A spokesman for Neelie Kroes, the competition commissioner, said the ban on government subsidies to banks could be waived in exceptional circumstances of "systemic risk", but not on a long-term basis. "We're monitoring the situation," he said.

Where there is support, it normally has to be limited to six months' duration and made available on commercial terms. If the duration is more than six months, then it has to be considered as restructuring aid, so restructuring has to take place," he said. EU officials stressed that the competition watchdog had not launched a full-scale probe, and so far appeared satisfied that London had acted within reasonable bounds.

However, the picture could change if Northern Rock or any other lender began to depend on some form of state support, whether in the form of guarantees or direct aid. "This happened at Credit Lyonnais in the 1990s when the bank was robbing market share from competitors," said one EU diplomat.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said yesterday that Western sanctions had failed to weaken the regime of Robert Mugabe and that "international actors must close ranks" behind South African President Thabo Mbeki's efforts to mediate in the crisis.

Months of talks going on behind closed doors in South Africa between Mr Mugabe's government and opposition leaders have so far delivered no concrete progress, although sources close to the negotiations said they were "optimistic" that a deal could be reached.

Zimbabwe is spiralling out of control with real inflation running at 13,000 per cent, four out of five of the population live in abject poverty and four million others having fled to neighbouring countries, the report said.
A campaign led by the military to slash prices has compounded existing food and fuel shortages and conducting any kind of business has become "almost impossible", according to the ICG.

With pressure mounting on Western governments, the think-tank's recommendations add to the impression that the international community has little idea what to do on Zimbabwe.

More than 2 million people in east China have been relocated before the landfall of Wipha, which might be the most destructive typhoon in a decade.

East China, including the commercial hub of Shanghai, was prepared for what may be the most destructive typhoon in a decade.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday ordered related provinces and cities to step up preparations against Wutip, recall vessels to harbor and relocate people to safety.

Since a general election on 10 June, the country's Flemish and Francophone politicians have failed to agree on a new coalition government, while separatist feeling has surged in Flanders, the wealthier north-western region. In a poll for Het Laatste Nieuws published yesterday, 46.1 per cent of Flemings want Belgium to split, a big gain for Flemish separatists. Earlier this year, only 5 per cent favoured independence.

Mr Leterme, who until recently was minister-president of Flanders, won 800,000 votes and his Flemish Christian Democrat Party took the highest number of seats in the election.

But he is widely mistrusted by Francophone Belgians. On Belgium's national day in July, he was caught out when asked to sing the national anthem by a TV crew. Mr Leterme launched into a fine rendition of The Marseillaise - the national anthem of France. But even before this gaffe, Francophone Belgians regarded him with suspicion. Previously, he has dismissed the 177-year-old Belgian state as "an accident of history" and said Belgians have nothing in common apart from the king, the football team and some beers.

Behind this row is a deeper divide. There are no national parties and the country of 10.5 million people has seven parliaments to cater for the different regions and language communities.

Last year, when RTBF, the French state broadcaster, aired a spoof news bulletin that said Belgium had split - complete with "live" pictures of flag-waving Flemings and trams being stopped at the border - it was widely believed. Meanwhile, one fed-up Belgian citizen put Belgium for sale on eBay. The advert was removed yesterday, but it had received one offer of £7 million.

Europe

Confusion over Lib Dems referendum position
In an interview on Newsnight Sir Menzies Campbell claimed that the new version of the Constitutional Treaty was a "substantially different document" compared to the original because of the Government's "opt-outs". He quickly went on to say that "I think we should have a referendum on the big question - in or out. That's a referendum that we can win."
BBC

The Foreign Policy blog reports that the German government has turned down the offer of some French nuclear weapons from Nicolas Sarkozy.
FP

Merkel backs out of tackling world's problems
A leader in the IHT writes that Angela Merkel has "transmogrified into Ms. Soft Power." She has signalled that "in trying to leverage her great popularity into a risk free stroll to re-election in 2009, she is backing Germany out of a more assertive, taking-sides role on the world's nastiest problems."
IHT

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal Christopher Booker looked at the history of the EU, and argued that THE NEW TREATY WOULD BE "ANOTHER GIANT STEP TOWARD" A "UNITED STATES OF EUROPE."
WSJ

EU court upholds Microsoft Ruling
The European Court of First Instance has ordered Microsoft to obey a 2004 commission order to share confidential computer code with competitors and also upheld the record fine of €497.2 million against the software maker.
IHT

France wants Europe to be as tough on Iran as the US is
France sent a strong message to Iran on Monday, announcing that it would work to set up an EU sanctions regime modelled on the one in place in the United States if the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on tougher measures to stop Iran's uranium enrichment programme.
IHT FT

FEAST OF TABERNACLES is sponsored by the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem, self-described as the world's largest Christian Zionist organization. The annual get-together is a week-long multicultural event held during the Sukkot holiday, which begins this year on Sept. 27. It draws tens of thousands of Christians from around the world for a week of teaching, worship, and prayer, and culminates with a march through the streets of Jerusalem.

