Dangerously high borrowing costs for Spain and Italy have eased a little on market hopes for policy initiatives at the Brussels summit on June 28/29. If it falls short, both countries may be pushed closer to eventually needing sovereign bailouts. Without a successful summit, "there would be progressively greater speculative attacks on individual countries, with harassment of the weaker countries," Italy's Mario Monti said in an interview carried in a number of European newspapers ahead of the mini-summit, at which German Chancellor Angela Merkel is likely to be outnumbered.

"A large part of Europe would find itself having to continue to put up with very high interest rates that would then impact on the states and also indirectly on firms. This is the direct opposite of what is needed for economic growth," Monti said. Friday's meeting will search for ways to achieve fiscal and banking union in the euro zone and, more urgently, it may also be the occasion for Spain to formally request assistance of up to €100 billion for its struggling banks. An audit released on Thursday found Spanish banks would need up to €62 billion in extra capital to weather adverse circumstances.

The judges in Germany's highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court, had asked the president to delay signing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Union fiscal pact into law. The Constitutional Court, anticipating challenges to the legislation, wanted more time to review documents. Gauck, hardly three months in office, was already faced with an important decision. If he complied with the request from Karlsruhe, at least one piece of legislation proposed by Chancellor Merkel and her coalition government - the permanent bailout fund known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - would undoubtedly be delayed. The ESM was originally scheduled to come into force on July 1, 2012.

Now the ESM will have to wait. Gauck doesn't want to sign the two laws, at least for now, when they are presented to the two houses of the German legislature - the federal parliament, the Bundestag, and the upper legislative chamber, the Bundesrat - for ratification next week. However, laws in Germany are only considered ratified, and therefore binding under international law, when signed by the president. Now it could take another two or three weeks before the court rules on possible emergency appeals.

Declining a request by the Constitutional Court judges, especially on such a delicate matter, would have created a massive conflict and set off a debate on the question of whether a German president in cases of doubt has the power to ignore Karlsruhe. It was a conflict Gauck was anxious to avoid. According to a statement by the president's office, Gauck intended to "comply with the request, in keeping with standard government practice among the constitutional bodies, and out of respect for the Federal Constitutional Court, as soon as the Bundestag and the Bundesrat have adopted the corresponding treaty laws."

For Merkel, this means that what has already been a grueling struggle over rescuing the euro is now entering the next phase. A ratification on July 1 would have sent a strong signal to the financial markets: Namely that the euro rescue is going according to plan. But now, at least for a while, it will remain under the priviso of a decision from the Karlsruhe court. That may not be a disaster, but it is a symbolic setback for European leaders seeking to rescue the euro. Once again, those plans face another delay.

The Italian leader is to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the French president, François Hollande, and Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, in the hope that the single currency's big four countries can pave the way for a breakthrough at next week's meeting.

Speaking to the Guardian and a group of leading European newspapers, Monti said that, without a successful outcome at the summit, "there would be progressively greater speculative attacks on individual countries, with harassment of the weaker countries". The attacks would be focused not only on those who had failed to respect EU guidelines, but also on those like Italy, which he said had abided by the rules "but which carry with them from the past a high debt".

Monti warned: "A large part of Europe would find itself having to continue to put up with very high interest rates that would then impact on the states and also indirectly on firms. This is the direct opposite of what is needed for economic growth." Outlining the result of a failure at the talks, Monti said that, faced with creeping economic paralysis, "the frustration of the public towards Europe would grow," creating a vicious circle.

"To emerge in good shape from this crisis of the eurozone and the European economy, ever more integration is needed," said Monti. Yet, if the summit failed to resolve the problems quickly, "public opinion, but also that of the governments and parliament… will turn against that greater integration."

The Telegraph has been receiving emails from angry customers. Gemma said: "I am a student and I depend on wages from my part time job to survive. Today I was supposed to receive my tax rebate and wages in order to buy food and pay my household bills and I haven't been able to do either. I have literally nothing to eat until I get paid."

