Here's our summary of the key news the weekend in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news that there have been elections in France - the first round of their presidential elections - and as expected the Socialist candidate came out on top, with sitting President Sarkozy second.
The closeness of this first-round result will come as a relief for Sarkozy as he was widely expected by the media to be trounced.
What was surprising was the strength of the far right vote for Marine Le Pen - she gained 20% of the vote, but in coming third she is excluded from the runoff on May 6.
The next fault-line in the battle to save the euro shifted over the weekend from weak southern debtor nations to a strong northern creditor nation. Holland's government has collapsed because the coalition there cannot agree on the cutbacks required to meet the EU deficit targets.
The Dutch may be rich, but they are currently running a deficit way above the EU standards. It needs to get its deficit down to 3% on GDP but is facing a 5% shortfall. The 'austerity' approach demanded by the Germans is not acceptable to the smaller anti-EU Freedom Freedon Party in that coalition.
There is political trouble in Australia too - the Gillard government has lost its speaker to a sex-and-expenses scandal and their one vote majority may well come under threat if that ex-speaker is forced to resign from parliament. Latest polls show the government would lose both houses if an election were held today.
The NZ dollar starts the week at US$0.8180 and the TWI is at 72.85.
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