WASHINGTON, USA - The United States will urge world leaders this week to launch a new push in November to rebalance the world economy, but there are doubts national governments will bow to external advice.
EUROPE - A growing rift between the US and Europe is overshadowing Tuesday's United Nations climate change summit in New York, further damping hopes for a breakthrough at the Copenhagen talks in December. Connie Hedegaard, the Danish environment minister, lowered expectations, saying: "Things are looking difficult and too slow, that is the fact."
EUROPE - The European Union is planning to extend its military barrier operations shielding Europe from those fleeing the poverty stricken South, according to a recent study published by the official EU think tank for foreign and security policy ("EU Institute for Security Studies", EUISS).
EUROPE - The FT's Brussels blog argues that the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty "is not the only cloud on the EU's horizon." It reports that, even if Ireland votes Yes, "there remain considerable doubts over when Václav Klaus, the Czech president, will append his signature to the Lisbon treaty, allowing it to take force."
EUROPE - The Irish Times reports that former Polish President Lech Walesa will travel to Dublin on Friday to campaign for a Yes vote. The article notes however, that Walesa only offered "somewhat qualified" support for the Treaty. "This Lisbon Treaty is not very good, but the European Union needs a framework and rules," he said.
EUROPE - An article on EurActiv featuring an interview with the Swedish Secretary of State for Europe, Maria Asenius, has a headline that reads "EU can function without Lisbon Treaty".
EUROPE - A new and swanky European Union headquarters is being planned in Brussels at a cost of £280million. Named the Residence Palace, it will contain the no doubt sumptuous offices of the first President of the EU, as well as of its first Foreign Minister. The man who hopes to become President of Europe is none other than our own Tony Blair.
GERMANY - In the run-up to the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, there are very few issues that all the participating nations agree on. Member states are divided over whether to limit bankers' bonuses and how to boost growth. But one thing is certain: A German proposal to tax financial transactions doesn't stand a chance of being approved.
LONDON, UK - It used to be an issue just for the terminally ill. Now as populations around the world age, governments are increasingly being confronted with the taboo idea of dying as something people can volunteer to do. "The demand for the option, if not the practice, is growing rapidly," said Dr Philip Nitschke, 61, founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International.
UK - A pregnant mother will have to give birth to another couple's baby after a blunder by an IVF clinic. Carolyn Savage had the wrong embryos implanted into her and will have to give the boy up to his biological parents as soon as he is born.
FRANCE - An operation to raze the squalid Calais refugee camp known as the Jungle is underway, led by French riot police armed with flamethrowers, stun guns and tear gas. Up to 500 officers are at the site - one for each migrant in the shanty town of tarpaulin tents and rickety shacks.
UK - A school dinner lady who told the parents of a seven-year-old girl that she had been viciously bullied in the playground has been sacked. Scott and Claire David were simply informed in a letter home that their daughter Chloe had been 'hurt' in an incident with a skipping rope.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Israel has not given up the option of a military response to Tehran's nuclear programme, senior officials said on Monday, after Russia's president said his Israeli counterpart assured him it would not attack Iran.
AFGHANISTAN - The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure," according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post.
NIGERIA - The new leader of the Anglican church in Nigeria believes that Muslims are "MASS PRODUCING" BABIES TO TAKE OVER AFRICA. The Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, who believes that CHRISTIANITY IS UNDER ATTACK FROM ISLAM, was elected primate of Nigeria earlier this month, making him one of the powerful figures in Anglicanism.