Massoud Ali Mohammadi, an Iranian nuclear scientist at Tehran University, has been killed by explosives planted in a motorcycle outside of his house. It remains unclear what role Mr. Mohammadi played in Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons program.

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson attributed the rare terrorist attack to "Zionist elements and US mercenaries.”


An official at Tehran’s governor-general office told ISNA, the student news agency, that the involvement of Mujahedin Khalgh Organisation, an exiled armed opposition group which has a record of similar killings, was “one of the possibilities”.

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The US trade deficit in November was wider than expected according to US Commerce Department Data. Recovering US businesses have led the charge of the purchase of foreign goods, expanding the gap by 9.7% from October. In the short term, economist predict a moderation in trade imbalance with the dollar falling more than 12% and foreign companies picking up as well.

The International Monetary Fund has said it will probably raise its estimate for 2010 world growth from 3.1 percent.

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The robust global growth has governments and businesses concerned that central banks will soon raise interest rates to cool the potential for inflation. So far this month more than $75b has been raised, the majority by financial institutions still aiming to repair their fiscal positions after last year's recession.

Some economists are fearing a "double-dip" recession as global demand has the potential to recede in the wake of decreasing central government fiscal stimulus.

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China’s central bank sold bills at a higher yield for the second time in a week, increasing the likelihood that policy makers there will raise the benchmark interest rate in the first half of the year. It also raised the proportion of deposits that banks must set aside as reserves by 50 basis points from Jan. 18. The existing capital requirement levels are 15.5 percent for big banks and 13.5 percent for smaller ones.