London, Dec 18 : American actor Tom Cruise's performance in `Valkyrie' got a rating from German film critics, who say that the actor can in no way act like the war hero Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg.

The critics were sure, even before the premiere of the movie that Cruise was not up to the job, and Berthold Schenk Count von Stauffenberg, eldest son of the resistance hero, had even told the actor to go back to America.

Washington, Dec 18 : Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, US, have described a method for using sugar-producing microalgae for making biofuel.

The researchers have explained a way to genetically modify the tiny organisms, so as to minimize the number of chlorophyll molecules needed to harvest light without compromising the photosynthesis process in the cells.

With this modification, instead of making more sugar molecules, the microalgae could be producing hydrogen or hydrocarbons.

New York, Dec 18 : American actor Sean Penn has been slammed for his role of homosexual martyr Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant''s biopic `Milk', because of his affection for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and Cuban strongman Raul Castro.

James Kirchick, an American journalist, criticised Penn for his political leanings in this month''s The Advocate, his stand is that Chavez and Castro are guilty of flagrant human-rights abuses.

Hanoi - Police in the port town of Ha Long City have identified and are pursuing several suspects who they allege killed six people and wounded one this week in a dispute over coal smuggling, a police official said Thursday.

The victims were shot early Monday in Ha Long City harbour. Police spokesman Nguyen Trinh Dong said police had not yet captured any of the suspects.

Dong said police had determined the killings stemmed from a conflict between two groups competing to smuggle coal from illegal unlicensed mines to nearby China.

Police believe ringleader Pham Huy Nam, 33, alias Nam Bang, ordered his men to kill anyone exploiting coal without his permission in areas he claims to control.

Washington, Dec. 18 : A new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has said that much of the amount paid to Pakistan as part of `key co-operating nations' in war on terror, as reimbursements may have been wasted.

"A large proportion of the 6.7 billion dollars paid to Pakistan since 2001 by the United States as Coalition Support Funds (CSF) funds may have been lost to waste and mismanagement, given a dearth of adequate controls and oversight," the report said.

New York, Dec 18 : Snaps dating back to 1980 have come to light, which show a rather `cool' side of US president-elect Obama.A series of photographs showing a relaxed Barack Obama during his time as a student have been published as Obama was named person of the year by Time magazine.

The pictures, taken in 1980 by Lisa Jack, a fellow student at Occidental University, lay forgotten in her basement for years until she hunted them out during the election build-up.