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The two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of 46 nations, followed by separate EU summits with China and South Korea on Wednesday, opens amid renewed tension between Beijing and Tokyo over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, indisputably star guest of the talks, could hold a face-to-face meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to ease the dispute, diplomats said.

The new figure of 143.1 billion barrels of oil represents a 24-percent increase over the old level of 115 billion barrels, but still leaves Iraq ranking behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela in terms of known reserves, according to OPEC data.

“Iraq’s oil reserves which are extractable are 143.1 billion barrels,” Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said at a news conference in Baghdad, noting this excluded any reserves in the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

“I am convinced that a strong Europe is irreplaceable….China wants to promote and strengthen strategic links with the European Union,” Wen said in an address to the parliament in Athens ahead of the Asia-Europe and EU-China summits.

He said China would “support the stability of the euro” and Beijing would “not reduce the amount of European bonds that are part of the Chinese foreign exchange reserves.”

Two weeks before Cameron’s government unveils a spending review likely to force many departments to slash spending by 25 percent, the premier also tried to reassure Britons over their impact, while acknowledging hard times ahead.

The conference in Birmingham, central England, is the centre-right Conservatives’ first since they took power in a coalition government with the centrist Liberal Democrats in May after 13 years in opposition.

Heads of state and government from the 48-member Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) will hold a two-day summit followed by separate European Union talks Wednesday with South Korea and China.

But all eyes will be on whether Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will meet face-to-face to ease tensions over a maritime incident near a disputed island chain.

Particularly smaller, often family-owned, businesses — the backbone of the Europe’s biggest economy — are being drawn in by the opposition Greens’ programme of pragmatic sustainability.

“The Greens and small- and medium-sized businesses — it is a match practically made in heaven,” said Mario Ohoven, president of the BVMW industry group representing the interests of such firms.

Cameron said his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government inherited a “complete mess” from his Labour predecessor Gordon Brown after May’s general election.

“Britain’s budget deficit is something you can’t put off dealing with,” Cameron told the BBC in an interview.

Thousands of TV execs are to flock to the French Riviera to brainstorm and snap up some of the hottest new programmes at this year’s influential MIPCOM 2010 audiovisual entertainment show that kicks off here Monday.

The four-day event will focus on re-defining the entertainment experience through fast-growing digital platforms such as social networks as well as smartphone-connected digital TV and apps and their effect on the industry.

Carrefour, the world’s second-biggest retailer behind US colossus Wal-Mart, is looking to offload its 43 Thai, 23 Malaysian and two Singaporean hypermarkets in a sale some estimates suggest could net a billion dollars.

Analysts believe Carrefour’s eagerness to sell up reflects the fact that, despite its large foothold and the robust health of the markets, the firm has trailed competitors such as Britain’s Tesco in terms of market share.

Soaring property prices have sent the financial hub’s government into action over the past year, staging half a dozen land sales to boost supply and cool an overheating market amid fears of a housing-price bubble.

The land sales sparked huge interest from buyers, including Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, given the scarcity of real estate in this densely populated city of seven million.

Major mortgage lenders Bank of American, JPMorgan Chase and GMAC have in recent days announced they were suspending tens of thousands of foreclosure processes across the country due to apparent improper handling of documents.

Attorney generals in six states are already investigating claims by borrowers that lenders have committed errors in the foreclosure documentations.

Industry sources and analysts say Australia’s vast reserves of the obscure metals with highly prized properties could make it one of the world’s leading producers in just a few years.

“By about 2014 we should be one of the dominant suppliers of rare earths to the world. And we will compete with China for that,” a long-term investor told AFP.

The move comes a month after Genzyme rebuffed an approach from Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) at the same price. Sanofi has since been talking to Genzyme investors, who it said were frustrated by Genzyme management’s intransigence.

Sanofi’s unsolicited offer, all in cash, will expire on December 10 at 11:59 pm EST.

The new rules were seen as a move to restore confidence to Switzerland’s crucial private banking industry, but could crimp the ability of the country’s two biggest banks to compete in investment banking in Europe and on Wall Street.

The two banks should hold an equity tier 1 capital ratio of at least 10 percent under the proposals laid out by the a government commission on Monday.

