Investors sent stocks lower today as anxiety over the growing list of firms affected by investment manager Bernard Madoff and the potential losses to the financial sector took centre stage on Wall Street.

The list of investors who say they were duped in one of Wall Street's biggest pyramid schemes is growing, snaring some of the world's biggest banking institutions and hedge funds, the super rich and the famous, pensioners and charities.

Two clergymen who witnessed the decommissioning of IRA weapons will be honoured for their role in the key chapter of the peace process, it was announced today.