New York - Reeling under the weight of the US credit crunch, the giant conglomerate General Electric (GE) is seeking a massive injection of capital through 12 billion dollars in new stock issuance and 3 billion dollars from legendary investor Warren Buffett, the company said Wednesday.

Buffett already rode to the rescue of financial giant Goldman Sachs last week by plunking down 5 billion dollars for a stake in the Wall Street firm, through his holding company Berkshire Hathaway.

GE said that Buffett's stake was guaranteed dividends of 10 per cent. Buffett also acquired an option to buy another 3 billion dollars in stock over the coming five years.

New York - China on Wednesday assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council at a time when UN members are renewing demands to reform the body to make it more effective and representative.

Newly appointed Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui replaced the country's former envoy Wang Guangya, who was appointed a vice foreign minister in Beijing. But Zhang gave the council a holiday on Wednesday because October 1 is China's national day.

The council's monthly presidency rotates among the 15 members.

Washington - The top US commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that more troops are needed in Afghanistan as quickly as possible, warning the insurgency in the country could worsen.

General David McKiernan said Afghanistan also urgently needs economic and political assistance to defeat al-Qaeda militants and a resurgent Taliban as violence in the country this year has risen to the highest level in years.

"We are in a tough fight," McKiernan told reporters at the Pentagon. "So the idea that it might get worse before it gets better is certainly a possibility in Afghanistan."

Washington - The Senate was to vote Wednesday evening on a new version of the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan as politicians warned that the US economy might not survive another failure.

Democrats who control the Senate and minority Republicans hammered out a new deal, increasing guarantees on bank savings and adding tax provisions, after the original bail-out plan was surprisingly defeated in the lower House of Representatives on Monday.

"If the financial bill fails in Congress yet again, the present crisis will turn into a disaster," warned Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain.

New York - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a successful politician after a life as a financier, plans to seek a reversal a local law limiting mayors to two terms of four years each so he can run again, news reports said Wednesday.

Bloomberg, who founded the financial data services bearing his name before entering politics, planned to announce his candidacy for a third term on Thursday and to propose a revision of the 15-year-old term limits law.

Mexico City - Mexican multi-billionaire Carlos Slim thinks Latin America "is going to become important for the economy of the United States," in light of the current economic and financial crisis in the affluent neighbour to the north.

Slim - ranked by Forbes magazine in March as the world's second- richest man, worth an estimated 60 billion dollars behind investor Warren Buffett - addressed representatives of foreign media late Tuesday in Mexico City.

He noted that Latin America as a region has 550 million consumers, so it can be "part of the solution" for the United States.