Unlike other big UK banks, Barclays did not want to accept a bail-out from the UK government and said the move would keep it "strong and independent". If the deal is completed as expected, the MIDDLE EASTERN INVESTORS WILL HAVE AN ALMOST 32% STAKE IN BARCLAYS. BBC business editor Robert Peston said the deal showed that Barclays was in a stronger position than other UK banks.

"It can probably allow itself just a small smile of self-congratulation, having avoided putting out the begging bowl to British taxpayers," our correspondent said. Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family, is investing up to £3.5bn in Barclays. If the deal is completed as expected, he will end up with a 16.3% stake in the bank. "The board believes that this maintains Barclays as a strong, independent and well-capitalised bank"

The government is injecting £37bn into Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS to avoid a collapse of the sector. However, in return for the rescue, they must give major stakes to the government and halt cash bonuses for bank board members this year. HSBC, ALONG WITH BARCLAYS, OPTED NOT TO SEEK CASH FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

Diplomatic efforts are under way to end the crisis, which has threatened to spill over into neighbouring Rwanda. A tense ceasefire is holding in the eastern city of Goma, where tens of thousands fled as rebels advanced. But rebel leader Gen Laurent Nkunda has threatened to take the city unless UN peacekeepers guarantee the ceasefire. Killings and rapes have been reported in Goma and aid has not been reaching the displaced.

In the past two months, more than 200,000 people have been driven from their homes across eastern DR Congo, our correspondent adds. While thousands have sought refuge in Goma, many thousands more have fled into the forests, where the militias cannot find them, and the aid agencies cannot help them. Gen Nkunda has told the BBC his goal was to protect the Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom are accused of taking part in the country's 1994 genocide.

Correspondents say A RACE FOR THE AREA'S MINERAL WEALTH IS FUELLING THE CONFLICT AS MUCH AS ETHNIC ENMITIES.

"All nations are looking for a new way as they lost their hope on big powers," Ahmadinejad told IRNA. "The present situation is a great chance to introduce pure Islamic thoughts and ideals as well as Iran's Islamic Revolution."

Meanwhile - in SWITZERLAND - Snow flurries throughout the night and early morning caused numerous delays for travellers using Switzerland's rail system on Thursday. According to MeteoNews, the Swiss lowlands received the most snow for any October since records began in 1931. Zurich received 20cm, beating a record of 14cm set in 1939.

In the USA - FLORIDA breaks 150 year record… OCALA - Twice the temperature dipped to freezing at the Ocala International Airport early Wednesday before it began making a gradual climb to the mid-60s. It was a record for Oct. 29 and the second lowest temperature ever recorded in October since 1850.

Power for Some NEW YORK Residents Will Be Out Until Weekend After Snow Storm. New York State Electric & Gas officials say about 9,000 customers remained without power Thursday morning, all in the Catskills region. About 16,000 people lost power when Tuesday's storm dumped more than a foot of wet, heavy snow on the eastern half of upstate New York. Another 25,000 customers of National Grid also lost power.

The speech of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing at The Global Vision and Daily Telegraph conference last month was a startling recognition by the French establishment that, WHETHER OR NOT BRITAIN WOULD BE "BETTER OFF OUT", THE ADVANCE OF THE EVER CLOSER UNION OF THE EURO REPUBLIC WOULD BE EASIER WITHOUT BRITAIN SLOWING THE PACE.

More recently, the global financial crisis has emphasised that the EU cannot continue as it is. The retreat of countries within the eurozone into unilateral protectionism to save their own banks has illuminated the fatal weakness of the euro. It is a currency with 15 finance ministers - and NO CURRENCY CAN SURVIVE IN THE LONG TERM WITHOUT NOT ONLY A SINGLE CENTRAL BANK, BUT A SINGLE TREASURY, A SINGLE FINANCE MINISTER AND A SINGLE TAX SYSTEM. The collapse of the euro itself is neither likely in the near future nor necessarily in British interests. It is more likely that nationalism of the kind we have recently seen by Germany and Iceland, or economic pressures on countries such as Italy, will force some countries to withdraw.

In any case, it is difficult to see that anything could provide the glue to bind together nations as different as Finland and Portugal, Ireland and Romania or Spain and Belgium. Giscard may well find THE EU MORE LIKELY TO UNRAVEL INTO A NEW WEST EUROPEAN REPUBLIC OF SIX OR 10 STATES WILLING TO SACRIFICE THEIR IDENTITIES to gain the undoubted advantages that the United Kingdom has enjoyed in its own union of England, Scotland, Ulster and Wales, and 15 or 20 still sovereign states in a new treaty relationship.

It is time for the euro-sceptics of all kinds to design the architecture of a European home in which there is a place for states seeking ever closer union as well as for those upholding national sovereignty.

The King warned the building of a synagogue next to the Al-Aqsa mosque could have "detrimental consequences" on Israel's peace talks with the Palestinians. "What has been started in this district will certainly complicate the peace deal and could have to detrimental consequences," HE SAID IN A STATEMENT AIMED AT POPE BENEDICT XVI AND THE U.N.

Al-Aqsa mosque - on Islam's third holiest site - has been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The site saw the outbreak of the latest Palestinian uprising, or intifada, in 2000. Jews believe the compound including the mosque was the site of the Second Temple, Judaism's holiest site, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

East Jerusalem is home to Jews, Muslims and Christians. Palestinians want the district as the capital of any future Palestinian state.

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.