David said: "I have recently moved to a new area where I am still finding my feet, I am 19 and living away from home with my family living 240+ miles away. I have no food in the house and I was hoping to go food shopping today with my wages. I have no source of borrowing money from anyone around this area or my family because they cannot transfer it via Natwest. Looks like i'm not eating today."

Andrew wrote: "Just been reading your article and thought i would give you my story too, I was meant to receive a payment of nearly £3000 from student finance yesterday, still not showing in my account. I think the most worrying thing is that nobody can give you any idea as to when this will be fixed and what has caused the issue."

But as hungry people collected food, a few miles away a new conservative-led alliance was formed, vowing to renegotiate the country's strict European bailout in a bid to breath economic life back into the debt-stricken country. New Democracy and PASOK are also looking for an extension of at least two years in the deadlines for implementing fresh cutbacks worth a total €14.5 billion ($18.42 billion).

Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis went a bit further today, saying that Greece should eventually ‘disengage’ from the austerity commitments and ‘lift those measures that have literally bled society.’ Greece has been dependent on the loans from other Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. In return, it has imposed deep spending cuts, slashed salaries and pensions, and repeatedly hiked taxes.

The measures have left the country struggling through a fifth year of recession, with unemployment spiraling to above 22 percent and tens of thousands of businesses shutting down. The face of the crippling poverty gripping the country was plain to see as hundreds of poverty-stricken Greeks queued in a central Athens park for free vegetables.

Having campaigned as the best leader to reassure European partners that Greece would be a reliable partner, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has spent the days since Sunday's election promising to revise a bailout deal painfully hammered out as recently as March.

Despite a barrage of warnings from European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande that Greece had to respect its commitments fully, the winning parties obviously feel they cannot ignore the uncompromising message from angry Greek voters. Samaras's center-right New Democracy party may have won Sunday's election but his margin of victory over the leftist Syriza party, which campaigned against the bailout, was extremely narrow and the memory of violent anti-austerity protests which shook Athens last year are still fresh.

"Parties were forced to adjust to people's demands which is why we saw some parties with a strong pro-bailout character changing their stance in the pre-election period and becoming more anti-bailout," said Thomas Gerakis, head of Marc pollsters.

On Wednesday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt over his decision to withhold documents related to the “gun walking” operation – documents that President Obama tried to keep secret by invoking executive privilege. The question of why the Prez intervened in this way will surely hang over the investigation and the White House for many months to come. Be patient, conservatives. It took nearly eight months for the Watergate break in to become a national news story. But when it finally did, it toppled a President.

Here’s what Fast and Furious is all about – and for the uninitiated, be prepared for a shock. In 2009, the US government instructed Arizona gun sellers illegally to sell arms to suspected criminals. Agents working for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were then ordered not to stop the sales but to allow the arms to “walk” across the border into the arms of Mexican drug-traffickers. According to the Oversight Committee’s report, “The purpose was to wait and watch, in hope that law enforcement could identify other members of a trafficking network and build a large, complex conspiracy case… [The ATF] initially began using the new gun-walking tactics in one of its investigations to further the Department’s strategy. The case was soon renamed ‘Operation Fast and Furious’.”

Tracing the arms became difficult, until they starting appearing at bloody crime scenes. Many Mexicans have died from being shot by ATF sanctioned guns, but the scandal only became public after a US federal agent, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, was killed by one of them in a fire fight. ATF whistle blowers started to come forward and the Department of Justice was implicated. It’s estimated that the US government effectively supplied 1,608 weapons to criminals, at a total value of over $1 million. Aside from putting American citizens in danger, the AFT also supplied what now amounts to a civil war within Mexico.

Morgan Stanley, one of the most closely watched firms in the much anticipated review, had its long-term debt rating lowered by just two notches, one level less than had been expected, sending its stock up sharply in after-hours trading. The downgrade left Morgan Stanley more highly rated than Bank of America Corp and Citigroup, but a step below Goldman Sachs Group.

Credit Suisse, which last week was warned about weak capital levels by Switzerland's central bank, was the only bank in the group to suffer a three-notch downgrade. But its new A1 deposit and senior debt ratings still rank higher than many of its peers.

