Washington - The Group of 20 (G20) that brings together emerging economies and industrial nations will hold an emergency meeting Saturday to consider joint efforts to tackle a debilitating financial crisis.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will host the gathering in Washington on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and will include finance ministers and central bank heads from the world's largest economies.

Washington - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday warned that more banks would fail as the US financial system goes through a tough period of restructuring, and promised to use all powers at his disposal to ease the economic fallout.

Paulson asked for "patience" from the public and said it would take "several weeks" before the US Treasury began buying up troubled mortgage assets at the heart of the credit crisis.

Brasilia - US President George W Bush told Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Wednesday that a 700-billion- dollar rescue plan should be felt on US financial markets "in close to two-and-a-half weeks," according to Lula's office.

Bush spoke with the Brazilian leader by telephone Wednesday afternoon, after Lula called the US president over the weekend to discuss the global financial crisis.

Lula was said to have told Bush that the Brazilian economy remains firm despite the crisis.

Washington - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday warned that more banks would fail as the US financial system goes through a tough period of restructuring, and promised to use all powers at his disposal to ease the economic fallout.

Paulson asked for "patience" from the public and said it would take "several weeks" before the US Treasury began buying up troubled mortgage assets at the heart of the credit crisis.

Mexico City - The Bank of Mexico said Wednesday it would intervene in the foreign currency market to stabilize the peso-dollar relationship, following a 30 per cent depreciation of the national currency in recent days.

Mexico's central bank said in a statement that it planned to sell 2.5 billion dollars on Wednesday "in the face of conditions of uncertainty and lack of liquidity in the currency market."

The intervention will be not be confined to just one day.

Paris - Leaders of major international and European trade union federations on Wednesday urged the Group of Seven nations to take actions which go beyond those taken so far to deal with the current global financial crisis.

The call comes two days before the G7 finance ministers meet, with the general secretaries of the ITUC, ETUC and TUAC in their open letter urging a major recovery plan to stave off the risks of a global recession that goes beyond the coordinated cuts in interest rates announced by six central banks.