The LSE has been the subject of numerous takeover bids in recent years

 by Biodun Iginla and Judith Stein, BBC News

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has agreed a merger with TMX Group, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The merged group will keep headquarters in both London and Toronto and become the world's largest exchange for mining companies.

More than 6,700 companies will be listed on the combined exchanges, with a market capitalisation of about £3.7 trillion ($5.9tn), the firms said.

Shares in the LSE climbed sharply in early Wednesday trading.

A number of leading exchanges have merged in recent years.

The New York Stock Exchange has bought Euronext, while Deutsche Borse has taken over the International Securities Exchange in the US. The LSE, which has successfully fought off a number of takeover approaches, has itself bought Borsa Italiana.

The LSE's chief executive Xavier Rolet, who will head the new enlarged business said it was "an incredibly exciting merger with considerable growth opportunities".

"We are creating the world's largest listings venue for the commodities, energy and natural resources sectors, as well as the premium market for small, mid-size and growth companies."

London Stock Exchange Group

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TMX's chief executive Thomas Kloet will be the firm's president.

"We are creating an international group with deep expertise, undeniable leadership in key sectors and the ability to compete and win on the global stage," Mr Kloet said.

"Canadian customers will benefit from access to one of the world's deepest capital pools while European issuers will have an effective gateway to North American financial markets."

"These are arguably two of the most important mining exchanges in the world," Douglas Porter at BMO Capital Markets told the BBC World Service.

"Of course some of the world's biggest mining companies are on the LSE, and some of the world's biggest gold companies, and hundreds if not thousands of smaller mining companies are in the TMX Group.

"So certainly it brings together some of the most important mining groups in the world under one broad umbrella."

As well as the Borsa Italiana, the LSE also operates MTS, a European bond market, and the Turquoise trading platform. TMX also operates the Montreal Exchange and the Boston Options Exchange, among others.

The merger was "interesting" said Justin Urquhart Stewart of Seven Investment Management, but he added there may be opportunities for the LSE to be involved in more lucrative deals.

"What this would do is take them from 10th or 11th in the international league to fifth or sixth," he told the BBC.

"It'll allow them to have greater pools of liquidity and develop derivatives, but it's not the big story. The big story would be a potential linkage with one of the Indian markets, or potentially Singapore or maybe China.

"That's where they will get into a much larger scale operation. As yet we don't know anything, but watch India over the next few months."

'

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The BBC's Jim Muir in Tahrir Square: "The sense of imminent attack has eased and people are relaxing"

 by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Thousands of Egyptians are taking part in a "day of departure" rally to try to oust President Hosni Mubarak.

There is an increased army presence in Cairo's Tahrir Square after unrest that has led to hundreds of casualties.

After Friday prayers were held in a relaxed atmosphere, the crowd started chanting for Mr Mubarak to go.

Mr Mubarak has said he is "fed up" with being in power but is resisting mounting pressure to resign as he says it would leave Egypt in chaos.

In his first interview since anti-government protests began, he told ABC News he would like to resign immediately. But he repeated that the country's Islamist opposition - the Muslim Brotherhood - would fill the power vacuum left by his absence.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Tahrir Square says tens of thousands have now gathered there, although with the checkpoints the movement into the square is more a trickle than a flood.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Jim MuirBBC News, Tahrir Square

The pro-Mubarak element seems to have disappeared at least for the moment and the army has a cordon between the two sides. It is holding a ring and letting people in. The numbers are building up and of course people here are expecting a big day.

The mood is very relaxed. I've got hundreds of people around me who have spent a long time here, many of them are sleeping because they are exhausted, others are sitting chatting in the sunshine.

There was a false alarm a short while ago. When the protesters think they are coming under attack, they bang on railings with metal bars to attract attention and the lads start running to that spot. But the sense of imminent attack has now eased.

Most people here do have confidence in the army as a kind of neutral institution.

And they do feel this is coming to a climax and I think they're feeling the shift within the Egyptian ruling leadership.

The stronger army presence secured the perimeter and the soldiers appear to be on good terms with the protesters.

The demonstrators chanted: "The army and people are united."

Defence Minister General Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and other military leaders joined the armed forces in the square.

