Leading economies should consider adopting a modified global gold standard to guide currency rates, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said on Monday in a surprise proposal before a potentially acrimonious G20 summit. Writing in the Financial Times, Zoellick called for a "Bretton Woods II" system of floating currencies as a successor to the Bretton Woods

Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (http:www.hbr.org). Any opinions expressed are not endorsed by Reuters. "When the job market picks up, the first to leave are often a company's most valuable employees. Unfortunately, you may be inadvertently encouraging these future leaders to say

Britain's Queen Elizabeth has joined Facebook, adding a presence on the world's most popular social network to the royal family's accounts on Twitter, photo-sharing site Flickr and YouTube. The British monarchy's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/TheBritishMonarchy) does not allow users to "friend" the Queen or to send her messages, but offers updates on royal news and diary

Britain's Royal Navy was forced to take down its website after it was disrupted by hackers, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday. A message on the website reads: "Unfortunately the Royal Navy website is currently undergoing essential maintenance. Please visit again soon." It comes just weeks after the government announced a 650 million pound

Italy faces a government crisis and possible early elections with the eruption of open warfare between Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the former ally who is now his fiercest rival. Lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini demanded on Sunday that the prime minister step down to allow the formation of a new centre-right coalition, possibly without

Australia's Qantas Airways has grounded its A380 fleet for at least three more days as it investigates oil leaks that might have caused the engine explosion on a Sydney-bound flight last week. The incident has rattled the global aviation industry, which is recovering from heavy losses during the global economic downturn, and has been damaging

European shares edged lower on Monday as investors cashed in on six-month high prices in the previous session, although Greek banks lead financials higher after the country ruled out a snap election. The Athens bourse's banking index jumped 3.4 percent, led by ATEbank and Alpha Bank which jumped 3.6 and 4.4 percent respectively. Other European

The G20 should be consulted ahead of major decisions such as the U.S. Federal Reserve's move to inject an extra $600 billion into its banking system, Russia's G20 negotiator said on Monday. "Russia's President (Dmitry Medvedev) will insist …. that such actions are taken with preliminary consultations with other members of (the Group of 20

Tensions over exchange rates, global economic imbalances and aggressive U.S. monetary easing form an inauspicious backdrop to the Nov. 11-12 summit of the Group of 20 major economies in the South Korean capital. Following is the roadmap that the G20 might take as it strives to put the world economy on a sounder footing and

Singapore Airlines said on Monday it had completed engine inspections on all its Airbus A380 aircraft and did not find any issues of concern. One of the Rolls Royce engines on a Qantas Airways A380 broke apart in flight last week, forcing the world's largest passenger plane to make an emergency landing in Singapore with