AP - The world economy will slow sharply this year and next, with the United States likely sliding into recession reflecting mounting damage from the most dangerous financial jolt in more than a half-century.

AP - Wall Street zigzagged Wednesday as an emergency interest rate cut failed to alleviate investors' fears that the paralysis in the credit markets will set off a global recession. The major indexes moved in and out of positive territory, with the Dow Jones industrials at times falling more than 200 points or rising more than 100.

AP - In a rare coordinated move, the Federal Reserve and other major central banks from around the world slashed interest rates Wednesday to prevent a mushrooming financial crisis from becoming a global economic meltdown.

AFP - Republican John McCain faced fierce pressure in Tuesday's second presidential debate to grab a lifeline for his sliding campaign in the increasingly nasty White House duel with Barack Obama.

AFP - The United States opened up a major new front in the battle against financial turmoil Tuesday, sucking up huge amounts of corporate debt as European governments staged new rescues and nationalisations.

Reuters - U.S. regulators sent a letter to American International Group Inc in March warning of its lack of transparency and ability to oversee its financial products, a top Democratic lawmaker said on Tuesday.

Reuters - The Bush administration will respond soon to a letter from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that said his state could need the federal government to buy $7 billion in notes because of a frozen municipal debt market, a White House official said on Tuesday.

Reuters - Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed legislation on Tuesday that would change the city's term-limits law and allow him to seek four more years in office to help New York cope with the sweeping economic crisis.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama has a narrow 3-point lead in the U.S. presidential race on Republican John McCain less than a month before the election, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Tuesday.

Reuters - Britain's government is poised to announce a "comprehensive" rescue package for the banking system, the BBC reported on Tuesday, including the possibility of injecting capital into banks.

Reuters - Stocks slid on Tuesday as a sell-off in financial shares accelerated and fears mounted that the rapidly spreading credit crisis would drag the economy into recession.

Reuters - The Federal Reserve stepped forward as a commercial lender of last resort and signaled a readiness to cut interest rates as governments around the world scrambled to stem the global financial crisis and calls arose for concerted action.

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday signaled a readiness to lower U.S. interest rates in a dramatic shift to support an economy battered by a financial crisis of "historic dimension."

AP - Alongside a photo spread that shows her in little more than a T-shirt, Halle Berry talks about being the sexiest woman alive, a title Esquire magazine gives her in its November issue.