Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, strongly voiced his legal concerns at an informal meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin over the weekend. His comments point to the high political stakes involved in forging a common institution to shut down troubled financial groups.

His intervention in Dublin was a shot across the bows of the European Commission as it prepares to publish a blueprint for the resolution reforms in June – as well as a reality-check for reformers pushing for the full banking union framework to be agreed in the coming 12 months.

By throwing his weight behind the need for a treaty revision in the medium term, Mr Schäuble also raised Britain’s hopes of opening a path to an eventual repatriation of powers from the EU. George Osborne, the UK finance minister, made clear that Britain’s backing for treaty change would come at a price. “That sent a chill around,” said one person in attendance.

Under the current EU treaties the legal options for pooling such important decision making within a single authority are limited. Such reforms also require a huge sacrifice of sovereignty over a decision that presents toxic political choices: when should a troubled bank be wound up and who should foot the bill?

During a debate among finance ministers, Mr Schauble forcefully warned against raising market expectations over the pace of banking union reforms and said his lawyers concluded the creation of a single resolution authority would not be legal under current treaties. “A banking union only makes sense if we have mechanisms for the restructuring and resolution of banks,” Mr Schauble said after the meeting. “But if we want these European institutions, we need treaty changes.”

Since then, massive radiation has been released on a daily basis from Fukushima… for years. And there are so many new leaks that even the mainstream press is starting to admit that Fukushima was never fixed. Radiation from Fukushima is slamming Tokyo, as well as the West Coast of North America.

Fukushima radiation is showing up in fish on the West Coast of the United States. Scientists are starting to sound the alarm as to additional human deaths and health problems on the US West Coast due to Fukushima radiation, and an epidemic of injuries to sealife.

And it’s not just Fukushima …

An investigation by Associated Press found that 75 percent of all US nuclear sites have leaked radioactive tritium. In fact, whistleblowers at the Nuclear Regulator Commission say that the risk of a major meltdown at US nuclear reactors is much higher than it was at Fukushima.

Chinese GDP grew by an annualised 7.7 percent in the first three months of this year, down from the previous quarter's 7.9 percent growth, according to official government figures. Analysts had hoped for 8 percent growth.

The disappointing figures, driven largely by weaker-than-expected industrial production, dragged on markets in Asia and elsewhere, led by commodities sell-offs. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.43 percent and the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.13 percent overnight.

The blasts shattered the carnival atmosphere of one of the biggest sporting events in the US, causing panic and confusion.

There was a third explosion at JFK Library in the city, Boston police have said, without giving further details.

The cause of the explosions has yet to be identified.

Professors Lars Feld and Peter Bofinger said states in trouble must pay more for their own salvation, arguing that there is enough wealth in homes and private assets across the Mediterranean to cover bail-out costs. “The rich must give up part of their wealth over the next ten years,” said Professor Bofinger.

The two economists are members of Germany’s Council of Economic Experts or “Five Wise Men”, a body that advises the Chancellor on major issues. There is no formal plan to launch a wealth tax but the council is often used to fly kites for new policies.

Professor Bofinger told Spiegel Magazine that it was a mistake to target deposit holders in banks, the formula used in the EU-IMF Troika bail-out for Cyprus where those with savings above €100,000 at Laiki and Bank of Cyprus face huge losses. “The canny rich in southern Europe just shift their money to banks in Northern Europe to escape seizure,” he said.

Professor Feld said a new survey by the European Central Bank had revealed that people in the crisis countries are richer than the Germans themselves. “This shows that Germany has been right to take a tough line on euro rescue loans,” he said. The ECB study found that the “median” wealth of the population is €267,000 in Cyprus, compared to just €51,000 in Germany where home ownership rate is just 44 percent and large numbers of people have almost no assets.

The BCC surveyed 4,000 businesses and found 64% of those who responded said they favoured making adjustments to the UK's agreements with the EU. Employment law was the number one area they wanted opt outs from. However, the survey also found that almost one in five, 18%, favoured a full withdrawal from Europe.

