By Maria Golovnina

  NORTH OF BANI WALID, Libya (Reuters) - Battle-hardened Libyan combatants joined the fight to capture a desert town from well-armed loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi on Sunday after the head of Libya's interim council warned that the ousted leader still posed a threat.

  Gaddafi troops firing rockets and mortars held up local fighters trying to push into the northern outskirts of Bani Walid, which lies 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Tripoli.

  Scores of uniformed soldiers and experienced fighters of the ruling Transitional National Council (NTC) reinforced their comrades who have met fierce resistance from Gaddafi forces since Friday, saying they would attack within hours.

  " I've been a soldier in the Libyan army in the 1980s. I have a little bit more experience than these local boys," said one new arrival, Omar Swaid, a truck driver from Kansas.

  " They are great -- very enthusiastic but they don't know how to fight. We're going help them. The Gaddafi forces, some want to surrender. I hope this is the last fight. I don't want to see any more blood," he said in a broad American accent.

  NATO warplanes again patrolled the skies after launching several air strikes the day before.

  " In the vicinity of Bani Walid there was one rocket launcher we destroyed," a NATO official in Brussels told Reuters on Sunday. In a statement, NATO said its planes also hit a tank and two armoured vehicles in the area.

  Ibrahim Bakkar, a 20-year-old fighter outside Bani Walid, said: " NATO dropped many bombs yesterday, targeting Grad rocket launchers. It is really helping us. When we enter the city, NATO should give us more protection from the sky."

  The original plan was for local men to enter the town of 100,000 to reassure residents and to encourage Gaddafi fighters to lay down their weapons and stay indoors.

  But NTC officials, who first estimated they were facing only 150 Gaddafi loyalists, now say their opponents number about 1,000 after an influx of extra men from other Gaddafi strongholds such as Sirte on the coast and Sabha in the south.

  " Last night the enemy fired many Grad rockets and mortars. We were under a hail of Grads. We don't know what we're going to do now. I have to admit, they have more experience than us," said Mohammed Ibrahim, a local anti-Gaddafi fighter.

  GETTING A GRIP

  It is vital for the NTC to capture Gaddafi's last strongholds and find the fugitive former leader to assert its grip over the vast oil-producing North African country and begin a countdown to elections and a new constitution.

  NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, a former Gaddafi justice minister who had run the council from the eastern city of Benghazi, arrived in Tripoli on Saturday for the first time since bands of anti-Gaddafi rebels captured it on August 23.

  " Brotherhood and warmth -- that's what we will depend on to build our future. We are not at a time of retribution," Abdel Jalil declared. " This is the time of unity and liberation."

  The NTC has said it will complete its move to Tripoli this week, although previous timelines for this have slipped.

  Establishing a credible interim government in the capital would mark an important step for Libya, where regional and factional rivalries among forces united only by contempt for Gaddafi could trouble efforts to reshape the country.

  The NTC is anxious to show it can restart oil production, virtually stalled since the civil war began six months ago.

  Interim Oil and Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni said on Saturday oil would be pumped at some fields within days and pre-war output levels would be restored within a year.

  But Abdel Jalil said Libya could not yet be declared " liberated" from the man who ruled it for 42 years.

  " Gaddafi still has money and gold," he said. " These are the fundamental things that will allow him to find men."

  The NTC had given Sirte, Sabha and Bani Walid until Saturday to surrender or face attack, although fighting around Sirte and Bani Walid erupted a day before the deadline.

  Anti-Gaddafi fighters believe one or two of the ousted leader's sons may be holed up in Bani Walid. Some NTC officials have even suggested Gaddafi might be there.

  Several former Gaddafi officials and generals have fled to neighbouring Niger. The toppled leader's wife and three of his children found sanctuary in Algeria last month.

  The struggle for Bani Walid appeared far from over.

  Abdulkarim el Elwani, a former Libyan army soldier who defected, now commands a unit of about 100 men who arrived at the front on Sunday, visibly better-equipped and in uniform.

  " They asked us to come here because the Bani Walid rebels have failed to take the city," he said. " There's a lot of resistance. We have orders to advance in two hours."

