The global recession could deepen unless countries unite to try to solve the worst economic crisis in decades and banks resist "financial isolationism", British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday.

The former finance minister, who hosts a London summit of G20 leading industrial states in April, told the Financial Times a joint international effort would provide the key to unlocking the credit markets and kickstart the recovery.

"The greatest risk after the events of the last few months is a retreat into what I would call financial isolationism," he said in an interview with the newspaper. "A lot will depend on the degree of international cooperation."

Confidence in the credit markets will only return if banks reveal the true scale of their bad assets and avoid the temptation to retreat into their domestic markets, he added.

"One of the necessary elements for the next stage is for people to have a clear understanding that bad assets have been written off," Brown said.

"We have got to be clear that where we have got clearly bad assets, I expect them to be dealt with."

'No God' bus ads are banned

Italian atheists have lost a bid to run 'No God' advertisements on city buses after strong opposition from conservative political parties, a member of the group said yesterday.

The ads reading 'The bad news is that God doesn't exist. The good news is that you don't need him' were to have been put on buses in the northern city of Genoa, home to the Catholic cardinal who is head of the Italian Bishops Conference.

The mock-up was ready and the contract was sent to the group for signing but the publicity agency changed its mind and said the ad could not run it because it violated an ethics in advertising code, according to Giorgio Villella of the Italian Union of Atheists and Rationalist Agnostics (UAAR).

"It's strange that in a country where ads depicting near-naked women wearing skimpy lingerie is permitted on buses that we can't run ads about atheism," Villella said.

Bulgarian police hold silent protest

Around 1,000 Bulgarian police officers held a silent protest outside the Interior Ministry yesterday to demand better pay and working conditions in the EU's poorest state.

The police officers, banned by law from striking, handed a list of demands to the deputy interior minister. Their protest comes amid rising public anger over corruption and slow reforms as the global economic downturn and Russian gas supply cut bite.

"We are here because of the extremely bad working conditions. Officers have to bring their own paper in order to work," Ivan Pavlov, a policeman from the town of Lovech said.

Wall Str. top Obama inaugural donor

Wall Street may be bruised and battered, but it still donated more money than any other US industry to President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural festivities on Tuesday, a study has found.

The Centre for Responsive Politics said executives of finance, insurance and real estate companies and their family members gave $7.1 million to Obama's inaugural committee.

Top donors from the world of high finance included George Soros, Ronald Perelman and David Shaw, the centre said.

Bankers and hedge fund managers will mingle with Hollywood stars and Silicon Valley high-technology titans at the swearing-in ceremony for the 44th president, the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and the balls and parties that follow.

Special access and tickets are reportedly available to those who contributed $50,000 to the inaugural committee or who helped 'bundle' larger sums from multiple individual donors.

Trio to help monitor Gaza smuggling

Britain, France and Germany have offered to send warships to the Middle East to monitor and prevent arms smuggling in Gaza, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said yesterday.

"This offer is now on the table," the spokesman said. "One of the key areas and blockages about a ceasefire, outside of the rocket attacks, has been concerns about arms smuggling."

Details of any naval assistance were not immediately released.

The Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians.

Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians, hit by Palestinian rockets from Gaza, have also died.