The Chief Rabbinate Council's Committee for the Prevention of Missionary Work in the Holy Land, in a decision last month that was later ratified by the two Chief Rabbis, resolved as follows:

"We bless the tourists who will arrive in our Holy Land for the upcoming holidays, among them also those of different religions. IT IS FORBIDDEN FOR ANY JEW TO TAKE PART IN THE GATHERINGS in the Binyanei HaUmah Jerusalem Convention Centre and in the marches taking place during the Sukkot holiday, because the information we have states that some of the bodies gathering there are active, inter alia, in attempting to convert us from our faith. "One who fears for his soul will stay far away."

CBS reporter Bob Simon, in a 1992 "60 Minutes" program on Christian Zionists, asked, "What propels them? Why do they love Israel so much? BECAUSE THE RETURN OF THE JEWS TO THEIR ANCIENT HOMELAND IS SEEN BY EVANGELICALS AS A PRECONDITION FOR THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

Therefore, when the Jewish state was created in 1948, they saw it as a sign. Israel's conquest of Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967 deepened their excitement, heightened their anticipation... THE FINAL BATTLE IN THE HISTORY OF THE FUTURE WILL BE FOUGHT ON THIS ANCIENT BATTLEGROUND IN NORTHERN ISRAEL CALLED ARMAGEDDON... And the Jews? Well, two-thirds of them will have been wiped out by then, and the survivors will accept Jesus at last."

Simon's show then screens Gershom Gorenberg, author of "The End of Days," who says, "The Jews die or convert. As a Jew, I can't feel very comfortable with the affections of somebody who looks forward to that scenario... They don't love the real Jewish people. THEY LOVE US AS CHARACTERS IN THEIR STORY, IN THEIR PLAY, AND THAT'S NOT WHO WE ARE. And we never auditioned for that part, and the play is not one that ends up good for us... IF YOU LISTEN TO THE DRAMA THAT THEY ARE DESCRIBING, ESSENTIALLY, IT'S A FIVE-ACT PLAY IN WHICH THE JEWS DISAPPEAR IN THE FOURTH ACT."

The missiles, identified as Shihab-3s, will be launched if either Iran or Syria are attacked, the website warned. The unmodified Shihab-3 ("Meteor" in Persian) is assumed to have a range of 1,300 kilometres (approximately 800 miles), capable of striking targets in Israel. Several years ago, Iran claimed to have increased the range of its missiles to 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles).

On Monday, France and Holland took a hardened line against Iran over its non-cooperation with United Nations oversight of the Iranian nuclear program. As the UN Security Council prepared to discuss UN sanctions on Iran, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen were quoted as advocating a European Union regime of sanctions in the event that the Security Council could not come to agreement on the issue.

In an interview on Sunday, Kouchner addressed the options facing the West in relation to Iran's nuclear program and said, "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war." He called Iranian nuclear weapons a "real danger for the whole world."

In a bold strike, the Federal Reserve slashed a key interest rate by a half point on Tuesday -- the first cut in over four years -- and left the door open to further relief to prevent a painful housing slump and jarring credit crunch from driving the country into recession. Wall Street responded enthusiastically, propelling stocks up more than 200 points. Politicians, shaken by record-high home foreclosures, also welcomed the move.

In a crucial and anxiously awaited decision, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues lowered an important interest rate to 4.75 percent. Economic and political pressure has been building on the Fed to act.

As a result, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other commercial banks dropped their prime lending rate charged to millions of borrowers by a corresponding amount to 7.75 percent.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP. Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache. "Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

Such a disaster looms, according to experts, after the escape of more than 100,000 farmed Atlantic salmon over the past six months on the West Coast. In the latest incident, at the end of last week, 30,000 maturing 2.5kg (5.5lb) fish escaped from their cage in West Loch Roag, off the coast of Lewis, after a seal attack.