* Hong Kong shares end lower as early gains fade for 2nd day

  * Hang Seng index down 1.8 percent on week, volumes trail

  * Defensives up, year's top performer China Unicom up 1.8 percent

  * Shanghai Comp closes flat, little impact from in-line CPI (Updates to close)

  By Vikram Subhedar

  HONG KONG, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Hong Kong and Shanghai shares closed lower on Friday as investors remained unconvinced that a possible peak in consumer price rises would mean relaxation in Beijing's monetary tightening.

  Both indexes posted a weekly loss on poor volumes, pointing to low investor confidence due to the persistent uncertainty about Europe's debt crisis as well as the U.S. economy.

  China's inflation, which fell to 6.2 percent in August, pulled back in August from a three-year high while economic activity slowed.

  " There's little comfort from a lower CPI number," said a Hong Kong-based trader at a large Asian brokerage, adding while the People's Bank of China is unlikely to keep tightening, price pressures will remain for at least the next three months and leave little room for China to relax policy in the near term.

  Inflation in China remains well above the government's target of 4 percent.

  The benchmark Hang Seng index closed down 0.2 percent on Friday and down 1.8 percent on the week as investors continued to sell into rallies and park funds in defensive stocks that outperformed broader markets this year.

  The year's two top performing benchmark constituents China Unicom and Hong Kong utility Power Assets , both ended the day and week higher.

  Turnover on the Hong Kong exchange, which been sliding for the past four sessions, fell to this year's low on Friday with just two of the 46 stocks in the Hang Seng trading above their average 30-day traded volume.

  The light trading activity, ahead of holidays in Hong Kong next week, and continued gains in defensives such as China Unicom suggested long-only funds were holding back on putting money to work on large-cap cyclicals.

  China Unicom, the country's second-largest mobile operator, is up 53 percent this year compared with the Hang Seng's 13.8 percent decline. Power Assets is up 25.1 percent.

 

  CHINA SHARES FLAT

  On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite closed little changed but finished 1.2 percent lower on the week.

  The Shanghai Composite has remained a laggard in Asia since last year, down 24 percent since January 2010 compared with a 3 percent gain for the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index. Over the same period, the Hang Seng index is down 8.8 percent.

  Alan Lam, Greater China analyst at private bank Julius Baer, said the A-shares should outperform their Hong Kong-listed peers as they remain relatively insulated from global investment flows.

  The Shanghai Composite was trading at its lowest valuations in terms of price-to-earnings as well as price-to-book ratios since 2005, said Lam, and the eventual relaxation in China's monetary policy would be the catalyst. (Editing by Ramya Venugopal)

* Dollar rises, shares drop on European worries

  * Only 6 pct U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil output still shut

  * Coming up: API oil inventory data, 4:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday (Updates prices, market activity through Brent settlement)

  By Robert Gibbons

  NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday as the euro and equities tumbled on increasing gloom over economic growth and reinforced worries about Europe's debt problems.

  Despite the day's losses, Brent and U.S. crude futures posted small gains for the week. Prices rose earlier in the week on tropical weather threats to U.S. output and a ruling by Germany's top court briefly soothed euro zone debt fears.

  The euro fell to a 6-1/2-month low against the dollar as risk aversion increased on news that a member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board will step down due to a conflict over controversial ECB bond-buying.

  The dollar index, measuring the greenback against a basket of other currencies, gained more than 1 percent.

  Dollar strength can pressure oil by making it less affordable for consumers using other currencies and by attracting investment to markets offering better returns.

  U.S. stocks tumbled more than 2 percent as the ECB news reinforced concerns about the region's debt and as investors remained skeptical about how much of U.S. President Barack Obama's $447 billion proposal to generate jobs would make it through Congress.

  " Worries about the economy are resurfacing. Oil is tracing the plunging equity markets and strong dollar," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

  ICE Brent October crude fell $1.78 to settle at $112.77 a barrel, swinging from $110.93 to $115.17. Front-month Brent managed a fourth straight weekly gain, but rose only 44 cents, or 0.39 percent.

  Brent fell under its 100-day moving average at $114.22 and the 60-day MA of $112.69, according to Reuters data, but bounced back ahead of its 30-day MA at $110.68.

  U.S. October crude settled down $1.81, 2 percent, at $87.24 a barrel, having dropped as low as $85.64. U.S. front-month crude posted a third consecutive weekly gain, up only 79 cents, just under 1 percent.

