BBC News with Marion Marshall
The International Monetary Fund says it needs to raise hundreds of billions of dollars so it can give out new loans to countries in urgent need of financial support. The IMF said it was exploring options for raising the extra money. From Brussels, Chris Morris reports.
The IMF estimates that it needs about $500bn in additional funding to try to ensure that the instability
swirling
around the eurozone doesn't create further problems for the global economy. Countries which use the euro have
pinned their hopes for
some time on a build-up in IMF resources. They want it to help create a much larger financial firewall to prevent the eurozone debt crisis
engulfing
larger economies, such as Italy and Spain. EU countries - not including Britain - have already agreed to contribute about $200bn to the IMF, but that leaves a considerable gap to be filled.
A protest by leading Internet sites has prompted senior members of the US Congress to withdraw their support for proposed laws against online piracy. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, argues that the proposals would damage Internet freedom, and it closed its English language pages for 24 hours in protest. From Washington, Jonny Dymond reports.
US legislators sought to curb the distribution of pirated and
counterfeit
products by giving the courts the power to force search engines to delist pirate sites. But in the Senate, a bill that looked close to passage now appears to be in trouble. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a rising star in the Republican Party and one of the bill's sponsors, has withdrawn his support. Texas Senator John Cornyn has also indicated concerns. And in the House of Representatives, the Speaker John Boehner has said that there is now a lack of consensus about the proposed law.