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President Obama has appealed to Congress to back a job creation package that will cost almost £450bn. And also in the programme, will the boom in personal injury cases be stopped by the government's plan to ban referral fees?

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0607
Paper review.

0615
Business news with Dominic Laurie. President Obama presented a $450bn jobs creation package to Congress overnight. US Analyst Carl Weinberg considers if this will ease America's economic woes. We look at the markets. And the Friday Boss is Mark Dixon, CEO of pay-as-you-go office company Regus, who also assesses the impact of 9/11 on the business world, ten years on.

0626
Sports news with Rob Bonnet.

0640
Paper review.

0650
Scientists believe they have identified the gene responsible for chronic pain. Cambridge University's Professor Peter McNaughton, lead author of the study, explains how this could lead to a revolution in health care.

0709
The government will today announce the end of the controversial practice of referrals, in which personal injury lawyers and other interested bodies seek out confidential information about accidents in order to encourage people to make insurance claims. Nick Starling, director of general insurance and health at the Association of British insurers, considers the effect of the measures on the insurance industry.

0713
President Obama heralded a new jobs creation package in a speech to Congress last night. North America correspondent Mark Mardell assesses whether the proposals will do anything to revive the stalling US economy.

0716
The UKIP party conference starts today. Leader Nigel Farage previews his speech to the party faithful, in which he will attack the main parties' policies on Europe.

0720
Business news with Dominic Laurie.

0722
The Libyan opposition is still trying to take control of all the country, with their fighters making slow progress towards the Gaddafi stronghold of Sirte. The BBC's Paul Wood reports from near the town.

0726
Sports news with Rob Bonnet.

0731
Sunday will mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In the latest in a series of packages considering its impact on Britain, Today programme presenter John Humphrys looks at how the balance between security and civil liberties has changed in the past decade.

0740
Paper review.

0742
The world could be on the brink of finding a new, efficient source of clean energy. Dr Ed Moses, director of the National Ignition Facility in California, and Sir Peter Knight, president of the Institute of Physics, explain how nuclear fusion could transform the world's energy needs.

0747
Thought for the Day with Dr Ann Barker.

0750
Finance ministers of the G7 countries meet in Marseille today to discuss how they can encourage growth and calm markets. Economics editor Stephanie Flanders and the Financial Times' Gillian Tett discuss how the summit will respond to President Obama's new jobs package.

0810
The government will today announce plans to ban the practice of referrals, where information about accidents is sold, mainly to personal injury lawyers, to try to encourage people to sue for compensation. Paul Lewis, presenter of Radio 4's Money Box, explains exactly what referral fees are. And Karl Tonks, vice president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, and minister for Justice Jonathan Djanogly, debate the necessity of a ban.

0821
The singer Bjork will headline the Bestival Isle of Wight festival this weekend. The Today programme's Nicola Stanbridge has been to meet her to preview her latest album, out next month, which is her most ambitious project yet.

0826
Sports news with Rob Bonnet.

0834
An inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa whilst in British army custody has blamed "corporate failure" at the Ministry of Defence for the use of banned interrogation methods in Iraq. Former chief of the general staff Lord Dannatt considers how this will affect the reputation of the army.

0839
Will President Obama's latest attempt to revive the US economy succeed? Professor Peter Morici, economist at the University of Maryland, gives his opinion.

0845
How did 9/11 shift the balance in the UK between security and civil liberties? Today programme presenter John Humphrys talks to former Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis and former Labour home secretary Lord Reid about how to determine when civil liberties have been lost.

0849
Business news with Dominic Laurie. The pub chain JD Wetherspoon has announced its full year results this morning, with profits of just over 60 million pounds. Founder and Founder and chief executive Tim Martin shares the secrets of its success.

0853
A pair of artificial intelligence robots have spoken to each other for the first time. Two PhD students from Cornell University have given their voices and 2D avatars to a pair of "chatbots" with artificial intelligence, which they named Alan and Sruthi. 0855
Some of fiction's greatest criminals were inspired by villains who were even more twisted and wicked than the characters themselves. Adam Nightingale, author of Masters of Crime, and Peter Robinson, author of Before the Poison, examine whether the literary villain of today is more or less warped than those of days gone by.

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