Mark Pack

It’s Sunday. It’s 7am. It’s time to find out how peanut butter is made. But first, the news.

2 Big Stories

Gordon Brown floats idea of tax on financial transactions

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s idea of a financial transactions tax has received a lukewarm response from G20 countries.

The proposal, which took delegates by surprise at the meeting in St Andrew’s overshadowed other items on the agenda.

The US said it would “not support” a transaction tax and Canada added it was “not an idea we would look at”.

The Conservatives said that Downing Street had previously “poured cold water on this proposal” and that the Treasury had called it “unworkable”.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said the leaders had agreed the International Monetary Fund should now consider the possibility of introducing an international transactions tax, which would be used to create a fund for bank bailouts. (BBC)

Giant dominoes form tribute to Berlin Wall’s fall

Massive colorful dominoes painted by German students were placed Saturday along the former path of the Berlin Wall to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the barrier that divided the city for nearly three decades.

Many of the upright 7.5-foot-high (2.3-meter-high) plastic foam dominoes carried messages, including “We are one people.” The approximately 1,000 dominoes stretching for 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) will be toppled Monday as part of wider celebrations of the wall’s fall…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself a resident of East Germany when the wall fell, said in her weekly podcast Saturday that it was a day that “changed the lives of many people including me.”

“It is particularly nice for us to be able to celebrate this day with our European neighbors,” Merkel said. “We Germans will not forget our neighbors and allies who made the path to German reunification possible.” (Associated Press)

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here’s are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Jonathan Calder has the road sign of the week – a good rival for the minimalist approach of this all-purpose sign near where I live.
• Fraser Macpherson meanwhile reports on the Glasgow North East by-election, where money is being thrown around.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

Sunday Bonus

How peanut butter is made, via YouTube: