Europe agrees to banking rescue

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, left, greeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain before European officials met Sunday to plot a response to the crisis. (Remy de la Mauviniere) Europe agrees to banking rescue : European financial and political leaders agreed late Sunday to a plan that would inject billions of euros into their banks in a bid to restore confidence to the teetering financial system. Following the British rescue package announced last week, the countries pledged to take equity stakes in distressed banks and vowed to guarantee bank lending for periods up to five years. "We are committed in all European states to recapitalize banks if we establish a threat to solvency and a risk to the economy," the Belgian finance minister, Didier Reynders, said after the leaders met. "The goal is to kick-start the... [read full story]