Thorough checks for weapons were carried out ahead of Friday prayers, during which one cleric praised the "revolution of the young" and declared: "We want the head of the regime removed."

Our correspondent says the mood is relaxed but it is not quite the carnival atmosphere that existed before Wednesday - when pro-Mubarak gangs attacked anti-government protesters - and people are watchful.

The BBC's Wyre Davies in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, says there are also many more tanks and soldiers out on the streets there than before.

Supporters of Mr Mubarak have been calling Friday a "day of allegiance".

The general secretary of the ruling NDP, Ibrahim Kamel, has accused the West of betraying Egypt.

He vowed that President Mubarak would not step down and that soon millions of Egyptians - "the silent majority" - would come out on to the streets to protest because "enough is enough".

Egypt's health ministry says eight people have been killed and more than 800 injured in the clashes in recent days. The United Nations estimates that more than 300 people have died since the unrest broke out on 25 January, with about 4,000 hurt.

Egypt's Vice-President Omar Suleiman has appealed for calm and urged the protesters to accept Mr Mubarak's pledge that he would not stand for election again.

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ABC's Christiane Amanpour: "I had a 30-minute meeting with President Mubarak"

But it has now emerged that the White House has been in talks with Mr Suleiman about how Egypt can begin making a "meaningful transition" to a democratic government.

US Vice-President Joe Biden spoke to his Egyptian counterpart on Thursday, say diplomats.

The New York Times suggested that among the proposals was a plan for Mr Mubarak to resign immediately and hand power to a military-backed interim government under Mr Suleiman.

Neither the White House nor the state department have directly denied the report.

But a spokesman for President Barack Obama's National Security Council said it was "time to begin a peaceful, orderly and meaningful transition, with credible, inclusive negotiations".

The BBC's Mark Mardell in Washington says other reports suggest the US plan has already been rebuffed in Egypt, and that the administration has been surprised by the attitude of the military and Mr Suleiman.

The reports say officials believe Mr Suleiman was aware of the apparent campaign in recent days to intimidate the opposition, and are now wondering whether he is the right man to lead an interim government, says our correspondent.

On Friday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron criticised the Egyptian government for its handling of the crisis.

"The steps taken so far haven't met the aspirations of the Egyptian people," he said.

In his interview with ABC News, Mr Mubarak denied that his administration was behind the violence of the last two days but said it had troubled him.

Mr Mubarak was speaking in the presidential palace, with his son Gamal at his side.

"I never intended to run [for president] again," Mr Mubarak said. "I never intended Gamal to be president after me."

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The BBC's Jon Leyne: "The army is now willing to support the anti-Mubarak protesters"

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by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Egypt's prime minister has apologised for the fighting between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square, which killed five people and wounded several hundred.

Ahmed Shafiq pledged to investigate the violence, calling it a "fatal error".

Pre-dawn gunfire lasted for two hours as anti-government demonstrators tried to stay in control of the square.

The protesters are demanding that President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled for 30 years, step down immediately.

Egypt's Health Minister Ahmed Samih Farid said earlier that five people had died in the fighting, which began on Wednesday, and 836 were injured - mostly as the result of stone throwing and attacks with metal rods and sticks.

"This is a fatal error," Mr Shafiq told the privately-owned al-Hayat television. "When investigations reveal who is behind this crime and who allowed it to happen, I promise they will be held accountable and will be punished for what they did."

"There is no excuse whatsoever to attack peaceful protesters, and that is why I am apologising," he said, urging the protesters "to go home to help end this crisis".

Mr Mubarak has said that he will serve out his current presidential term, which ends in September, but will not run for re-election.

Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood have rejected government calls for negotiations, saying Mr Mubarak must leave office first.

Meanwhile, the leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain issued a joint statement condemning the violence and calling for a political transition that "must start now".

On Wednesday, groups fought pitched battles in Cairo, in the worst violence in 10 days of protests.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Ian Pannell,BBC News, Cairo

There's another tense day ahead.

We've moved around to other side of Tahrir Square. There's more movement by the military, with armoured vehicles moving around, but not the numbers you'd have thought would be needed to bring control.

There has been gunfire, ambulances on site, people been dragged out, stones and Molotov cocktails being thrown.

The numbers of those here in support of the president is fewer than we saw yesterday, so the question remains whether we'll see more of those or more anti-government protesters today.

The unrest has left about 300 people dead across the country, according to UN estimates.

Cairo's Tahrir Square has been the main focus of the protests, and a group of anti-Mubarak protesters remains hemmed in there by barricades.

They said they had detained 120 people with ID cards linking them with police or the ruling party, most of whom had been caught attacking demonstrators on Tahrir Square.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo cites a retired general who has been speaking to tank crews on the square as saying the army was losing patience, and if firing continued from pro-government supporters, it was willing to fire on them.

Those attacking them appear to be either police who have taken off their uniforms or plain-clothes "thugs", our correspondent says.

There were petrol bombs being lobbed during the night and now this morning there's been gunfire.

The military leadership seems deeply uncomfortable with what is happening, adds our correspondent; they do not want to turn on protesters but they are not willing to defy the president either.

The US has urged all Americans in Egypt to leave "immediately".

'Very tense'

On Thursday, the army used its vehicles to separate the feuding factions.

One tank turned its turret towards pro-Mubarak demonstrators who were throwing rocks at protesters from a road above Tahrir Square, before advancing towards them with footsoldiers to help clear the overpass.

Earlier, Mona Seif, an anti-government protester in Tahrir Square, described the atmosphere as "very tense".

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Actor Khalid Abdalla: "The fight for noble ideals will continue"

"Every couple of minutes we hear a sequence of gunshots, and it's only on one side of the square, which is the one close to Cairo Museum," she told the BBC.

Wednesday's violence began when thousands of supporters of President Mubarak surged into the square.

Continue reading the main story

• Pro-Mubarak camp 'well-organised'
• US 'concerned' at violence
• Square's place in history
• 'We are falling one-by-one'

"They started throwing stones at us," said an anti-government protester named as Zaccaria. "Then some of us started throwing stones at them and then we chased them out of the square. They returned once again with the horses and the whips and the thugs."

Opposition supporters say many in the pro-government camp were paid by the authorities to demonstrate, and allowed into the square by the troops surrounding it.

The two sides pelted each other with stones in running battles lasting for hours.

Egyptian troops refused to intervene, but fired into the air to try to disperse people. On Wednesday, they called for demonstrators to return to their homes, a call which was reiterated by Vice-President Omar Suleiman.

Clashes were also reported in Egypt's second city, Alexandria.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Egyptian Vice-President Omar Suleiman in a phone call on Wednesday that the clashes were a "shocking development" after days of peaceful protests.

She also "underscored the important role that the Egyptian armed forces have played in exercising restraint in the face of peaceful demonstrations", the state department said in a statement.

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes says he was handcuffed, blindfolded and interrogated by Egyptian secret police, before being released after three hours.

He says that the authorities' attitude appears to be hardening and the ruling elite are fighting back.

The violence drew condemnation from British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"If it turns out that the regime in any way has sponsored or tolerated this violence, that is completely unacceptable," he said after meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in London.

Mr Ban said: "Any attack against the peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable and I strongly condemn it."

If Mr Mubarak does not step down, demonstrators have planned to march on the presidential palace on Friday.

Meanwhile, internet services were returning to the country, having been cut off for days by the government.

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The BBC's Jeremy Bowen: "There is a lot of violence, I've seen people with some really ugly wounds"

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News 

Clashes have erupted in the Egyptian capital between supporters of President Hosni Mubarak and demonstrators calling on him to step down immediately.

Rival groups of protesters are fighting pitched battles in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square. Several people have been wounded and shots have been heard.

Earlier, the army urged people to return home after nine days of anti-government demonstrations.

Mr Mubarak has pledged he will not stand for re-election in September.

On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands had protested across the country against Mr Mubarak, the culmination of more than a week of demonstrations that have left about 300 people dead according to UN estimates.

Up to 2,000 anti-Mubarak demonstrators saw out a cold night in Tahrir Square, the main focus of the protests, saying the president's pledge was insufficient and chanting: "We will not leave!" They want to see him deposed and punished.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Ian Pannell,BBC News, Cairo

We're in the middle of a very fluid situation - this is entirely dangerous, entirely provocative. Thousands of pro-Mubarak forces are now surging into Tahrir Square.