AIA Group Ltd is aiming for an overall value of around $30.5 billion after listing, according to another source, on a par with what UK insurer Prudential Plc (PRU.L) had last offered for AIA in its failed takeover bid earlier this year.

KIA, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, is among the major global institutions that have signed up as cornerstone investors ahead of AIA’s IPO. The sources had direct knowledge of the matter but were not authorized to speak publicly as the deal has yet to launch.

The independent New Economics Foundation (NEF) thinktank said it had examined Bank of England data and concluded that many UK banks appeared to face a funding cliff, as it published a report on Britain’s banks entitled “Where Did Our Money Go?”

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds had to be part-nationalized as they ran up huge losses during the credit crisis, and others, such as Barclays and HSBC, have benefited from cheap credit provided by the central bank.

The IMF’s statement, released on Sunday, comes ahead of meetings here this week among fund officials, the World Bank and leading nations’ finance officials. It urges better international regulatory cooperation and stronger supervision.

Two years after the peak of the worst global financial crisis in generations, the IMF is seeking to keep momentum going for substantive cross-border financial reforms.

China, at loggerheads with the United States over the yuan and likely to face similar complaints during his tour of European countries this week, emphasized its willingness to cooperate with the 27-nation EU..

“I have made clear that China supports a stable euro,” Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said during a visit to Greece at the start of a one-week European tour. “We will not reduce the holdings of European bonds in our foreign exchange portfolio,” he added.

The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo urged Japanese citizens to be cautious when using public transport or visiting popular tourist sites – issuing another blow to Europe’s tourism industry, which is just starting to recover from the global financial crisis.

European authorities – especially in Britain, France and Germany – tightened efforts to keep the public safe in the wake of warnings by officials that the terrorism threat is high and extra vigilance is warranted.

Governments as far afield as Washington and Seoul are asking: What happens if China cuts off our supply too?

Like the rest of the world, Japan depends almost entirely on shipments from China, which produces 97 percent of the global supply of the metals known as rare earths.

The leaders found their way through a cordon of gun-toting security and barbed wire sealing off the center of the capital.

There, they were welcomed in the marble, gilted royal palace under crystal chandeliers – but the meeting was expected to be stronger on symbolism than achievements.

The 55-year-old florist and her husband borrowed 61,000 Swiss francs – the equivalent of 10 million forints ($47,000, euro35,700) in 2006 – to cover two-thirds of the cost of a small apartment in an outer Budapest district.

After four years, a sharp rise in the franc against the forint doubled her payments, from 50,000 ($240, euro180) to 100,000 forints ($480, euro360) a month.

“Make no mistake: When the aftermath of congressional inaction becomes clear, Americans will not tolerate those who stood by and let the calamity happen,” wrote Bruce Josten, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s vice president in September 2008, who at the time pressed lawmakers before their vote on a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street.

A few months later, Congress faced a similar reckoning – whether to pass an $814 billion economic stimulus package consisting of about one-third tax breaks and two-thirds additional government spending. Again, Josten wrote to lawmakers: “The global economy is in uncharted and dangerous waters and inaction from Washington is not an option.”

The high court turned down hundreds of appeals, including one by the founders of former telecommunications giant Adelphia Communications. It also refused to hear an appeal from John and Timothy Rigas, who wanted their fraud convictions overturned.

The Rigases were sent to prison after Adelphia collapsed in 2002, with prosecutors saying they used it like a personal piggy bank.

The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo urged Japanese citizens to be cautious when using public transport or visiting popular tourist sites – issuing another blow to Europe’s tourism industry, which is just starting to recover from the global financial crisis.

European authorities – especially in Britain, France and Germany – tightened efforts to keep the public safe in the wake of warnings by officials that the terrorism threat is high and extra vigilance is warranted.

Osborne, who is seeking to save about 86 billion pounds ($135 billion) in government spending over the next five years, said the cost of welfare payments was out of control – and rewarding some people for staying out of work.

At an annual rally of his Conservative Party, Osborne said Britain’s coalition government would introduce a new welfare cap to make sure families in which both parents are unemployed do not receive more in benefits than an average family earn in wages.