Alistair Darling will present his pre-budget report and comprehensive spending review to parliament next week. By Ashley Seager and Fiona Walsh.

  ·Bank admits it handled credit crisis badly ·Significant job cuts 'not contemplated'

  Biggest rail construction project outside China finally gets the green light. By Marianne Barriaux.

  Company reaches agreement with its managerial staff on pensions and pay, although battle with postal workers drags on. By Antoinette Odoi.

  ·MPs say people give out too many personal details ·ID fraud costing £1.7bn at conservative estimate

  Closing market report: A speculative tale is doing the rounds that a private equity firm in partnership with M&S might be planning to spoil Qatari-backed Delta Two's party. By Nick Fletcher.

  Bank accepts the inevitable and concedes defeat in the seven-month battle for ABN Amro. By Phillip Inman.

  On America: Japanese massage chairs, scooter parking in the corridors, and a room dedicated to lego. It can only be the self-conscious wackiness of Google, which had an open day at its New York office this week. By Andrew Clark in New York.

  Stock markets around the world gain and the dollar firms on news that US non-farm payrolls rose more strongly than expected in September. By Ashley Seager.

  Lender is thought to have taken on a further £2.9bn of emergency borrowings from the Bank of England this week, bringing the total to an estimated £10.7bn.

  British Land yesterday blamed the credit crunch for its decision to cancel the planned sale of Meadowhall.

  Rates on hold at 5.75% as average price of home falls for first time this year

  Questions over private sector role after tendering is suspended.

  Waitrose managing director Mark Price likes to think a grocer's girth correlates to the quality of food on sale. By David Teather.