Zurich  - Liberian footballer Melvin King has been banned for five months after submitting a positive doping test at a World Cup qualifying match earlier this year, the ruling body FIFA said on Thursday.

King tested positive for a glucocorticoid at a June 21 qualifier with Senegal and didn't have a therapeutic use exemption for the substance. He is banned from October 2, the day he was originally suspended, until March 1, 2009, from all football matches.

London  - Britain's pound sterling Thursday hit a fresh record low against the euro amid speculation of further interest rate cuts by the Bank of England to help stimulate the economy.

The pound fell to 1.059 euros on the foreign exchange market, but strengthened slightly against the dollar, rising to 1.55 dollars.

The dollar also weakened against the euro, two days after the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to a range of between zero and 0.25 per cent.

Washington  - A key gauge of US economic performance dropped in November as unemployment rose, stocks fell and the housing downturn continued to gather steam amid an economic recession.

The private Conference Board on Thursday said its index of leading economic indicators fell 0.4 per cent on the month, as was expected by economists. It fell less than the revised 0.9-per-cent drop recorded in October.

The index, which looks at the economy's performance in the coming three to six months, has fallen 2.8 per cent over the last six months amid "widespread" weakness across the economy, the Conference Board said.

Dublin  - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen launched a programme for the recovery of Ireland's economy on Thursday, with a 500-million-euro (730 million dollars) venture capital fund to boost enterprise, during a press conference at Dublin Castle.

The plan, called Building Ireland's Smart Economy, is to re- orientate the national economy toward what Cowen called the knowledge economy, as well as wind and wave energy.

Bratislava  - Slovakian Foreign Minister Jan Kubis is to leave government for a post in the United Nations, the country's foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday.

The ministry said that Kubis, a seasoned diplomat, had accepted an offer from UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon to become the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva.

Manama  - Two Bahrainis have been detained as suspected terrorists and at least two others are being sought over an alleged terrorist plot which authorities said they uncovered.

A National Security Authority statement quoted an unnamed official as saying homemade explosives would have been used to disrupt National Day and Accession Day celebrations that were observed on Tuesday.