Now I know many will choke on this and say that Portugal and Spain are not as indebted as Greece or Ireland, but Portugal is sliding downhill fast and Spain has recently made a genuine hash of its banks mia culpa.

FORBES: European Debt; The Crisis & Calamity Continues

The firm will not say what it plans to show attendees, but many are speculating that it will be a smartphone or a new feature added to the site.

FORBES: Five Things Facebook Could Announce Next Week

The Bank of England has said there are signs of an improvement in credit conditions although it will take time - but many banks say the problem is that healthy businesses do not want to borrow because of a lack of consumer demand in the economy.

BBC: UK Politics

Shadow defence secretary Michael Ancram has written to Defence Secretary John Reid demanding he say how many soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan and an assurance that the deployment in Iraq will not be affected.

BBC: NEWS | UK | UK gets ready for Afghan mission