Washington - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining possible criminal activity at 26 companies including recent bailout recipients Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and American International Group Inc (AIG), according to media reports.

Major investment bank Lehman Brothers, which declared bankruptcy last week, is also on the list of firms in the FBI's probe of accounting and other possible irregularities, the Bloomberg financial news agency reported late Tuesday, citing a senior law enforcement official.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks fell Wednesday as concerns over US financial markets grew after overnight falls on Wall Street and opposition from some US lawmakers to a bailout plan for the US financial industry.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 140.19 points, or 1.16 per cent, to 11,950.4.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 15.04 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 1,153.65.

The Bank of Japan on Wednesday injected 1.5 trillion yen (14.22 billion dollars) into the money markets to help free up credit in the wake of the US banking crisis.

Washington  - US stocks dropped Tuesday by more than 1 per cent, in the worst two-day slump in six years on concern that Congress won't act fast enough to adopt the government's 700-billion- dollar bank rescue plan that the central bank head says is direly needed to avoid a recession.

Hardest hit companies included General Motors Corp, department store chain Dillard's Inc and Regions Financial Corp, which tumbled more than 7 per cent. Members of the Senate banking committee Tuesday were sceptical over US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan.

New Delhi - Indian equities fell by 3 per cent in trading Tuesday on weakness in global bourses and rising crude oil prices.

The benchmark 30-share sensitive Sensex index closed at 13,570.31 points, down 424.65 points, a loss of 3.03 per cent from its previous close Monday.

The broader National Stock Exchange's Nifty index also ended in the red at 4,126.90, down 96.15 or 2.28 percent from the previous close at 4,223.05.

Technology stocks were the hardest hit as Infosys, Satyam Computers and Tata Consultancies suffered the most.

Karachi - Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange on Tuesday banned short-selling in all stocks following Moody's down-grading of the country's credit rating, traders said.

The ban on short-selling follows similar moves this week by Wall Street and other top international markets to avoid dangerous speculation in tumultuous economic times.

The Karachi bourse, which is already virtually at a standstill, is expected to lift the cap by early next month.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks ended a two-day rally Tuesday and fell back 3.87 per cent amid faltering confidence in the US plan to rescue large Wall Street debtors.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index lost 759.35 points to end the day at 18,872.85 points. Turnover was 64.3 billion US dollars (8.27 billion US dollars).

The decline followed two days of strong gains that took the Hong Kong index to within touching distance of the 20,000-point mark by Monday.