Chanting G-20 protesters clashed with riot police in central London on Wednesday, overwhelming police lines, vandalizing the Bank of England and smashing windows at the Royal Bank of Scotland. ...more

April 2, 2009

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown exuded optimism about a global deal to help pull the world out of recession on Wednesday, downplaying a rift with French President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of the imminent Group of 20 leaders summit. ...more

April 1, 2009

"Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World," by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press, $33) ...more

January 25, 2009

The Federal Reserve and six major central banks worldwide cut interest rates Wednesday to prevent a financial crisis from becoming a global economic meltdown. The Fed cut its key rate from 2 percent to 1.5 percent. Bank of England cut its rate half a point to 4.5 percent. European Central Bank cut its rate by half a point to 3.75 percent. Central banks of China, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland also cut rates. ...more

October 9, 2008

In a rare coordinated move, the Federal Reserve and other major central banks from around the world slashed interest rates Wednesday to prevent a mushrooming financial crisis from becoming a global economic meltdown. ...more

October 8, 2008

The Bush administration Saturday raised the price tag on its emergency plan to revive the U.S. financial system, asking Congress for authority to spend up to $700 billion to relieve crippled financial institutions of their mortgage-based assets, a sum that would exceed the current cost of the war in Iraq. ...more

September 21, 2008

The Federal Reserve, in a move Wednesday morning coordinated with central banks in Canada and Europe, announced a new set of steps to try to make banks more willing to lend their cash and help thaw the world's frozen financial system. ...more

December 13, 2007

The global money markets are seizing dominion over our economic destiny. The scant control the monetary authorities still have of borrowing costs is slipping away. And the misplaced trust in central bankers as the architects and guardians of financial stability is fading faster than the AAA rating on a collateralized debt obligation. ...more

December 8, 2007

'The Panic of 1907' by Robert F. Bruner and Sean D. Carr; John Wiley & Sons Inc.; 258 pages ($29.95) ...more

October 21, 2007

Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted the British economy remained strong Tuesday while worried depositors lined up for the third consecutive day to withdraw money from one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders. ...more

September 19, 2007