Nicolas Sarkozy risked blowing apart the European consensus over how to deal with the financial crisis by proposing today that each country launch sovereign wealth funds to take stakes in key industries to stop them falling into foreign hands.

It seemed as if the global economy were headed for the kind of crash we haven’t seen since 1929. All the elements for a great financial meltdown and economic depression were in place last week—choked-off credit lines, massively leveraged firms,...

Injuries inflicted to women by violent male partners extends well beyond the short term, according to a 10-nation survey of domestic violence released on Friday. The World Health Organisation (WHO) probe found that physical and sexual abuse routinely...