Sydney  - Australians were warned of higher taxes to pay for the cash hand-outs they began receiving Thursday from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's
42-billion-Australian-dollar (26-billion-US-dollar) stimulus package.

"They've got to understand that the cheques that are going out now are borrowed money," former treasurer Peter Costello said. "No one's going to turn back a cheque are they? But remember this: it's borrowed money."

Washington  - The world's largest economies must do more to halt a global economic slide, and more government stimulus will be a top US priority at an international financial summit next month, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

Ahead of April's Group of 20 (G20) gathering of the world's leading economies, Obama warned against protectionist moves and acknowledged that developing countries were being "hard hit" by the fallout from an economic crisis that largely began in the United States.

Tokyo  - Japanese orders for machinery fell for the fourth straight month in January, the longest losing streak in at least 20 years, as the global recession strangled exports and profits.

The Cabinet Office said new orders for capital investment declined 3.2 percent from December, but less than most predictions.

The economy recorded its first current-account deficit in 13 years in January, meaning that many companies will have less cash for capital investment. Tokyo Electron Ltd., the world9s second-largest maker of semiconductor gear, forecasts a year without profits.

Teopisca, Mexico  - Before the financial and economic crisis broke out, Abelardo Lopez, a peasant from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, worked as a gardener at a golf course in Phoenix, Arizona.

He earned 10 dollars an hour for mowing and watering the lawn, and for assisting people who took part in golf tournaments. In the middle of the ongoing global recession, however, he was handed over to the authorities for deportation alongside 70 other Mexicans.

Hong Kong  - Asian cities have shot up the list of the world's most expensive places as currency fluctuations bring down the relative cost of living in Europe, a survey found Wednesday.

Tokyo and Osaka leapfrogged Oslo and Paris to rank as first and second respectively in the cost of living index by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Singapore jumped five places to 10th while Hong Kong overtook London and Vienna to leap 17 places to 11th on the twice-yearly survey of costs in 140 cities worldwide.

Washington  - The White House on Tuesday said it hoped an upcoming economic summit would help the United States and European Union to resolve a growing rift over how to manage a deepening global recession.

Ahead of a Group of 20 (G20) summit of the world's leading economies in April, White House and EU officials have apparently been at odds over whether more government stimulus will be needed to pull their economies out of recession.