Sydney - Australian stocks tumbled 1.5

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.

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.

Amman - Arab stock markets dived for the fourth day in a row Wednesday amid a spiraling lack of confidence that the world financial crisis could be brought under control within a reasonable time, financial analysts said.

However, two of the major regional markets, the Saudi and Kuwaiti stock exchanges, trimmed their losses at a later stage apparently in response to local and global steps taken to stem the turmoil, including the reduction of prime interest rates by the world's leading central banks.