There was a cordon set up by the anti-Mubarak protesters to try and hold them back. The army were in the middle. They didn't take sides.

And basically there were too many of them. So they are now surging forward.

We've just seen one man being attacked - being kicked and punched and hit with a stick. And we've also seen protesters pulling down signs that are against President Mubarak.

There's a lot of anger on the streets at the moment, a lot of argument, fists are flying. And who knows where this will end.

But on Wednesday, thousands of supporters of President Mubarak surged into the square, dismantling barricades.

"You guys have made your point clear, let the man (Mubarak) take care of you until his time is up. Mubarak wants stability and we want stability as well," said Mohamed Shafik.

"Let Egyptians go home and look after their families," the 51-year-old pharmacist told Reuters news agency.

Television footage showed opposing groups facing off, chanting slogans. They later hurled stones at each other and fought with stick and bottles. Some government supporters rode horses and camels and wielded whips.

Gunfire was heard. Some reports say troops fired warning shots to disperse the crowds.

But Ibrahim Zadran, co-ordinator of the opposition National Association for Change, told the BBC that some pro-government activists had used firearms and shot 15 protesters.

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, who is in Tahrir Square, said the clashes were becoming increasingly violent and he had seen people with nasty wounds.

The anti-Mubarak protesters have been accusing the army of moving aside to let in their pro-government rivals.

The troops guarding the square have not intervened. The crowds of protesters began to thin after the fighting broke out.

Clashes between the rival groups were also reported in Egypt's second city, Alexandria.

The violence triggered condemnation from British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Continue reading the main story

• Simpson: Lessons in history
• In pictures: Huge protests
• Interactive map
• Square's place in history

"If it turns out that the regime in any way has sponsored or tolerated this violence, that is completely unacceptable," he said after meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in London.

In its earlier statement, the army called for demonstrators to return to their homes.

"Your message has arrived, your demands became known... you are capable of bringing normal life to Egypt," said a spokesman in a message broadcast on state television.

In Tuesday night's speech, Mr Mubarak had promised to leave at the next polls, and pledged constitutional reform, saying he would devote his remaining time in power to ensuring a peaceful transition to his successor.

US President Barack Obama responded by saying an orderly transition "must begin now", while Turkey's PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Mr Mubarak should take a "different step".

Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei dismissed Mr Mubarak's move as "a trick" to stay in power, and Tahrir Square protesters have vowed to continue their demonstrations until Mr Mubarak quits.

Abdelhalim Kandil, leader of Egypt's Kifaya (Enough) opposition movement, said Mr Mubarak's offer not to serve a sixth term was not enough.

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President Obama: "An orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now"

"I will tell you very simply that there is an unprecedented popular movement that rejects the presence of the president on a scope that has not been seen before, that is calling for the will of the people to be imposed," he said.

If Mr Mubarak does not step down, demonstrators have planned to march on the presidential palace.

Meanwhile, internet services were reportedly returning to the country, having been cut off for days by the government.

State television also reported an easing of a nationwide curfew - with restricted hours from 1700-0700 (1500-0500GMT) rather than 1500-0800.

State media reported that parliament had been suspended until the results of last year's contested elections were revised.

It added that the parliamentary speaker had called for Mr Mubarak's proposed constitutional reforms to be implemented within two-and-a-half months.

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The BBC's John Simpson describes the scene in Cairo's Tahrir Square

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Egyptian protesters are holding huge rallies in Cairo and other cities as they step up their efforts to force President Hosni Mubarak from power.

Organisers have been hoping to bring one million people on to the streets of the capital. The demonstration is the biggest since the protests began.

The atmosphere has been festive, with protesters singing and chanting.

Protest leaders, including Mohamed ElBaradei, have called on Mr Mubarak to step down by Friday at the latest.

"They hope that this will end today or Friday at the latest, and they called the coming Friday 'the Friday of departure', but I hope that President Mubarak will take heed before then and leave the country after 30 years of rule and give the people a chance, and I don't expect that he wants to see more blood," Mr ElBaradei told al-Arabiya TV.

BBC correspondents in Cairo's Tahrir Square say the crowds there are already much bigger than on the previous seven days of protests.

