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U.S. seizes 2 Southern Calif. thrifts

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision shut down two California banks late Friday, transferring operations to the giant U.S. Bank, based in Minneapolis.

Downey Savings & Loan, headquartered in Newport Beach, and PFF Bank & Trust, based in Pomona, were heavily involved in high-risk mortgages, the Los Angeles Times reported. They lost millions of dollars when the California housing market collapsed.

"The closing of these two thrifts once again demonstrates the tremendous impact of the housing market distress on the state of California," John Reich, director of the OTS, said in a statement.

Downey lost $547.7 million in the first three quarters of the year. The bank had lent heavily in adjustable rate mortgages that allowed borrowers to make such small payments that the amount owed could actually increase.

Pomona First Federal lost $289.5 million. It lent heavily to developers in the Inland Empire, the area east of the mountains in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California.

Regulators say depositors will not lose any money and branch bank activities will continue normally.

GM using Volt to help land bailout

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- General Motors Corp. is using its new Chevrolet Volt hybrid car as one of its main selling points in trying to land a federal bailout, industry observers say.

With a skeptical U.S. Congress delaying action on a possible $25 billion injection of taxpayer cash into the struggling "Big Three" Detroit automakers, GM is using its plans for the Volt to show it is committed to building the kind of green technology cars being demanded by Congressional leaders, The New York Times reported Saturday.

GM ran newspaper ads as its chief executive testified before Congress this week touting the plug-in gas-electric hybrid, which is set to be delivered in 2010. But some doubt the Volt alone will be enough to change the minds of skeptics.

"If you're the affluent individual who wants to make a statement, it's one thing," Ron Pinelli, president of MotorIntelligence.com, an industry analysis firm, told the Times. "If you're Joe the Commuter, you're not going to spend $40,000 on an electric car. It's insane."

"I do worry GM is doing it more out of image building than a focus on developing products," added David Friedman, a research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Britain set for drastic economy moves

LONDON, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is about to implement drastic moves aimed at stemming the soaring number of home foreclosures, sources say.

Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling on Monday are expected to announce a series of unprecedented steps to give help to struggling homeowners hit hard by the deepening recession and financial crisis, The Times of London reported Saturday, citing unnamed government sources.

It said Brown and Darling will institute rules allowing homeowners facing foreclosure a three-month grace period before lenders can initiate foreclosures; will move to expand a scheme to allow strapped homeowners to sell parts of their homes to local governments; and expand an earlier effort to help laid-off workers make mortgage interest payments, the newspaper said.

A full-scale nationalization of Britain's banks is also not being ruled out, The Times said. Darling is set to force the partially nationalized Northern Rock Bank to curb its aggressive foreclosure practices, and the government is telling courts to consider alternatives before issuing foreclosure orders, sources said.

Conrad Black asks Bush for pardon

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Disgraced former media tycoon Conrad Black is asking U.S. President George Bush for clemency from his 6 and a-half year prison sentence, officials said.

Black, 64, is serving time in Coleman, Fla. He has asked Bush to pardon him in an act of clemency before he leaves office in January, U.S. Justice Department officials confirmed Saturday to The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper formerly owned by Black's company Hollinger International Inc.

Black, born and raised in Canada, spent eight years as chairman and chief executive of Hollinger, owner of such newspapers as the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post, before quitting in 2003. His resignation came after an investigation by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission revealed that he and other Hollinger executives had received millions of dollars of unauthorized payments.

Black was convicted last year of criminal fraud in a Chicago trial.

Citing unnamed justice system experts, the Telegraph said it is unlikely Bush will grant Black's request for a full pardon because he is so early into his jail term.