The Cola Queen?

London Mayor Boris Johnson joined condemnation of the near-£1 million bonus for RBS boss Stephen Hester, saying he was "at a loss to justify" the scale of the payment.

Frugality and philanthropy are key themes for the super-rich this year, says Ben Chu

Outlook: The time for action is now. We must be bold. Tinkering won't cut it anymore. Yes, yes. Politician gives speech. Hurray to good things. Boo to bad things. Film at 11.

David Cameron expressed hope today that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad would leave office this year.

Gordon Brown has landed a plum job at the World Economic Forum (WEF), the influential network of businessmen, politicians, economists and academics that holds its annual meeting in Davos.

One year after an uncomfortable general election campaign which saw him lose power after almost three years as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown could soon land a plum international job.

More bad news for Saif Gaddafi, the Libyan leader's son. As if the small matter of the uprising over dad's leadership isn't enough to worry about, the World Economic Forum, best known for its annual shindig of power brokers in Davos, Switzerland, has dropped him as one of its "Young Global Leaders". That means no more invites to Davos for the foreseeable future, which may come as something of a relief to the Swiss. Their relations with Libya have been strained since 2008, when the Geneva authorities briefly locked up Hannibal Gaddafi, Saif's brother, on charges of mistreating his servants.

Business leaders rounded off this year's World Economic Forum with a call to make sure the poor benefit more from any global economic revival.

Britain would be in "financial turmoil" if the Coalition abandoned its deficit reduction plan, and has no alternative but to follow it through, George Osborne warned today.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, has urged cash-rich British companies to start spending and investing again in order to get the country's stalling economic recovery back on the road.

The Prime Minister used his visit to the World Economic Forum yesterday to launch a new initiative he said he hoped would focus the minds of countries around the world on finally getting a deal from the Doha round of world trade talks.

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, and George Osborne, the Chancellor, yesterday sought to put the two biggest economic controversies of the Coalition Government's term in office behind them, insisting that their austerity measures would not derail the recovery and that Britain's banks would play their part in seeing the upturn accelerate.