The US economy will become 'dramatically worse', wrecking the dreams of a generation of Americans, if Congress does not act quickly to drive through huge fiscal stimulus plans, Barack Obama said, as fresh data showed deepening recession

The crisis that has cut gas supplies to the EU moved towards resolution as Moscow agreed to let international monitors oversee the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine

The Israeli military and Palestinian militants are ignoring a UN security council resolution calling for an end to two weeks of fighting in the Gaza Strip which have killed more than 700 people

Warning the 'world economy appears to be undergoing an unusually sharp and synchronised downturn', the Bank said it needed to cut interest rates by a further 0.5 percentage points

A legislative committee has recommended the impeachment of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the US Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Figures due out on Friday are likely to show that another half million Americans lost their jobs in December and unemployment is expected to rise across much of the world

The decision by the world's second largest PC maker may be an early-warning sign of further closures by US multinationals seeking to cut costs in face of the global slowdown

In the latest evidence the recession is still gathering intensity, the European Commission said its "economic sentiment" index had plunged to its lowest level since1985

Cuba is putting less emphasis on social spending and more on rewarding individual workers and cutting gratuities as it moves away from decades-old policies aimed at undermining individualism and promoting collectivism, even as it marks the 50th anniversary of the revolution

As factories in Kunshan fail by the dozen, the district government has turned to the few flourishing businesses in town for help to pay off thousands of laid-off workers

Japan is stepping up efforts to encourage banks to lend more to business, amid fears that a credit crunch will worsen in the run-up to the fiscal year-end on March 31

Seoul said it had arrested a blogger accused of undermining financial markets with his doom-mongering, ending a case that has illustrated government unease with the online ­gossip

The European Union's €200bn fiscal stimulus plan to conquer recession may harm the ability of some governments in the 27-nation bloc to refinance their debts, the Czech Republic's finance minister warned

The French president and German chancellor warned the US and the banking industry not to try to thwart European efforts to tighten regulation of global finance later this year

The US budget deficit will hit nearly $1,200bn this fiscal year even without the cost of Barack Obama's planned fiscal stimulus, Congress's budget watchdog warned