CONTINENTAL DRAFT: EURO BIGS UNVEIL CASH-INFUSION PLAN

By DAN MANGAN Posted: 4:09 am European leaders tried yesterday to bolster their teetering financial system - and dodge a deep recession - by pledging billions of euros to guarantee bank loans in exchange for ownership positions in the lending institutions. "We need concrete measures, we need unity, which is what we achieved today," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy after a Paris summit of 15 countries that use the euro currency. "None of our countries acting alone could end this crisis." The US Treasury Department has said it will re-engineer a $700 billion rescue package to include direct infusions of cash into banks. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said the move must come "quickly . . . Markets are waiting." The European move, the latest in response to an ongoing global financial... [read full story]