Paris - The city of Paris has taken a page from the book of Nobel Prize-winner Muhammad Yunus and will be providing microcredits for individuals not qualified to hold traditional credit cards, Paris City Hall said on Thursday on its web site.

Loans of 300 to 3,000 euros (413 to 4,130 dollars) - and up to 5,000 euros in exceptional cases - will be provided for a period of from 6 to 36 months, at a 4 per cent interest rate.

The money is to be used to finance such existential necessities as a driving licence, a job training programme, or a divorce or funeral.

"We will not finance the purchase of a new plasma television," said the director of a bank working with the city on the program.

Moscow - Russian state television has lowered the pitch of its coverage of the most devastating financial crisis to hit the markets in over a decade at the Kremlin's behest, the Moscow Times reported Thursday, citing media monitoring firms.

Kremlin officials have banned the use of the terms "crisis" and "collapse" on the country's main television channels, the newspaper quoted Ekho Moskvy radio sation deputy editor Vladimir Varfolomeyev as saying.

Reykjavik - Iceland's largest bank group Kaupthing was Thursday taken over by the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority.

Kaupthing was the third of the North Atlantic nation's major banks to be taken over by the agency under provisions of special legislation adopted late Monday.

Earlier this week the agency took over Landsbanki and Glitnir.

Kaupthing's domestic deposits were "fully guaranteed" and domestic operations were to remain open for business as usual, the agency said adding that the move was "guarantee a functioning domestic banking system."

Tokyo - The Bank of Japan injected a record 4 trillion yen (39.8 billion dollars) into the money markets Thursday amid escalating concerns over the global financial crisis.

The nation's central bank carried out the emergency measure for the 17th consecutive business day to free up credit and stabilize the markets.

Prime Minister Taro Aso called for new measures to be implemented and said he instructed the ruling coalition of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the New Komeito party to draw up additional pump-priming measures.

Washington - The history of housing market cycles has shown that when economic contractions are coupled with housing price corrections then recessions are prolonged and painful, the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday.

After a steady upward climb over the past decade, home prices are now plummeting in several advanced economies, which is not surprising as they were largely over valued.

Rome - The Italian government late Wednesday forged a stabilization package as a "precautionary" measure to secure banks and bank deposits.

"No bank will go bankrupt," conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said late Wednesday in Rome, after an emergency meeting of his Cabinet.

He said that Italian savers have nothing to worry about and despite the widening global financial crisis have no need to hide their euros under a mattress.