And by then Mr Berlusconi had made himself interim finance minister, although some advisers are still suggesting a new appointment will soon be made.

ECONOMIST: Italian politics

No wonder that the markets turned negative on Friday, just hours after the eurozone's finance ministers agreed on an interim bailout of the banks.

BBC: Spain's euro woes: Crisis deepens

The finance director, Simon Lowth, will replace him on an interim basis.

BBC: AstraZeneca bosses to leave after boardroom 'coup'

The paper notes that there would ultimately be a written constitution in an independent Scotland but that a constitutional platform, covering such matters as finance, the law and international agreements, would be needed in the interim to enable Holyrood to operate independently.

BBC: Giving in to temptation

IMF's Interim Committee is likely to agree to sell some of the Fund's gold to finance debt relief for poor countries.

ECONOMIST: Tarnished gold

In today's interim results from Barclays, it disclosed that four current and former staff, including the finance director Chris Lucas, are being investigated by the City watchdog over whether they told shareholders enough about fees payable on unspecified commercial deals.

BBC: Another FSA probe at Barclays