Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to win Australian Open

Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova to win Australian Open

'Dr Doom' Nouriel Roubini predicts financial meltdown to last a decade

Economist Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed 'Dr Doom', who successfully predicted the sub prime crisis in 2008 is now predicting the current financial slowdown could last a decade unless Europe radically reforms itself and the United States gets serious about its own overwhelming debt deficit.

He painted a grim picture of the euro zone in recession and key emerging markets in China, India, Brazil and South Africa slowing down. The biggest uncertainty is the possibility of a conflict with Iran over its nuclear programme - which could lead oil prices to spike to US$150 per barrel, and lead to a global recession, he said.

Calling for a major change in policy priorities, Dr Roubini said: "We have to shift our investment from things that are less productive like the financial sector and housing and real estate to things that are more productive like our people, our human capital, our structure, our technology, our innovation."

Slow growth in advanced economies will likely lead to "a U-shaped recovery rather than a typical V", and could last up to 10 years if there is too much debt in the public and private sector, he said.

At a panel discussion yesterday, Dr Roubini also said Greece will probably leave Europe's single currency within 12 months and could soon be followed by Portugal.

» Fallout from financial meltdown could last a decade, says 'Dr Doom' | TODAY Online

Northern Lights (Solar Storms) Auroras in Northern Norway

Northern Lights (Solar Storms) Auroras in Finland

Google prompting all to read new policy when log in

When you re-login to your Google account, Google is now prompting you to read its new unified privacy policy. Come Mar 1, 2012, Google will be unifying its current more than 70 privacy policies into one single privacy policy. Google urges us to take a few minutes to read its updated Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service now.

Infographic: Apple's billions

McDonald’s 1-for-1 Prosperity Burger

McDonald is now offering a time limited offer from 27 to 29 January 2012 for its 1-for-1 Prosperity Burger. To redeem, simply flash the coupon on your mobile device.

Twitter able to block tweets and accounts but tweets must still flow

Twitter announced on Thursday that it is now able to block tweets and accounts from appearing in specific countries to comply with governments' request to censor information. Before that, Twitter can only block globally.

As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

From Twitter, it will not block tweets and will stay reactive. It will review and will withhold specific content when requested and necessary.

When an account is blocked in a specific country, users of that country will see that blocked profile as below:

And when a tweet is withheld instead, the tweet will be seen as below:

What If Twitter has misidentified your country? You will then have to update your country in the Account Settings.

For more information, read Twitter's policy.

» Tweets still must flow | Twitter Blog

More options for Google+ badge

Google+ announced more options for Google+ badges.

You can configure a badge with a width that fits your site design and choose a version that works better on darker sites. You'll also see that Google+ badges now include the unified +1 and circle count that we added to Pages last month.

Start creating your Google+ badge now.