  The Brent premium to its U.S. counterpart was at $25.53 a barrel based on settlements, after reaching a record $27.23 intraday on Tuesday.

  Brent trading volume was 23 percent above the 30-day average and slightly outpaced U.S. crude volume that was 15 percent below its 30-day average.

  Speculators cut their net long U.S. crude oil futures and options positions in the week to Sept. 6, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commision said.

  U.S. gasoline and heating oil futures also fell. Gasoline ended nearly 4 percent lower after last Monday's Labor Day holiday, the traditional end of the U.S. summer driving season.

  Also bearish for oil, especially Brent, was news that about 2 million barrels of Libyan crude have been offered via a tender, the largest volume to come to market since civil war erupted in February.

  ECONOMIC GROWTH WORRIES

  The increasing recession fears ramp up the pressure on G7 finance chiefs meeting on Friday to take action to revive economic growth.

  International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Friday urged policymakers to use all available tools to fuel growth.

  The G7 meeting and Lagarde's remarks followed the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development saying on Thursday that the outlook for growth in developed countries has worsened in the last three months.

  WEATHER UNCERTAINTY

  Oil investors continued to eye Tropical Storm Nate in the Bay of Campeche and Tropical Storm Maria in the Atlantic. Nate could reach hurricane strength on Saturday.

  Oil companies continued to restore Gulf of Mexico production shut because of Tropical Storm Lee. A little more than 6 percent of crude oil output remained shut on Friday, according to a U.S. government report. (Additional reporting by Selam Gebrekidan, Jeffrey Kerr, Gene Ramos in New York and Simon Falush in London Editing by Marguerita Choy)

By Jane Lee

  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Growing numbers of China's rich want to avoid publicising their wealth, Forbes said, reflecting fears of official scrutiny amid a vast and growing rich-poor divide after several billionaires have ended up in jail.

  Rural incomes have been rising more slowly than urban incomes for two decades -- a factor that could threaten social stability and the ruling Communist Party's grip on power in a country where 150 million people still live on just $0.50 a day.

  More of the newly rich than in recent years asked to be left out of Forbes Asia's latest China rich list, said Russell Flannery, a senior editor at the magazine who oversaw the compilation of the list, which was released on Thursday.

  " I think it's a reflection in a bit of a sea change in Chinese society right now," said Flannery. " ...There's a lot of concern in China about the wealth gap."

  Several once high-flying members of earlier rich lists have ended up in jail, including Huang Guangyu, the founder of Gome Electrical Appliance Holding Ltd, and Shanghai property tycoon Zhou Zhengyi.

  CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in a study released on Thursday estimated that China will account for 60 percent of the rise in high net-worth individuals' wealth in Asia over the next five years.

  EARTH-MOVING MAGNATE

  The latest rich list pitted stolid industrial muscle against high-tech, with the head of an earth-moving company pipping the co-founder of the nation's biggest Internet search engine for the top spot.

  Liang Wengen, the chairman of Sany Heavy Industry, came in at number one on the Forbes list, a day after the rival Hurun Rich List also gave the top spot to the magnate, whose company makes earth-movers, pile drivers and concrete mixers powering the nation's urban transformation.

  Forbes estimated Liang's wealth at $9.3 billion.

  " This is a remarkable story of people growing up dirt poor in Changsha in Hunan Province, and from one group of people, getting seven of them on the Forbes China Rich List, including four billionaires," said Flannery.

  Along with Liang, three other entrepreneurs associated with Sany are on the rich list: Tang Xiuguo, Mao Zhongwu of Xiang Wenbo. Liang, Mao and Tang were all founders of the company.

  Other members of the Forbes top-ten included Liu Yonghao, an agribusiness magnate, and several real estate investors.

  Sany's success partly reflects the rapid growth of China's high-value added manufacturing sector over the past decade, with exports from makers of pricy machinery and construction equipment advancing faster than low-value goods like toys. Sany is based in Changsha, the capital of Hunan in southern China.

  " We've seen a structural change in Chinese exports that started several years ago. If you look at the export compound annual growth rate from 2003-2008, you can see that low value goods are not growing fast -- usually single digit or at most low teens. High value are growing at 40-50 percent," said David Lee, a China-based partner with Boston Consulting Group, who specialises in industrial goods.

