lifeline

Britain offered a $88 billion government lifeline for the nation’s banks Wednesday, a solution that it hailed as a quicker one to the credit crisis than the U.S. bailout plan.

The now-bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers arranged millions in bonuses for fired executives as it pleaded for a federal lifeline, lawmakers learned Monday, as Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout.

Shares of AIG fell Tuesday as investors questioned whether the huge insurer would come up with more money to stay in business and avoid igniting even more global financial turmoil.

The state will allow A.I.G. to borrow $20 billion from its subsidiaries to bolster its capital as it faces huge credit downgrades.

Two giant mortgage companies get into hot water over risky investments. The government steps in to throw them a lifeline should they need it.

Wall Street rebounded sharply Tuesday after the Federal Reserve and other central banks said they will pump $200 billion into the financial markets to help ease the strain from the credit crisis.

The Dow Jones industrials surged about 150 points.