Paris - The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband are shortly to travel to the threatened Congolese city of Goma.

London - Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi has applied for interim liberation pending the outcome of an appeal, British media reported Friday.

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.

London, Oct 31 : Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has accused soccer ace David Beckham of enhancing his “Goldenballs” with oranges for his Armani ad.

The 41-year-old chef was mocking pal Becks over his famous Armani pants adverts, reports the Daily star.

In an interview to GQ magazine, Gordon asked Becks “Did you put satsumas down your pants for the Armani adverts?”

Becks replied: “Gordon should know. He’s one of my best friends, so he should know the truth.

“He knows it wasn’t retouched. I would never ask them to change anything,” he added.

“I’ve never done pictures in my underwear before. It was a question of trying to find a good position that wasn’t too much.

London, Oct 31 : Dusty Springfield''s rendition of Son of a ''Preacher Man'' has been named Britain''s favourite song of all time in a new survey.

The Rolling Stones are at the second place with their hit ''Paint It Black'', while the third spot has been grabbed by Queen''s ''Bohemian Rhapsody'', followed by ''Hey Jude'' by the Beatles.

Robbie Williams'' ''Angels'' rounded off the top 5 of the list.

The list, compiled from a survey conducted on 2,000 people, reinforce the old adage that ''they don''t make ''em like they used to'', with Robbie Williams'' Angels, released
12 years ago, the most modern tune to make the list.