Sydney - Australians welcomed Saturday the US Congressional approval of a financial services' industry bail-out package, but doubted it would end turbulence on world markets.

"This is a positive step forward in restoring stability to the global banking system," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said. "But there's still much, much more work to be done."

Opposition Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull said the fall on US stock markets after the bill went through was evidence the crisis was far from over.

Washington - While US President George W Bush signed a much- awaited 700-billion-dollar rescue package deemed critical to keep the US economy afloat, it appeared Wall Street had already turned the next dark corner.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.5 per cent of its value on Friday, a surprise to those who expected that the bail-out's approval would buy at least one day of goodwill.

Washington - Simon Johnson, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, warned of a global recession as a result of the devastating financial crisis that has struck the United States and Europe.

In a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Johnson said the 700-billion-dollar rescue package passed by the US Congress and signed by President George W Bush on Friday was only a "stop-gap measure" that would not prevent a serious contraction of the world's largest economy.

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Amsterdam - The governments of Belgium and Luxembourg have transferred their shares in bank and insurance giant Fortis to the Netherlands, including the Dutch ABN Amro banking division.

Dutch newswire ANP reported Friday that Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme had made the announcement following the Belgian government's weekly meeting.

The agreement is worth some 16.8 billion euros (23.27 billion dollars), Leterme was quoted as saying.

The House of Representatives Friday began 90 minutes of debate on the new version of the finance rescue plan, but in a mood of resignation about the politically unpopular bail-out of Wall Street.

Representative Charles Rangel of New York began the speech-making, saying Congress was acting on the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan "with a political pistol at our heads."