UK - Facebook- the social networking site - will be concerned that applications such as FarmVille can reveal user IDs despite strong privacy settings. Many applications on Facebook can pass on information that personally identifies users and friends to advertisers and "internet tracking agencies", the Wall Street Journal reports, saying it can affect people even with the strictest privacy settings enabled.
SHANGHAI, CHINA - The head of the IMF on Monday warned central bankers that the global recovery would be "in peril" if the world's major economies do not keep working together, amid mounting fears of a currency war.
UK - Terrorist cyber attacks on government computer systems and businesses could be "the next Pearl Harbor", the head of Britain's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has warned.
EUROPE - Political rows over currencies and a harsh dose of fiscal austerity are set to test financial markets in the coming week, just as investors appear to be settling in for a solid end-of-year stock rally.
PARIS, FRANCE - Saudi intelligence services have warned of a new terror threat from Al Qaeda against Europe, particularly in France, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Sunday. He said the warning of a potential attack by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was received "in the last few hours, few days."
FRANCE - French truck drivers are the latest group of workers to join the strike movement against government plans to reform the state pension system. They have staged several overnight protests, including a go-slow on motorways near Lille and Paris.
PHILIPPINES - An intense "super typhoon" has made landfall in the northern Philippines, lashing the area with heavy rain and winds of up to 225km/h (140mph). At least one person has been reported killed, and thousands have fled their homes. Emergency services are on alert, and many schools are closed.
USA - Those who are worried about currency wars are too late - the wars are already here. China and the United States are both winning the race to cheapen their currencies for now. But if the rhetoric keeps heating up, everyone will be a loser.
GERMANY - Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have "utterly failed", Chancellor Angela Merkel says. In a speech in Potsdam, she said the so-called "multikulti" concept - where people would "live side-by-side" happily - did not work.
CHINA - The United States fired the first shot in the currency war and the rest of the world must be on guard for its deliberate strategy to devalue the dollar, a Chinese economist said in an official newspaper on Thursday. In a front-page commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, Li Xiangyang described the United States as the conflict's "first maker of tomb figures," a Chinese idiom that means someone who creates a bad precedent.
EUROPE - With the EU mired in crisis, strong leadership from European capitals is more important than ever. Unfortunately, the bloc is suffering from a leadership void. But the euro-zone crisis presents an opportunity to overhaul the EU's institutions - if leaders are willing to seize it.
GERMANY - NATO is drawing up a new strategic concept to face the challenges of the 21st century. But while Germany would like to see more commitment to nuclear disarmament, the US and France insist that the new anti-missile shield cannot replace the nuclear deterrent.
GERMANY - On Friday, the German History Museum is opening postwar Germany's first-ever comprehensive exhibition on Adolf Hitler. Curators went out of their way to avoid creating an homage - yet they are still concerned about attracting cheering neo-Nazis and angry protesters.
UK - An Anglican congregation in Kent has become the first to take up the Pope's offer to leave the Church of England to convert to Catholicism. The Pope has created a special enclave in the Roman Catholic Church for Anglicans unhappy with their church's decision to let women become bishops.
PARIS, FRANCE - Striking French oil refinery workers shut down a fuel pipeline supplying Paris and its airports on Friday and airport workers grounded some flights as protests mounted to derail an unpopular pension reform.