Potsdam, Germany - The global financial firestorm unleashed by the meltdown in America's risky mortgage business is starting to sweep through aspects of life which might have seemed immune to a shakeout in shares and the banking system.

But 15 months into the crisis with economic uncertainty growing and credit drying up, the effects of the financial market turmoil is beginning to impact dramatically on a range of activities, including even a new college for Rabbis in Germany.

"Without effective and rapid help we will have to close," said Walter Homolka, the rector of the Abraham Geiger College in the city of Potsdam, the historic capital of the German state of Brandenburg which surrounds Berlin.

World leaders wrestled anew Wednesday with recession fears as stock values cascaded, defying hopes of US and European governments that their escalating interventions into the finance system, mostly recently the purchase of bank shares, would stabilize the markets.

A US central bank official, Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve, said that the US economy "appears to be in a recession," based on data and the consensus among top analysts.

US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned that the emergency actions of the last month were unlikely to produce a swift economic turnaround, even if markets stabilize.

Washington - With Wall Street continuing in a tailspin, US President George W Bush Wednesday said he realized the country was in a grim financial crisis but was confident "in the long run, this economy will come back."

Bush met in the morning with his financial advisors, then flew to Grand Rapids, Michigan, one of the hard-hit manufacturing areas of the country and a major Democratic stronghold for the November 4 presidential elections. He met with small-town business owners and bankers in Michigan.

Washington - Economic activity weakened across the United States in September as consumers and businesses became more pessimistic about the economy amid the worsening financial crisis, the US Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

The report known as the Beige Book, which is published eight times a year on conditions in the central bank's 12 regions, showed consumer spending and manufacturing had decreased in most areas.

Dublin - Irish President Mary McAleese issued a statement Wednesday to say she had told the government "of her intention to surrender 10 per cent of her salary in light of the current national budgetary situation."

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced Tuesday 2 billion euros (2.7 billion dollars) of savings in what he said was "a call to patriotic action," including a 10-per-cent pay cut for government ministers and top civil servants.

Washington - US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned Wednesday that the emergency action taken by the Bush administration in response to the financial crisis is unlikely to produce a swift economic recovery.

"Stabilization of the financial markets is a critical first step, but even if they stabilize as we hope they will, broader economic recovery will not happen right away," Bernanke said in a speech to the Economic Club of New York.