The betting is that many with their hands out will be successful, especially with financial markets in a stomach-churning dive and predictions the economy is about to tumble into a deep recession. These groups argue that the credit squeeze is so severe and the risks to the economy so dire that their industries need financial support as well.

The Treasury is considering requests from a variety of industries, but has not decided whether to expand the program, officials said Saturday. Lobbying efforts are intensifying. "The institutions that are excluded play a vital role in the U.S. economy by providing liquidity to the market," Bartlett wrote Neel Kashkari, the Treasury Department official running the bailout program. Referring to U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, Bartlett said, "This is a global crisis and to not recognize the U.S. firms controlled by foreign banks or companies would create further impediment to the market's recovery."

The Treasury also is moving ahead to get bank stock purchases approved. It announced on Oct. 14 that it was spending $125 billion to buy stock in nine of the largest financial institutions. An announcement was expected Friday about a second round involving 20 to 22 other banks.

"The only thing I could do was hug my kids and run away with my wife as water reached our chest," the 33-year-old said Saturday. "I heard people screaming from houses just few steps from my house." The death toll, now at 49, is expected to rise since scores of people are still missing and hundreds of families are homeless or trapped by the flood waters, said Hamid el-Kharashi, a police chief in the remote southern province of Hadramut.

Damage from the storm, which first struck Thursday, has been extensive in Hadramut — Yemen's largest province — because most homes are made of mud brick. The government has struggled to distribute relief supplies because the floods have washed out many roads. The province of Mouhra, sandwiched between Hadramut and the border with Oman to the northeast, was also affected by the storm. On Friday, Mouhra deputy governor, Salem Numier, said floods had cut off main roads and caused power outages. There was also a shortage of food and medicine, he said.

The proposal describes the need to "…develop a software/hardware suit that would enable a multi-robot team, together with a human operator, to search for and detect A NON-COOPERATIVE HUMAN SUBJECT. The main research task will involve determining the movements of the robot team through the environment to maximize the opportunity to find the subject, while minimizing the chances of missing the subject. If the operator is an active member of the search team, the software should minimize the chance that the operator may encounter the subject."

Paul Marks at The New Scientist points out that given the propensity to adapt this kind of military style technology for domestic purposes such as crowd control, the proposal is somewhat concerning. "…how long before we see packs of droids hunting down pesky demonstrators with paralysing weapons? Or could the packs even be lethally armed?" Marks asks.

Marks interviewed Steve Wright, an expert on police and military technologies, from Leeds Metropolitan University, who commented: "THE GIVEAWAY HERE IS THE PHRASE 'A NON-COOPERATIVE HUMAN SUBJECT'. What we have here are the beginnings of something designed to enable robots to hunt down humans like a pack of dogs. Once the software is perfected we can reasonably anticipate that they will become autonomous and become armed.

Earlier this year another top robotics expert, Noel Sharkey, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield, warned listeners to the Alex Jones show that the world may be SLEEPWALKING INTO A POTENTIALLY LETHAL TECHNOCRACY and has called for safeguards on such technology to be put into place.

Professor Sharkey stated: "If you have an autonomous robot then it's going to make decisions who to kill, when to kill and where to kill them. The scary thing is that the reason this has to happen is because of mission complexity and also so that when there's a problem with communications YOU CAN SEND A ROBOT IN WITH NO COMMUNICATION AND IT WILL DECIDE WHO TO KILL, AND THAT IS REALLY WORRYING TO ME."

The Dow Jones index recovered from a near 6pc fall at the start to down 3.6pc at 8378.95, while the S&P500 closed 3.4pc lower and the Nasdaq was off 3.2pc. Before the market even opened, FUTURES TRADING IN ALL THREE INDICES WAS SUSPENDED AFTER EACH MARKET FELL BY ITS MAXIMUM DAILY LIMIT.

Volatility ruled the day as short-term traders and long-term investors fled major markets on fears over the health of the US economy amid rising job losses, a fall in house prices and worries that gross domestic product data out next Friday might confirm that America is also in the grips of a recession.

All eyes will remain on the US next week, as the Federal Open Markets Committee meets on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss whether or not to further cut interest rates from their current 1.5pc, while on Friday, the government will release third-quarter gross domestic product figures, revealing whether the US economy has started to move into a recession as many fear.

GEORGE W. BUSH HAS GROWN OLD, ERRATIC AND ROSY IN THE EIGHT YEARS OF HIS PRESIDENCY. Little remains of his combativeness or his enthusiasm for physical fitness. On this sunny Tuesday morning in New York, even his hair seemed messy and unkempt, his blue suit a little baggy around the shoulders, as Bush stepped onto the stage, for the eighth time, at the United Nations General Assembly.

He talked about terrorism and terrorist regimes, and about governments that allegedly support terror. He failed to notice that the delegates sitting in front of and below him were shaking their heads, smiling and whispering, or if he did notice, he was no longer capable of reacting. The US president gave a speech similar to the ones he gave in 2004 and 2007, mentioning the word "terror" 32 times in 22 minutes. At the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations, George W. Bush was the only one still talking about terror and not about the topic that currently has the rest of the world's attention.

