Goldman Sachs is on course to pay its top City bankers multimillion-pound bonuses - despite asking the U.S. government for an emergency bail-out. The struggling Wall Street bank has set aside £7billion for salaries and 2008 year-end bonuses, it emerged yesterday. EACH OF THE FIRM'S 443 PARTNERS IS ON COURSE TO POCKET AN AVERAGE CHRISTMAS BONUS OF MORE THAN £3MILLION.

The size of the pay pool comfortably dwarfs the £6.1billion lifeline which the U.S. government is throwing to Goldman as part of its £430billion bail-out. As Washington pours money into the bank, the cash will immediately be channelled to Goldman's already well-heeled employees. News of the firm's largesse will revive the anger over the 'rewards for failure' culture endemic in the world of high finance. The same bankers who have brought the global economy to its knees seem to pocketing the same kind of rewards they got during the boom years.

The news comes after it was revealed that even bankers working for collapsed Wall Street giant, Lehman Brothers, could receive huge payouts. Its 10,000 U.S. staff are expected to share a £1.5billion bonus pool. The payouts were agreed as part of the rescue takeover of Lehman's American arm by Barclays last month.

On the anniversary of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, a cross-denominational 100-strong group of Christians united in City Temple Church in London's financial district on Wednesday to pray for an end to market instability and ask God that economies should not enter a 1930s-style Great Depression. Carrying a banner depicting a huge lion - symbolizing the biblical Lion of Judah, or Jesus - with one paw on a bull and other on a bear, the group then headed to the London Stock Exchange, epicenter of the UK's quaking financial system.

In tandem with teams in New York, Dublin and Amsterdam, Christians stood in small groups or marched round the Stock Exchange's premises in the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral, asking God to intervene in the turmoil of recent months and praying for those affected by the credit crisis. "I'm not a doomsday prophet, I'm not speaking judgment," said American Sharon Stone, founder of Christian International Europe and co-ordinator of the group.

"We believe God is God of the economy also. We're praying for mercy that there won't be losses of jobs, that there won't be losses of homes and that any greater crisis will be averted." The group, which had come from all over the UK and included workers from the London Stock Exchange and the International Monetary Fund, comprised Anglicans, Catholics, Pentecostals and other Christian denominations.

Spiritual leaders have already waded into the financial crisis. Pope Benedict recently said those building their life on material things or on success built their house on sand. And last month the Church of England's Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, likened those short-selling some financial stocks - hedge funds or other traders who bet on falling prices - to "bank robbers and asset strippers."

The all-stock transaction, the first domestic airline combination in three years, closed after clearing its biggest and last regulatory hurdle earlier in the day - U.S. Justice Department antitrust review. Justice officials cited the likelihood of "substantial and credible efficiencies" without harming consumers or competition.

Government approval was expected. Industry vigorously made the case to regulators earlier this year, when airline finances were rockier than they are now, that consolidation was an important tool for remaining viable with fuel prices high and the economy worsening. "The airline industry faces a very difficult economic environment around the world and this merger gives Delta increased flexibility to adapt to the economic challenges ahead," said Richard Anderson, the Delta chief executive who will head the combined entity.

The new, larger Delta will be an international powerhouse with unparalleled scheduling and pricing strength with service to 375 cities worldwide, experts said. The company estimates a combined $2 billion in cost savings and revenue enhancements annually.

The Conference Board said the monthly consumer confidence index fell to 38, down from a revised 61.4 in September and below analysts' expectations of 52. It is the lowest since the board began tracking consumer sentiment in 1967. The survey of 5,000 US households is a gauge of consumer spending - which makes up two-thirds of the US economy.

It comes as the US government starts its cash-for-equity scheme to provide liquidity to financial institutions as part of a $700bn bank bailout "Consumers are extremely pessimistic," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's research centre. "This news does not bode well for retailers who are already bracing for what is shaping up to be a very challenging holiday season."

Earlier this month the Fed cut rates from 2% to 1.5% in an emergency move, which was co-ordinated with five other central banks. But the move did not boost US markets, with the Dow and S&P 500 closing down. Interest rates have been slashed since September 2007, when the federal funds rate stood at 5.25%.

The 1% level - last seen between June 2003 and June 2004 - did not have a major effect on shares, as traders had already factored in the widely expected cut.

This might sound alarmist, but drive past Obama's £1 million mansion in the affluent Chicago suburb of Hyde Park - one of the few mixed neighbourhoods in a city still shockingly segregated four decades after Martin Luther King based his civil rights crusade here - and you realise how seriously the threat is taken.

To the anger of his neighbours, who can no longer park in their own driveways without being subjected to airport-style vetting, the house is protected night and day by a dozen armed officers with 'Secret Service' emblazoned on their bullet proof vests. The road, off-limits to all but local residents, is blocked by huge concrete slabs which detract from the eye-catching display of pumpkins that Obama's wife Michelle and two young daughters have laid around their front gate for Halloween.

Is an audacious attack really expected? Given that Obama has an unprecedented level of protection for a Presidential candidate, IT IS CLEAR THE AUTHORITIES BELIEVE HIS LIFE IS IN DANGER.

Japan may cut on Friday and the European Central Bank and Britain are expected to add to the monetary easing next week as authorities remain fearful that the worst financial crisis in 80 years will cause a long global recession.

China increasingly appears to be the world's last center of growth and has said it would not fall victim to the crisis, which has ravaged the world's financial markets. China cut its interest rate to 6.66 percent from 6.93. "I think this is also part of a coordinated move of global central banks to bail out the financial markets," said Zhao Qingming, senior economist at China Construction Bank in Beijing. "Though other central banks have not announced rate cuts yet, we can see that they are on the way," he said.

