As shares plunge, business editor Deborah Hargreaves says investors have only just woken up to the realities of the US economy. She says central banks are expected to slash interest rates, but a global economic downturn is now increasingly likely.
• Subscribe free to Newsdesk, via iTunes
• or download this to your computer
• The Newsdesk podcast feed URL
The main candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, clashed angrily in a CNN debate in South Carolina last night.
The Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi, faces a vote of confidence after one of his coalition partners quit his centre-left government. John Hooper reports from Rome.
Education editor Polly Curtis assesses the government's new advice on extremism on university campuses. She says there are fewer references to Muslims than in previous recommendations.
Tania Branigan reports from Beijing on China's one-child rule, the law designed to curb the country's booming population, but which is being broken by the newly-rich elite.
Today's papers reviewer is Ros Taylor.
