EUROPE - The Western world is at mounting risk of a double-dip recession after key measures of confidence collapsed in both the United States and Europe, with Germany suffering the steepest one-month fall since records began in the 1970s.
UK - Britain's debt levels are dangerously high and are damaging the economy, according to one of the world's leading financial watchdogs. Debt in the UK grew faster than in any other major economy in the last decade to 180,000 pounds per household.
UK - Cash-strapped homeowners are being telephoned by their banks and told to cut spending on 'luxuries' - or risk losing their homes. Every week, around 2,000 customers of Northern Rock Asset Management and Bradford & Bingley are being warned to slash their outlay on mobile phones, gym memberships and even socialising, to 'prioritise' their mortgages.
GERMANY - The search for Yvonne, the six-year-old cow that dashed to freedom just before she was to be transported to a slaughterhouse in southern Germany, has been called off. The cow has become a star, drawing international attention to Zangberg, the Bavarian commune where she made her escape.
TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN, USA - A major northern Michigan health care group has issued an ultimatum for employees: Get a flu shot by December 31 or get fired. Munson Healthcare, which includes its flagship Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, says individual rights must be sacrificed for the welfare of patients whose health could be threatened if exposed to flu.
WASHINGTON, USA - The possible first-ever evacuation of the International Space Station, if a Russian spacecraft is not launched in November, would risk the loss of the orbiting lab, a NASA official has warned. "There is a greater risk of losing the ISS when it's unmanned than if it were manned," Michael Suffredini, the ISS program manager for the US space agency, said on a conference call with reporters.
MIDDLE EAST - Military sources say Israeli Navy sent additional warships to maritime border with Egypt following intelligence indicating viable terror threat. Meanwhile, Iran set to send 15th fleet to 'convey message of peace and friendship to all countries'
GERMANY - A top German business leader today called for his country to quit the euro and join richer northern neighbours in a currency block instead. Hans-Olaf Henkel, the well-respected former head of the country's main business federation, said his earlier support for the euro was 'the biggest professional mistake I ever made'.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Israel sent two more warships to the Red Sea border with Egypt, the military said Tuesday, part of a military reinforcement there following warnings that militants are planning another attack on southern Israel from Egyptian soil.
GERMANY - Germany is all atwitter with its very own royal wedding this weekend. The great-great grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II and a Hessian princess will tie the knot in Potsdam, though festivities will be decidedly more modest than other recent royal nuptials. The couple prefers to keep it low-key.
GERMANY - The eurozone was plunged into fresh crisis last night by political turmoil in Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel cancelled a high-profile visit to Russia next week because of a threat to the EU's 400 billion pounds stability fund. It may be ruled unlawful by Germany's constitutional court because it breaches EU treaty law and flouts the nation's sovereignty.
UK - The pound's rise last week to $1.64 is a vote of confidence in Britain as a safe haven. Investors, who have pushed up sterling from $1.54 a year ago, appreciate the government's deficit reduction plan and the Bank of England's support for asset prices through its quantitative easing programme.
USA - Michele Bachmann has claimed that Hurricane Irene and last week's earthquake in the eastern United States were messages from God to lawmakers in Washington. The Republican presidential candidate used the hurricane, which has killed at least 32 people and caused billions of pounds of damage, and the 5.8 earthquake, as signs of God's anger at government policies.
UK - Laura Booth, sister-in-law of Quartet envoy Tony Blair, has called on "Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt liberate Al-Quds [Jerusalem]." The former British prime minister's family member has previously sailed illegally to Gaza on a flotilla boat. She joined an anti-Israel rally in London Trafalgar's Square, where another protest today (Sunday) may be the last as the mayor London vows to crack down on the incitement as the date for the next Olympics approaches.
SYRIA - Anti-government demonstrations are reported to be breaking out across Syria after morning prayers on the day of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Thousands took to the streets, including in suburbs of the capital, Damascus, demanding the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad's government.