New York, Oct 25: Tran Trong Duyet, a former Vietnamese prison director who held Republican presidential candidate John McCain in Hanoi as a prisoner of war (PoW) after his plane was shot down 41 years ago, has contradicted the latter’s claim that he was tortured in jail for four years.

Duyet said that McCain’s torture version was only to bag a few more votes in the US presidential poll.

Washington, Oct 25: Hollywood actor George Clooney may play the lead role in the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's ‘The Birds’.

Rod Taylor, who starred in the 1963 movie, said that he was a little sceptical of a remake of the film, but all his fears ended when he came to know that Clooney is the favourite to take the lead role.

He said that the ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ actor might play lawyer Mitch Brenner in the remake of the classic horror film.

He also expressed his belief that Clooney would turn out to be the best man to do the job.

Mumbai: Indian rupee recorded the historic low 50-mark against the US dollar as the greenback gained against most currencies globally.

The domestic currency closed the day (Friday) a little lower at 49.95/96 after suspected intervention by the RBI in the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market.

Earlier, on October 10, the domestic currency touched its all-time low of 49.26 against the US dollar. The rupee is among the biggest losers against the dollar so far this year, peeling around 20 per cent.

London, Oct 25: A new high-resolution atlas that shows where underground aquifers store vast amounts of water, may help to provide a legal framework for nations to manage water resources, averting conflicts in the future.

According to a report in New Scientist, the map is the result of nearly a decade of sometimes difficult talks between neighboring governments, mediated by UNESCO.

The hope is that it will help pave the way to an international law to govern how water is shared around the world.

Aquifers are underground layers of rocks or sediments from which water can be extracted – normally by drilling boreholes or digging wells.

After Adam Gilchrist's remarks over Sachin Tendulkar's honesty on the famous ''Monkeygate'' issue provoked angry reactions from Indian cricketing fraternity, the Indian batting maestro said the Australian called him up to clarify the whole issue and added that the matter was blown out of proportion.

Speaking with Times Now, Tendulkar said, “Gilchrist called me up and clarified the whole matter.”

“He said his comments have been taken out of context,” added Tendulkar. However, the master-blaster batsman refused to comment any further on the issue.

London, Oct 25: Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, has said that the first astronauts sent to Mars should be prepared to spend the rest of their lives there, as the Red Planet offers a greater potential as a place for habitation.

According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Aldrin said that Mars is nearer terrestrial conditions, much better than the moon and any other place, with what appear to be vast reserves of frozen water.

“It is easier to subsist, to provide the support needed for people there, than on the moon,” he explained.