Dutch ING Bank has asked its top 1 200 managers not to accept their bonuses for the year 2008.

Citigroup was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and is confident about its capital strength, chief executive Vikram Pandit said.

The US government will boost its stake in Citigroup to as much as 36%, bolstering the bank’s capital base in the latest effort to save the bank.

Fano Ephraim Mtshali hasn’t held a steady job since 1998 and claws out a living for his two children and his eight orphaned nieces and nephews.

It was the year the neo-liberal economic orthodoxy that ran the world for 30 years suffered a heart attack of epic proportions.