More than 20 foreigners were captive or missing inside a desert gas plant, nearly two days after the Algerian army launched an assault to free them that saw many hostages killed.

The Queen put central bankers on the spot when she quizzed them about the errors that led to the financial crisis in a rare public intervention during a visit to the Bank of England.

The European Central Bank, poised to take over supervision of the region's banks, said there was no room for complacency following early signs of easing strain on financial markets.

North African heavyweight Algeria is worried by the chaos in neighboring Mali, where Islamist militants have seized vast tracts of the country, but believes foreign intervention will only make things worse.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will tell Greeks she wants to keep their country in the euro when she visits Athens this week, but she faces a hostile reception from a people worn down by years of austerity and recession.

A section of debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines' pilots went on strike over non-payment of salaries and other dues for the past five months, leading to the cancellation of 40 flights across its network, an airline official said.

The strike by a section of Air India pilots will enter the 57th day, to attain the notorious distinction of becoming the second longest strike in the country's aviation history.

The crisis in Air India raged on for the 13th day and the national carrier's losses mounted to £26,306,300 as the impasse between agitating pilots and the management continued.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has cautioned against the perils of "financial crisis amnesia" in the wake of complaints from those attempting to weaken or repeal Wall Street reforms.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the spiralling financial crisis had subsided as efforts to restore stability in the Eurozone had borne fruit.