New York, Nov 1: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has maintained a comfortable lead over his rival John McCain, and continued to outpace him in swing states, most national surveys showed.

Gallup’s daily poll had Obama up, 50-45 percent. Rasmussen Reports’ daily tracking had him leading by 51-46 percent, a two-point rise since Wednesday.

But Fox News/Opinion Dynamics had Obama ahead by just 47-44 percent - far closer than his 9-point lead last week, The New York Post reported.

New York, Nov 1: Republican presidential candidate John McCain will take time out from his last minute swing state campaigning to make an ‘SNL’'' appearance where as his rival Barack Obama’s supporter Ben Affleck will do a satirical skit version of his “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend.

The Arizona senator has described himself as “pretty good at stand up comedy” and may hope to show his less desperate - and more humorous - side in a last-minute appeal to the show’s newly re-ignited audience before voters head to the polls on November 4.

McCain will make his third appearance on the show Saturday, his spokesmen said on Friday.

Tokyo - Japan's Panasonic Corp is considering buying troubled Sanyo Electric Co to become the nation's largest electronics manufacturer, news reports said Saturday.

Panasonic wants to begin negotiations with the three top shareholders of its domestic competitor as early as this month, the Nikkei business daily reported.

Should the negotiations be successful it would be the first merger between two large Japanese electronics companies.

Washington, Nov 1: The loser of the looming Barack Obama-John McCain contest is entitled to a consolation prize: An all-expenses-paid, one-way ticket back to the United States Senate.

An Obama loss would shake American politics to its core, but the candidate said that he’d adapt to life as a high-profile foot soldier in the Senate’s Democratic majority.

McCain hasn’t said whether he’d return to the Senate if he loses his White House bid - and his campaign is bristling at the very suggestion.

London, Nov 1: Forget the Atkins and the Cambridge diet – and give way for WI – the newest way to reduce waste and waistlines in the UK.

National ‘Love Food’ campaign by Women''s Institute campaign turned out to be such a success at weight-loss that its now been touted as the perfect diet for shedding extra pounds.

In the campaign, women are encouraged to plan meals, reuse leftovers and buy local produce, for reducing the amount of waste produced by households.

But apart from reducing waste, the scheme turned out to be an effective scheme in boosting health and saving money, and is thus being considered as the ultimate solution to the problem of childhood obesity and surviving the credit crunch.

London, Nov 1 : While analysing a liquid, which was being sold on the streets of Utrecht, Netherlands, as a "marijuana adulterant", researchers have discovered Viagra-like compounds in it.

The team led by Dries de Kaste from National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven has identified compounds called homosildenafil (HS) and thiohomosildenafil (THS) that belong to the in the same class of compounds called sildenafil, sold as Viagra.

These compounds obstruct the breakdown of an enzyme that dilates blood vessels in the penis, increasing blood flow, reports New Scientist.