AFP - A battle over the US government's financial rescue package carries on in Congress Wednesday after top finance officials urged its swift passage and lawmakers dug in their heels, while the FBI reportedly launched a probe of failed banks and mortgage giants.

AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke bluntly warned reluctant lawmakers Tuesday they risk a recession with higher unemployment and increased home foreclosures if they fail to pass the Bush administration's $700 billion plan to bail out the financial industry.

AFP - The dollar recovered some ground on Tuesday as players awaited more details on a massive US government plan to bail out a banking system crippled by the subprime home loan crisis.

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the U.S. Congress Tuesday that financial markets are under severe stress and urged immediate action to buy up hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tainted mortgage assets.

AP - Oil prices swung lower Tuesday, falling below $107 a barrel as traders cashed in profits a day after crude rocketed to its biggest one-day gain ever — an epic rally apparently triggered in part by a technical fluke.

Reuters - The U.S. Congress gave a new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stronger oversight powers too late to help steer the companies away from a government takeover, the chief regulator for the mortgage finance companies said on Tuesday.

Reuters - Resentment is growing on both sides of the U.S. political divide over a plan to use $700 billion of taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street firms with bad mortgage debt.

Reuters - New York Senator Hillary Clinton said the federal government should establish a special entity that would buy mortgages from Americans and later sell them just as it did during the Great Depression.

AP - Volatility swept the financial markets again Monday as investors grew nervous about an amorphous government plan to buy $700 billion in banks' mortgage debt. Stocks fell sharply, taking the Dow Jones industrials down more than 370 points, while investors sought safety in hard assets such as gold and oil, which at one point shot up more than $25 a barrel.

AP - Scrambling for a swift deal on the $700 billion bailout for failing financial firms, key Democrats and Bush administration officials agreed Monday to include mortgage help for beleaguered homeowners but wrangled over other issues, including "golden parachutes" for executives who benefit from the unprecedented rescue.

AP - Oil prices fell below $108 a barrel Tuesday in Asia in a choppy market driven by uncertainty about whether a $700 billion U.S. plan to buy bad mortgage debt will stabilize the financial system.

AP - Judges could rewrite mortgages to lower bankrupt homeowners' monthly payments as part of congressional Democrats' proposal for a $700 billion financial system bailout.

AP - Oil prices spiked more than $25 a barrel Monday — the biggest one-day price jump ever — as anxiety over the government's $700 billion bailout plan battered the dollar and touched off frenzied buying of safe-haven investments including crude.

AP - Asian and European stock markets rose Monday as the U.S. government worked on a proposed $700 billion plan to ease the world financial crisis by rescuing banks from billions of dollars in risky mortgage debt.