Britannia Radio

Prices for 16 basic food items shoot up in third quarter: Retail prices for flour, potatoes, cheddar cheese and apples showed the largest increases in the quarter. A 5-pound bag of flour cost $2.62, up 37% from a year earlier, while 5 pounds of potatoes rose 32% to $3.38. Prices for cheddar cheese and apples surged 21%.

Palin Accuses Obama of 'Palling Around With Terrorists': "This is not a man who sees America as you see America, and as I see America," Palin said. "Our opponent, though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect -- imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Americans need to know this. ... I think, OK we gotta get the word out.

At home with the Palins: 'struggling working-class Americans' worth $1.2m: Her governor's salary brought in $125,000 (£71,000), while her husband Todd earned almost $100,000 from his part-time job at BP, combined with income from commercial fishing. The couple appeared to be worth at least $1.2m

Food Stamp Participation Increases As Economy Slows: Almost a million more people participated in the federal government's food stamp program for the needy between April and July, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program.

Europe calls for global summit on bank crisis: Gordon Brown and other European Union leaders called last night for a global economic summit to 'rebuild the world's financial system'

Former IMF economist warns of global recession: Simon Johnson, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, warned of a global recession as a result of the devastating financial crisis that has struck the United States and Europe.

The party's over for Iceland: Iceland is on the brink of collapse. Inflation and interest rates are raging upwards. The krona, Iceland's currency, is in freefall and is rated just above those of Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan

The new masters of the universe?: Chinese growth still at 8 or 9% - US consumer is 'toast, done, finished'

AIG draws down $61 billion of its Fed loan: The emergency loan was supposed to buy the company time to sell its assets in an orderly way. But the sell-off has not yet begun, and now the insurer faces the added pressure of trying to sell the businesses as potential buyers are having trouble borrowing money.

Officials Refuse to Provide Details on Secret Previous Bailout: Top government officials are refusing to provide details on a secretive deal it made to manage billions in assets from an earlier bailout.

Banks are hoarding cash, raising borrowing costs and slowing economies : Americans' lack of financial sophistication is a cause, not just a symptom, of the credit crunch, said James Bowers, managing director of the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy, a nonprofit group in Washington.

Smoke, mirrors ... and how a handful of missed mortgage payments started the global financial crisis: How did a few dodgy sub-prime mortgages in American inner cities lead to what is beginning to look like the collapse of capitalism?

The Problem Is Still Falling House Prices: Because of the 20% fall in the price of homes since the bursting of the house-price bubble, there are now some 10 million homes with mortgages that exceed the value of the house.

Foreclosures: Did God Want You to Get That Mortgage?: Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That's what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes.