Lord Smith argues that the region needs the political weight that Scotland and Wales now have, with their devolved governments, if it is to prevent future Daresbury-style decisions.

ECONOMIST: Why the North-West is getting keener on a regional assembly

Moscow's calibrated relationship with China is a step toward cautiously reasserting its weight in the region's affairs.

CNN: A complex security minuet has started in North Asia

Mr. Blair said European officials must put the full weight of the region's monetary system behind the effort or else it could fail.

WSJ: Tony Blair: Euro is at a 'Final Decision Point'

The war over Kosovo in 1999, which left that province's ethnic-Albanian majority firmly in charge, has fuelled hopes among the Albanians, and fears among the Slavs, that a historic shift in favour of the Albanians is taking place across the whole region, as their demographic and economic weight rises.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

Given the cities' economic weight, it is not surprising that many of the region's wider problems are reflected there.

ECONOMIST: Productivity in Latin America

The new tyrannosauroid is considerably smaller than Tyrannosaurus rex but still 40 times the weight of the largest previously known feathered dinosaur discovered in the same region.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Export weakness in July may have continued into August, which contributed to the decline of the HSBC PMI, which has a higher weight than the official PMI for export-oriented companies in the coastal region, noted Zhiwei Zhang, an analyst for Nomura Securities in Hong Kong.

FORBES: China Won't Save The World Economy