President Obama has announced measures to make banks pay back all the money spent on the US government's huge bail-out of financial institutions. Mr Obama said he was committed to getting back every single dime the American people were owed. Andrew Walker reports.
At the depth of the financial crisis, the US government came to the rescue, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in banks and other financial firms. The result was that the feared collapse of the financial system did not happen. Now the US government wants the money back, and the new levy proposed by President Obama is intended to cover the losses that the administration expects to make. The timing reflects the fact that banks are expected to announce large bonuses over the coming weeks. And the levy would help the president argue he shares public concerns about bankers' pay.
Reports from Pakistan say the Taliban leader in the country, Hakimullah Mehsud, has narrowly avoided an American missile strike that killed at least 12 suspected militants. The attack targeted an alleged training camp in the tribal region of North Waziristan, near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
A court in Ukraine has ruled that the Soviet leadership of the 1930s was guilty of genocide in connection with the starving to death of nearly 4 million Ukrainians. The appeal court in Kiev found that Soviet rulers including Stalin were responsible for the Holodomor as the famine is known in Ukraine.