4. Japan disaster

    Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami could cost its economy up to US$235 billion, or 4 percent of output, and reconstruction could take five years, the World Bank warned on Monday. “If history is any guide, real GDP growth will be negatively affected through mid-2011,” the Bank said in its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update report.

    5. Unrest shakes Syria

    Crowds set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Baath Party in the Syrian city of Deraa on Sunday, residents said, as the wave of unrest in the Arab world shook one of its most authoritarian* states.

    The demonstrators also set fire to the main court complex and two phone company branches. One of the firms, Syriatel, is owned by President Bashar al-Assad’s cousin Rami Makhlouf.