German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has accused the UK of blocking tougher financial rules ahead of the G20 summit.
“There clearly is a lobby in London that wants to defend its competitive advantage tooth and claw,” Mr Steinbrueck told Stern magazine.
Germany and France have led calls for more restrictions on banks, which have been resisted by the US and UK.
But the UK Treasury told the BBC the UK was not blocking more regulation.
The leaders of the richest 20 nations will discuss reforming the global economy when they meet in Pittsburgh later this week.
He said the financial sector accounted for 15% of the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) in contrast to just 6% in Germany.
However, a spokesman for the UK Treasury told the BBC the finance sector accounted for 8% of UK GDP, not 15%.
Despite the debates leading up to the summit, Mr Steinbrueck was confident that there would be progress at the G20 meeting.
“Politics at times is like a train engine, it’s slow to get up to speed, but it can pull more and more people along,” he said.
“We will deeply change the rules of the game for financial markets.”
He said he did not want to have to go through the experiences of the past year again.
“Back then, the stick of dynamite nearly blew up in our faces,” Mr Steinbrueck said.
The average ship of the type that are being hijacked, are going to be losing charter value of anywhere between $20,000 and $100,000 per day,” says Nick Davis, chief executive of Aden Group Transits, who provide security for merchant ships in the area.
Then there is the cost of employing international lawyers who make sure whatever deal is done with the pirates does not break any legal rules.
I have been told that this is almost always a six figure sum.
Of course the majority of cargo ships sailing around our oceans do not get boarded by pirates.
But the increase in levels of piracy does mean insurance costs have gone up.
By how much depends on the size of the vessel and an assessment of whether it is sailing through risky waters.
But the average premium to sail in areas where pirates are known to be active seems to be around $25,000 to $30,000 per journey.
In the case of the Gulf of Aden, simply avoiding the area by sailing a different route does not necessarily save money.
Named after the ruling Al Saud family, which came to power in the 18th century, the country includes the Hijaz region – the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the cradle of Islam. This fact, combined with the Al Sauds’ espousal of a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, has led it to develop a strongly religious self-identity. Saudi Arabia was established in 1932 by King Abd-al-Aziz – known as the Lion of Najd – who took over Hijaz from the Hashemite family and united the country under his family’s rule. Since his death in 1953, he has been succeeded by various sons.
The Al Saud dynasty’s monopoly of power meant that during the 20th century successive kings were able to concentrate on modernisation and on developing the country’s role as a regional power.
It has always been in the ruling family’s interests to preserve stability in the region and to clamp down on extremist elements. To this end, it welcomed the stationing of US troops in the country after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
But the leadership’s refusal to tolerate any kind of opposition may have encouraged the growth of dissident groups such as Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda, which benefited from popular resentment against the role of the US in the Middle East.
After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington of 11 September 2001 – carried out mainly by Saudi nationals – the Saudi authorities were further torn between their natural instincts to step up internal security and pressure to allow a greater degree of democracy.
In 2003 suicide bombers suspected of having links with al-Qaeda killed 35 people – including a number of foreigners – in the capital Riyadh. Some Saudis referred to the attacks as their own 9/11.
Since then, demands for political reform have increased, as has the frequency of militant attacks, some of them targeted at foreign workers. The security forces have made thousands of arrests.
Municipal elections in 2005 were a first, limited exercise in democracy. But political parties are banned – the opposition is organised from outside the country – and activists who publicly broach the subject of reform risk being jailed.
Saudi Arabia sits on more than 25% of the world’s known oil reserves. It is capable of producing more than 10 million barrels per day; that figure is set to rise.
The Egyptian culture ministry has agreed to publish Arabic translations of two novels by Israeli writers.
The decision comes in the wake of recent criticism of Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, who is bidding to become the next head of Unesco.
When asked about Israeli books in Alexandria library last year, the minister said that if they existed, he would burn them himself.
Mr Hosni later apologised but it was seen as having dented his chances.
The post of director general of the United Nations cultural agency is considered a valuable prize on the diplomatic circuit. The Egyptian government is very keen for its man to be chosen.
But the culture minister and abstract artist Farouk Hosni has come under some severe criticism for comments he made last year to the Egyptian parliament in which he said he would burn any Israeli books that were being held by the Alexandria library.
Mr Hosni subsequently offered his apologies.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signalled that Moscow might be prepared to soften its opposition to sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans.
Mr Medvedev, speaking after talks with US President Barack Obama, said that in some cases sanctions were “inevitable”.
Earlier, a Russian official said Moscow could support fresh sanctions if there was enough evidence from UN inspectors.
Iran’s president did not refer directly to the nuclear stand-off in his address to the UN General Assembly in New York.
However, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke of countries which undermined the development of other nations under the pretext of preventing arms proliferation.
He used his speech to accuse Israel of “inhuman policies in Palestine” and condemn US-led military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iran was ready, he said, to shake all hands “that are honestly extended to us”.
Several countries’ delegations walked out of the assembly during Mr Ahmadinejad’s speech, including France and the United States.
The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen says the speech appeared to be designed to send a variety of messages.
For his supporters, there were more harsh words about Israel.
But his remarks about shaking hands sounded like a deliberate echo of the language used by President Obama about the prospect of engagement with Iran, our correspondent says.
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