Reuters - Angela Moon

Stocks fell the most in nearly three months on Tuesday, with the Dow tumbling more than 200 points as the risk of a disorderly default in Greece and a reduced growth target in China dented recent confidence in the global economic recovery.

The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX .VIX, Wall Street’s anxiety gauge, jumped nearly 18 percent to 21.23, rising above its 50-day average for the first time since November. A dozen stocks fell for every issue that rose the New York Stock Exchange, with bank and miner shares among the top decliners.

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The Telegraph - John Bingham

The true meaning of marriage is in danger of being lost under David Cameron’s plans to extend it to same-sex couples, the leader of five million Roman Catholics in England and Wales will warn this weekend.

The Telegraph - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

“The euro is not in the interests of the Dutch people,” said Geert Wilders, the leader of the right-wing populist party with a sixth of the seats in the Dutch parliament. “We want to be the master of our own house and our own country, so we say yes to the guilder. Bring it on.”

Mr Wilders made his decision after receiving a report by London-based Lombard Street Research concluding that the Netherlands is badly handicapped by euro membership, and that it could cost EMU’s creditor core more than €2.4 trillion to hold monetary union together over the next four years. “If the politicians in The Hague disagree with our report, let them show the guts to hold a referendum. Let the Dutch people decide,” he said.

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The Telegraph - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

The Spanish rebellion has begun, sooner and more dramatically than I expected.

As many readers will already have seen, Premier Mariano Rajoy has refused point blank to comply with the austerity demands of the European Commission and the European Council (hijacked by Merkozy).

Taking what he called a “sovereign decision”, he simply announced that he intends to ignore the EU deficit target of 4.4pc of GDP for this year, setting his own target of 5.8pc instead (down from 8.5pc in 2011).

In the twenty years or so that I have been following EU affairs closely, I cannot remember such a bold and open act of defiance by any state. Usually such matters are fudged. Countries stretch the line, but do not actually cross it.

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BBC

Brazil has become the sixth-biggest economy in the world, the country’s finance minister has said.

The Latin American nation’s economy grew 2.7% last year, official figures show, more than the UK’s 0.8% growth.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and other economic forecasters also said that Brazil had now overtaken the UK.

The Brazilian economy is now worth $2.5tn (£1.6tn), according to Finance Minister Guido Mantega.

But Mr Mantega was keen to play down the symbolic transition - which comes after China officially overtook Japan as the world’s second-biggest economy last year.

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BBC

Civic leaders in eastern Libya have declared semi-autonomy for their oil-rich region at a meeting in Benghazi.

They say the move is necessary as the region, once known as Cyrenaica, has been neglected for decades.

But the move has caused tension with the governing National Transitional Council in the capital Tripoli.

The declaration has no force in law but is a declaration of intent by the local leaders, the BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse reports from Benghazi. Read more »

BBC

A headless robot dubbed “Cheetah” has set a new world speed record, according to its owners.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said the four-legged machine achieved 18mph (29km/h) on a laboratory treadmill.

The agency said the previous land speed record by a legged robot was 13.1mph.

Darpa said that the project was part of efforts to develop robots designed to “more effectively assist war fighters across a greater range of missions”.

Darpa - which is run by the Pentagon - funded the Massachusetts robotics company Boston Dynamics to build the machine.

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BBC

Six major world powers and Iran are to hold fresh talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, the EU has said.

EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton said she had replied to a letter from Iran on behalf of the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.

Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili sent the letter last month proposing talks. No date or venue has been set.

The move comes amid fresh speculation of a pre-emptive military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Read more »

Jonathan Moormann - Christian Post

A lawsuit between Jet Propulsion Labs and a NASA mission specialist who claims he was demoted for his beliefs begins Wednesday, the latest in a series of court cases featuring intelligent design proponents suing former employers.

David Coppedge was employed at the JPL for 14 years and served as an information technology specialist on the Cassini mission to Saturn before being demoted. He first took his case to court in the summer of 2010 and was later fired in Jan. 2011.

In the complaint, Coppedge alleges that he was demoted and disciplined for discussing intelligent design with co-workers and distributing DVDs on the subject.

Proponents of intelligent design believe that an intelligent power is responsible for the world, and that life did not come about by random occurrences.

Other JPL employees were not penalized for expressing similar views in opposition of intelligent design, according to Coppedge’s lawyers. Read more »