By Blaise Robinson PARIS, March 31 (Reuters) - European stocks fell nearly 2percent early on Monday, heading for their third consecutivequarter of losses, with Swiss bank UBS <UBSN.VX> tumbling onrenewed worries over the prospect of more asset writedowns.

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(Adds stocks and comments) By Taiga Uranaka

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By Michael Taylor LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - Britain’s leading share indexreversed larger losses by mid-session on Monday as gains in oilshares and bid target Friends Provident <FP.L> countered lossesin heavyweight Vodafone <VOD.L> after a broker downgrade.

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Wallace Page, 87, begins and ends each day with his television. His tired legs don’t let him get out much anymore, he doesn’t own a computer and reading often strains his eyes. The TV set is sometimes his only connection to the outside world.

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WASHINGTON - Spending by American consumers, who have sustained the economy amid housing’s worst downturn in a generation, rose in February at the slowest pace in more than a year.

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WELLINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The New Zealand dollar<NZD=> slid to a one-week low on Monday as more weak datareinforced the view that the economy is slowing sharply. Business confidence plunged to a 17-year low in March ascompanies saw tough times ahead, and followed last week’sconsumer confidence survey which struck 10-year lows.[WEL269084]

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NEW YORK — While Wall Street faces the biggest overhaul of its regulatory structure since the Great Depression, analysts are already wondering if the plan to be announced by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday would help prevent the kind of risky investments that led to the near-collapse of Bear Stearns Cos.

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Making the decision to consolidate your student loans has a big impact on your financial future. There are a few repayment options that you have for repaying the loan.

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NEW YORK — In Illinois’ Cook County, women in poor neighborhoods no longer have access to free mammograms from two mobile vans testing for breast cancer.

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(Adds detail on Iraq output, updates prices) By Jane Merriman

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