Rome - Italy's largest natural gas and oil company, Eni, said Friday its third-quarter net profit rose 37 per cent thanks to soaring crude oil prices and boosted production.

Net profit increased to 2.94 billion euros (dollars 3.83 billion) from the 2.15 billion euros registered in the same period in 2007, Eni said in a statement.

"Eni has delivered another quarter of excellent results driven by strong production growth and good operational performance in all our divisions," Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni said in the statement.

New Delhi - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep concern" over the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday and asked rebel General Laurent Nkunda to engage in dialogue.

During a visit to the Indian capital New Dehli, Ban urged Nkunda to stick to the ceasefire announced by the Tutsi rebel leader.

The situation in the African state was "very threatening," Ban said, stressing the UN's neutrality in the conflict. "We are trying to help," he added.

Ban said that he has been engaged in talks with Rwanda President Paul Kagame, a supporter of Nkunda, since the beginning of his visit to India on Thursday.

Islamabad - Pakistani authorities on Friday switched their focus from rescue efforts to providing relief aid for thousands of earthquake survivors, who are spending cold
nights under the open skies, officials said.

Soldiers aided people in remote villages ravaged by the shallow 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck the northern and central parts of the gas-rich Balochistan province
early Wednesday.

Two days after the tragedy, the official death toll stood at 225 but the provincial Chief Minister Aslam Raeesani said it might cross 300.

"(The) bulk of the rescue work is over and operations have systematically entered the relief phase," said Major Ali Qasim, a military spokesman in Quetta, the capital of

New Delhi  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that his discussions with Indian leaders reaffirmed his belief that India was ready to play a greater role on the world stage.

"I was only a year old when India became a UN member state, and it is truly impressive how much this country has achieved since then as a leading voice in the developing world, as a long established democracy and a growing economic power," Ban said at a press briefing.

The secretary general held wide-ranging talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pratibha Patil and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his two-day visit.

London  - British Telecom Friday issued a surprise profit warning, telling shareholders results for the quarter ending September would be slightly down on expectations.

It said its Global Services section, used by big multinational companies, had failed to meet its targets after cost-cutting measures took effect more slowly than expected.

All the company's other areas of operation had performed as expected or slightly better. BT's half-yearly results are due to be published on November 13.

The company's latest announcement sent the value of its shares slumping, losing a fifth of their value in the first hour and a half of trading Friday.

London  - Britain's Barclays bank said in London Friday it plans to raise some 7.3 billion pounds (11.8 billion dollars) in fresh capital from investors, mostly from the Middle East.

Barclays said the move fulfilled government regulations for raising capital and avoided a government bail-out for the bank, keeping it "strong and independent."

The investments would mostly come from state funds and the royal families in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, but also from existing shareholders and institutional investors.

There would be no dividend paid out for the end of 2008.

The bank said that preliminary results for the first nine months of 2008 were "slightly ahead" of the same period in 2007.