US leads global banking fightback

The leaders of the world's richest countries have agreed an action plan to avoid a global slump. International finance ministers including Chancellor Alistair Darling finalised "an aggressive action plan to address the turmoil in the global financial markets" at a meeting in Washington. "We're in this together and we will come through this together" - George W Bush The move came ahead of crisis talks between US President George W Bush and the G7 ministers - from the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada - at the White House later. It followed a black day for the world's stock markets, with the FTSE 100 closing below 4,000 for the first time in five years and the Dow Jones completing its worst week ever. The US government will buy stock in troubled financial institutions in a bid to stabilise global markets, US... [read full story]