  The company says it has over 60,000 employees and sales revenue of 50 billion yuan last year. Despite the gritty image of earth-moving equipment, the company also says it channels at least 5 percent of that revenue into research and development and has production plants in the United States, Germany, India and Brazil.

  Forbes gave the second place to Robin Li, a founder of Baidu, China's dominant Internet search engine, who the magazine said had personal wealth of about $9.2 billion. Li could have snatched the top spot if it wasn't for the volatility of share markets in the United States, where Baidu is listed.

  All in all, Forbes estimated that China's crop of billionaires grew from 126 last year to 146 now.

By Daniel Lovering

  SHANKSVILLE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George W. Bush Saturday said the 40 passengers and crew on United Flight 93 carried out one of the " most courageous acts in American history" when they attacked the plane's hijackers on September 11, 2001.

  Former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden joined Bush in speaking at the dedication of a memorial to the victims on the eve of the 10th anniversary of al Qaeda's attacks on New York and Washington.

  " For as long as this memorial stands, we'll remember ... the sacrifice they made and the lives they spared," Bush said at a memorial at the rural site where the flight crashed following an onboard struggle to thwart the hijackers.

  Investigators believe the hijackers of that plane wanted to hit the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

  " What happened above this Pennsylvania field was among the most courageous acts in American history," Bush said.

  Biden also spoke about the courage of those aboard Flight 93 and the " debt we can never repay."

  " They didn't board that plane to fight a war but when they heard the news ... they stood up and they stood their ground," Biden said.

  Clinton thanked Bush and President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to appear at the site Sunday, for " not letting us get attacked again." He also thanked the families of the victims.

  " They gave the whole country an incalculable gift," he said.

  The memorial, which is about 40 percent complete, includes a marble wall etched with the names of the 40 passengers and crew members. The wall follows the plane's flight path and a large boulder marks the approximate crash site. Nearly 1.5 million people have visited it.

  MONEY NEEDED TO FINISH MEMORIAL

  Forty groves of trees will be planted in a nearby field, and there will be a walkway along the groves that will pass between two large walls. There will be an overlook that will allow visitors to see the expanse of the field and the crash site. The memorial is scheduled to be finished in 2014, according to architect Paul Murdoch.

  Organizers say $10 million still needs to be raised to complete construction of the permanent Flight 93 National Memorial. At the ceremony, Clinton, a Democrat, said he and House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, had agreed to have a bipartisan event to raise money for the memorial.

  About $52 million has already been raised in public and private funds.

  At Saturday's two-hour ceremony, FBI agents raised a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol on September 11, 2001, and a bagpiper played " Amazing Grace."

  The ceremony was uplifting for some relatives of the victims, including Calvin Wilson, 55, of Herndon, Virginia, whose brother-in-law was co-pilot Leroy Homer.

  " What was special for me was that we have the acknowledgment

  from our country that they were heroes ... I feel good. I feel recharged," Wilson said.

  Before the ceremony began, hundreds of visitors walked along a black concrete path that skirted a tree-lined area where debris from Flight 93 was found.

  " I had more feeling for this place than Washington or New York because these people averted something that much bigger, that much deadlier," said Merrie Keller, 57, of Harboro, Pennsylvania, who came on a bus trip sponsored by a radio station.

  Phillip Moses, 35, a high school civics and government teacher from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, said he had been teaching his students about the importance of remembering people.

  " I had to be a part of it and bring back what I saw to them," Moses said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed more than 2 percent lower on Friday after the top German official at the European Central Bank resigned in protest of the bank's bond-buying program, which has been a major tool in fighting the region's debt crisis.

  Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 303.53 points, or 2.69 percent, at 10,992.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 31.65 points, or 2.67 percent, at 1,154.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 61.15 points, or 2.42 percent, at 2,467.99.

(Adds Credit Suisse analysts cuts target on S& P and U.S. official saying European officials have ability to cope with debt issue))

  By Chuck Mikolajczak

  NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Investors will grapple with more turbulence surrounding Europe's deepening debt problems next week and the prospect of another round of dismal data on the faltering U.S. economy.

  More volatility is almost guaranteed after the top German official at the European Central bank quit and rumors circulated throughout global markets that Greece will default this weekend. Greece later called the rumor market speculation designed to hurt the euro.

