Brown lauds UK as euro decision looms
London: Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on Tuesday lauded Britain's monetary and fiscal policy regimes as a clear success story in his latest hint that he was not about to recommend scrapping the pound. There are less than three weeks until Brown presents the assessment of his five tests for euro entry to parliament amid widespread expectation he will say "no, not yet", even though Prime Minister Tony Blair sees euro entry as Britain's destiny. Speaking to a dinner of business leaders, Brown said: "I am confident that, tested in adversity, our monetary and fiscal regime built around the Bank of England is demonstrating its credibility and resilience. And I can assure you that nothing will be done in future that puts that basic stability at risk."
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China becomes top trader with California in 2002: Report
Los Angeles: China was California's top trading partner last year, as the value of goods flowing through the state's air and seaports eclipsed that of goods traded with Japan for the first time, a trade group said. The state had about $1.6 billion more in trade with China than Japan, reflecting China's growing stature as a manufacturing giant and its economic ties with California, particularly Southern California, said George Huang, an economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
More than $54 billion in goods were imported from China through California last year, compared with more than $41 billion in imports from Japan, Huang said Monday. Nearly $20 billion in exports flowed through the state to Japan in 2002, compared with only about $9 billion going to China.
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Deal may raise Napster from online ashes
New York: Napster, the online music service that unleashed an era of music piracy before filing for bankruptcy last year, may be about to make a legitimate comeback. The Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are close to a deal to sell Pressplay, their joint online music service, to the company that bought Napster’s name and assets last November at a bankruptcy auction, people close to the negotiations said. That company, Roxio, which is best known for its CD-recording software, would pay about $30 million, in cash and stock, for the Pressplay service under the terms of the proposed deal.
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