UK - A mountain of bad news was buried by the Government today as it rushed out a series of reports and 26 ministerial statements on the day before MPs go on holiday. Whitehall sources said many of these reports were ready to be published several weeks ago and would normally be released in stages but ministers had insisted they be delayed until today.
CHINA - China's swipes at the US dollar have been spilling out of Beijing with almost mundane regularity. Every time there is an international economic summit, it seems that some Chinese mandarin reiterates the now familiar complaint that the greenback needs to be replaced as the world's de facto reserve currency.
GERMANY - Central banks are making trillions in unusually cheap money available to banks in a bid to restore liquidity to the financial system. But institutions are not passing on the cash to their customers, choosing instead to invest it and make a fat profit.
GERMANY - The German government is considering forcing banks to accept state aid and partially nationalizing them in return because it's increasingly worried that Germany faces a credit crunch, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Monday.
GERMANY - Many economists are already talking about a light at the end of the recession tunnel. But a new crisis is looming in Germany as companies find it increasingly difficult to borrow money. The government is coming up with increasingly desperate ideas to get liquidity flowing again.
WASHINGTON - Scientists have underestimated the potential for a giant quake and tsunami that could swamp much of the US northwest and Canadian west coasts, British and US researchers said on Monday.
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration — which has struggled to fulfill its mission of regulating food, drugs and other consumer goods that make up nearly a quarter of the US economy — does not have the expertise to forecast its own budget needs, according to congressional investigators.
USA - A series of bailouts, bank rescues and other economic lifelines could end up costing the federal government as much as $23 trillion, the US government's watchdog over the effort says – A STAGGERING AMOUNT THAT IS NEARLY DOUBLE THE NATION'S ENTIRE ECONOMIC OUTPUT FOR A YEAR.
UK - In a number of newspaper stories last week, it was suggested that the latest Defence Secretary, Bob Ainsworth, had been - at the age of 30 - a 'candidate member' of a body called the 'International Marxist Group'.
TEHRAN - Iran's popular former president Mohammad Khatami has called for a nationwide referendum on the legitimacy of the government to end the country's post-election crisis.
WASHINGTON - The world's population of older people is growing at the fastest rate ever seen and the old will soon outnumber the young for the first time, US researchers reported on Monday. An aging population will push up pension and healthcare costs, forcing major increases in public spending that could slow economic growth in rich and poor countries.
ISRAEL - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a sharp response Sunday to United States pressure to stop Jews from building in parts of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinian Authority. ISRAEL'S SOVEREIGNTY IN JERUSALEM IS "NOT UP FOR DEBATE," Netanyahu said, and Jews are permitted to build in any part of the capital city, as are Arabs.
USA - Could it be that President Barack Obama's Midas touch is starting to dull a bit, even among members of his own party? Conservative House Democrats are balking at the cost and direction of Obama's top priority, an overhaul of the nation's health care system.
CANADA - Two wildfires near a western Canadian city have forced the evacuation of around 17,000 people, officials say. One of the fires near Kelowna, British Columbia, started on Saturday. It quickly grew to 300 hectares (740 acres) and destroyed up to nine homes.
UK - Jacqui Smith's admission that she lacked the experience to be home secretary shows the current system of government is unfit for the 21st century, according to a business leader who was drafted into Gordon Brown's Government.