  Recent market trading patterns and options activity also suggest August's roller-coaster ride will keep apace throughout September.

  Juergen Stark's sudden resignation from the ECB on Friday came after a conflict over the bank's policy of buying government bonds to combat the euro zone's debt crisis, raising questions about a program that has been a key market stabilizer in recent months.

  " You can tie our stock market directly to European banks -- the problem they have is sovereign debt exposure," said Jack de Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

  In a light week for earnings with only electronics retailer Best Buy Co Inc and diversified manufacturer Pall Corp among S& P 500 companies set to report, investors will eye a batch of data for any clues the economy has regained its footing. Economic readings over the past two months have left little reason for optimism.

  But the euro zone, where a two-year sovereign debt crisis has unsettled investors worldwide, will be the real focus.

  De Gan noted the ECB's critical role in potentially solving the sovereign debt issue, highlighting the implications for global markets on any reports of internal turmoil.

  " Europe matters right now -- the ECB resignation, Trichet's keeping rates flat as opposed to outright cutting them," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist, at Federated Investors, in New York. " There are rumors I can't substantiate, but the rumors are still out there that this is the weekend Greece goes bust.

  " So certainly, Europe is going to capture our attention," Orlando said.

  A senior U.S. official, speaking after the close of the Group of Seven meeting in France, said there was no doubt European officials have the ability to cope with the issue and want to show markets they have the will to do so.

  Data on tap for next week includes retail sales along with the consumer price and producer price indexes for August. Also expected are regional manufacturing surveys by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank and by the New York Federal Reserve Bank, both of which showed contractions in factory activity last month.

  Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Garthwaite boosted the probability of a mild recession to 25 percent from 20 percent, citing U.S growth concerns and poor policital leadership in Europe. He lowered his 2011 target on the S& P 500 to 1,180 from 1,220 while also cutting his 2012 target to 1,260 from 1,300.

  " Each bit of this data theoretically gets us down the road to understanding what the true state of the economy is. I expect overreaction to rule the day," said Kim Caughey Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

  At the same time, the benchmark S& P 500 has been mired in a range of about 100 points -- between 1,120 and 1,220 -- for the past month, leaving the market susceptible to wide swings on a daily basis.

  " We are just kind of in this nowhere zone," said Ken Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities New York.

  " We haven't broken through to the downside but nor have we broken it to the upside. So what you are going to continue to get is this erratic movement in the market until at some point, it's going to have break out one way or the other."

  The continued rise in the CBOE Volatility index also points to large moves in the market. The index rose nearly 20 percent to top the 40 level for the first time since Aug. 26, indicating a rise in investor skittishness.

  " I expect high volatility next week, big swings to the upside and downside. The VIX is quite high and pretty elevated," said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab & Co in Austin, Texas.

  " When the VIX is rising the way it is, that generally means the puts are going up too." (Additional reporting by Angela Moon and Rodrigo Campos Editing by Leslie Adler)

  (Wall St Week Ahead appears every Sunday. Questions or comments on this column can be e-mailed to: charles.mikolajczak@thomsonreuters.com)

* World stocks down, Europe loses 3 percent

  * Greek, Italian deficits are focus of euro debt crisis

  * Euro hits three-week low vs dollar

  * Wall Street closed for holiday

  By Natsuko Waki and Jeremy Gaunt

  LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters)- European stocks shed 3 percent on Monday and the euro sank against the dollar as markets weighed a risk-heavy outlook for the euro zone, dominated by peripheral debt concerns and political uncertainty in Germany.

  Worries about public deficits in Greece and Italy and a regional election rout for Germany's ruling party cast fresh doubt on the euro zone's ability to tackle its debt crisis, extending Friday's selloff.

  Wall Street was closed for a holiday but is was unlikely that U.S. investors would have been in a more positive mood given data ahead of the long weekend that showed U.S. employment growth halted in August.

  That fuelled concerns that the world's biggest economy is slipping back into a recession. .

  The euro zone, meanwhile, faces a week packed with political and legal risks, beginning with a German constitutional court ruling on Wednesday on claims that Berlin is breaking German law and European treaties by contributing to bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal .

  The court is not expected to rule against the contributions, but may add stipulations for dealing with future requests that will complicate the region's bailout plans.

