Washington - President George W Bush on Monday warned it would take some time for the 700-billion-dollar rescue package to help free up credit availability and restore confidence in the financial system.

As stocks plunged more than 5 per cent Monday morning, Bush said the legislation he signed Friday was a "big step toward solving the problem" but recognized that small businesses and consumers were still reeling from the credit crunch.

Luxembourg  - The euro area's finance ministers were meeting in Luxembourg on Monday amid plummeting stock market indexes and charges that governments were not coordinating their efforts to protect citizens' savings from the credit crunch.

About a third of the 15 European Union countries that share the common currency have already moved to safeguard bank deposits in some way or other - among them Germany, Austria, Greece, Ireland and Belgium.

But unilateral initiatives taken by some governments have irked neighbouring countries because of concerns that savers might move their money to where they think it will be safer.

Reykjavik  - The Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority on Monday said was temporarily suspending trading of shares and other "financial instruments" issued by several banks including Glitnir bank, Kaupthing bank and Landsbanki.

A week ago, the government of Iceland bought a majority stake in Glitnir bank.

The government paid 600 million euros (877 million dollars) for a 75-per-cent stake in Glitnir, saying the move was aimed at strengthening Glitnir's capital ratio and liquidity.

The trading halt Monday was linked to a possible announcement of further government intervention.

Berlin  - Chancellor Angela Merkel's promise that personal savings at German banks are safe is a political assurance, her spokesman said in Berlin Monday, implying a statutory insurance of deposits was not planned.

"It's a political statement that can be relied on and is decisive," said Ulrich Wilhelm. The German government and its capabilities stood behind this assurance, he added.

Merkel herself, in a speech in the central city of Wiesbaden, said "the state's guarantee" had been necessary to restore confidence.

Tokyo - News about the latest emergency package to save Germany's real estate financier Hypo Real Estate Holding AG could not clear the gloomy atmosphere in far-away Asia. It was the same with the bail-out package for US financial institutions approved last week.

It was no longer the banking crisis alone that caused deep concern in Japan and other Asian countries. The biggest fear now was that the financial disaster would develop into a global crisis with catastrophic results for all sectors of the economy.

Vienna  - The Austrian government is to raise guarantees on savings deposits to prevent funds from flowing to Germany, with proposals for the measure to be presented at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, reports said Monday.

Austrian Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer announced the proposal, which comes after similar moves by countries such as Germany, Greece and Nordic states, on television late Sunday,