AP - China's manufacturing activity contracted sharply in November as a downturn in the world's fourth-largest economy worsened, raising the threat of politically volatile job losses, according to data reported Monday.

AP - Australia's central bank slashed its key interest rate by one percentage point Tuesday in the latest bold move by the country's top finance officials to stave off a recession.

Reuters - Goldman Sachs Group Inc is looking to name Gerald Corrigan, a former head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as chairman of its newly created bank holding company, Financial Times said.

AFP - China and the United States vowed Thursday to work together to tackle the global financial crisis as they gathered for their last cabinet-level economic meeting under George W. Bush's administration.

AP - Zeinab Chami planned to save money from her part-time job and get a little more from her family. But the 24-year-old graduate student ultimately couldn't round up enough to pay for a trip to Mecca.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday he's asked his economic team for a recovery plan that saves or creates more than 2 million jobs, makes public buildings more energy-efficient and invests in the country's roads and schools.

AP - Nobel economics prize winner Paul Krugman said Sunday that the beleaguered U.S. auto industry will likely disappear.

AP - Chinese leaders began weighing possible plans Monday to expand a massive stimulus package with higher spending on health and social programs amid signs an economic slowdown is worsening.

AP - Things really are bad all over — and they had gone bad even before the housing and finance industries crashed and sent the economy into a tailspin.

AP - GM and Chrysler are in desperate need of government money and may not last until the end of the year without it. But Ford set up $23.5 billion worth of credit back in 2006, and both Chief Executive Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. told The Associated Press Tuesday they are confident that the borrowing, coupled with restructuring and new product plans, will get them through the recession without relying on the government.

AFP - The head of troubled insurance behemoth AIG said Thursday that tough economic conditions would make it difficult to sell off assets in order to pay back a giant US government loan.

Reuters - With Christmas approaching and money tight, Cincinnati father of three Robin Marshall has had frank conversations with his children about the family's finances and the U.S. recession.

Reuters - Homelessness and demand for emergency food are rising in the United States as the economy founders, a report said on Friday, and homeless advocates cautioned many cities were not equipped for the increase.

AP - China said it plans to increase the amount of money circulating in its economy next year in a new effort to spur consumer spending and shield the country from a global downturn.

AP - Singapore's retail sales fell in October, more evidence the city-state's economy likely contracted for a third straight quarter as dwindling consumer demand adds to drops in manufacturing and exports.

AP - China's domestic investment in assets grew by 26.8 percent in the first 11 months of the year over a year earlier, cooling as companies crimp spending on real estate and factories.

Reuters - The U.S. Federal Reserve's radical step of slashing its key interest rate to between zero and 0.25 percent raised expectations the Bank of Japan and other central banks will follow with their own moves to support the stumbling global economy.

AP - The euro was higher against the dollar Thursday as markets anticipated that any turnaround in the U.S. economy could still be a long way off.

AFP - France will fall into recession next year for the first time since 1993 and faces a steep rise in unemployment, the state statistics agency said Friday in its official economic forecast.

AFP - Vice president-elect Joseph Biden, in his first interview since the November 4 election, told ABC TV that the US economy was in 'much worse shape' than he thought and needed a second stimulus package to prevent it from tanking.

AFP - US President-elect Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress hope to have an economic stimulus package as big as 850 billion dollars ready when the White House changes hands on January 20, putting the economy at the top of the agenda.

AP - Oil prices rose above $43 a barrel Monday in Asia as investors looked for signs that U.S. interest rate cuts and a government bailout of two key automakers could help cushion what may be the worst recession in decades.

AP - The British economy contracted by more than previously thought during the third quarter of 2008, revised official figures showed Tuesday, stoking market expectations that the Bank of England may cut interest rates to near zero percent in the new year.

AP - Oil prices were steady near $39 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as investors digested more bad economic news from the U.S. in thin Christmas Eve trading.

AFP - The dollar slipped against the yen in Asian trade on Thursday after more bleak data on the US economy, but movement was limited as many dealers stayed on the sidelines on the Christmas holiday.

AP - Singapore manufacturing fell 7.5 percent in November from a year earlier, more evidence the city-state's economy likely extended a recession in the fourth quarter.

AP - The financing arm of General Motors Corp. wasn't immediately saying early Saturday whether it had met a midnight deadline to clear a final hurdle in its quest to become a bank holding company, which would allow it to access billions in federal bank bailout money.

Reuters - Spending government money solely to stimulate consumer spending would be a short-sighted mistake, one of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's top economic advisers said on Sunday.

AFP - US President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan may cost between 675 billion and 775 billion dollars and will favor long-term infrastructure and job creation projects, top Obama aides said.

AP - South Korea's industrial production plunged in November, official data showed Tuesday, underscoring the country's vulnerability to the global economic slowdown.

Reuters - A prominent Wall Street economist, Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon and his wife are the latest people to have lost money on investments connected to accused swindler Bernard Madoff, according to media reports.