Broadcasting Time: 07:00-08:00, GMT+08:00, 2011-10-16
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News and Reports on China Radio International.
In This Edition
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G20 financial leaders expect the euro area to rely more on itself with bigger bailout fund to avoid contagion and restore confidence on financial markets.
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The Occupy Movement protests spread around the world with mass demonstrations in Asian and European cities to demand a change to the world's political and financial systems.
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A demonstration was held outside Iran's UN mission after allegations surfaced that Iran was behind a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil.
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Rescue workers reinforce makeshift walls and sandbags around Bangkok as Thailand's capital suffers the worst flood of the past five decades.
Hot Issue Reports
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin says the group of 20 rich and emerging nations would act to maintain economic stability and restore confidence on financial markets.
He made the remarks after a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Paris.
"We have adopted strong measures in order to obtain economic stability and restore confidence and sustain growth. We will propose to the heads of state a concrete and ambitious plan of action prepared by Canada and India where all the countries will be involved. It was important to stress that we agree to conduct co-ordinated policies including short term measures and medium and long term prospects in some industrialised states that need to sustain growth and global demand."
The world's leading economies are keeping pressure firmly on Europe to sort out its debt crisis with that sense of urgency reflected in a communique at the end of the meeting.
The statement calls for further work to maximize the capacity of the current European bailout fund in order to address contagion of the debt crisis.
But efforts by some countries to increase the IMF's war chest to fight the crisis ran into resistance from the United States and others.
The make or break moment in the two-year-old crisis that has spread far beyond starting point Greece could come at a summit of EU leaders next weekend.
The French finance minister said leaders at the summit will agree "decisive" measures to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.
Meanwhile, thousands of protesters marched in European cities on Saturday as part of a global protest to demand a change to the world's political and financial systems.
Police in Rome fired tear gas to disperse protestors who smashed bank and shop windows. Protests were also held in London, Frankfurt, Athens and Madrid, where the protest movement began five months ago.
In London, protestors rallied around the financial center to voice what they called government-backed corporate greed.
Our London correspondent Tu Yun reports.
The movement started on Wall Street, New York. Now it comes to the Stock Exchange in London.
Demonstrators are challenging the country's financial system and the way the government is dealing with the financial crisis, which the demonstrators say were caused by the greed of the one percent rich people.
A protester, who would only identify herself as Annie, says she's lost everything in a way when housing market crashed.
"The value of my house bottomed down and never recovered. I'm 45 years old and I have to start my life over again. I lost everything, thanks to the bankers. I've had enough of this."
Britain's undergoing deep spending cuts totaling more than 80 billion pounds, affecting thousands of households. But the failed banks are getting bailout worth hundreds of billions.
Protesters say the public is sold out.
"If we re-introduce the Tobin tax at 0.05%, that would raise at least 100 billion pounds year. That's enough to wipe off the government deficit within two years. We don't need any public spending cuts. What we need is social justice."
Demonstrators have been trying to approach and set up a protest camp in the square that's home to the London Stock Exchange. But all the entries are blocked by the police.
Some protesters say they will stay for as long as possible.
"Our revolution starts somewhere. People have to come out on the streets, and talk, and make their voices heard. We can't just sit at home and take it anymore."
Smaller demonstrations have taken place in other cities across the country, including Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh.
For CRI, I'm Tu Yun reporting from London.
The Occupy Movement protests have spread from the US to Asia with anti-capitalism demonstrations held in Seoul, Hong Kong and Manila.
The message of the Occupy Wall Street movement is resonating in the Asian cities, where protesters say the rich-poor gap is widening due to economic policies.
In South Korea's capital Seoul, dozens of protesters gathered in front of the country's Financial Advisory Service to express their solidarity with the Occupy movement.
The protesters urged the government to enact policies that support victims of what they called "greedy" financial institutions.
40-year-old Ahn Jin-geol is one of the protesters.
"Governments and financial markets are plundering the people and making the lives of people harder. We're here to band together with citizens of the world and urge the government to withdraw its policies supporting rich conglomerates, big banks, and financial speculators."
In Hong Kong, around 200 protesters gathered outside the stock exchange in the heart of the financial district.
One activist named Tom Grundy said the staggering rich-poor gap in Hong Kong is one example of the flawed global financial system.
"Hong Kong, it seems, is microcosm for what is happening around the world in that we're heavily reliant on the financial sector here and yet at the same time, and it's no coincidence, we have amongst the biggest rich, poor gaps in the world."
In Manila, dozens of activists marched to the U.S. Embassy in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The protesters were prevented by local authorities from approaching the embassy gates.
They held placards and streamers, expressing support for the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, and echoed the U.S. protesters' disdain for the global financial system.
Occupy Wall Street, a movement which was started last July, has spread across the U.S., with meet-ups being posted in social networking sites to condemn economic inequalities and widespread poverty.
A gun battle has taken place between hundreds of revolutionary soldiers and Moammar Gaddhafi loyalists in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
The confrontation was the first of its kind in more than two months.
It began when a group of loyalists carrying the green flag that symbolizes the ousted leader's regime appeared on the streets of Tripoli's Abu Salim neighborhood, which houses the notorious prison of the same name.
Ahmed Alkigly is a revolutionary fighter.
"The fighters came from all over Tripoli and they arrested two from the pro-Gaddhafi faction. The rest of them escaped."
A fighter from the Zintan brigade said several Gadhafi supporters apparently planned a protest but drew fire because they were armed. The pro-Gadhafi forces then fled and were pursued by revolutionary forces, prompting fierce street battles.
Latest reports say a total of 15 supporters of Gaddafi were arrested following the exchange of gunfire.
Abu Salim prison has been a symbolic area for Gaddafi supporters. In September, over 1,200 bodies of prisoners were discovered in the area. They were considered to have been killed by Gaddafi's forces in the 1996 Abu Salim massacre.
The violence in the capital, which has been relatively calm since the then-rebels seized control in late August, underscored the difficulty Libya's new rulers face in restoring order as Gaddhafi remains on the run.
Meanwhile, in Sirte, revolutionary soldiers also met with strong resistance from the loyalist fighters, reportedly as a result of Gaddafi's latest incitement of reprisal on a foreign radio.
Sirte, hometown of Libya's decades-long ruler, is now one of a couple of Gaddafi forces redoubts in the country, the other being Bani Walid.
An anti-Iran group has performed a mock-stoning of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad outside Iran's UN mission after allegations surfaced that Iran was behind a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil.
The group members threw shoes and fake stones at a giant puppet that resembled the Iranian leader.
Chris DeVito, the Outreach Director for Iran 180, the group behind the event, explained the group's motives.
"We're here today because we are outraged like most Americans are at the discovery of this plot to attack the Saudi ambassador here on American soil. We're here because this is one of the only places, the only place in the United States where Iran has a diplomatic presence."
US authorities said on Tuesday that they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran's security agencies to kill Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in Washington. One was arrested last month while the other was believed to be in Iran.
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