Barclays, trying to stanch an exodus of senior dealmakers, posted a bigger- than-estimated drop in first-quarter profit as a fall in revenue from trading bonds, currencies, and commodities cut earnings from the investment bank by 49%.

A BANGLADESHI Buddhist monk told the High Court yesterday he will face severe persecution if he is deported to his own country.

Suspected rebels woke up sleeping villagers in north-eastern India and opened fire with automatic weapons, killing six of them and raising the death toll to 63 from three days of violence in a region where dozens of ethnic rebel groups are fighting for separate homelands.