Washington - US President George W Bush on Thursday called for a "common policy" between the United States and Europe to address the financial crisis that has threatened the world's economy.

Bush, meeting with Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic, said he discussed "our common desire to work with our European friends to develop a best as possible common policy."

Islamabad - A suspe

Washington - US President George W Bush met with Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic on Thursday and assured him the United States was acting swifty to contain the economic damage caused by the finance crisis.

"I assured him that the United States will take strong action in dealing with the current economic situation," Bush said at the White House.

Washington - The US government is weighing the possibility of taking ownership stakes in banks to bolster its effort to restore confidence in financial markets, the White House confirmed Thursday.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has been granted the authority to buy stakes in the banks as part of the Bush administration's broad policy to rescue the financial sector, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"It would include an equity stake," Perino said, before adding "that is a part of the range of authorities that they were given."

New York - In a rare piece of positive economic news, IBM shares jumped as much as 4.9 per cent Thursday morning after the company reported that its third-quarter earnings rose 22 per cent to 3.9 billion dollars.

Shares in the technology powerhouse gave back some of the gains as analysts focused on-less-than expected growth in revenue, which inched up 2 per cent to 25.3 billion dollars, falling short of the 26.53 billion dollars expected by analysts.

London - Princess Dia