US stock prices suffered their worst weekly loss in history on Friday, prompting a pledge from global policymakers to implement an aggressive but broad-brush plan to combat the financial crisis.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the group of seven leading economies were agreed to coordinated action in an effort to stabilise the global financial system as they started their meeting in Washington

The German government is drawing up a multi-billion contingency plan to shore up its banking system, which could see the state guarantee interbank lending in the country and inject capital in Germany's largest banks

President George W. Bush removed North Korea from the US terrorism list in a move to resurrect a nuclear disarmament process that was in danger of collapse

Talks between Britain and Iceland on the fate of an estimated £1bn of British deposits trapped in Iceland's banks began with relations between the two countries tense

The Wall Street crash has provoked undisguised gloating among the US's enemies in the Middle East who claim the global financial crisis is a further sign that the US has lost its superpower status

Sarah Palin abused her power as governor of Alaska, according to an official report released into the so-called 'Troopergate' scandal that has clouded her candidacy as John McCain's Republican vice-presidential running-mate

Nymex and key global commodities index decline 17% and 10% respectively on the week as investors sell assets on fears that the world economy was heading into recession

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the countries in the euro zone were working on a joint solution to the financial crisis but he declined to elaborate on its details

The McCain campaign honed in on allegations of voter registration fraud by Acorn, a nationwide poverty action group, and on its links to Barack Obama

Nato forces in Afghanistan have been given the green light to take action against key figures in the country's multi-million dollar drugs trade

Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president and United Nations envoy, has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a mediator in international conflicts

Japan has rejected a North Korean proposal on nuclear verification, in a major blow to US efforts to reach a deal with Pyongyang towards removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula

Lithuanians will vote in a general election that could propel populist parties back to power and put the small Baltic state on a collision course with the European Union

Gordon Brown called on energy suppliers and petrol retailers to pass on the fall in the price of oil to consumers, as he sought to demonstrate the government's concerns over the economic pressures facing voters