Air passengers have to pay the transaction fees of Rs 350-10,000 per ticket for national and international flights from November 1. Indian domestic carriers such as Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have decided to levy this fee through travel agents. Air carriers are, at present, giving 5 percent commissions to agents which would be replaced by transaction fee from today onward.

London, Nov 2 : A new poll in the UK has revealed that around 80 percent of the Britishers want Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to win the race for the White House.

Also, they believe that Obama, who looks certain to be America’s first black president, will make the world a safer place than his Republican rival John McCain, and that the risk of future wars and other global threats will be reduced if Obama becomes leader of the free world, The Mirror quoted the findings of the Sunday Mirror/ICM poll as saying.

Seoul  - North Korea's state-controlled media on Sunday released photos of national leader Kim Jong Il appearing in public at a football match as speculation persists about his health.

The 66-year-old watched a match between two army teams accompanied by high-ranking officials of the ruling communist Korean Workers' Party and military representatives and congratulated the players after the game, said the Korean Central News Agency, which also published a photo of North Korea's leader.

Korean Central TV aired 14 photographs of Kim at the game, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The date and location of the match was not released.

Drug maker, Ranbaxy Laboratories registered worst ever performance for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. The company suffered a loss of Rs 394.5 crore for the reporting quarter.

It had made a profit of Rs 207 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Ranbaxy is already acquired by Japanese major Daiichi Sankyo. It is facing tough time in the US and US food department had already banned entry of its 30 drugs.  

Los Angeles  - National Basketball Association standings and results from Saturday's games: <# Eastern Conference ==================

Atlantic Div. W L Pct. GB ----------------------------------- Toronto 3 0 1.000 - Boston 2 1 .667 1.0 New Jersey 1 1 .500 1.5 New York 1 1 .500 1.5 Philadelphia 1 2 .333 2.0

Central Div. W L Pct. GB ----------------------------------- Detroit 2 0 1.000 - Chicago 2 1 .667 0.5 Indiana 1 1 .500 1.0 Cleveland 1 2 .333 1.5 Milwaukee 1 2 .333 1.5

South-East Div. W L Pct. GB ----------------------------------- Atlanta 2 0 1.000 - Charlotte 1 1 .500 1.0 Miami 1 2 .333 1.5 Orlando 1 2 .333 1.5 Washington 0 2 .000 2.0

Western Conference ==================

Washington  - Every four years, Americans lay claim to a right found nowhere in the US Constitution - that the presidential campaign not only inform, but also entertain.

The US vote is less than three days away and Republican John McCain's numbers are down in the polls, but the senator laid aside his campaign invective against Democrat Barack Obama and appeared on the weekly comedy show Saturday Night Live.

With running mate Sarah Palin's look-alike comedian Tina Fey at his side, McCain pitched a series of fake, cheesy campaign souvenirs to the public to help his famously underfunded campaign.

"I'm a true maverick - a Republican without money," McCain quipped.