In a visit to Cornell on Monday, New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley called for a marriage between higher education and entrepreneurship to boost recovery from the recent economic downturn and to improve the local economy by commercializing University research.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many banks have made it harder for borrowers to obtain all kinds of loans over the last three months despite a $700 billion federal bailout program and a flurry of other bold moves to stem the worst financial crisis to hit the country since the 1930s.

The Federal Reserve in its quarterly survey of bank lending practices released Monday found large numbers of banks reporting tighter credit standards across a broad range of loan products — from credit cards and home mortgages to business loans.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve, working with central banks in Europe, Canada and Asia, pumped as much as $180 billion into money markets on Thursday to combat a seizing up of lending between banks that is intensifying global financial crisis.

The move was aimed at boosting waning confidence and getting banks around the world to open their ever-tightening purse strings. Asian markets closed lower, but the Fed action helped send European stocks higher after three days of losses.

Wall Street appeared headed for a higher opening, after dropping 450 points Wednesday when a Fed bailout of American International Group Inc., one of the world's largest insurers, failed to settle the markets' frayed nerves.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has agreed to provide an $85 billion emergency loan to rescue the huge insurer AIG, the The Federal Reserve said Tuesday.

The Fed said the U.S. Treasury Department was in full support of the decision.

The Fed determined that a "disorderly failure" of AIG could undermine already fragile financial markets.

The government will receive an 79.9 percent equity stake in AIG, the Fed said