London, Dec 8 : A British historian has accused the Russian authorities of attempting to hide from the world the dastardly deeds that were done in Soviet Russia under Stalin.

According to a report in the Guardian, eminent British historian Orlando Figes has accused the Russian authorities of trying to ‘rehabilitate the Stalinist regime’ after armed police seized an entire archive last week detailing repression in the Soviet Union.

Figes, professor of history at Birkbeck, a London University college, condemned the raid on Memorial, a Russian human rights organisation.

London, December 8 : US President-Elect Barack Obama has pledged that he would not be violating The White House no-smoking rule.

The first African-American to be elected President of the United States, however confessed “falling off the wagon” when it comes to quitting cigarettes.

London, Dec 8 : Every Monday in December before Christmas has been dubbed as a ‘Mega Monday’, as it is the one day of the week when online sales are the busiest.

According to the commercial director of Visa Europe, more than two million Internet purchases take place on a Monday, reason being that when buyers fail to find what they want in the shops during the weekend they end up turning to the net.

“Monday is almost always the biggest shopping day of the week, and Mondays in December are usually huge,” Sky News quoted James Roper, IMRG head, as saying.

London, December 8 : Sir Cliff Richard has said that he will continue to baffle people raising fingers on his sexuality and his 67-year-old bachelorhood.

The legendary singer told BBC that he realised his restraint from the marriage institution made him a constant topic for speculation and that he intended to keep it that way because he did not care.

“I know but I don’t care, that’s the thing. I will die with things in my head that I don’t want to share with other people,” the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

London, Dec 8 : Wikipedia users are enraged after many UK Internet providers decided to block a page on the online encyclopaedia showing an image of a naked girl.

The blocked page shows an album cover of German heavy metal band Scorpions.

Internet providers blocked the controversial page after online watchdog the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) warned them its picture might be illegal.

However, some volunteers who run Wikipedia claimed that the foundation had no authority to censor one of the web''s most popular sites.

Indian Stock markets gained further ground at 1 pm. The markets were trading lower an hour back as some selling was witnessed at higher levels. All sectors were trading higher today. While selling at higher levels has caused markets to slide, but some select counters are still holding strong.