Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company.

TOKYO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond futures edged up on Monday on a decline in Tokyo shares and gains by U.S. Treasuries at the end of last week, but 10-year bonds slipped ahead of an auction.

1. JOHN KEY (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by the statement she made yesterday, in relation to debt to GDP ratios, that “over the forecast period of the Budget that the Labour Government has delivered these debt to GDP

A top Reserve Bank official says there is no obvious reason why banks cannot pass on an official interest rate cut, in contrast to the views of several retail banks which have cast doubt on consumers getting the benefit.

CIBC announced a net loss of $1,111 million for the second quarter ended April 30, 2008, compared to net income of $807 million for the same period last year. Diluted loss per share was $3.00, compared to diluted earnings per share of $2.27 a year ago.