NEW YORK, USA - The world's rich lost a fifth of their wealth in 2008 and the number of people with fortunes of more than $1 million (609,000 pounds) fell 15 percent as the financial crisis wiped out two years of growth, a study showed on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON - If 2008 was a tough year for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, 2009 is looking no easier as political battles pile on top of tough economic challenges. With the end of his term looming in January, Bernanke's skill in avoiding pitfalls on both fronts will influence whether he wins another four years at the helm of the Fed.
CHICAGO, USA - There is a real emergency for a county hospital emergency room. The uptick in violence is literally draining the blood supply. And as CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports one specific blood type is running dangerously short. Doctors say the facility's supply of O-negative blood is dwindling.
BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT - A Connecticut church has outraged gay rights advocates by posting a video of members performing an apparent exorcism of a teen's "homosexual demons." The 20-minute video was posted on YouTube before it was taken down.
UK - Pre-packed salads are often not the healthier option, with some supermarket items higher in calories and fat than a Big Mac and fries, a report warns. Researchers from Which? magazine looked at 20 salads from the major outlets and found many contained a large proportion of the recommended daily intake of fat.
LONDON - Four out of ten young people in London are members of ethnic minorities, it was revealed yesterday. A government report found that more than 700,000 children and teenagers are classed as non-white, around 40 per cent of the age group in the capital.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – North Korea threatened Wednesday to wipe the United States off the map as Washington and its allies watched for signs the regime will launch a series of missiles in the coming days.
INDIA - Indian officials say that monsoon rains in the country are likely to be "below normal" triggering off fears about crop failure and high food prices. Forecasters say that rainfall is likely to be lower than predicted in April, when they said it would be near normal.
ISRAEL - Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has set a two-year target for the creation of a Palestinian state, in a speech in Jerusalem. He reiterated the PA's demand that Israel freeze settlement activity in the West Bank before talks can restart.
UK - Large parts of the UK's infrastructure including energy and transport networks are vulnerable to terrorism or bad weather, a report has warned. The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) said not enough was being done to ensure such systems could keep going in adverse circumstances.
SOMALIA - Hardline Islamists have condemned four young Somali men to a double amputation for stealing mobile phones and guns. They will each have a hand and a leg cut off after being convicted by a Sharia court in the capital, Mogadishu.
IRAN - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said the nation "will not yield to pressure" over a disputed presidential election. Several people have been killed in days of street protests since the 12 June poll returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency.
UK - The UK is predicted to sink further into the red than any other major developed country next year, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
ETHIOPIA - Crops in large swathes of Ethiopia risk being destroyed by swarms of locusts coming from northern Somalia, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday.
GERMANY - In an interview with BBC Hard Talk, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble was asked about his previous comments in favour of a common European army.