Berlin - Despite the deepening economic gloom, German consumer confidence posted a surprise but modest rise, a key survey released Tuesday showed.

But the Nuremberg-based GfK market research institute's survey showed German consumer expectations about the economic outlook dropping to a five-year low.

The institute's forward-looking consumer confidence index edged up to 1.9 for November from 1.8 in October, helped along by an increase in income expectations on the back of falling inflation.

"Consumers have kept a level head amid the sometimes dramatic developments on the international financial markets, and this is particularly true of their income expectations," the GfK said, releasing its latest survey.

Washington, Oct 28 : Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff Frederick has said that John McCain''s campaign dismissed his input on his state’s historically conservative voters, even as the Republican presidential candidate slid in polls and the state unexpectedly became a battleground. 

“They act as if, ‘How could you tell us to change our plan?’” said Frederick, who had offered advice on how to minimize losses in the state’s liberal-leaning northern region. 

Washington, October 28 : A positive outlook, lower stress levels, moderate alcohol consumption, abstention from tobacco, moderate to higher income and no chronic health conditions are some of the factors that underlie exceptional health in old age, according to a study.

Researchers from Portland State University, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Oregon Health & Science University, and Statistics Canada surveyed 
2,432 older Canadians about their quality of life.

The few who maintained excellent health over an entire decade were considered "thrivers". 

Colombo - Polling on the Maldives started Tuesday as voters choose between one of Asia's longest-serving leaders against a former political prisoner.

Voting started at 9 am (0330 GMT) to either re-elect incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, to a seventh consecutive term or to opt for Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed, a 41-year-old activist who was once imprisoned by Gayoom's government.

Gayoom, 71, received 41 per cent in the first round of elections held October 8, while Nasheed got 25 per cent - both short of the necessary 50 per cent.

About 209,000 voters registered to vote and results are expected late Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

London, Oct 28 : Anthropologists have suggested that Neanderthals had big noses because of the degree to which their face used to jut forward, indicating that the odd feature was a fluke of evolution, not some grand adaptation.

The Neanderthal nose has been a matter of befuddlement for anthropologists, who point out that modern cold-adapted humans have narrow noses to moisten and warm air as it enters the lung, and reduce water and heat loss during exhalation.

Big noses tend to be found in people whose ancestors evolved in tropical climates, where a large nasal opening helps cool the body.

But Neanderthals go against this trend, according to Tim Weaver, a palaeoanthropologist at the University of California, Davis.

Washington, Oct 28 : Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has promised to restore economic prosperity and a sense of “higher purpose” to a tired, embattled nation. 

“We are one week away from changing America,” the Democratic presidential candidate proclaimed, campaigning with the confidence of a contender nearing victory.