Few who have worked for The Economist can match the 28 years that Peter David gave so outstandingly to that magazine – and fewer still could match the range of his interests or the breadth of what he wrote about.

Ex-President's foundation threatens legal action to prevent Guernsey firm selling grisly souvenir

Ronald Reagan's foundation expressed outrage yesterday at a British company's auction of what it says is a vial of the late US president's blood taken at the hospital where he was treated after a 1981 assassination attempt.

After clutching his cards close to his chest for weeks, George Osborne showed his hand yesterday. What the Chancellor revealed was a $15bn (£10bn) cheque for the International Monetary Fund.

US President Barack Obama has published his tax return, showing his income fell last year.

The only privately-owned version of Edvard Munch's classic masterpiece The Scream has gone on show in London for the first time before it is sold at auction in New York.

The reek of rhetorical gunpowder hung over Washington last night as Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama abruptly hurled themselves into the 2012 battle for the White House regardless of the lingering presence of other rivals for the Republican Party nomination.

War of words as challenger cruises to victory in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington DC

Unprecedented $540m jackpot prompts hysteria across a nation feeling the pinch

Raymond Scott, who died on 14 March, was a flamboyant antiques dealer who was jailed for handling a stolen first edition of Shakespeare's plays. Scott, who passed himself off as a wealthy playboy before his conviction, was pronounced dead after being found unconscious in his cell at Northumnberland Prison, where he was serving an eight-year sentence.

Diary: The US Visit

Lamont Peterson has declared that he will be "ready to die" in the ring, in order to to keep his belts, when he meets Britain's Amir Khan in a Las Vegas world title rematch on 19 May.

Peter Ustinov once called Toronto "New York run by the Swiss", meaning that Canada's largest city has everything the Big Apple does, but is just a bit cleaner, friendlier, more efficient and – well, Swiss. It might be an overstatement but, as a big metropolis, it does feel safe. But not safe enough for former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who yesterday pulled out of a talk in the city due to fears about his safety. Is he right to be scared? What are Toronto's potential dangers?

Cameron strikes sombre note before showmanship takes over. By Nigel Morris and Nicholas Cecil in Washington