CHINA - A carpet of snow blanketing the Forbidden City and the ancient halls and courtyards of the Lama Temple has transformed China's capital into a fairyland. Hundreds have played truant from offices to sneak a peak of the first snowfall of the winter.
BRUSSELS – The European Union has turned into AN UNDEMOCRATIC AND ELITIST PROJECT COMPARABLE TO THE COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIPS of eastern Europe that forbade alternative thinking, Czech President Vaclav Klaus told the European Parliament on Thursday.
WASHINGTON - Inflation at the wholesale level surged unexpectedly in January, reflecting sharply higher prices for gasoline and other energy products.
USA - World Bank president Robert Zoellick said the bank was attempting to help the region along with the International Monetary Fund but needed more backing from Brussels, he admitted in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday.
AUSTRALIA - The number of people known to have died in the Australia bushfires has risen to 208, but police say they do not expect the death toll to go much higher. Police recovered bodies in Flowerdale and in Marysville, one of the worst-hit towns in south-eastern Victoria state.
USA - The SEC's fraud charges may be the least of accused financial scammer R. Allen Stanford's worries. Federal authorities tell ABC News that the FBI and others have been investigating whether Stanford was involved in laundering drug money for Mexico's notorious Gulf Cartel.
VATICAN - The Vatican Newspaper L'Osservatore Romano carries an unusual editorial on its front page. It's an article on the global economic crisis signed by Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown. Mr Brown will be received in private audience by Pope Benedict at the Vatican later.
UK - The Bank of England is set to take the HISTORIC STEP OF EFFECTIVELY PRINTING MONEY as it grapples with the catastrophic economic collapse. The process of 'quantitative easing' could begin as early as next month after leading Bank officials unanimously agreed to ask Chancellor Alistair Darling for the go-ahead.
BRUSSELS - The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Press Association (API) representing foreign press correspondents in Brussels, today condemned a recent statement by the European Commission's security services which hints that journalists and lobbyists can provide cover for potential spies to search for sensitive and classified information.
USA - As California engages in a budget battle that has left the government of the world's eighth largest economy slipping toward insolvency, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic legislative majority continue to search for one last Republican vote to pass a budget.
JERUSALEM - A spokesman for the Church in Jordan says Benedict XVI's visit to Israel will take place May 8-11. Father Rifaat Bader made this announcement today, following Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's confirmation Sunday of the papal trip.
NEW YORK - As resistance to foreclosure evictions grows among homeowners, community leaders and some law enforcement officials, a broad civil disobedience campaign is starting in several American cities to support families who refuse orders to vacate their homes.
USA - Fraud investigators are searching for Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan cricket tycoon facing multi-billion pound fraud charges in the United States, after he made an aborted attempt to leave the country on a private jet.
LONDON - The economy could begin to recover as early as April 2, Gordon Brown has signalled. The Prime Minister is pinning his political future on agreeing a global response to the crisis with the G20 group of world leaders at a London summit at the start of that month.
GERMANY - Germany has acknowledged for the first time that it may have to rescue eurozone states in acute difficulties, marking a radical shift in policy by the anchor nation of Europe's monetary union.