Melbourne, Nov. 13: Australian opener Mathew Hayden launched a stirring defence of his skipper Ricky Ponting, warning that rival nations would pay for the criticism Punter has copped.

Arriving back home in Brisbane on Wednesday, the veteran opener said Ponting would respond with both his bat and his leadership.

Washington, Nov 13: Nostalgia may be more than a sentimental mood, it could be the way we cope with feelings of loneliness, according to researchers.

Psychologists Xinyue Zhou and Ding-Guo Gao from Sun Yat-Sen University, along with Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut from the University of Southampton explored the connection between loneliness and nostalgia.

They conducted a series of experiments that had participants answer questions related to feelings of loneliness, social support and nostalgia.

The participants included kids, college students and factory workers. In addition, the factory workers were also assessed on their resilience (their ability to recover from traumatic events and adverse life situations).

Washington  - A summit Saturday of leaders of the world's 20 largest economies, which will begin the process of rebuilding the global financial system, comes at the invitation of a humbled global superpower.

Chastened by a global meltdown that began in the US mortgage market, the Washington summit of the Group of 20 nations represents an acknowledgement by the United States that it cannot resolve the financial crisis on its own.

Riga - State bail-outs of financial institutions have become almost commonplace in recent months, but still cause a mixture of surprise, fear and sometimes even panic when they are suddenly revealed.

The effects of the economic slow down due to the global financial crisis, has resulted in a five per cent fall in excise and customs collection during October. The decline in indirect tax collection comes at a time when the government is finding it hard to mobilize resources, while expenditure on subsidies and other welfare measures is going up.

The excise collection, decreased by 8.7 per cent to Rs 18,664 crore as against Rs 19,646 crore during the same period a year ago, while customs duty collections declined by 0.9 per cent to Rs 9,265 crore from Rs 9,353 crore in October 2007.