UK’s Osborne: euro zone must deliver something “impressive”
Finance ministers and central bankers gathered in Paris for
a meeting of the G20 group had told their euro zone counterparts
to provide a detailed solution to the currency bloc’s woes at an
Oct. 23 summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, Osborne
said.”We have heard from euro zone colleagues the action they are
working on but I think they will have left Paris under no
misunderstanding that there is a huge amount of pressure on them
to deliver a solution to the crisis,” he told reporters during a
break in the meetings.”(The crisis) remains the epicentre of the world’s current
economic problems. And the 23 October European Council is
clearly the moment when people are expecting something quite
impressive,” Osborne said.Any solution to the debt crisis in the euro zone would need
to involve recapitalising weaker euro zone banks, resolving
Greece’s debt problems and “maximising the firepower” of the
European Financial Stability Facility rescue fund, Osborne said,
without providing details.Britain was open to providing extra money for the
International Monetary Fund, but not if it was used to set up a
special vehicle that would only benefit euro zone countries,
Osborne added.”The IMF should remain an institution focused on the global
economy and supporting economies around the world, rather than
creating a specific vehicle just to assist the Europeans,” he
said. “Additional IMF resources must not be a substitute for the
euro zone committing its own resources to supporting its own
currency.”
China arrests Wal-Mart employees in pork scandal
China’s official Xinhua news agency cited local police as
saying seven people had been put under house arrest and three
had been released on bail in addition to the two employees who
were arrested. Thirty-seven people have been implicated in the
case so far, the report said.On Monday, Wal-Mart said in a statement that it had agreed
to temporarily close the retail locations for 15 days to
“complete comprehensive actions to upgrade the standards” of the
stores.The municipal government of Chongqing, in the southwest of
China, will fine the stores 2.69 million yuan ($423,088) after
they brought in 730,000 yuan in illegal income, Xinhua said in
an earlier report.Police are still investigating the case, Xinhua said.A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company was cooperating with
the investigation.
UPDATE 1-Exxon says Chalmette refinery resumes normal ops
“We came back on-line at about 12:30 a.m (local time 0530 GMT),” said
Exxon spokesman Will Hinson. “The incident started about 8:30 p.m. Monday.
The refinery is currently operating normally. There was no impact to
production.”Exxon operates the refinery on the east side of New Orleans, which is a
50-50 joint venture with Venezuela’s national oil company PDVSA.
