European governments have been involved in four bank rescues since Sunday; the Euribor 3-month rate rose to a record on Monday reflecting elevated tensions in the inter-bank markets and Irish bank shares crashed to 20-year lows.

Both the Economic Sentiment Indicator and the Business Climate Indicator fell in the Eurozone and EU in September.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that nearly 50% of global electricity supplies will have to come from renewable energy sources if we want to halve CO₂ emissions by 2050 in order to minimise significant and irreversible climate change impacts. This is a huge challenge and part of the entire energy revolution we need to achieve, it says.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities.

Irish Public Spending: Despite advances in IT and the platform provided by the web over the past decade, official policy in Ireland reflects both a conservative mindset and the self-interest of politicians:  hide as much information as possible from taxpayers.

Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.

The Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments on Sunday, agreed a partial nationalisation of the Fortis banking and insurance group, while in London, on Sunday night, the UK government was preparing to nationalise Bradford & Bingley, Britain’s biggest lender in the buy-to-let market, after agreeing a deal with the Spanish bank Santander, which will buy the UK mortgage lender’s £21bn deposit book and branch network for about £600m.

Dr. Peter Morici, in a wide-ranging speech delivered to the New York Mercantile Exchange, last week, said that America needs to stop consuming more than it produces. It needs to stop running huge trade deficits and borrowing so much from the rest of the world to pay for it. He also said that the Wall Street culture of entitlement must be changed and compensation has to be aligned with other industries as well as shareholder interests.

The US Congress will vote Monday on a revised $700 billion rescue deal for Wall Street, after a weekend of negotiations produced a plan that Congressional leaders said has more stringent protections for the American taxpayer.

Calpers, already bruised from an ill-fated investment in California land, now faces more pain from buying into New York City apartment buildings at the top of the market.