Charlotte Denny

For a man who has provoked a collective temper tantrum at the highest levels of the IMF, Joseph Stiglitz is looking remarkably relaxed. The Nobel laureate has just launched a stinging attack on the organisation and its handling of the crises that have swept through the world financial system.

WorldCom on Thursday moved closer to bankruptcy as United States regulators formally charged the telecoms giant with fraudulently inflating its profits through improper accounting.