BRUSSELS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Industrial new orders recorded a higher-than-expected increase in July in the 16-nation euro zone, official figures revealed on Wednesday.

    On a month-on-month basis, industrial new orders rose by 2.6 percent in the euro area in July, compared with June, said the European Union (EU) statistics agency Eurostat.

    The agency also revised up June's figure from an increase of 3.1 percent to 4.0 percent, compared with May.

    In the 27-nation EU, new orders rose by 1.6 percent in July, after falling by 0.6 percent in June.

    Excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment, for which changes tend to be more volatile, industrial new orders in July grew by 3.1 percent in the euro area and 3.4 percent in the EU month-on-month.

    However, the figures continue to be well down on a year ago.

    Compared with the same month in 2008, industrial new orders in July decreased by 24.3 percent in the euro area and 24.9 percent in the EU. Total industry, excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment, dropped by 23.4 percent in the euro area and 22.5 percent in the EU.

    Among the various industries, new orders for durable consumer goods in July increased by 5.6 percent month-on-month in the euro zone and 6.9 percent in the EU, Eurostat said.

    Capital goods were up by 2.9 percent in the euro zone, but fell by 1.8 percent in the EU. Intermediate goods rose by 2.8 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, in the two regions.

EU approves BlackRock's bid for Barclays' investment arm

    BRUSSELS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Wednesday approved BlackRock's bid for British bank Barclays' asset management arm, a deal worth 13.5 billion U.S. dollars and set to elevate BlackRock to the world's largest asset manager.

    The commission, the EU's competition guardian, said in a statement that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in Europe. Full story

Euro should be Polish economy's strategic goal: minister

    WARSAW, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Integration with the euro zone should be the strategic goal of the Polish economy, Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski told a news conference here Wednesday.

    President of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet oncesaid that Polish economy resistance to crisis surprised a number of Poland's partners and dispelled doubts related to the fulfillment of Maastricht criteria, according to the minister.Full story

France calls for reform of world financial institutes

    UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday called for reform of the world financial institutes -- the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank -- and reengineering the international monetary system.

    The French president, while addressing the general debate of the UN General Assembly, said, "We need to reform the IMF and the World Bank. Voting rights need to be more equitably distributed between countries." Full story

EU to strengthen financial supervision in Europe 

    BRUSSELS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission adopted on Wednesday "an important package of draft legislation" to significantly strengthen the supervision of the financial sector in Europe.

    The commission said the aim of "these enhanced cooperative arrangements" was to sustainably reinforce financial stability throughout the EU, ensure basic technical rules were applied and enforced consistently, identify risks in the system at an early stage, and be able to act together more effectively in emergency situations and in resolving disagreements among supervisors. Full story

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis