Luxembourg - The European Union's finance ministers were braced for confrontation with the financial sector Tuesday as they met in Luxembourg to discuss the financial crisis in general and executive pay in particular.

But their talks threatened to spill over into mutual recriminations after a weekend of shock national banking bail-outs and precipitous stock-market falls.

Reykjavik - The Icelandic government, backed by opposition parties, adopted an "emergency law" late on Monday to reorganize its financial system that has been severely battered.

Prime Minister Geir Haarde said in a televised speech to the nation that the bank crisis also posed a national threat.

"There is a very real danger, fellow citizens, that the Icelandic economy, in the worst case, could be sucked with the banks into the whirlpool and the result could be national bankruptcy," he said.

The new legislation was to "adapt the banking system to Icelandic circumstances and rebuild the trust of foreign operators in Icelandic banking and financial operations," Haarde said.

London - Britain is already in a "worsening recession" and is facing the dual threat of slowing growth and rising unemployment, a survey of 5,000 companies by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said Tuesday.

The report said sales and profits had plummeted over the summer amid a worsening economic outlook and the prospect of rising unemployment as confidence had "collapsed" across all sectors of the industry.

Tokyo - The Bank of Japan decided on Tuesday to keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged at 0.5 per cent as uncertainty spread over the future course of the world's second-largest economy amid global financial crisis.

The policy board of Japan's central bank voted unanimously to forego an interest rate hike at the end of a two-day meeting.

The Japanese economy "has been sluggish against the backdrop of high energy and materials prices and weaker growth in exports," the bank said in a statement.

Tokyo - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) pumped 1 trillion yen (9.69 billion dollars) into the money market Tuesday to ease disruptions amid the global financial crisis.

Japan's central bank conducted the emergency measure for the 15th consecutive business day since the US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy on September 15.

The bank's move came after the Tokyo market plunged to a five-year low, which sent the key Nikkei Stock Average index below the 10,000 mark Tuesday.

Manila - The Philippine's inflation rate eased to 11.9 per cent in August amid stability in food and oil prices, the government said Tuesday.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said September's inflation rate was lower than 12.5 per cent recorded in August. Inflation in September last year was 2.7 per cent.

"The country's annual inflation rate for food alone continued to improve at 17 per cent in September from 18.1 per cent in August," the agency said.