Washington - Federal regulators and auditors warned American International Group Inc (AIG) about a lack of transparency in monitoring its financial activities before the conglomerate nearly collapsed last month, a top Democratic lawmaker investigating the credit crisis said Tuesday.

Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the Government Oversight Committee, scolded executives of the largest US insurer in his second day of hearings into the financial turmoil on Wall Street.

Cairo - Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali on Tuesday said that choosing him to head the International Monetary Fund's top decision-making body reflects developing countries' increasing involvement in the global economy.

Ghali's pick, announced by the IMF late Monday, marked the first time a minister from an emerging market or developing country had been chosen to chair the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC).

Rio de Janeiro - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday criticised both the International Monetary Fund and the United States for their role in the ongoing global financial turmoil.

"Where is the IMF now?" Lula asked, before 3,000 metal workers at the seaside resort of Angra dos Reis.

Whenever there was financial turbulence in Brazil or Argentina, the IMF "always drew up recommendations and dictated what should or should not be done," he said.

New York - The world is reeling from the "earthquake on Wall Street" but the United Nations remains confident that governments will keep their promises to assist the earth's poorest, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.

At the UN General Assembly in September, nations pledged 16 billion dollars toward programmes to fight poverty and disease. With the world economy tumbling in the past weeks, there have been doubts whether donors will deliver what they promised.

Washington - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested another interest rate cut was on the way, while the US central bank Tuesday announced fresh moves to inject liquidity into the struggling US financial system.

Bernanke said the ongoing financial turmoil meant the outlook for economic growth had "worsened" in recent weeks as the availability of credit to banks, consumers and businesses has threatened to dry up completely.

Dublin - Ireland's Financial Regulator has fined the Irish Nationwide building society 50,000 euros (67,950 dollars) following the circulation of an e-mail soliciting new deposits based on Ireland's bank guarantee, a statement said Tuesday.

The Financial Regulator said it had "reasonable cause to suspect that Irish Nationwide breached a regulatory requirement in relation to General Principle 1, Chapter 1 of the Financial Regulator's Consumer Protection Code," the statement added.