"All of the banks affected by today's actions have significant exposure to the volatility and risk of outsized losses inherent to capital markets activities," Moody's Global Banking Managing Director Greg Bauer said in the announcement.

As the mainland gains, Hong Kong suffers. Global banks are making selective cuts in Hong Kong, especially in equities. Morgan Stanley’s mainland Chinese joint venture already has around 150 staff despite being just a year old, according to a person close to the matter. UBS, the only foreign bank with a Chinese brokerage license, has transferred a managing director from Hong Kong to Shanghai to build an 80-90 person research team.

Fees are dictating the shift. China’s A-share investment banking fees almost quadrupled since 2007 to $2.2 billion, now making up half of overall China-related banking revenue, up from less than a fifth in 2007, according to Thomson Reuters. This trend is even more evident this year. Three mainland exchanges have taken up 66 percent of Asian IPO proceeds, while in Hong Kong, IPO proceeds have fallen 90 percent year on year.

As the markets loosen up, China will get more attractive. Global banks have already been told they can take up to 49 percent stakes in their joint ventures, and can apply for secondary market licenses after two years of operations, versus five years before. Once Shanghai finally opens its new market for foreign companies, global banks will have a new edge against local securities firms.

There are challenges ahead. Deals are smaller in China, and reputational costs can be high. Local bankers may have good connections on the ground but lack technical skills. Transferring talent from abroad is costly, and high taxes and heavy pollution make people less willing to move to China. Still, if the money is to be made in Beijing and Shanghai from now on, banks and bankers have no choice but to adapt.

Writing in the journal Science, they say it would be theoretically possible for these changes to occur in nature.

A US agency has tried unsuccessfully to ban publication of parts of the research fearing it could be used by terrorists to create a bioweapon.

According to Professor Ron Fouchier from the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands, who led the research, publication of the work in full will give the wider scientific community the best possible chance to combat future flu pandemics. "We hope to learn which viruses can cause pandemics and by knowing that we might be able to prevent them by enforcing strict eradication programmes," he told BBC News.

He added that his work might also speed the development of vaccines and anti-viral drugs against a lethal form of bird flu that could spread rapidly among people. The H5N1 virus has been responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of birds and has led to hundreds of millions more being slaughtered to stop its spread. The virus is also deadly to humans but can only be transmitted by close contact with infected birds.

The award, commending the agency for its response during the 2011 wildfire season, is presented annually by the National Interagency Fire Center. It was announced at the Southern Group of State Foresters annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky.

Texas Forest Service Associate Director Mark Stanford said the recognition is an honor for the emergency responders who bravely served Texas during last year’s unprecedented wildfire season. MORE THAN 30,000 WILDFIRES BURNED ALMOST 4 MILLION ACRES, DESTROYING 2,946 HOMES ACROSS THE STATE.

The wildfires were suppressed with assistance from more than 16,000 emergency responders from all 50 states, along with 239 dozers, 954 engines and 246 aircraft. “We accept this award on behalf of all the local, state and interagency firefighters who participated in the 2011 wildfire season,” Stanford said. “They’re the ones who really earned this award.”

Eldad was angered by the arrest of a Jewish visitor to the Temple Mount on Thursday morning, and the police’s decision to ban Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, who heads the Temple Mount institute, from visiting the holy site. “This is an unacceptable escalation of the affront to freedom of worship in Israel, and another step toward abandoning the Jewish people’s holiest place to the Arab enemy and the Waqf,” he charged.

Yehuda Glick said that Rabbi Ariel had been refused entrance to the Temple Mount on Wednesday as he attempted to ascend in honor of Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the next Jewish month. Police told Rabbi Ariel that he was permanently banned, and would not say why, Glick said. The Jewish man arrested Thursday morning was detained after quoting to his companions from the Mishnah, Glick added. Jews are forbidden to pray on the Temple Mount, but are normally allowed to speak.

Also Thursday, a Jewish visitor to the Temple Mount complained that Islamic Waqf officials had ordered him to remove his kippah because it offended them.

The current government was set to be the first government in Pakistan’s history to actually complete a five-year term in the office. Then, on Tuesday, the Pakistani Supreme Court delivered a blow to this glorious “political stability” Pakistan has been enjoying.