"Absurd, absurd, absurd," said one German diplomat. A French woman called him "yesterday's man" over coffee on the East River. There is another way to put it, too: BUSH WAS A LAUGHING STOCK IN THE GRAY CORRIDORS OF THE UN. BUT THE RIDICULE WAS A NEW THING. IT MARKED THE END OF RESPECT.

In a report to the UN General Assembly, Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai law professor who has never been allowed to visit North Korea, said that its government is using public executions as a means of intimidating the population, and using spies to infiltrate and expose religious communities.

His report came two days after the World Food Programme said that two thirds of North Koreans do not have enough to eat, in the country's worst crisis since as many as three million people died of famine a decade ago.

"Sadly, even though the harvest was getting better, we have had devastating floods in 2006 and 2007," Mr Muntarbhorn said in New York. "OVER THE PAST YEAR WE HAVE HAD VERY WORRYING INFORMATION OF A VERY CHRONIC FOOD SHORTAGE."

"IT HAS BEEN DECIDED NOT TO JOIN THE GOVERNMENT," Roi Lachmanovich, a spokesman for Shas leader Eli Yishai, said in a telephone interview today."THE DECISION IS FINAL."

The rebuff came after Livni late yesterday said she'll announce on Oct. 26 whether she expects to form a government and take over as prime minister or ask President Shimon Peres to call early elections. Shas's 12 seats in the 120-person parliament could give her the support she needs for a majority.

The Fed's report, released Thursday, showed commercial banks averaged a record $105.8 billion in daily borrowing over the past week. That surpassed the old record - a daily average of $99.7 billion - from the prior week. On Wednesday alone, $107.5 billion was drawn, an all-time high.

Since the Bear Stearns debacle in March, the Fed has taken a series of unprecedented steps to get lending - the economy's oxygen - flowing more freely again. The central bank has repeatedly tapped its Depression-era authority to be a lender of last resort not only to financial institutions, but also to other types of companies.

CRITICS WORRY THE FED'S ACTIONS COULD PUT BILLIONS OF TAXPAYERS' DOLLARS AT RISK.

Large numbers of Palestinian worshipers in addition to religious and national figures were present at Al-Aqsa Mosque during the early morning hours to guard the Mosque against any possible attack by Israeli settlers. THE SETTLERS ATTEMPTED TO STORM AL-AQSA MOSQUE from Al-Silsila gate, but the massive presence of Jerusalemite Palestinians at the holy Mosque made the Israeli police ask the settlers to refrain from entering the Mosque.

Foundation leader Zaki Ighbareyah called for Muslims to "pour to Al-Aqsa for prayers" in response to the alleged incidents. "We published photographs of Israeli groups breaking into Al-Aqsa, and today they are talking publicly about invading the holy compound," Ighbareyah said in a statement. He also described the attitudes of those involved as "provocative."

"We consider this incident an attack on Al-Aqsa and a provocation of the feelings of Muslims around the world," particularly since it "is carried out under the guard and approval of the Israeli government," he said. One group of about 400 entered the mosque on Wednesday morning while another group of about 250 arrived after noon on the same day. The incident was documented by photographs that seemed to show extremists within various parts of the facility.

The head of Palestinian Authority (PA)'s Waqf Department in Jerusalem also denounced what he called "provocations" and accused the Israeli military of "creating tension by allowing extremists to break into Al-Aqsa, while guarding them." HE SAID HE FEARED THAT THE "CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH ACTIONS COULD AFFECT THE ENTIRE REGION."

The £1,500 test, which should be available as early as next year, will allow couples at risk of passing on gene defects to conceive healthy children using IVF treatment. Unlike current tests it takes just weeks from start to finish and is suitable for couples at risk of almost any condition.

The "genetic MoT" will transform the range of inherited disorders that can be detected in embryos and the speed and accuracy of such tests. At present only 2 per cent of the 15,000 known genetic conditions can be identified in this way. It involves creating embryos by IVF and removing a single cell from each when they are two days old. The cells are tested using a technique known as karyomapping before a healthy embryo is implanted.

That contradicts advice from the American Medical Association, which recommends doctors only use treatments to which patients have given their informed consent. "IT SEEMS LIKE DOCTORS ARE DOING THINGS THEY SHOULDN'T BE DOING," said Irving Kirsch, a professor of psychology at the University of Hull, who has studied the use of placebos. Kirsch was not linked to the research, published Friday in the British Medical Journal.

"Doctors may be under a lot of pressure to help their patients, but this is not an acceptable shortcut," he said. Placebos were defined in the study as treatments whose benefits derived from patients' beliefs they would work, not from the actual drug itself. They included painkillers, vitamins, antibiotics, sedatives and sugar pills. Studies have shown that patients given a fake treatment can often improve, despite the pill having no known impact on their condition.

