AFP - London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares tumbled 2.32 percent to 4,707.02 points shortly after the start of trading on Tuesday in the wake of a rout across Asia markets and on Wall Street overnight.

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.

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.

AFP - Indian and French leaders vowed to boost nuclear energy cooperation Monday at an annual summit on EU-India ties dominated by trade, global warming and the world financial crisis.

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.

AP - Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance giant Fortis NV was given a 11.2 billion euro ($16.4 billion) lifeline to avert insolvency as part of a wider bailout plan agreed to by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, officials said Sunday.

AP - In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy says the death knell has rung for freewheeling, U.S.-style capitalism. German's finance minister calls it downright "dangerous." Even the leader of more Wall Street-friendly Britain says financiers need closer watching, maybe on a global scale.

AP - Fortis NV named a new chief executive officer on Friday, after the banking and insurance company's shares fell 21 percent over worries about its solvency.

AFP - The leading share index fell sharply into the red on Friday after the proposed $700 billion bailout of the US financial sector hit an impasse amid political wrangling in Washington.

AP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday the world came within "a whisker of catastrophe" during the recent financial crisis and that those responsible for the crisis must be identified and held accountable.

AP - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered support for U.S. President George W. Bush's economic rescue package Thursday, a day before the two leaders plan to meet in Washington to discuss the global turmoil.