WESTMINSTER - Secret "doomsday" plans for 20% cuts in public spending are being prepared by senior civil servants, who fear politicians are failing to confront the scale of the budget black hole.
UK - A council has halted plans to place a ten-year-old Catholic boy in the care of homosexual foster parents against the wishes of his mother. The case was highlighted last month by The Mail on Sunday, the day before the boy was due to arrive at his new home, a hotel in Brighton run by a middle-aged male couple.
UK - Children as young as five should be taught about evolution to prevent pupils mistaking Barney the Dinosaur and Fred Flintstone for scientific fact, an academic has claimed.
BRUSSELS - Euro zone finance ministers are expected to voice fears on Monday that a recovery from the economic crisis could be slow as the region's ability to generate new wealth will shrink, diplomats said.
NEW YORK - The powers of the Federal Reserve have become so vast that the central bank could almost qualify as the fourth branch of government.
IRAQ/USA - For the US military, it's the million dollar question — or rather the $687 billion question, according to a recent estimate of the Iraq war's total cost. Is Iraq now stable enough for them to take a permanent back seat?
INDIA - Suresh Tendulkar, an economic adviser to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said he is urging the government to diversify its $264.6 billion foreign-exchange reserves and hold fewer dollars.
NORTH KOREA - North Korea test fired seven short-range missiles, two days after launching four rockets, spurring condemnations from the US, South Korea and Japan. The launches took place between 8am and 5:40pm today, from Kitdaeryong in Kangwon province, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in statements.
UK - A traditionalist Anglican group has warned the issue of homosexuality could split the Church of England the way the Episcopal Church has done in the US. The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans will be launched in the UK on Monday.
UK - Homosexual "weddings" should be celebrated in churches, a Government minister has said in defiance of religious teaching. Chris Bryant, who once posed in his underpants on a gay dating website, said he wanted clergy to be "much more open" to the idea of treating civil partnership ceremonies like traditional marriages.
USA - El Niño, that meteorological trickster with the deceptively innocent name, wreaks havoc on the world's weather. Caused by an unusual warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean, El Niño can trigger storms, droughts and other weather disturbances around the planet, drying out normally wet areas and flooding dry parts.
UK - Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has said "a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches". Mr Bradshaw, one of three gay men currently in the cabinet, made the comments as a new poll suggested more gay people were turning to the Tories.
GERMANY - Euro-skeptics have plenty of reasons to celebrate. By strengthening national parliaments vis-a-vis the EU, Germany's highest court has ended the dream of a 'United States of Europe.' And that's good news for Eastern European countries, who often feel bullied by Germany, the alliance's heavyweight.
JAPAN - Japanese scientists will have bred a new "super-tuna" within a decade that will be stronger, more resistant to disease and taste better than the bluefin presently in the oceans.
USA - The financial system is crashing and action must be taken by the US government to convert debt into equity to produce a more stable environment, Nassim Taleb, author of "The Black Swan," told CNBC Thursday.