28th March 08 - Johann Hari, The Independent (UK)

The sound of scenery collapsing and actors staggering off the stage on Wall Street and in the City of London is echoing all over the world. The reporting of these events is mostly couched here in the anodyne language of economic cycles – there is "market turbulence" and "a down-turn on the way". This makes us think of it all as the economic equivalent of the tsunami – one of those horrible things that erupts every now and then, beyond our control. But this is a lie.

27th March 08 - Robert Wade, The Guardian (UK)

The ranks of optimists who think the current financial crisis is just a blip are fast diminishing. A recent prominent convert to the pessimists is the head of Deutsche Bank, Joseph Ackermann, well known as a true believer in the autonomy and efficiency of markets, who said last week: "I no longer believe in the self-correcting nature of markets. It pains me to say something like this." He said that governments must join with central banks and market participants to "stop this meltdown".

27th March 08 - Thomas Homer-Dixon, Globe and Mail

The U.S. central bank is slashing interest rates, accepting piles of near-worthless securities from commercial banks as collateral for emergency loans, and pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy. A problem that began last summer in the lowest-grade U.S. mortgage market has spread around the world, moved relentlessly up the quality ladder and sucked credit from the global financial system like oxygen from a flame. 

26th March 08 - Michael Edwards, Open Democracy

It's indisputable that something genuinely important is stirring in the world of philanthropy - a movement to harness the power of business and the market to the goals of social change, what Matthew Bishop calls "philanthrocapitalism". There is justifiable excitement about the possibilities for progress in global health, agriculture and access to micro-credit among the poor that have been stimulated by huge investments from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative and others.

26th March 08 - Steven Mufson & Blaine Harden, Washington Post

Long considered an abundant, reliable and relatively cheap source of energy, coal is suddenly in short supply and high demand worldwide. An untimely confluence of bad weather, flawed energy policies, low stockpiles and voracious growth in Asia's appetite has driven international spot prices of coal up by 50 percent or more in the past five months, surpassing the escalation in oil prices.

26th March 08 -  Ian Davis, Foreign Policy in Focus

25th March 08 - Martin Walker, Middle East Times

The big backlash has come and the era of proudly free markets, privatization and deregulation is over. From all sides, even from former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, that disciple of Ayn Rand, comes the cry that more regulation is needed of Wall Street finance.

25th March 08 - The Earth Times

Hopes for peace in Afghanistan have been undermined by the failure of major international donors to deliver some 10 billion dollars in pledged humanitarian assistance and the "wasteful and ineffective" use of available aid money, a report by a humanitarian group said on Tuesday. The new report, entitled Falling Short, was issued by the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), consisting of 94 agencies including Oxfam, Christian Aid, CARE, Islamic Relief and Save the Children.

25th March 08 - Peter Popham, The Independent (UK)

Faced with the dramatically spiralling costs of wheat, rice and corn, the World Food Programme has made an unprecedented appeal for at least $500m (£250m) to help it continue supplying food aid to 73 million needy people this year.

25th March 08 - Greg Lamb, Christian Science Monitor

Oceans splash across most of the earth's surface. But they contain saltwater, unfit for human consumption. Only a tiny fraction of the world's water – about 2.5 percent – is drinkable. That still would be an ample supply if it were clean and available where needed. It's not. Today some 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion lack proper sanitation (adequate sewage disposal).