Finance : BIS urges tighter monetary policy, rise in interest rates (PRIV)
(Chakravarthi Raghavan, Geneva)
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has called for a worldwide tightening of monetary policy and raising of interest rates, pointing to evidence of dwindling economic slack and rising food, energy and other commodity prices and the consequent rising inflationary pressures.

Finance : Days ahead of official election, Lagarde "crowned" IMF chief (PRIV)
(IPS, Washington)
In a small park situated between the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United States Department of the Treasury in Washington, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde was crowned head of the world's most powerful monetary institution on Thursday.

Latin America : The seduction of power (PRIV)
(IPS, Montevideo)
The governments and big private media groups in Latin America are waging a war to win over public opinion, the ultimate arbiter of legitimacy, and the only solution would appear to be to strike up an alliance.

United States : New Yorkers occupy streets to protest budget cuts (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
They have taken over a strip of the sidewalk at Park Place and Broadway, handing out flyers to passers-by and taping posters to the ground and to the metal crossbars of the scaffolding that shelters them from the rain.