Washington  - President Barack Obama's cabinet-level taskforce for the United States' ailing car manufacturers met for the first time on Friday, stressing the "urgency" of repairing an industry that is on the verge of collapse.

The group, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the White House's top economic advisor Larry Summers, is tasked with evaluating the survival prospects of General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC.

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Singapore  - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long said the city-state's financial system must remain open to the world although the presence of foreign banks poses potential risks in the current economic downturn.

"While we take reasonable safeguards, we must stay open to the world," Lee said Thursday night at a dinner to celebrate Standard Chartered Bank's 150th anniversary in Singapore. "Walling ourselves in does not mean that we would be safe; it just means we will starve."

Hong Kong  - Around 66,000 people fell out of the Hong-Kong- dollar millionaire bracket in 2008 as shares prices plunged because of the global economic meltdown, according to a survey published Friday.

The number of people in the affluent former British colony with 1 million Hong Kong dollars (129,000 US dollars) in liquid assets fell from 414,000 in 2007 to 348,000 in 2008, the survey found.

Berlin  - The leaders of Europe's major economies are hoping to hammer out plans this weekend to face up to the global recession against the backdrop of a deepening sense of economic gloom in Eastern Europe and a shakeout in the region's currencies.

After a dramatic sell off in currencies and shares earlier in the week, a fragile calm returned to Eastern European markets Thursday on hopes that Sunday's meeting will deliver a blueprint for addressing the slump and overhauling financial markets.