Cairo  - Cairo's Gazira Club sprawls lazily across a verdant island in the Nile.

In the days of the monarchy, it was reserved for English officers. And while it was nationalized after the revolution in 1952, the club remains a bastion of Cairo's elites and upper-middle classes.

If anyone in the Arab world's most populous country has felt the effects of the world financial crisis, they are likely to be found here.

Bangkok - Six months ago, when the financial crisis started in US and European markets, there was still hope that South-East and East Asia would prove immune to the latest hiccup in capitalism.

The region suffered its own financial crisis in 1997-98 when weak financial systems, overborrowing and ballooning current account deficits led to plummeting currencies, widespread bankruptcies, mountains of private and public debt, and a massive financial cleanup sponsored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and pushed by the West.

Sydney - The global financial crisis has done wonders for the dismal science of economics.

From Anchorage to Ankara the spooky talk about global warming has given way to debate on toxic debt and stimulus packages, job security and interest rates.

There's a fresh cast of characters in the news bulletins: out went the sports stars and fashion labels and in came Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Warren Buffett and Ben Bernanke.

Listen in on the conversations of commuters and be amazed at the discourse.

Rustenburg, South Africa  - In British street speak, when something is good it's "diamond".

In the South African city of Rustenburg, a mining town set amid rolling grassland and quartzite mountains about two hours from Johannesburg in North-West Province, another underground treasure - platinum - is the adjective of prestige.

Washington/Berlin - The world's big economic powers will hold an emergency summit in London next week amid a deepening sense of despair about the outlook for the world economy and with few signs that major nations have laid aside differences on how to combat the global recession.

While the Group of 20 (G20) meeting of the most advanced and emerging economies will mark US President Barack Obama's first major foray onto the world stage, tensions have emerged notably between Washington and Europe over the need for another round of fiscal stimulus packages to spur world growth.

Buenos Aires - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has long made it clear that he does not like going to international summits as anything other than a protagonist - and he is travelling to London for the G20 summit in April with very clear views.

Protectionism is not a way out of the ongoing global economic and financial crisis, he is bound to say, and it is industrialized nations which caused the crisis in the first place and therefore should bear the brunt of the cost by helping poorer countries recover from the effects.