The cartel's most recent decision to raise output was taken, at Saudi urging, at a meeting in Indonesia on the eve of the Asian financial crisis.

ECONOMIST: Wanted: two million barrels

Shadow chancellor George Osborne travelled from the Birmingham conference to London for a meeting about the crisis with Chancellor Alistair Darling and regulators at the Financial Services Authority.

BBC: Cameron: We're in this together

At our first meeting, in London, with the world in the grips of the worst financial crisis of our time, we acted boldly and swiftly to bring our economy back from the brink.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama on Wall Street Reform

The spokesperson added that with stagnant growth in the UK economy, and the crisis in international financial markets, the First Minister would chair a meeting of the Council for Economic Renewal next week.

BBC: 70 Tata Steel Construction Products jobs go at Llanwern

Asean officials meeting in Brunei this week will seek to buttress a fund designed to prevent a repeat of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

WSJ: What's News