Wellington - A minister in New Zealand's Labour-led coalition government announced on Sunday that he is switching sides and will only serve in a conservative administration after next month's general election.

Peter Dunne, minister of revenue and leader of the United Future party, said he would only support a government formed by the opposition National Party if it wins the election on November 8.

Washington, Oct 26 : A new study by researchers at Washington State University has found that celebrity endorsement during presidential campaigns is an effective political strategy to get younger voters to the polls.

The researchers wanted to determine the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement campaigns in lowering complacency among young voters and prompting their participation in the political process.

It focused on the use of celebrities such as Beyonce Knowles, Christina Aquilera and P. Diddy in ‘get-out-the-vote’ campaigns conducted during the 2004 presidential campaign.

Washington, Oct 26 : Joe McCain, brother of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, has said that he will withdraw from campaign activities after calling 911 to angrily complain about traffic.

Joe McCain has apologized for making the call, FOX News reported.

The candidate’s younger brother, who lives in Alexandria, Va., told Washington radio station WTOP he was returning from a campaign event in Philadelphia around 2 a. m. on October 18 when he got stuck in traffic on Interstate 495 at the Wilson Bridge.

London, Oct 26 : British scientists have developed purple-coloured tomatoes that may protect against cancer.

The research team from John Innes Centre has created tomatoes genetically modified to produce antioxidants that may help keep cancer at bay.

The plant was created by introducing the genes from the snapdragon, a garden flower that allows them to produce a type of nutrient that prevents cancer.

When these tomatoes were fed to mice genetically engineered to have cancer the animals'' lifespans were significantly extended.

The researchers hope that the "super-tomato" could help people meet the government''s recommendation that everyone should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

Washington, Oct 26: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and former US President Bill Clinton, often bitter rivals during the primary race between Obama and Hillary Clinton, will campaign together on Wednesday in Orlando.

FOX News reported that the event is expected to give Obama a boost in media attention during the last days of the campaign and offer another symbolic sign of the Democratic torch being passed to the next generation.

Washington, Oct 26 : Senator Barack Obama, the first Black major-party nominee, is positioned to win the largest share of White voters of any Democrat in more than three decades.

The most recent two weeks of Gallup polling, which includes roughly 13,000 interviews, show 44 percent of non-Hispanic White voters presently support Obama — the highest number for a Democrat since 47 percent of Whites backed Jimmy Carter in 1976, FOX News reported.

Until the stock market swoon in mid-September, Obama had never reached 40 percent among White voters.