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Perth Mint sold so-called Kangaroo and Nugget coins weighing a total of 62,630 ounces in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with 154,501 ounces for the 12 months to June 30, senior manager Bron Suchecki said in an interview from Perth, Australia yesterday, adding there’s been a surge in “moms and dads” buying over the counter in the past three months.

“It’s reflecting a real breakdown in trust in financial products,” Suchecki said at the mint. “People aren’t thinking `how do I grow my wealth’ but `how do I protect it.”’

Gold for immediate delivery has jumped 10 percent in the past week as investors pulled a record $52.1 billion from U.S.-managed stock and bond mutual funds. The U.S. Mint and Austria’s Muenze Oesterreich AG are among coin makers to increase production.

The electronic eyes feed images to a monitoring unit, where they’re scanned and stored as evidence to prosecute people who discard garbage or fail to clean up after pets, a spokeswoman for the town council said.

“It’s becoming a bit Big Brother-like,” said Sandra Roberts, 50, a Hastings kiosk manager, invoking George Orwell’s 1949 book “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” about a Britain where authorities pry into all aspects of citizens’ lives.

Local authorities are adopting phone-record logging, e-mail taps and camera surveillance to police such offenses as welfare fraud, unlawful dumping of waste and sick-day fakery. Telecommunications companies are about to join the list of crime monitors. Already, 4.5 million closed-circuit cameras watch public places across Britain, or about 1 camera for every 15 people, the highest ratio in the world.

“There’s too much of it now, all this spying,” said Ivor Quittention, 80, a retired owner of three hardware stores who lives in Hastings. The town’s spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, said spying is the most effective way of dealing with something residents complain about most.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, dubbed “the snoopers charter” by London-based civil-rights group Liberty, was passed by the ruling Labour Party in 2000 to legislate methods of surveillance and information gathering. The purpose of the law, known also as Ripa, was to help prevent crime, including terrorism, according to the Home Office.

`Too Much Power’

Initially, only security and intelligence services could invoke the Act’s provisions. In 2003, Parliament extended powers to the 474 local councils in England, Scotland and Wales, as well as to 318 other state bodies, including 11 Royal Parks, the Post Office and Chief Inspector of Schools.

The allegations, by two former military intercept officers assigned to the National Security Agency, include claims that U.S. spies routinely listened in on intimate conversations and sometimes shared the recordings with each other. At least some of the snooping was done under relaxed eavesdropping rules approved by the Bush administration to facilitate spying on terrorists.

The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), yesterday termed the accusations “extremely disturbing” and said his staff had begun gathering information and may consider holding hearings. “Any time there is an allegation regarding abuse of the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, it is a very serious matter,” he said.

The alleged intercepts were described by two linguists who said they witnessed the activity while assigned to the NSA’s giant eavesdropping station known as Back Hall at Fort Gordon, Ga. Adrienne Kinne, 31, a former Army reservist, was an intercept operator at the site from 2001 to 2003, while Navy linguist David Murphee Faulk, 39, held a similar position from 2003 to 2007. Both provided accounts to investigative journalist James Bamford for his book “The Shadow Factory,” due for release next week, and also in interviews with ABC News.

Both said the NSA’s intercept program was intended to pick up intelligence about terrorists and their plans — which sometimes happened. But the operators also would frequently tap into phone calls by Americans living abroad — usually satellite phone calls made from the Middle East, or routine calls made by U.S. military personnel from phones in Baghdad’s Green Zone, they said in interviews broadcast yesterday.

Faulk said some of his fellow operators, after stumbling upon a titillating conversation, couldn’t wait to let their friends in on it.

“There’s good phone sex or there’s some pillow talk — pull it up, it’s really funny,” Faulk told ABC, recalling conversations between operators.

While declining to give specifics, an NSA spokesman said some of the allegations were currently under investigation, while others had been “found to be unsubstantiated.”

“We operate in strict accordance with U.S. laws and regulations and with the highest standards of integrity and lawful action,” said chief spokesman Patrick Bumgardner. He added that any evidence of misconduct would bring a “swift and certain” response.

A U.S. intelligence official familiar with the reports noted that two internal investigations, by the inspectors general of the NSA and the Army, were unable to substantiate the allegations by Kinne. The official spoke on the condition that he not be identified, citing the secret nature of the intercept program.

The Big Board implemented the automatic halts after the stock market crashed in the late 1980s to force traders to take a break from frenzied selling.

The Dow Jones industrial average would have to fall 1,100 points in a day to trigger the first halt. If that point is reached before 2 p.m., the market would shut down for an hour. If the threshold is breached between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., the halt will last 30 minutes. No trading stops will take place if the plunge occurs after 2:30 p.m.

Based on Thursday’s Dow close of 8,579, the threshhold number to cause the market stop in ond day would be 7,479.

If the index were to fall 2,200 points before 1 p.m., the market would close for two hours. If such a decline took place between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., there would be a one-hour pause. The market would close for the day if stocks sank to that level after 2 p.m.

In the event of a 3,350-point decline, the market would close for the day, regardless of the time.

The thresholds are computed at the beginning of each quarter to establish a specific point value for the quarter. The 1,100-point drop represented a 10 percent decline at that time; the 2,200 level, a 20 percent drop and the 3,350 level is a 30 percent drop.

In a staggering final hour of trading, the Dow fell more than 400 points after Standard & Poor’s downgraded car maker General Motors and investors were forced to sell off shares to meet margin calls.

The S&P 500 fell 75.0 to 909.9 while the Nasdaq closed down 95.2 at 1645.1, its lowest level since August 2003.

Trading volumes soared, sending volatility near to all time highs, as the Dow closed down 7.3pc. That came exactly a year after the index hit an all-time high on October 9, 2007.

“This is just pure panic,” said Chris Orndorff, head of equity strategy at Payden & Rygel in Los Angeles.

The slump led to calls for governments in Europe and the US to push through more draconian moves to help ailing financial markets, including full nationalisation of banks.

The event, at the Ritz-Carlton in California’s Half Moon Bay, aims to “motivate and educate” about 150 independent agents who sell AIG coverage to high-end clients, said spokesman Nicholas Ashooh.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino today called “despicable” expenses from the first gathering, a weeklong conference last month at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach. Those costs included $23,000 for spa services, according to Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

AIG considered buying advertisements to explain its position, only to be told by public relations consultant George Sard that it would be “a really bad idea.”

Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group’s links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen.

The arrests were connected with an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last month which killed at least 18 people, official sources were quoted saying.

Israel’s foreign ministry has rejected the accusation as “totally ridiculous”.

“A terrorist cell was arrested and will be referred to the judicial authorities for its links with the Israeli intelligence services,” Mr Saleh told a gathering at al-Mukalla University in Hadramawt province.

“Details of the trial will be announced later. You will hear about what goes on in the proceedings,” he added.

The 17 September attack was the second to target the US embassy since April. Militants detonated car bombs before firing rockets at the heavily fortified building.

Mr Saleh did not identify the suspects, but official sources were quoted saying it was same cell – led by a militant called Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani – whose arrest was announced a week after the attack.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said the Yemeni president’s statement was without foundation.