Kolkata, Nov. 11:South African Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer has hailed US President-elect Barack Obama''s victory as an end of racism.

Gordimer, 84, is in India to deliver the second Nobel laureate lecture, an initiative of the Ministry of External Affairs to provide an opportunity for Indian academics and opinion makers to interact with Nobel laureates and also enable the Nobel laureates to be exposed to the emergence of a new India.

Washington, Nov. 11 : Losing Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who could seek re-election in 2010 or potentially run for president in 2012, has said that her future plans are in God’s hands.

"Putting my life in my creator''s hands -- this is what I always do," Fox News quoted her as saying.

Sydney  - Teenage

Sydney - Sydney on Tuesday joined London, Singapore and other big cities in charging motorists for driving into the central business district (CBD) at peak times.

But the New South Wales state government is denying that a toll levied on cars coming over the famous Harbour Bridge into the city that varies according to the time of day is a congestion tax.

"This is not a congestion tax, it's nothing like a congestion tax, this is time-of-day tolling," Treasurer Eric Roozendaal said.

Dhaka - The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies announced nationwide protests against the detention of three former ministers in a graft case, saying it was a ploy to keep the alliance out of the December elections, media reports said Tuesday.

Bangkok  - The global financial crisis caught up with Bangkok's property market last month when demand stagnated and large companies started to scale down their expansion plans, Jones Lang LaSalle, a professional real estate service company, said Tuesday.

"Impact of the global economic meltdown has become more evident since the global financial crisis erupted in October," said Yupa Sathienpabayut, Head of Markets at Jones Lang LaSalle.