London - Britain's Barclays bank, which had been among potential bidders for Lehman Brothers, said Monday it ruled out a bid which would not have been in the interest of shareholders.

In a statement in London, Barclays said, "We confirm that Barclays considered a combination with Lehman Brothers and did not proceed because it was not possible to conclude a transaction in the best interests of Barclays shareholders."

Tehran - The United States has not yet issued a visa for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the United Nations General Assembly later this month in New York, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Monday.

The spokesman said it was hoped that the visa would still be issued in time.

The Fars news agency had on Saturday reported that despite a

timely application, no visas have yet been issued for the president and any of the Iranian delegation members.

Tehran accused the US last year of purposefully delaying the process to disrupt the president's travel schedule. The visas were, however, eventually issued.

Washington, Sep 15 : The moose-hunting Alaska Governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, has sent Barack Obama’s campaign into a state of panic as support for the Democratic presidential candidate drops in the battleground states he must win to reach the White House.

Palinmania has washed away Obama’s polling leads in several swing states that he had been counting on to win.

A clutch of polls last week showed McCain ahead by five points in Missouri, four in Ohio, four in Virginia and eight in Florida. New Mexico and Nevada, two top Obama targets, recorded narrow leads for McCain.

New York, Sept. 15 : Barack Obama and John McCain are engaged in a rhetorical battle over who is further out of touch with ordinary Americans.

According to a FOX News report, each is attempting to cast his presidential ticket as the force for reform in Washington.

Though the candidates diverge sharply over taxes, Iraq, diplomacy, abortion and other issues, a week after the close of the GOP national convention both candidates are trying to run on an increasingly similar message, with McCain even borrowing some of Obama’s phrases to make his case.

Obama, speaking at a rally in Manchester, N. ew Hampshire on Saturday., accused McCain of being divorced from current economic troubles.

Berlin - Germany's Finance Ministry, central bank and federal financial supervisory authority said Monday the German financial markets would be able to cope with the fall-out from the collapse of the US bank, Lehman Brothers.

In a joint statement, the three said the commitments of German financial institutions to Lehman Brothers Holding were "manageable."

The Finance Ministry, the central bank, or Bundesbank, and the supervisory authority, or BaFin, said they remained in close contact with the corresponding institutions in other countries and were "watching very closely" further developments.

Stockholm - The Stockholm bourse dropped 3 per cent in opening trading on Monday in the wake of reports that US investment banker Lehman Brothers was to file for bankruptcy protection.

Shares in the four main banking groups including Nordea dropped some 5 per cent, although Swedish banking groups have said they have not been exposed to the troubled subprime US mortgage market.

Clothes retailer Hennes & Mauritz was also impacted negatively as was ball-bearing maker SKF and construction group JM, while the SAS Group share, operator of joint carrier Scandinavian Airlines, surged 15 per cent.

SAS on Friday confirmed it was in talks and "evaluating various structural possibilities."