AP - Japanese stocks fell Friday, dragged down by bank, steel and auto shares, amid jitters ahead of the release of U.S. consumer price figures.

Reuters - A Wall Street fixed income strategist warned on Thursday that the greatest risk investors face is for the troubled U.S. subprime lending sector to trigger a spiral of falling home prices and mortgage defaults.

AFP - Aid charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) has condemned a US drugmaker's decision not to sell new medicines in Thailand, which is at loggerheads with Western pharmaceutical giants over generic drugs.

AFP - The worst may not be over for the US mortgage sector, whose shakiness has rippled across financial markets worldwide, many economists say.

Reuters - Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton called on Thursday for incentives for U.S. lenders to identify troubled mortgages, offer "a foreclosure timeout" and possibly revise repayment terms amid the widening subprime mortgage crisis.

Reuters - U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said on Thursday the panel will hold a hearing to look into the crisis in the subprime section of the U.S. mortgage market.

Reuters - Subprime mortgage lenders could lose up to a third of their business if proposals to scrap some types of loans to high-risk borrowers, currently under consideration by federal regulators, go into effect, a leading underwriter said on Thursday.

Reuters - Global financial markets on Thursday emerged from two days of turmoil sparked by a crisis in the U.S. housing finance sector, and government officials stepped up efforts to find out what went wrong and how to fix it.