The ECB and the Bank of England are almost certain to cut interest rates, and other news

• REPRESENTATIVES of over 190 countries gather in Poznan, Poland, on Monday December 1st for UN sponsored climate-change talks. Ambitious plans to cut carbon-dioxide emissions may be put on the back-burner as countries struggle to tackle the problems of the credit crisis and a nasty recession in the developed world. But rich countries will doubtless congratulate themselves on various