Darling in talks on market turmoil

Finance ministers from the G7 group of leading Western industrialised countries are meeting central bank governors amid ongoing predictions of a difficult year.

The UK has led calls for financial market reforms and for a better international "early warning" system to head off crises such as the run on the Northern Rock bank.

Proposals were agreed at a Downing Street summit of European leaders last month and Mr Darling will be seeking to build on that in Tokyo.

The effects of the credit crunch were seen again in the UK on Friday with figures showing home repossessions soared last year - with worse predicted for the next 12 months.

A quarter point interest rate cut by the Bank of England on Thursday was welcomed, although some businesses were disappointed it had not made a more dramatic reduction.

The US Federal Reserve recently slashed rates by 1.25% in less than two weeks in an attempt to stave off an economic recession.

But Mr Darling has played down the chances of other countries taking similar action in a co-ordinated effort - insisting circumstances in each are not the same.

Talks will also focus on international trade and climate change amid warnings from Oxfam that the world's poor are in danger of being knocked off the agenda by rich nations' domestic concerns.

The G7 is made up of the UK, America, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada.