AP - Two French researchers who shared the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering the AIDS virus are voicing fears that the world financial crisis will hurt funding to fight the disease.

AP - European central banks continued to push liquidity at the financial sector Thursday, offering $120 billion to prop up lending between banks.

AP - The United States on Thursday will push NATO allies to order their troops to target Afghanistan's thriving heroin trade in a bid to stem the flow of drug money to the widening insurgency against the troubled international military mission.

AP - European markets tumbled in early trading Wednesday amid ongoing fears about the state of credit markets despite the British government's 50 billion pound ($87.5 billion) rescue package for the banking system. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei suffered its worst day since the 1987 stock market crash.

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.