British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for serious consideration of a levy on financial activity to help insure the banking system from another crisis.

British Treasury chief Alistair Darling has urged the world's top finance officials to reach an agreement on bearing the cost of fighting climate change before a UN summit on global warming next month.

Regulators on Friday shut banks in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and California, bringing the number of bank failures this year to 120 amid the struggling economy and a cascade of defaults on loans

Amid intense lobbying by the Obama administration, House Democratic leaders struggled Friday for the final votes needed to pass sweeping health care legislation, offering fresh concessions to abortion opponents and working to ease concerns among Hispanic holdouts