The BCC tested five scenarios for the UK's future relationship with the EU. Respondents were asked to give their view on the potential impact of each scenario on Britain's business and economic prospects. The main focus of business unhappiness was employment law, followed by health and safety law, and regional development polices.

Many Roman Catholics will want a reform of the Church's structures to give bishops more power to affect its policy. Although Pope John Paul II made some changes to the Vatican's civil service, or Curia, the last major re-organisation was under Pope Paul VI during the 1960s.

Responding to the priorities of the Second Vatican Council, the reforms gave bishops from around the world the chance to participate in governing the Vatican, introduced limited five-year terms, and specified regular inter-departmental consultation.

Gradually the devolving effect of those reforms has been eroded and the Curia has re-centralised power in the Church. Pope Francis' thinking will become more apparent in the next few weeks as he makes key appointments - especially that of Secretary of State, in effect his deputy.

The people of Pope Francis' Rome diocese - and far beyond it... will now be waiting to see humility and simplicity matched by action in reforming the Church.

Mario Soares, who steered the country to democracy after the Salazar dictatorship, said all political forces should unite to “bring down the government” and repudiate the austerity policies of the EU-IMF Troika.

“Portugal will never be able to pay its debts, however much it impoverishes itself. "If you can'’t pay, the only solution is not to pay. When Argentina was in crisis it didn'’t pay. Did anything happen? No, nothing happened," he told Antena 1.

The former socialist premier and president said the Portuguese government has become a servant of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meekly doing whatever it is told. “In their eagerness to do the bidding of Senhora Merkel, they have sold everything and ruined this country. "In two years this government has destroyed Portugal,"” he said.

Dario Perkins from Lombard Street Research said a hard-nosed default would force Portugal out of the euro. “It would create incredible animosity,” he said. “Germany would be alarmed that other countries might do the same so it would take a very tough line.”

Mr Perkins said all the peripheral states are “deeply scared” of being forced out of EMU. “They fear their economies would collapse, which is ridiculous. But in the end voters are going to elect politicians who refuse to along with austerity as we are seeing in Italy, and the EU will lose control,” he said.

Established in the 1980s, dark pools are electronic Alternative Trading Systems, often run by big banks, which function similarly to the NYSE, except that traders buy and sell without knowing the bids of others involved. Participants aren'’t the only ones left wondering what exactly transpires in dark pools. Federal regulators have had a tough time knowing if these deals are proper or in the best interests of the market.

A few years ago dark pools made up only a small percentage of all trading. But, recently, there have been days when these shadowy transactions comprised nearly 40% of all deals, up from 16% in 2008. In January, daily dark pool trading actually surpassed the New York Stock Exchange with 920 million trades to 900 million for the NYSE.

The eight cardinals will help him put into place changes in an administration which has been held responsible for some of the mishaps and scandals that plagued the eight-year reign of Pope Benedict before he resigned in February.

The eight prelates come from Italy, Chile, India, Germany, Democratic Republic of Congo, the United States, Australia, and Honduras, indicating that Francis intends to take seriously calls by bishops from around the world to have more say in Vatican decisions that affect their areas.

An Italian archbishop will act as secretary of the group, which will hold its first formal meeting in October in Rome. Francis, who was elected exactly one month ago, has already been in contact with each of them, the statement said.

The group will also study changes to a constitution by the late Pope John Paul II called "Pastor Bonus", which gave the Curia, the name by which the various departments that run the Church is known, its current structure in 1988. The last major reform of the Curia was carried out by Pope Paul VI in 1967.

The IMF said accommodative measures adopted by the Bank of England and other central banks, such as low interest rates and quantitative easing, had helped to stabilise the financial system. However, it warned that the longer these policies –dubbed "MP-plus" –were in place, the greater the risk that negative effects could spill over to other parts of the economy.

"Financial stability risks may be shifting to other parts of the financial system, such as shadow banks, pension funds, and insurance companies," the IMF said in a chapter of its Global Financial Stability Report. "Despite their positive short-term effects for banks, these central bank policies are associated with financial risks that are likely to increase the longer the policies are maintained."