Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday said that the global financial crisis has gone beyond the economy to become "a real threat for the world," a sort of perfect storm.
"The world crisis is complete, because it is not just economic, it is political, it is ethical, environmental, food-related, energy- related. This crisis is something like the crisis that no one wants, the perfect crisis (in which) all variants joined into one and it is a real threat for the world," Chavez said.
Later Wednesday, he sent a message of "solidarity" to the people of the United States whom he called "brothers."
New York - After a topsy-turvy start to the week, US stocks fell only slightly Wednesday as investors awaited the outcome of a Senate vote on the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan.
Stocks were driven down by reports that car sales and manufacturing fell sharply in the last month - signs that the availability of credit was tightening across the country.
The Senate was to vote late Wednesday on an amended version of the massive financial rescue package, which failed to pass the lower House of Representatives on Monday. Congressional leaders voiced confidence the new bill would be approved.
Washington/New York - In an effort to relieve pressure on the banking industry's hard-pressed bottom line, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has relaxed reporting requirements for the value of investment assets on the books of financial firms.
The move by the SEC on Tuesday was one of the regulatory tools being deployed by the nation's economic gurus to help relieve the country's financial crisis while Congress continues to debate a massive intervention in capital markets to thaw out the deepening credit freeze.
In the ruling, banks were given greater leeway in deciding the value of the investments on their books, even if market data indicates lower prices are in order, because of the current turmoil in the markets.
Los Angeles - The engineer in the worst train wreck in California history sent a text message from his cellphone seconds before he slammed into an oncoming freight train in an accident that killed 25 people and injured 135 others last month, federal authorities said Wednesday.
A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said engineer Robert M. Sanchez sent the message at 4:22 p.m., 22 seconds before he hit A freight train near Los Angeles on September 12, a spokesman for the agency said in a written statement.
In all, Sanchez sent 29 text messages while he was on duty the day of the crash, the NTSB said.
Washington - The US Senate was to vote Wednesday evening on a new version of the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan as politicians warned that the US economy might not survive another legislative failure.
Democrats who control the Senate and minority Republicans hammered out a new deal, increasing guarantees on bank savings and adding tax provisions, after the original bail-out plan was surprisingly defeated in the lower House of Representatives on Monday.
"If the financial bill fails in Congress yet again, the present crisis will turn into a disaster," warned Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain.
