LONDON, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Friday calls on the world to follow Britain's moves in saving the banking system.
In an article published on Friday's Times newspaper, Brown urges other governments to resort to a global solution in the face of a global problem by injecting money into struggling banks and offering similar guarantees to persuade the banks to start lending to each other again.
He also called for governments to adopt cross-border rules on transparency and the highest standards of conduct to guard against irresponsible risk-taking. In addition, a new system of supervision should be introduced to cope with the huge flows of capital between financial institutions.
Expressing his anger at "irresponsible behavior and risk-taking," Brown says banks that signed up to the rescue plan would have to accept there could be no more huge bonus payouts.
"The days of big bonuses are over. One of the conditions of us helping the banks is that we will have to reach an agreement about executive remuneration," he was quoted as saying.
The International Monetary Fund has pledged to help countries hit by the global credit crunch and had activated an emergency financing mechanism first used in the 1990s Asian crisis. But some countries in Europe are still not certain whether to take a "concerted approach" or acting case by case.
Brown calls for global action to save banking system
Banking, energy shares keep London market down
LONDON, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The London stocks market kept its downward trend by midday on Friday, led by poor performance from banking and energy shares.
The FTSE 100 was down 303.80 points, or 7.04 percent, to 4010.00 points by midday, after an early 10 percent plunge which saw the FTSE 100 index dip below 4,000 for the first time since 2003.
Shares of the HBOS shed 18.31 percent, to be followed by the Barclays, down 16.86 percent, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which lost 16.77 percent.
Energy companies including the BP, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group and Cairn Energy also witnessed remarkable fall in their shares.
British watchdog forces Toyota to change "misleading" advertisement
LONDON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The British advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) claimed on Wednesday that it has forced Toyota to change its "misleading" advertisement in a newspaper advertisement for Lexus, in which it claim to be "perfect for today's climate."
The ASA upheld at least four complaints by its readers, charging that a press advertisement for the Lexus RX 400H breached British advertising rules.
The Toyota driving in front may not be as environmentally friendly as it has claimed, the advertising watchdog has ruled.
Toyota has been rapped over a hybrid car advert in which it described its luxury Lexus as "perfect for today's climate."
The promotional said the vehicle was "perfect for today's climate (and tomorrow's)", adding that "driving the world's first luxury hybrid SUV makes environmental, and economic, sense," while it has small-print at the bottom the ad stated "CO2 emission 192 g/km."
The ASA ruled the advert had broken rules regarding truthfulness and environmental claims, and concluded that the ad was "likely to mislead."
Lexus, however, defended the advertisement, insisting it was intended to reach readers on different levels by referring to economic conditions as well as an offer to buy the car.
The company has since made amendments to the advertisement.
London stocks down 0.3% despite British Energy's 6% rise
LONDON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- British Energy top the winning list in the FTSE 100 with a 5.94 percent rise after it agreed to be bought by French firm EDF in a 12.5-billion-pound (about 23.25 billion U.S. dollars) deal by Midday Wednesday.
But the FTSE 100 index was down 15.57 points at 5,120.55, or 0.3 percent down by noon.
Bank shares were helped by news that Warren Buffett had made an investment in Goldman Sachs. Royal Bank of Scotland rose 4.2 percent and HBOS added 3 percent.
Mining firm Vedanta Resources fell 5.7 percent after the company said it had abandoned plans for a restructuring.
