approval of the Bush administration's $700 billion financial rescue package.

Reuters - The House of Representatives approved a $700 billion bailout package for U.S. banks, under pressure from all sides as the effort to head off a spreading financial crisis hung in the balance.

Reuters - Wells Fargo & Co said on Friday it would buy Wachovia Corp for about $16 billion, apparently besting a government-backed Citigroup Inc bid for some of the bank's assets, in a deal that would catapult Wells Fargo into the ranks of the leading national consumer banks.

AP - Alarmed by the financial meltdown, stores nationwide are slapping sale signs on everything from fall sweaters to furniture — frantically trying to attract shoppers who are cutting back.