Washington, Nov 13 : A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive — some say invasive — application ever.

The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps, The New York Times reported.

Hanoi - A Chinese Navy warship will visit Vietnam next week, only the second such visit since Vietnam and China normalized relations in 1991, Vietnam's government spokesman confirmed Thursday.

The Chinese Navy training vessel Zheng He, which carries more than 400 military personnel, will dock at the port of Danang from November 18-22.

The "friendly visit" of the Chinese warship to Vietnam, government spokesman Le Dung told a press conference in Hanoi, will "help to promote friendship and cooperation between the two ministries of defence as well as the two peoples."

London, Nov 13 : It will now be possible to convert DNA strands into tiny fibre optic cables that guide light along their length, thanks to a new technology developed by scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Bo Albinsson and his colleagues have devised a way to make small-scale light-carrying "wires" that pipe photons to where they are needed, reports New Scientist.

The wires are made up from a mixture of DNA and molecules called chromophores that can absorb and pass on light.

Washington, Nov. 13 : U. S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden could carve out a unique role in Barack Obama''s administration as an adviser, congressional liaison and foreign policy expert, reports Fox News.

With more than 35 years in the U. S. Senate under his belt, Biden will be unusually influential, but not a high-profile, vice president, claims Democratic pollster Doug Schoen.

Hamburg - After moving almost unnoticed to the top of the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen have a chance of putting one of their chief rivals behind them in the German league's top game on Saturday.

Leverkusen take on visiting Schalke 04 who will be seeking to bounce back from a 2-1 home defeat to Bayern Munich last weekend which has left them five points adrift of the leaders.

Leverkusen, who are equal on 25 points with promoted Hoffenheim, have emerged as a title contender under new coach Bruno Labbadia who has a young side playing an attractive attacking game.

New York, Nov 13 : Actress Anne Hathaway''s ex Raffaello Follieri has complained about dire jail conditions, insisting it to be "unspeakably unsanitary."

The 30-year-old Italian real estate developer has been sentenced to 4 1/2-years for duping investors out of millions with bogus claims of being a Vatican insider.

In a letter to a Manhattan federal judge, Follieri’s lawyer Flora Edwards revealed that rats roam freely in jail, there''s excrement in the shower and Follieri shares a windowless dorm with 120 other shower-deprived men.