  The yield premiums investors demand to hold Italian and Spanish 10-year government bonds rather than benchmark German Bunds hit their highest levels in a month.

  " Not a great start to the week. There is a lot going on for banks, especially in the light of a low-growth environment and the backdrop in the euro zone not improving," said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin.

  The MSCI all country world equity index was down 1.8 percent on the day.

  European stocks fell 3.3 percent, with the banking sector hitting a 29-month low.

  " There is massive tailrisk in the system right now," said Andrew Lim, banks equity analyst at Espirito Santo.

 

  BATTERED EURO

  The dollar rose half a percent to a one-month high against a basket of major currencies.

  The euro fell across the board, hitting a three-week low of $1.4111 and dipping 1 percent against the safe-haven Swiss franc.

  As many European financial institutions are saddled with losses on bond holdings, traders are also worried that their funding could face more strains, putting pressure on the single currency.

  As pressure mounted on Italy -- the euro zone's third-largest economy -- to get its fiscal house in order, Italian 10-year yields rose to 5.487 percent, their highest since Aug. 9.

  Recent buying by the European Central Bank had pushed them down to the 5 percent level.

  Besides the German court ruling, a meeting of finance ministers of Germany, the Netherlands and Finland will be closely eyed as they discuss the nagging issue of collateral for loans to Greece.

  Debate over the effectiveness of ECB bond-buying is likely intensify at the bank's monthly policy meeting on Thursday.

  " We will probably get the ... assertion that 'all euro zone countries must stick to their fiscal plans as agreed with the euro zone authorities'," Richard McGuire, rate strategist at Rabobank, said.

  " Singling out Italy -- there is a risk that that would be counterproductive because it would put Italian yields under significant pressure and therefore undo much of the work that the ECB has done." (Additional reporting by Simon Jessop and Ana Nicolaci da Costa Editing by John Stonestreet)

(Adds detail, background)

  * Tan Chong Lee headed BofA-Merrill's SEA investment banking

  * Hiring comes days after two Temasek dealmakers joined other funds

  * Temasek says Tan will be a very experienced member of its senior team

  By Saeed Azhar and Daniel Stanton

  SINGAPORE, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Singapore's Temasek Holdings has hired a senior Bank of America-Merrill Lynch investment banker, part of a reshuffling of the top dealmaking team at the state investor.

  Tan Chong Lee, BofA-Merrill Lynch's Southeast Asia head of corporate and investment banking, was hired for the post of senior managing director and CIO-designate, sources with direct knowledge of the move told Reuters.

  A spokesman for Temasek, which manages about $160 billion, confirmed his appointment, but did not provide details of the role. A Merrill Lynch spokesman in Singapore declined to comment.

  Tan's hiring comes after senior Temasek MD Charles Ong joined his brother Richard Ong to advise on his $2.3 billion private equity firm RRJ Capital. Temasek, Singapore's second-largest sovereign wealth fund and the world's 10th largest, is one of the investors in the firm.

  Another senior MD Jimmy Phoon also moved to Temasek-owned absolute-return fund Seatown Holdings last month.

  Tan, who has also worked at Goldman Sachs , would be sharing his CIO role with Tow Heng Tan, sources said.

  The changes are seen by many as a shifting of power at the top of Temasek, which is headed by Ho Ching, the wife of Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

  The investment firm has hired Greg Curl, who was once seen as a CEO candidate for Bank of America , brought in ex-Singapore Exchange CEO Hsieh Fu Hua as executive director and president, and hired former top lawyer Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara as head of portfolio management.

  Ho, who joined Temasek in 2002, recently told staff that she was not quitting after a newspaper report said she would leave in August. She had planned to leave in 2009 when Temasek named former BHP Billiton Chief Executive Charles Goodyear as her designated successor, but Goodyear ultimately did not take up the post, citing strategic differences. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Daniel Stanton)

AGADEZ, Niger (Reuters) - The head of Muammar Gaddafi's security brigades, Mansour Dhao, has crossed into Niger from Libya and is due to travel on to the Nigerien capital, Niamey, two Nigerien officials said Monday.

  The officials, who asked not to be named, said Dhao and about a dozen other Libyans crossed into Niger Sunday after several days of talks while they waited at the border