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.

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Reuters - Federal criminal probes into mortgage lending will likely produce many indictments under Barack Obama's presidency, legal experts said on Wednesday.

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Reuters - Stocks sank on Wednesday for the third day after the United States backed away from using its $700 billion bailout to mop up sour mortgages and added to uncertainty about how the government plans to revive bank lending.

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Reuters - The Bush administration on Wednesday largely abandoned its plan to buy up toxic mortgage assets and said it will focus its $700 billion financial bailout fund on making direct investments in financial institutions and shoring up consumer credit markets.

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Reuters - Stocks tumbled on Wednesday after the country's top electronics retailer warned the current business climate was the worst in 40 years, adding to recent economic gloom.

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AP - A disheartened Wall Street has suffered its third straight loss, as investors absorbed more dismal corporate reports and news that the government won't buy banks' soured mortgage assets after all. The Dow Jones industrial fell about 410 points to the 8,283 level, and all the major indexes fell more than 4 percent.

--- AP ...