By William Schomberg and David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund called on Britain's government on Wednesday to do more to speed up slow economic recovery, hinting that the country might be able to afford to borrow more to fund investment. The report is unlikely to spur finance minister George Osborne to deviate from his flagship austerity program, and does not directly urge him to defer planned spending cuts.

By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's exports rose less than expected in April from a year earlier due to weak demand from Europe and China, highlighting the challenges confronting the world's third-biggest economy as policymakers try to engineer a sustained revival. The 3.8 percent annual increase in exports in April was below the median estimate for a 5.9 percent rise and followed a 1.1 percent increase in the year to March.

Pope Francis on Thursday called on world leaders to put an end to the "cult of money" and to do more to help the poor, warning that insecurity was rising in many regions of the world and the "joy of life" was diminishing in developed countries. "The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal," Francis said in an address to ambassadors to the Vatican.

The Group of Seven advanced economies smoothed over US-European differences at a weekend meeting on how to balance deep austerity measures with ways to support fragile growth. G7 finance ministers and central bank governors also pledged Saturday their commitment to tackling tax evasion on the second of two days of talks in the English countryside, British finance minister George Osborne said. The G7 additionally vowed not to intentionally set out to weaken currencies, after the yen on Friday hit its lowest point against the dollar in more than four years.