The tremor struck 70km (45 miles) north of Quetta at 0409 (2309GMT Tuesday) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), the US Geological Survey said. Many houses collapsed during the quake and some were destroyed in landslides that followed it, officials said.

Reports say teams of army and paramilitary Frontier Corps troops are in the area, helping to rescue the injured and retrieve bodies. Senior army official Maj Gen Salim Nawaz said the area remained accessible for convoys carrying relief material. But the mountainous region is thinly populated and local infrastructure is poor, making it difficult to get a clear picture of the casualties.

The two main tremors struck at about 0409 and then 0510. The BBC's Azizullah Khan in Balochistan says aftershocks of 6.2 magnitude have rattled the province on Wednesday, causing more panic among local people.

The deal will give Lufthansa control of more flights from London Heathrow airport than any other airline except British Airways.

BMI
- 10.6 million passengers last year
- Flies to 51 destinations
- 54 planes

Lufthansa accepted that the deal would have an impact on competition at the UK's largest airport, but said it was for competition authorities to make a decision on whether to approve the deal. The deal is set to be completed by 16 January - but the German firm would not confirm what it was paying for Sir Michael's stake. Reports suggest it is about £318m.

There didn't appear to be any one catalyst for the surge that saw the Dow nearly double its gain in the last hour of trading. Many analysts said investors were grabbing up stocks in the belief that the market had fallen too far in recent sessions; the Dow had dropped 500 points in two days. Some said buying early in the day came from anticipation of an interest rate cut Wednesday by the Federal Reserve, and the market just followed its recent pattern of building on its gains or losses in the last minutes of the session.

"There is nothing fundamental that came out today or yesterday that would take it up or down. We're all groping for something meaningful to talk about," said Bob Andres, chief investment strategist at Portfolio Management Consultants. "THE MARKET IS EXHAUSTED FROM GOING DOWN."

But given the relentless volatility in the market — out of 20 trading days this month, there have been only two that didn't see the Dow close up or down in triple digits — no one expects that the market is now headed higher for good. After WALL STREET'S DEVASTATING LOSSES THAT SLASHED 2,400 POINTS OFF THE DOW IN EIGHT SESSIONS, market veterans warned that the recovery would be rocky, including huge gains followed by huge declines.

Barack Obama laughs off charges of socialism. Joe Biden scoffs at references to Marxism. Both men shrug off accusations of liberalism. But Obama himself acknowledges that he was drawn to socialists and even Marxists as a college student. He continued to associate with Marxists later in life, even choosing to launch his political career in the living room of a self-described Marxist, William Ayers, in 1995, when Obama was 34.

Obama's affinity for Marxists began when he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles. "To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully," the Democratic presidential candidate wrote in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father." "The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists."

Obama has managed to cultivate the image of a political moderate in spite of his consistently liberal voting record. In 2006, he published a second memoir, "The Audacity of Hope," that leaves little doubt about his adherence to the left. "The arguments of liberals are more often grounded in reason and fact," Obama wrote in "Audacity." "Much of what I absorbed from the sixties was filtered through my mother, who to the end of her life would proudly proclaim herself an unreconstructed liberal."

The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I've found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer. But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I've begun - for the first time in my adult life - to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was "a writer," because I couldn't bring myself to admit to a stranger that I'm a journalist.

Now, of course, there's always been bias in the media. But nothing, nothing I've seen has matched the media bias on display in the current presidential campaign. Republicans are justifiably foaming at the mouth over the sheer one-sidedness of the press coverage of the two candidates and their running mates. But in the last few days, even Democrats, who have been gloating over the pass - no, make that shameless support - they've gotten from the press, are starting to get uncomfortable as they realize that no one wins in the long run when we don't have a free and fair press.

If the current polls are correct, we are about to elect as president of the United States a man who is essentially a cipher, who has left almost no paper trail, seems to have few friends (that at least will talk) and has entire years missing out of his biography. That isn't Sen Obama's fault: His job is to put his best face forward. No, it is the traditional media's fault, for it alone (unlike the alternative media) has had the resources to cover this story properly, and has systematically refused to do so.

The Financial Services Authority also said the number of people struggling to clear home loan arrears had risen. Meanwhile, figures from the Land Registry showed house prices in England and Wales have fallen again. This comes after the Bank of England predicted more woe for homeowners.

The Land Registry's figures come shortly after the Bank of England reported that UK house prices were showing a sharper decline than property values in the US. The Bank's Financial Stability Report has estimated that 500,000 homeowners in the UK are in negative equity as a result of a 13% fall in UK property prices since their peak in October last year. It predicted that this number would rise to 1.2 million - one in nine UK homeowners - if house prices dropped by another 15% over the coming months.

Negative equity is when mortgage debts exceed the value of the property. It is not a major problem unless the owner is looking to sell or re-mortgage, as the value of homes is expected to rise again over time.

Tuesday's report quoted Iran's naval chief, Adm. Habibollah Sayyari. He said the base on the Strait of Hormuz creates a new line of defense. Sayyari said if necessary, the base could allow Iran to block entry of any "enemy" into the Persian Gulf. The base is in the port town of Jask, about 1,050 miles (1,700 kilometres) south of Teheran.

The oil giant said this morning that it had benefited from crude prices hitting a record of $147 a barrel in mid-July, although the company had lost some production due to hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and Russia's invasion of Georgia.

BP's better-than-expected figures, which sent its shares up 8.2 per cent to 474p in early trading, are likely to prompt controversy over whether the world's major oil companies are passing on lower costs to consumers quickly enough.

The price of oil has fallen rapidly from its peak in July to $63.41 today and Gordon Brown gave warning last week that he would call in the Office of Fair Trading if producers did not pass the benefits of lower prices on to consumers.