AFP - ST ANDREWS, Scotland (AFP) - The world's biggest economies have agreed a timetable on mutual monitoring of each other's economic policy aimed at preventing a fresh financial crisis, a G20 communique said on Saturday.

Reuters - ST ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) - Britain urged world governments on Saturday to consider a levy on banks to fund future bailouts, departing from long-held opposition, though there was little sign of the consensus needed to make it fly.

Reuters - ST ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) - Proposals for a tax on financial transactions to fund the cost of future bank bailouts are unattractive, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Saturday.

AFP - NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street's gravity-defying rally found new life over the past week, providing optimism for investors heading into what has historically been one of the best periods of the year.

AFP - BALHAF, Yemen (AFP) - Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, joined the international club of gas exporters Saturday with pumping starting at a newly built liquefied natural gas plant in the Gulf of Aden.

The Canadian Press - ST. ANDREWS - Britain called Saturday for consideration of a tax on financial transactions to insure against another crisis and urged world finance officials meeting in Scotland to agree on bearing the cost of fighting climate change.

AFP - COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's central bank on Saturday said it has been buying gold to diversify its reserves amid volatile currency markets, days after India announced it had purchased 200 tonnes of the precious metal.

AFP - ST ANDREWS, Scotland (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on the G20 here Saturday to consider a tax on financial transactions among other measures to make banks more accountable to society.

AFP - WASHINGTON (AFP) - The jump in US unemployment above 10 percent for the first time since 1983 will pressure President Barack Obama to find additional stimulus to keep a fragile economic recovery on track, analysts say.

AFP - SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Shell Oil Company will pay California more than 19 million dollars because of environmental violations at service stations throughout the state, officials said.

AFP - NEW DELHI (AFP) - US auto giant General Motors is in advanced talks with its Chinese partners on a proposal to bring their vehicles to India, according to the Press Trust of India.

AFP - SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US online music service Bluebeat said it plans to fight British recording label EMI over rights to stream and sell versions of Beatles songs.

The Canadian Press - WASHINGTON - Just when it was beginning to look a little better, the U.S. economy relapsed Friday with a return to double-digit unemployment for only the second time since the Second World War and warnings that next year will be even worse than previously thought.

Reuters - TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index ended higher for a fourth straight session on Friday as gold miners rallied around record high bullion prices, offsetting the index's fall at the outset on weak jobs data that fueled worry about economic recovery.

The Canadian Press - MONTREAL - Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) is seeing small signs of improvement in air travel but says a full recovery in its key business class could be least a year away, the airline's chief executive said Friday.

CBC - Former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan told CBC News Friday he makes regular visits to the Obama White House, but he denied he still influences policy-making.

Reuters - TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's currency skidded to its lowest closing level in nearly a week on Friday, stung by U.S. and Canadian jobs data that fell short of estimates and left investors with a reduced appetite for riskier assets.

The Canadian Press - TORONTO - The Toronto stock market advanced Friday as investors dealt with dismal employment data from Canada and the United States and as gold stocks continued to run ahead amid record high bullion prices.

CBC - A new study suggests 12 of the companies in Canada's TSX 60 index have corporate governance issues that make them a serious risk to investors. Another 10 are a moderate risk.

CBC - Gold futures jumped to yet another new record Friday, soaring over $1,100 US an ounce.