As leaders of the three U.S. auto companies and the United Automobile Workers union make their case in Washington for a bailout, they are facing stiff headwinds of public opinion.

Governments across Europe began announcing bailout plans Monday after an extraordinary meeting of euro zone leaders in Paris over the weekend. Britain was the first to green-light a plan worth 37 billion pounds.

As the Icelandic financial system meltdown accelerated, analysts said the country would be forced to seek an International Monetary Fund bailout.

As Lehman pleaded for a bailout, it approved millions for its executives, a congressional committee was told.

Even as Lehman Brothers pleaded for a federal bailout to save it from bankruptcy protection, it approved millions of dollars in bonuses for its departing executives, a Congressional committee was told Monday.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Oct 2 (IPS) - While United States lawmakers debate the pros and
cons of providing a 700-billion-dollar bailout for floundering
financial firms, Caribbean countries are bracing for the cold
that will follow the proverbial sneeze in Washington.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate resoundingly passed a sweetened 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout Wednesday, spurring hopes the House of Representatives would follow suit after killing an earlier bid to avert a world financial meltdown.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US lawmakers Sunday struck a deal on an unprecedented 700-billion-dollar bailout for struggling Wall Street banks to avert the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

SEATTLE, Washington, Sep 27 (IPS) - As the U.S. Congress debates the George W. Bush
administration's proposed massive bailout of the
nation's precarious financial system, the astringent
analysis of economist Dean Baker has enjoyed a high profile in
the news, the opinion pages and the blogosphere.

They're prescient--from vice-presidential nominees to opponents of the bailout.