WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Central banks may be the only remaining line of defense against a scary-but-remote double-dip recession threat.

The European Central Bank and the Bank of England both hold policy-setting meetings on Thursday that are likely to yield no changes in already record-low interest rates.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stepped up calls to preserve Fed independence on Wednesday, saying central banks best deliver steady economic growth and low inflation when free from political meddling.

Bernanke's comments address the U.S. central bank's overarching worry about the sweeping overhaul of financial rules making steady progress through the U.S. Congress: a provision subjecting the Fed's monetary policy decisions to congressional audits.

WASHINGTON – Europe's debt crisis poses serious risks to the unfolding economic recoveries in the United States and around the globe, a Federal Reserve official said Thursday.

Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo, in remarks to a House subcommittee, said the timing of Europe's problems on the heels of the global financial crisis is a 'potentially serious setback.'

If the crisis were to crimp lending and the flow of credit globally, triggering more financial turmoil, that would endanger both the U.S. and global recoveries, he said.

LONDON – European stock markets partly recovered from deeper losses Tuesday as Wall Street proved more buoyant than expected, even as the euphoria faded over the European Union's $1 trillion plan to try to contain the debt crisis sweeping the continent.

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Europe and the IMF gave a major boost to world markets Monday with a trillion-dollar war chest to ease fears of a new recession, but governments faced pressure to clean up their fiscal houses.

Global stock markets and the euro soared after the biggest financial system bailout since the 2008 banking crisis was agreed at all-night talks in Brussels, with the International Monetary Fund to play a key supporting role.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global equity markets staged a massive relief rally on Monday after officials agreed to a $1 trillion emergency rescue package to avert a festering sovereign debt crisis in Europe from engulfing the rest of the world.

The euro rose broadly after the European Union and the International Monetary Fund carved out an emergency rescue package of up to 750 billion euros ($1 trillion) to keep Greece's debt crisis from spreading through the euro zone.

LONDON (Reuters) – Financial markets climbed away from a potential abyss on Monday after the European Union and International Monetary Fund agreed a bumper rescue package to prevent a sovereign debt crisis spreading.

World stocks rose nearly 3 percent, the euro gained nearly 2 percent on the dollar and corporate and peripheral debt yields narrowed sharply against benchmarks.

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Crisis-hit Europe on Monday announced a monster rescue package running to 750 billion euros between euro countries and the IMF, sending the euro surging in Asian trade.

Leaders hope an unprecedented international intervention, worth just shy of one trillion dollars, will represent a game-changing European financial war chest, which will also be backed by European Central Bank action to nudge debt and currency markets.

NEW YORK – The downgrading of European debt is turning up the heat on the firms that issue the ratings.

Some European officials are calling for curbs on rating agencies like Standard & Poor's, Moody's Corp. and Fitch Ratings. They argue that conflicts of interest and bad information make the agencies' assessments unreliable, even dangerous.

FRANKFURT (AFP) – European Central Bank governors meet this week to set monetary policy for the first time since EU leaders agreed to accept potential IMF help for Greece, despite strong objections by the ECB.

An International Monetary Fund operation within the eurozone could be taken as a sign the monetary union cannot sort out its own problems, but might be necessary if Athens cannot get money at reasonable rates on financial markets.