OIL PRICES FELL SHARPLY TO AROUND $63 A BARREL Friday amid weakening global demand for crude. OPEC's statement says prices have witnessed a dramatic collapse unprecedented in speed and magnitude. Iran's oil minister said yesterday OPEC should take 2 million barrels a day off the market when it meets. OPEC output is around 29 million barrels a day — about 40 percent of the world's supply.

Just as Americans are finally beginning to reap the benefits of plunging gasoline prices — including more money in their pockets — the 13-nation global oil cartel is getting ready to squeeze them once again by cutting production and driving up prices to refineries. Iran is a traditional OPEC hardliner on prices and production and is the second largest producer within the organization. In contrast, Saudi Arabia which leads OPEC production, is expected to act as the brakes on demands of deep cuts.

"THE ERA OF CHEAP OIL IS FINISHED," Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari boasted earlier this week. When asked what price Iran would want for its oil, Nozari declared, "The more the better." Iran's oil minister told Reuters he would push to cut production by up to 2.5 million barrels per day.

IN SEPTEMBER THE ENTIRE BANKING SYSTEM WAS ON THE BRINK OF TOTAL MELTDOWN, BECAUSE OF SEMI-RATIONAL FEARS THAT ALMOST NO BANK WAS SAFE FROM COLLAPSE. And now we're seeing a massive flight of capital out of economies perceived to have been living beyond their means - either because they have a substantial reliance on foreign borrowings, or because they are net importers of good and services, or both.

Commercial lenders to these economies - banks, hedge funds, mutual funds and so on - want their money back now. That's driving down their currencies, pushing up the cost of borrowing for their respective governments and undermining the strength of their respective banking systems. So they need financial help to tide them over - and with the global economy slowing down, those economies perceived as lacking the resources to cope on their own may need support for months and years.

Queuing up for the intensive care ward are Iceland, Hungary, Pakistan, Ukraine and Belarus, all of which are in discussions about accessing special loans from the International Monetary Fund, the emergency medical service for the global economy. But there has also been a substantial withdrawal of capital from South Africa, Argentina and - most worrying of all - South Korea.

However critics said Mr Greenspan could have boosted regulation of the markets to help prevent the crisis. Committee chairman Henry Waxman, a Democrat, suggested that Mr Greenspan had added to the problem by rejecting calls for the Fed to regulate the sub-prime sector and some complex, risky financial products.

"The list of regulatory mistakes and misjudgements is long," Mr Waxman said. "OUR REGULATORS BECAME ENABLERS RATHER THAN ENFORCERS. THEIR TRUST IN THE WISDOM OF THE MARKETS WAS INFINITE," he added, saying that the mantra became "government regulation is wrong". One of the main criticisms against Mr Greenspan was that he left interest rates too low for too long, thereby fuelling the housing boom - which later turned out to be unsustainable.

South Korea is one of a number of countries that has recently seen a substantial withdrawal of capital as worried investors take their money out. The phenomenon, which is also affecting other nations including Hungary, Iceland and Pakistan, represents a new and worrying phase of the financial crisis according to the BBC's business editor Robert Peston. He says that we are seeing a massive flight of capital out of economies perceived to have been living beyond their means - either because they have a substantial reliance on foreign borrowings or because they are net importers of goods and services, or both.

The House approved the financial rescue plan by a vote of 263-171, sending the measure to President George W. Bush and concluding two weeks of legislative haggling in Congress that had roiled and captivated global markets. Wells Fargo & Co stepped in to buy Wachovia Corp, a bank badly hobbled by the credit crisis, providing a rare bit of positive news for the financial sector and sending markets higher.

In new signs of spreading crisis, California said it was running out of money, France said the world stood on the "edge of the abyss" and European leaders were divided over their own response to the global crisis. Employers slashed payrolls by 159,000 in September, the most in more than five years, a worrisome sign that the economy is hurtling toward a deep recession.

The Labor Department's fresh snapshot, released Friday, also showed that the nation's unemployment rate held steady at 6.1% as hundreds of thousands of people streamed out of the work force for any number of reasons. The reduction in payrolls was much sharper than the 100,000 cuts economists were forecasting. They expected the jobless rate to be unchanged.

The Greek government has issued a blanket guarantee of all bank deposits after panic withdrawals by customers in Athens and Thessaloniki, creating an unstoppable stampede across Europe for an EU-wide bail out of the financial system. Greek officials said the state would cover "all bank deposits, whatever the amount."

The Greek move puts fresh pressure on Germany to back the mounting calls for an EU lifeboat fund to shore up Europe's struggling banks, even though such plans are anathema to Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that there would be no "blank cheques" for those who get into trouble. Berlin fears that any such fund is a Trojan Horse that could ultimately leave German taxpayers footing the bill for a massive bail-out of southern Europe as the region's booms turn to bust. Key ministers are now frantically trying to stop the idea gaining a serious head of steam.