AFP - The London stock market plunged 5.38 percent on Wednesday as investors were unconvinced that a global round of emergency interest rate cuts would resolve the financial crisis, dealers said.

AP - European markets fell, then recouped most of their losses Wednesday after six central banks jolted markets by cutting interest rates together in an attempt to shore up confidence in the world's crisis-stricken financial system.

Reuters - The leaders of France and Britain led calls on Wednesday for more joint action to combat the global financial crisis after criticism that divisions have hampered Europe's response.

AFP - The FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed with heavy losses of more than 5.0 percent Wednesday as investors brushed aside central bank efforts to counter the global financial crisis.

AP - Savoring a rustic lunch of tuna salad, veal stew, and red wine, Benoit Gouez, chief vintner at Champagne house Moet & Chandon, took a long view of the financial crisis rocking the global economy.

AP - Iceland plunged further into financial crisis Wednesday as it scrapped plans to nationalize a major bank, instead placing it into receivership, and abandoned attempts to put a floor under its falling currency by pegging it to the euro.

AFP - Stocks plunged for a second day running on Wall Street on Tuesday, while those in Europe were mixed, on persistent anxiety over the health of the banking sector -- and despite central bank initiatives to shore up confidence.

AFP - US and European authorities launched fresh initiatives Tuesday to break the grip of a global credit crunch, but the moves failed to boost market confidence as Wall Street and other stock markets sank to new lows.

AP - Wall Street's woes extend far beyond Main Street and all the way to Law Street — the hulking headquarters of the European Union.

AP - This volcanic island near the Arctic Circle is on the brink of becoming the first "national bankruptcy" of the global financial meltdown.

AFP - European Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen defended on Wednesday bank nationalisations to prevent bankruptcies, in an interview with the German daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung.

AFP - London's FTSE 100 index of top shares briefly plunged by more than seven percent early on Wednesday after the government announced the part-nationalisation of eight banks and amid a sell-off worldwide.