Unhappy anniversary of credit crunch; Social security deficit looms; Curious about Red; Per capita Olympic medals; Motorola to slash 4,000 jobs

1 Unhappy anniversary of credit crunch (Stephanie Flanders on BBC) It is five years since the world woke up to something bad happening to the balance sheets of the world's largest banks. That's five years since banks started to worry about lending to each other - and the global financial system started to seize up. But, even pessimists would have hesitated to predict that Britain would still be struggling to put the crisis behind it, in the middle of 2012.

I have a more personal way of dating the crisis: my daughter, Claudia. She was born just weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Everyone said I had "missed the big story". Now that baby is starting school next month, and the "big story" is still going strong. Alas. Without the financial crisis, we might have expected Britain's economy to be 10-15% larger now than it was five years ago. Instead it's a bit smaller. And today's forecasts from the Bank of England suggest Britain's recovery will be mediocre, at best, for several more years to come.

"Are we there yet?" Five years into an unexpectedly tough journey, it doesn't seem childish to ask. The Bank of England's Governor has talked of seven lean years for the economy. By that measure, you might say we were more than half way there. But that biblical prophesy doesn't take account of the eurozone crisis. Or the hole in Britain's public accounts, which all of the country's main political parties believe we should fix - though Labour quibbles with the pace. Whoever would have thought, five years ago, that it would be easier to get 22 gold medals, in 2012, than a single bit of economic growth?

2 Social security deficit looms (San Francisco Chronicle) As millions of baby boomers flood Social Security with applications for benefits, the program's $2.7 trillion surplus is starting to look small. For nearly three decades Social Security produced big surpluses, collecting more in taxes from workers than it paid in benefits to retirees, disabled workers, spouses and children. The surpluses also helped mask the size of the budget deficit being generated by the rest of the federal government.

Those days are over. Since 2010, Social Security has been paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes, adding to the urgency for Congress to address the program's long-term finances. The Social Security trustees project the surplus will be gone in 2033. Unless Congress acts, Social Security would only collect enough tax revenue each year to pay about 75% of benefits, triggering an automatic reduction.

The projected shortfall in 2033 is $623 billion, according to the trustees' latest report. It reaches $1 trillion in 2045 and nearly $7 trillion in 2086, the end of a 75-year period used by Social Security's number crunchers because it covers the retirement years of just about everyone working today.

3 Japan growth slows to 0.3% (The Guardian) Japan's economy grew 0.3% in the quarter ending in June, from 1% in January-March. That was lower than economists' forecasts of more than 2%, and translates to a 1.4% expansion in annualised terms. The latest growth marks a fourth straight quarter of growth, although still at fragile rates. The economy was virtually flat in October-December but did not shrink.

4 Curious about Red (Khaleej Times) The Mars Rover has sent its first colour paranoramic view of the Red Planet back to Earth. And what do these low-resolution images by Curiosity show? A big mountain lying in the middle of Gale Crater – in other words, just a predictable barren and rocky landscape. For those hoping to set sight on some exciting pictures of Martians, there’s only one thing you can do: dream on.

But interesting, for an arid planet with no free oxygen, Mars has surely generated a great deal of fascination and interest in humans. For hundreds of years, people have felt compelled to know more about Earth’s neighbour. And for decades, people have speculated the possibility of life on Mars due to its striking similarities with Earth. New information has certainly crushed many myths about the solar system’s fourth planet. For instance, when viewed from afar, the planet is speckled with dark patches that were once mistaken to be the existence of liquid water. However, on closer observation, it was discovered that those dark spots were merely an optical illusion.

5 Per capita Olympic medals (Sydney Morning Herald) In the matter of Olympic medals on a per capita basis, Australia was beaten by New Zealand as the latter's 13 medals (five gold) put it in the top five of medals won per head of population. Based on figures where medals are weighted for value (three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze), Australia finished in 12th spot per capita, with one medal for every 650,000 inhabitants.

The Kiwis were fourth on the per-capita table, behind Grenada, a country of 105,000 people which celebrated Kirani James' win in the men's 400 metres with a public holiday. The Caribbean excelled in this category, with Usain Bolt and his Jamaican teammates in second spot, the Bahamas third and Trinidad and Tobago fifth.

The most efficient teams in London were China (87 medals among 371 athletes), Botswana, which sent four athletes and won one silver medal, Jamaica, Iran and the USA. Financially, Australia was well down the table on the relevant measuring. By GDP Australia was in 44th place, well behind the top five Grenada, Jamaica, North Korea, Georgia and Mongolia.

6 Motorola to slash 4,000 jobs (PC World) Motorola Mobility is cutting 4,000 employees as the company shifts its emphasis from feature phones to focus on high-end devices, the company said. About two-thirds of the staff reduction is set to occur outside the US. Motorola, which was acquired by Google in May, plans to close or to consolidate about one-third of its 90 facilities, as well as simplify its mobile product portfolio, making a shift from feature phones to more "innovative and profitable" devices.