The escape, which was detected four days ago, comes at a time when wild salmon are approaching the rivers to spawn, meaning that there could be intermingling and genetic dilution of the wild fish. These are extremely fit creatures, swimming thousands of miles across oceans, then battling their way upstream.

If they spawn with the flabby, cage-reared fish, it is claimed that the offspring can be genetically weak and the wild salmon population, which is recovering after some very bad years, could be threatened. There have now been four escapes from fish farms in the Western Isles within the past six months. The first was in March, when 18,500 fish escaped in East Loch Tarbert, off Harris, as a result of equipment failure. It is believed that a cage sank and another 25,000 fish died. In May, 52,000 fish escaped near Lochportain, on North Uist, through a hole in a net; and in July more than 1,000 escaped from West Loch Roag.

The salmon farming industry is an important part of the Scottish economy, supporting 8,500 jobs in remote areas. Scotland is the third largest salmon producer in the world, with approximately a 10 per cent global market share, and the industry puts more than £197 million into the economy every year.

But for the salmon fishing industry, itself worth £113 million a year and the employer of 2,800 people, such success can come at too high a price. The wild salmon population is much smaller than it used to be, but is on an upward trajectory.

The Bishop of New Hampshire in the US, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, who is divorced and lives openly in partnership with a gay man, said that "HE FOUND IT MYSTIFYING THAT THE MOTHER CHURCH OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION WAS UNABLE TO BE HONEST ABOUT THE NUMBER OF GAY CLERGY IN ITS RANKS."

He said that many of the English Church's clergy lived openly in their rectories with gay partners, with the full knowledge of their bishops. But he criticised the stance of bishops who threaten the clergy with enmity should their relationships become public.

"IF ALL THE GAY PEOPLE STAYED AWAY FROM CHURCH ON A GIVEN SUNDAY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND WOULD BE CLOSE TO SHUT DOWN, BETWEEN ITS ORGANISTS, ITS CLERGY, ITS WARDENS . . . IT JUST SEEMS LESS THAN HUMBLE NOT TO ADMIT THAT."

Dr Williams will celebrate the eucharist at St Peter's, Eaton Square ? the Church of England parish that is known as the spiritual home to some of the country's most liberal and wealthy Anglican elite. There he will give an address titled "Present realities and future possibilities for lesbians and gay men in the Church".

The event has been organised under Chatham House rules, which prevent any disclosure of the discussions. The event will take place at 10am on November 29. A list of the names of those who will be present will be seen only by Dr Williams. It will be shredded afterwards.

A senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard, the largest component of the Islamic republic's armed forces, chose this moment to outline the capability of his country's ballistic missiles. The Shahab-3 rocket has a range of 1,250 miles, allowing it to strike an array of Western targets across the Middle East.

"Today the Americans are around our country but this does not mean that they are encircling us. They are encircled themselves and are within our range," said Gen Mohammed Hassan Koussechi. "If the United States is saying that they have identified 2,000 targets in Iran, then what is certain is that it is the Americans who are all around Iran and are equally our targets," he told the official IRNA news agency.

Gen Koussechi added: "We have reached capacities that allow us to hit the enemy at a range of 2,000 kilometres." A wide array of possible targets faces Iran across the Gulf. Dubai, filled with Western companies, tourists and expatriates, is only 105 miles away.

Alliance & Leicester slumped 31pc, down 273p to £6, with its shares losing £600m of value in the last hour of trading alone on speculation it would appeal for help. A&L said it was well capitalised and did not need aid.

The sea of red in banking shares saw Bradford & Bingley fall 50¾ to 279p, while ongoing fears about Northern Rock forced its shares down 155¼ to 282¾p, with yesterday's 35pc fall coming on top of a 31pc drop on Friday.

After the market closed the Government attempted to calm the turmoil, announcing it would guarantee all Northern Rock deposits. Chancellor Alistair Darling said: "Should it be necessary, we and the Bank of England will put in place arrangements to guarantee all the deposits in Northern Rock."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed the exposure and said: "Initial blood tests on clinically healthy sheep on a farm within the protection zone suggest exposure to foot-and-mouth disease. These animals were identified as part of the surveillance work that is being carried out in the area. All animals on the premises are being slaughtered on suspicion. Further laboratory tests are ongoing."

Derrick Pride, the farmer from Elstead, Surrey, whose herd was slaughtered in the August outbreak, said: "It's utterly devastating. I'm so disappointed that it has all broken out again." Following last month's outbreak, the US, Ireland, Japan, Russia and the EU banned exports of British livestock