In global finance, the Bank for International Settlements should be transformed from a discussion forum for central bankers into a policy co-ordinating body, turning it into the world's central bank with a mandate to keep inflation stable and low worldwide.

ECONOMIST: The world trade system

CIO, the unions' central body that co-ordinates its politicking.

ECONOMIST: The rising, falling trade unions

Nigel Encalada of the Institute for Social and Cultural Research, a state-run body, says Central Americans have snapped up land and home loans faster than locals have.

ECONOMIST: Immigrants in Belize

At Central High, today's 60%-black student body includes more of the state's top achievers than any other school.

ECONOMIST: Desegregation 40 years on

Her remarks were an "unpardonable provocation, " a spokesman for a body that deals with inter-Korean issues said, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

WSJ: North Korea Severs Major Line to South

The US and EU have placed restrictions on dealings with Iran's Central Bank - the only official channel for Iranians to transfer money abroad - and Swift, the body that handles global banking transactions, has cut Iran's banks out of its system.

BBC: Iran sanctions disrupt medicine supplies

The warning comes from the Group of Thirty - a body made up of senior international economists including the former head of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet.

BBC: Warning over infrastructure spending

We've known for some time that lead is a potent neuro-toxin that can cause significant damage to a number of organs in the body, including the central nervous system, and can lead to behavioural problems in children.

BBC: Does lead poisoning make you violent?

Unlike the politicians at Copenhagen, the central bank governors and heads of banking supervision who form the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - which decides these vital rules for banks - well, they don't exactly court the media.

BBC: Why have we left bank reform to technocrats?