Washington - President-elect Barack Obama is expected to select Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu to be his energy secretary, US media reported Thursday.

Chu shared the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light. He has since focused on climate change for several years, saying last year that the best scientist have realized that the world is facing a "crisis situation."

Sheila Dikshit will be the Chief Minister of Delhi for a third time.

The Congress Wednesday chose Sheila Dikshit to be Delhi’s chief minister for a third term, with party president Sonia Gandhi coming out in her support.The newly elected 42 Congress legislators, Dikshit included, passed a resolution authorising Gandhi to name a chief minister.

10 new MPs were administered oath by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari today including Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and his party colleague Ram Gopal Yadav.

Of the total 10 MPs who were administered oath in the Upper House, five belong to BSP, two are from BJP and one MP is an Independent, apart from the two SP MPs.

BSP MPs included Akhilesh Das, who earlier this year had joined the party after leaving the Congress, Brijesh Pathak, Veer Singh, Rajaram, and Avtar Singh Karimpuri.

Rome - To understand the challenges facing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2009, it's best to consider the country's distinctive boot shape and its reputation for quality footwear.

Like a person putting on a fine boot, Berlusconi only has to pull hard enough on the boot straps to ensure a snug fit. But, should he pull too hard, he risks splitting the seams and pushing his toes through the fabric.

Similarly, Berlusconi, flush from his victory in April's elections, ends 2008 on a high note, with approval ratings around 60 per cent. But maintaining those figures into 2009 will require applying just the right amount of pressure in just the right place.

Berlin - Europe is gearing up to mark a series of major anniversaries next year, defining moments both in terms of European as well as world history.

Besides the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, which began when Hitler's troops marched into Poland on September 1, 1939, 2009 will also mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism across Central Europe.

Starting with democratic elections in Poland in June 1989, the year of change across Central Europe culminated in November of that year with the fall of the Berlin Wall. That event became a symbol of the end of the Cold War and Europe's post-Second World War divide.

Dublin - European Union officials will remember 2008 as the year Ireland rejected its reform treaty, but for most Irish people it was the year the bubble burst and the Celtic Tiger economic miracle came crashing to an end.

What started as whispers about economic downturn in spring turned to cries of crisis in autumn, with the economy grinding to a halt as a result of a construction industry meltdown and the credit crunch.

The government's defeat in the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty by referendum in June was a major political upset in a tumultuous year, in which Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in the south and First Minister Ian Paisley in Northern Ireland stepped down.