Under this pressure, the Green-Independent group agreed to back down.

BBC: Thatcher legacy debate rescheduled

If mortgage losses go beyond already gloomy predictions, "they could succumb to more capital pressure, and their independent-company days may be numbered, " says David Hendler, an analyst at CreditSights.

FORBES: Banking's Mean Season

All that said, and following pressure from the European Commission, the centre-right government will commission two independent assessments of banks' balance sheets, to verify whether its rehabilitation plan is realistic.

BBC: Has Spain flunked banking test?

Facing local pressure to spend more efficiently, these leaders are canvasing independent opinions on public-works projects and encouraging greater scrutiny of how money is spent.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Japan: Japan's Governors Take Aim at Mighty Tokyo

Ferruccio de Bortoli resigned as editor of Corriere della Sera, Italy's most independent and widely read newspaper, raising suspicions of pressure from the right-wing government.

ECONOMIST: Following the map

With political pressure building after Mr Kay's remarks, Mr Bush reluctantly agreed to an independent probe into pre-war intelligence, though the commission will cover Libya, North Korea and Iran as well as Iraq, and will not report back until 2005 well after the presidential election.

ECONOMIST: Bush on the back foot, Kerry on a roll | The