INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

By deciding to field a candidate in Egypt's upcoming presidential election, the long-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood has turned a corner. So has Khairat al-Shater, the chosen Islamist contender for the top job in Egypt post-Hosni Mubarak.

Eurozone finance ministers agreed at a meeting in Copenhagen on Friday to increase the bailout lending limit to 700 billion euros ($930 billion), a move aimed at reassuring financial markets wary of a Eurozone default and dampening the crippling debt crisis of the past few years.

Japan's government approved on Friday a bill to double the nation's consumption tax by 2015, which is seen as an important step towards putting the public finances on a sustainable path.

Finance ministers from the 17-member currency area agreed to combine, for one year, a pair of rescue funds meant to help avert a default by Spain, Italy or Portugal, or a repeat by Greece, which warned that a third bailout might be necessary.

The heads of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, drafted a joint statement attacking American and European aggressive policy actions and dominance of global institutions.

A general strike and looming deficit pushed Spanish bonds yields up Thursday, leading investors to question if the country will be the next weakest link in the euro zone.

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is being investigated for aggravated pimping in connection with a French prostitution ring.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn's reputation was further damaged on Monday, this time by aggravated pimping charges handed out by a French court.

One of his attorneys, Richard Malka, said his client denies all the charges.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, previously reluctant to expand the size of euro zone bailout funds, agreed to support a €200 billion ($265 billion) increase of the firewall on Monday.

The group UltraViolet said it hoped Obama's nominee, a doctor with extensive experience in public health and now Dartmouth College's president, will be a champion for women and girls throughout the world.

Developments in the two weeks since the credit event confirmed that the world's first test of using credit default swaps as protection involving sovereign debt turned out fairly well. But broader concerns abound, such as the fragile Greek economy and what could be in store for fellow euro zone members Spain and Portugal.

President Barack Obama must nominate a new President of the World Bank soon, ahead of its June annual meeting in Washington. Two Third World candidates have been mentioned but another American is the likely winner.

Gold traded broadly steady on Wednesday, as a boost from a modestly stronger euro against the dollar partly offset slow consumer demand and an erosion in holdings of the metal in exchange-traded products.

Ali al-Naimi says current crude prices not justified by global economic conditions

Home prices in nearly half of China's major cities fell in February from the year-ago period, as Beijing showed its determination to tame the property market.

Speaking in Beijing Sunday, the IMF chief stopped short of saying the changes had eased the Fund's concern China was deliberately undervaluing its currency, a source of tension between the rising giant and Western policy makers.

Though there are signs of recovery, the debt crisis in the developed markets and rising oil prices add to the risk factors looming large over the global economy.

The current, unprecedented level of global youth unemployment has raised the risk of creating a lost generation, Nemat Shafik, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, wrote in a blog post Thursday.

The euro zone may increase the lending capacity of its bailout funds to almost €700 billion, $914.6 billion, even as Spain faces increasing levels of debt, reports said Friday.

The International Monetary Fund is highly unlikely to approve Ukraine's request to restructure $3 billion of loan repayments due this year, but the fact that the government is even considering such a move demonstrates the extent to which it is running out of options, according to Capital Economics.