On Tuesday the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ruled Prime Minister Gilani was effectively disqualified as a member of parliament on 26 April. "He has also ceased to be the prime minister of Pakistan, with effect from the same date, and office of the prime minister shall be deemed to be vacant accordingly," he said. As soon as Pakistanis recovered from the shock, allegations of a judicial coup were levelled against the Chief Justice. This is Pakistan, after all –where conspiracy theory dances dangerously close with political paranoia.

Just this week, Foreign Policy magazine rated Pakistan among the world’s failed states – a moniker that rankles with many Pakistanis. But the latest political upheaval will not help remedy the perception of Pakistan as a kind of Somalia with nukes. The control of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons is a charged issue. In theory, the prime minister should be in control, as chairman of the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) that handles the command and control of strategic nuclear forces and organisations. But it is the army leaders who have the final say in the use of nuclear weapons if ever they are needed.

As part of efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and burnish its image as an environmentally responsible company, the huge retailer is sending senior employees into the fields for the first time ever, looking for ways to help farmers reduce their use of carbon-intensive fertilizer or improve logistics. "We don't have a lot of visibility in the supply chain, so we started in the field," says Robert Kaplan, a sustainability manager at the Bentonville, Arkansas-based firm. "I hadn't seen a wheat field before and I wanted to find out how we go from a green crop in the fields to flour on our shelves."

This May, Kaplan and a colleague were the first Wal-Mart employees ever to attend the annual crop tour across the Number 1 winter wheat state Kansas, a rite of passage for traders, analysts, academics and buyers for the past 55 years. The aim is simple: use Wal-Mart's commercial muscle to get its Great Value-branded flour and wheat products from field to shelf more efficiently, using less carbon. In the process, however, Wal-Mart may end up initiating transformative changes in the way US farmers grow wheat, lowering costs and improving yields for a crop that has failed to keep pace with the dramatic improvements in sustainability of other commodities such as corn and cotton.

There are some relatively easy wins: convincing more farmers to abandon the practice of plowing their fields after each harvest, and using satellite imagery to optimize fertilizer use. But the challenge is substantial. Wheat is already one of the least-intensive crops in terms of nitrogen fertilizer, using half as much as corn to produce an acre of grain. "Wheat is relatively low input. There are not a lot of corners that can be cut," says Jason Kelley, a wheat and corn extension agronomist at the University of Arkansas.

Tim Robinson, the company's senior buyer of baking commodities, joined Kaplan on the trip. He said that, while it is still in the fact-finding phase of its wheat work, Wal-Mart is likely to promote "precision farming" which uses satellite-guided planting to improve yields and no-till methods which proponents say reduce soil erosion and maintain land quality. Roughly 75 percent of wheat farmers plow, or till, their fields in Arkansas, says Kelley. Abandoning that practice could require them to rotate crops regularly and take greater care in planting to avoid stunting plant growth.

It's another wait-and-see game for the euro, as world leaders wait for euro leaders - in particular German Chancellor Angela Merkel - to come up with further proposals to shore up the common currency. Though there are lots of other economic problems in the world - including the expanding US debt and trade barriers that have yet to fall - the leaders of the industrialized world and key developing countries managed to concentrate nearly exclusively on the euro crisis during the G-20 summit at the Mexican resort of Los Cabos.

Merkel was certainly in the hot seat, once again, as many nations pressed her to do more for the euro - at a time when many Germans feel their country has already done too much. European leaders were also annoyed that their problems consistently grab the headlines, while many other countries have equally serious issues to deal with. THEY WERE QUICK TO POINT OUT THE FINANCIAL CRISIS DID NOT START IN EUROPE, BUT IN THE UNITED STATES.

Financial daily Handelsblatt writes:

"It is rather hypocritical when the Americans and the British, whose own mountains of debt have reached a high point, try to lecture the Europeans. One number is sufficient to reveal what a bad tactic this is. At a time when the budget deficits of the US and Great Britain are about 8 percent, the euro-zone members have almost managed to bring their deficits as a whole down to 3 percent.