Erstellt am: 31. 10. 2011 - 14:51 Uhr

Hu Jintao means business

Reality Check: China's president makes state visit to Austria, Occupy St. Paul's controversy, Qantas resumes flights, Germany's 55.5 billion clerical error, Finland's financial fears

For months there's been talk of China stepping in to save the Eurozone, and if not the whole Eurozone, at least Greece. At the Euro summit last week, China promised to help by investing further in Europe, but failed to mention any specific amounts.

China's President, Hu Jintao, is making a 2 day state visit to Austria on his way to the G20 meeting in Cannes. He's accompanied by a large delegation who are clearly ready to talk business. China is Austria's second largest trading partner, after the United States, and China is keen to acquire Austrian know-how on green technology.

Interestingly, the traditionally thorny issue of human rights in China no longer seems to be much of an obstacle. Our Beijing correspondent, Jörg Winter, told John Cummins that Chinese diplomats now expect the subject to be raised as a matter of protocol, but it has become part of the diplomatic routine and of little impact on any talks.

Something else that is not likely to have any impact at all on the Chinese President is the series of protests by Tibetans and other minority groups in Vienna. He is unlikely to see the protests, and even if he does, he will be unmoved. Trade will be at the heart of the visit, and while the Euro crisis might be mentioned, that's really the topic for Cannes.

With China cash-rich and Europe desperate for help, it will be interesting to see what kind of concessions Hu Jintao will expect from the west in return for being more specific about just how much China will invest and on what terms.

Occupy St Paul's

The "Occupy" movement has spread around the world, but in London it has caused one particular controversy. One of London's most famous landmarks, St Paul's Cathedral, has become an "Occupy" site.

One might expect that the church would sympathise with the protesters, but St Paul's has taken legal steps to have the protesters removed. That upset the most senior cleric in the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury who called the handling of the protests "a debacle", and senior clergyman at St Paul's, Giles Fraser, resigned last week over the issue. Our London correspondent, Olly Barratt, told Steve Crilley about the scene at St Paul's and how events are unfolding.

Qantas returns to the skies

Thousands of Qantas passengers all over the world were left stranded when the airline's staff were locked out by management last week. The industrial dispute is still unsolved, but Qantas have been ordered to resume flights and get back to negotiations. Our Melbourne correspondent, Artie Stevens, told Steve Crilley about the dispute and what is likely to happen next.

The 55,5 billion Euro accounting mistake

Germany's biggest "bad bank" - that's a bank set up to handle toxic or non-performing assets - has made a mistake in its books. A small mistake on paper, putting a number in the wrong column, but a massive mistake for the country's financial state and its reputation. What appears to have been a clerical error made Germany look 55.5 billion Euro worse off than it really is - that's about 2% of its total debt. John Cummins spoke to our Berlin correspondent, Hannah Cleaver, about how such a huge mistake could have gone unnoticed.

Finland's financial fears

Although prosperous, and until now relatively untouched by the financial crisis Finns are getting worried that the Euro-crisis will affect their exports, and therefore their enviable standard of living. Our reporter, Karen Percy, looks at the country and how the mood is changing as the financial crisis deepens.

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