Islamabad, Oct 27: PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who was his party’s front runner for the post of Prime Minister after February election and had once threatened to create a vertical split in the party, has reportedly turned his stance, saying that the ongoing economic and energy crises and the scourge of terrorism in the country was a ‘conspiracy against the government’.

“I think some hidden forces are trying to destabilise the government,” the Daily Times quoted him as telling a foreign news agency.

Islamabad, Oct 27: Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is said to be keen on leading the PML-Q, the political party which he backed during last February elections. He reportedly expressed this desire in front of his personal friends in Lahore last week at a dinner.

Musharraf also told his friends that if the Chaudhrys of Gujarat, who are presently holding the reins of the party, were not ready to quit, “then someone from the ranks of the party should make them leave so that he could take over without much fuss”.

Damascus - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Monday he did not believe the reported US commando raid in Syria would affect Israel.

Barak declined to say whether the US had given Israel prior notice of the raid, which he called part of the global struggle against radical Islamic terrorism.

"This is apparently part of the continuation of the struggle which is taking place today on the entire globe really against radical Islamic terror," he told Israel Radio.

Asked if the US had notified Israel, he replied: "I don't want to get into anything of that sort."

Berlin - German business confidence fell sharply in October, a key survey released Monday said, as the world financial crisis triggered panic selling on global stock markets and fears grew about a

Helsinki - Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen's Centre Party dropped to third place after local elections held Sunday, final tallies showed Monday.

Vanhanen noted that his party had probably suffered from being in office and said election results differed.

The Centre Party dropped 2.7 percentage points compared to the 2004 local elections, scoring 20.1 per cent.

Analysts including Goran Djupsund, professor of political science and political communication at Abo Akademi University, did not rule out a shake-up of the party leadership.

Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Monday ordered the government and ruling parties to immediately implement measures to stabilize the stock market.

"Stock prices greatly influence the real economy," Aso said at a press conference. "In that sense, we have to consider various measures and implement them."

The government was expected to implement emergency measures such as a larger government fund to recapitalize ailing banks and help for employees to purchase stock in their companies, Aso said.