SATURDAY'S OTHER NEWS: Newcastle, Nottingham and Durham suffer in housing market

From Wall Street

* The Dow Jones climbed 258.30-points to 9034.69 (up more than 500-points on the week), the Nasdaq added 55.18-points to 1632.21, while the S&P climbed 28.55-points to close at 931.80

War, Strife, Conflict and Terrorism

* The Hamas leader-in-exile, Khaled Meshaal, has warned Israel that it would face a "black destiny" if it launched a ground offensive on Gaza.

* Australia has formally rejected a US request to take in detainees from the Guantanamo Bay military jail.

* The Chinese government is moving to crush a group of prominent dissidents and intellectuals that has released a rallying call for democracy, human rights and rule of law.The group of about 300 writers, peasant farmers, students, professors, journalists, economists, and political activists from across the country all signed a document, known as Charter 08, that provides a detailed and wide-ranging blueprint for peaceful political, legal and economic reform in China.

Credit Crisis Fallout

* Mortgage approvals fell to a fresh record low in November, while banks reduced loans to households and businesses in the final three months of 2008 as a deteriorating economic outlook and falling house prices deterred lending

* A survey from the Bank of England suggests that, in spite of the £50-billion recapitalisation of the financial sector by the government and record cuts to interest rates, lending will be squeezed.

* The homeowners' nightmare of selling at a loss became reality last year for more sellers in Newcastle, Nottingham and Durham than anywhere else, where one-in-20 homes there were sold for less than they were bought.

* The manufacturing industry in the United States contracted at its fastest rate in 28-years, according to the factory index of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The index fell 3.8-points to 32.4, hitting its lowest level since May 1980. A score of less than 50 on the index suggests that the sector is shrinking. In the UK, the CIPS/Markit index showed that the manufacturing industry had suffered its second-worst month since 1992 in December. The index rose from 34.5 in November, a historical low, to 34.9 last month. Manufacturing around the world has been hit in the past month by the collapse in the housing market and rocketing job losses that have killed demand for goods ranging from appliances to cars (The Times)

Oil, Energy, Utilities, Commodities and Food

* Oil prices rose yesterday amid mounting concerns about violence in the Middle East with little indication of an early end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The tensions between Russia and Ukraine over gas supplies also provided support for crude prices

* Russia and Ukraine vied for European support on Friday as the European Union struggled vainly to avoid intervening in their gas dispute as it began to affect member states. A Ukrainian delegation began a tour of Europe aimed at drumming up support after the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, said it considered the dispute between Moscow and Kiev to be a bilateral issue and would not step in unless EU supplies were disrupted.

* Organic farmers are facing a troubled year as consumers turn to lower-priced food, with early indications from retailers suggesting the huge annual sales growth enjoyed by organic foods for 15-years is coming to an end.

News from Home

* A Daily Telegraph special report discloses that at least 170,000 more migrant workers are taking Great British jobs each year than official figures show, because of undercounting in the employment statistics.

* Three people are now believed to have died when a light aircraft crashed into overhead power lines on the West Coast Main Line in Staffordshire. The plane came down near the village of Little Haywood, causing disruption for thousands of rail passengers.

* The first clinical trial of human insulin produced in safflowers is starting in the UK. The aim is to provide a new source to meet the rapidly growing demand from diabetics.

* Labour's dependence on the Unite super-union for its financial survival could be jeopardised if Derek Simpson, joint general secretary, were to be toppled by an imminent election challenge

News from Abroad

* The teenage son of American actor John Travolta has died suddenly while on a family holiday in the Bahamas. The actor's lawyer, Michael Ossi, said Jett Travolta, who was 16, suffered a seizure, and attempts to revive him at the scene failed. The family were staying in a property in the grounds of the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island. Jett, who had a history of seizures, was the eldest child of Travolta and his actress wife, Kelly Preston. The couple also have a daughter, Ella Blue, who was born in 2000 (Source: BBC News)