London - The British government believes that the "decisive action" taken to stabilize leading banks will help it get through the current financial turmoil, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said Monday.

"The steps we have taken are pretty significant," Darling told the BBC. However, he insisted that the government did "not want to run banks."

"Our sole aim is to strenghten and rebuild British banks," he said.

Berlin - Berlin was preparing Monday to announce details of how Germany is to commit hundreds of billions of euros to a rescue plan for the world economic system, with Chancellor Angela Merkel expected to speak to the media in the afternoon.

Sources said she and the two leading Social Democrats in her coalition government had agreed in the night on the basics of the plan, with the next move being to discuss it in cabinet.

London - Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced Monday that it will be raising 20 billion pounds (35 billion dollars) of new capital under a government bail-out scheme.

The bank also said that its chief executive, Fred Goodwin, is to stand down following the recent turmoil surrounding the bank which saw its share price fall to 1.71 pence.

The announcement came as the Treasury announced details of its plan to prop up banks to the stock exchange.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's chief executive believes the city could emerge as a more important financial centre because of the global economic meltdown, a news report said Monday.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang argues the "collapse" of London and New York could benefit the former British colony, according to the Hong Kong Standard.

In his annual policy address speech this week Tsang plans to say that Hong Kong "remains strong and may even grow as a result of the financial tsunami," the newspaper said.

Washington - The US Federal Reserve Bank on Sunday approved the takeover of ailing Wachovia Corp by Wells Fargo & Co of San Francisco.

The Fed publicized the decision in an unusual Sunday afternoon announcement, in a move likely to be timed to ease fears on the global financial markets.

Wells Fargo, which battled New York-based Citigroup for ownership of the forth-largest US bank, will take ownership of Wachovia by a share swap deal worth 15 billion dollars, propelling itself to the top of the US market for non-corporate clients.

Sydney - The Anglican Church in Australia said Monday it had been humbled in the global credit crunch and might have to lay-off staff.

"The global financial crisis is obviously starting to have an impact on a lot of not-for-profit organizations and agencies, and ... we've been caught up in that," church finance chief Kevin Spackman said.

The church said it was reliant on investment income and this was likely to fall drastically. It also admitted to not managing its money as well as it might.