Earlier this year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez turned against the dollar as well when they asked their OPEC partners to stop using the dollar for oil settlements. They argued that the "green" currency was no longer reliable and it was high time they look for a more stable and predictable alternative.

Curiously, unlike the Ahmadinejad and Chavez appeal, Putin's proposal came as the dollar was on the rebound and even began pushing the euro. Economists even started talking in terms of a reversal of the global currency trends, rather than the temporary appreciation of the dollar.

Analysts predict that the dollar will regain its value in the next few months. They do not see anything which could hinder its steady growth. Yet, Putin proposed that Russia and China stop using it as a settlement instrument. WHAT IS IT - LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN THE DOLLAR'S PROSPECTS OR A POLITICAL MOVE?

Democratic attorney Philip Berg had filed a lawsuit alleging Obama is ineligible to be president because of possible birth in Kenya. In a statement today, Berg said he is applying to Justice David Souter for an "Immediate Injunction to Stay the Presidential Election of November 4, 2008."

"I am hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will grant the injunction pending a review of this case to avoid a constitutional crisis by insisting that Obama produce certified documentation that he is or is not a "natural born" citizen and if he cannot produce documentation that Obama be removed from the ballot for president," Berg said.

"We must legally prevent Obama, the unqualified candidate, from taking the office of the presidency of the United States," Berg said.

The low rainfall over September-October has meant Melbourne's water storages dropped by 0.3 per cent of total capacity after the dry spell over the major catchments continued in the past week. Storages are 33.9 per cent full - or 600.9 billion litres - after the four main harvesting catchments received an average of just 1mm of rain, compared to the long-term average of 20mm for the period.

Melbourne's water authorities are encouraging four-minute showers and providing a free shower head exchange program to help save more water ahead of summer as stage 3a restrictions remain in place until at least November 30. Central Australia has received little or no rain in the past two months and 2008 is on track to be the driest year on record in many places including Mt Isa and Alice Springs, the bureau said.

The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy. The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter. The plan was first created as a way to combat child pornography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy revealed the mandatory censorship to the Senate estimates committee as the Global Network Initiative, bringing together leading companies, human rights organisations, academics and investors, committed the technology firms to "protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users". Mr Conroy said trials were yet to be carried out, but "we are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material."

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.