Presscue

Gains from the region's five-year bull run are now erased, and investors are expected to camp out in government bonds and cash for the rest of the year.

Japan's exports to the rest of Asia fell in October for the first time in nearly seven years, while China warned again of rising unemployment as its pace of growth slowed.

Like many creatures, fireflies appear to be suffering from the degradation and fragmentation of their habitats as human development spreads, but they also face a threat that is as ephemeral as their tiny flashes: light pollution.

The global credit crunch is starting to chill lending in Japan, as banks cut back on loans.

Zimbabwe has told former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former President Jimmy Carter, and Graca Machel, the wife of Nelson Mandela, not to come to Zimbabwe on a humanitarian mission, state media reported.

The French president left the financial summit meeting in Washington declaring that it had tamed American capitalism. Then he announced his own meeting in a few weeks in Paris.

With Barack Obama's election, the city is basking in a moment of triumph that goes well beyond politics.

The fund's board authorized the loan to try to stabilize what it called a "banking crisis of extraordinary proportions."

Analysts expect more measures could come in 2009, but the delay could mean no economic growth next year.

By announcing he would hold another summit in Paris, the French president highlighted his determination to press forward on what he sees as a long-overdue discussion of American-style capitalism and its excesses.