PARIS (AFP) - European Union leaders on Sunday hammered out a plan to confront the financial crisis which will involve hundreds of billions of dollars of new initiatives to head off a feared "meltdown".

NEW YORK, Sep 25 (IPS) - The George W. Bush administration's plan to
spend hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue giant Wall Street
firms from their current financial meltdown has unleashed a
spontaneous wave of protests across the United States.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- World leaders meeting at the U.N. General Assembly this week face a global financial crisis that threatens the United Nation's efforts to generate billions of dollars to fight poverty, especially in Africa....

European stocks rallied on Friday and notched huge gains after the US government announced plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to restore financial stability in stricken capital markets.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US authorities bolstered their arsenal Friday to battle the financial market storm, readying a massive rescue plan worth hundreds of billions of dollars while unveiling other emergency actions.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Trading was to resume Friday on Russia's battered stock market after the government put up tens of billions of dollars in liquidity during three days of suspensions to prevent a meltdown.

The Senate passed a military spending bill that includes a pay raise for military personnel, despite Republican objections to billions of dollars in special projects lawmakers had added.

Richard Adams: The US government is splashing out billions of dollars in bailouts but is failing to treat the causes of this financial crisis

Wall Street is marketing complex financial products meant to allow foreign investors to evade billions of dollars in dividend taxes, according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee report.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. financial institutions are using stock swaps and intricate loan transactions to help foreign investors avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes on dividends paid by U.S. companies, according to a Senate report to be released on Thursday.