AFP - British ministers will hold talks with a leading Scottish businessman over a possible rival bid for mortgage lender HBOS, which has been hit hard by the subprime crisis, the government confirmed Saturday.

BusinessWeek Online - In what may the biggest sign yet that banks are getting serious about attacking the nationwide wave of home foreclosures, giant JPMorgan Chase announced on Oct. 31 that it is sharply ramping up its efforts to restructure the loans in its massive mortgage portfolio. For the next 90 days, JPMorgan will not place any new homes into foreclosure.

AP - When the government took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers inherited more than just bad debts. They're also potentially on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in legal fees for the executives at the center of the housing market's collapse.

BusinessWeek Online - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were controversial for years before they fell into government conservatorship this year. But few people have considered the risks posed by the Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLB), even though it occupies the same gray area between the public and private sectors.

AP - Sales of passenger vehicles in India fell by 9.1 percent in October, as high interest rates and tight consumer credit took their toll on what had been one of the world's fastest growing automobile markets, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, an industry group.

Reuters - Citigroup Inc on Monday became the latest major U.S. lender to try to help borrowers stay in their homes, launching a program it said may result in $20 billion of mortgage refinancings.

AP - Prospective home buyers would get a simpler way to understand often-confusing mortgage terms under new rules issued Wednesday by the federal government.

AFP - The US government abandoned plans to buy up the toxic mortgage assets at the heart of the global financial crisis, a reversal that helped send ailing world markets spiralling even lower.

AP - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says a new plan could help 1.5 million American households avoid foreclosure.

Reuters - Merrill Lynch & Co said on Friday that the majority of its best-performing financial advisors will join Bank of America Corp when that bank buys Merrill at the end of the year.

Reuters - A senior U.S. senator on Monday introduced legislation to let judges alter the terms of distressed mortgages in bankruptcy cases, reviving a controversial proposal meant to help troubled homeowners, a said an aide to the lawmaker.

Reuters - Fannie Mae , the largest provider of money for U.S. home mortgages, on Tuesday said its federal regulator suspended a mandate to set aside money for a housing trust fund.

Reuters - Construction starts on new homes fell to a record low in October, as did new applications for building permits, a report by the Commerce Department showed on Wednesday, signaling that the national housing downturn may extend well into the future.

Reuters - A U.S. Senate subcommittee is opening a probe into causes of the global financial crisis, focusing in part on whether bond-ratings firms, driven by conflicts of interest, boosted mortgage investments which have since collapsed, the Wall Street Journal said.

BusinessWeek Online - As if they haven't done enough damage. Thousands of subprime mortgage lenders and brokers -- many of them the very sorts of firms that helped create the current financial crisis -- are going strong. Their new strategy: taking advantage of a long-standing federal program designed to encourage homeownership by insuring mortgages for buyers of modest means.

AP - British Treasury chief Alistair Darling has announced a temporary cut in the national sales tax to promote an economic recovery he expects to begin next year.

Reuters - After Citigroup Inc shares tumbled last year on the bank's subprime mortgage woes, angry investors sued for fraud. Now, stockholders are due to file a new version of their lawsuit as their losses have become much more stark.

AP - Five state-run and publicly traded companies in Abu Dhabi are launching a new mortgage provider as the credit crunch threatens to stifle the United Arab Emirates' property boom.