Journalists at the scene estimated that hundreds of thousands of people - men, women and children from a cross-section of Egyptian society - have gathered, although in the absence of official estimates, there is no way of finding out the exact numbers.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Wyre DaviesBBC News, Alexandria

The great strength of this popular uprising is that it is happening across Egypt.

Hundreds of thousands of people, young and old, men and women of all faiths are taking to the streets.

In the northern city of Alexandria the main focus was the famous Ibrahim Mosque in the centre of this historical coastal city.

Tens of thousands descended on the square. They climbed on roofs and the tops of cars and in trees to get a vantage point, all calling for the removal of Hosni Mubarak.

I saw one effigy of the president being hanged and another man threw shoes at it. Other people carried aloft a coffin representing the end of the Mubarak regime.

These are scenes that would have been unthinkable only days ago in such an authoritarian country.

Egypt's powerful army has vowed it will not use force against the protesters.

Many carried placards and banners daubed with anti-Mubarak slogans. Earlier, crowds cheered as an effigy of the president was hung from a set of traffic lights in the square.

Meanwhile, new Vice-President Omar Suleiman said he would hold cross-party talks on constitutional reform.

Mr Mubarak reshuffled his cabinet on Monday to try to head off the protests, replacing the widely despised Interior Minister Habib al-Adly.

Prime Minister Ahmad Shafiq told state TV the new government would ensure bread supplies, tackle security problems and "review our entire political, constitutional and legislative situation, into something more satisfactory and appropriate for us as Egyptian citizens".

"Everything is subject to amendments, without limits," he said.

But analysts say the army's statement has been a major blow for President Mubarak, and appears to have encouraged protesters, who are flocking to central Cairo in their thousands.

The feeling that change is coming in Egypt is getting stronger, says the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen in Cairo. Too much has happened too quickly to go back to the way things were before, he says.

Continue reading the main story

• In pictures: Huge protests
• Square's place in history

The UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, says 300 people may been killed across the country since the protests began a week ago. They followed an internet campaign and were partly inspired by the ousting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia last month.

Egypt has since cut off the internet in the country and text messaging services have been disrupted.

In other developments:

• The US state department announced it had ordered all non-emergency US embassy and government personnel to leave Egypt
• AFP news agency reported that US Ambassador Margaret Scobey had spoken by phone to Mr ElBaradei
• In an opinion piece for the New York Times, US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee head John Kerry called on Mr Mubarak to step down and engineer a peaceful transition
• The US has despatched a special envoy to Cairo, former ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner

In Egypt's second biggest city, Alexandria, thousands of people have gathered to call for the president to step down.

Thousands more were out in the streets in Suez, and the Associated Press news agency reported protests in Mansoura, north of Cairo, and the southern cities of Assiut and Luxor.

With limited bus, train and internal flight services, access to the capital has been restricted.

Unnamed security officials were reported as saying all roads and public transportation to Cairo had been shut down.

Some protesters camped out in Tahrir Square on Monday night, saying they would stay there until Mr Mubarak's 30-year rule ended.

One demonstrator, Tarek Shalabi, told the BBC that groups were camped out in tents or sleeping out in the square, and described the atmosphere as "overwhelming".

"We're here because we want to make a statement. We're not going until Mubarak steps down," he said.

He said a stage had been set up where people could go up and make speeches, read out poetry or sing or chant political slogans.

Mubarak supporters have been holding counter-demonstrations in the Egyptian capital

Meanwhile, crowds of pro-Mubarak demonstrators held counter-protests elsewhere in the capital, raising fears of possible confrontations between the different groups.

On Monday, the Egyptian army said it respected the "legitimate rights of the people".

In its statement, carried on Egyptian media, the military said: "To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people... have not and will not use force against the Egyptian people."

Correspondents say the announcement is absolutely critical because it takes away a huge measure of uncertainty from the mind of any potential demonstrator.

A coalition of political opposition groups - incorporating the Muslim Brotherhood, political parties such as that led by Mr ElBaradei, and other prominent figures - has reportedly met, and told the Egyptian government that it will begin talks on its demands only after Mr Mubarak has stood down.

Concerns have also grown about the economy, as global oil prices on Monday topped $100 (£62) a barrel amid fears over the ongoing unrest.

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