Munich - The term gaming may sound like fun, but there's more work involved than you would imagine. The most important thing is finding the right computer to meet your gaming requirements.

All computers do not have the same functions and some simply will not cut it for serious gamers. More advanced games require constant hardware upgrades. Shoppers should ask fundamental questions about their hardware. Does the game require a computer that can render virtual worlds and breathtaking graphics? Or will an ordinary PC fit the bill?

"Most people don't need the most up-to-date computer with cutting edge processors and graphics cards," says Michael Wolf of Berlin's Stiftung Warentest, a consumer reports organization.

Actress Mackenzie Phillips who was arrested at LAX in August has pleaded guilty for possession of cocaine and heroin . She has been placed under drug diversion program since her arrest.  

Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips, who was a member of a pop group the Mamas and the Papas. Mackenzie has a long history of drug abuse. This also led to her Expulsion from "One Day at a Time" in 1982.

Los Angeles - Barack Obama has promised to increase taxes if he becomes president of the United States. But the really rich want change and many of them have said they are voting for the senator from Illinois.

Despite the tradition that says the country's wealthy tend to favour the Republican Party, there has been an unexpected swing ahead of Tuesday's election that favours the black Democratic candidate.

For starters, the country's two richest men, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, have already said they will vote for Obama. According to Forbes magazine, Gates - worth an estimated 55.5 billion dollars - contributed 2,300 dollars to the Democrat's campaign in the primaries.

Berlin - When Germans debate how to avoid a devastating financial crash, they are haunted as few other nations can be by memories of most of their money practically vanishing during the 20th century.

The people of Europe's biggest economy are "risk averse" as a result, according to Manfred Schmidt, a political science professor at the University of Heidelberg who has written extensively on German anxiety.

In 1923, the Great Inflation wiped out Germans' money for the first time. In 1948, most savings vanished at the stroke of a pen when the old currency was demonetized. In
1990, it was the turn of East Germans to lose half the value of larger savings.

Los Angeles  - Barack Obama is hoping to become the first African American president of the United States in Tuesday's election, but plenty of black actors have blazed a path for him - at least in the alternative reality of Hollywood.

Fans of the hit thriller 24 can no doubt recall the ever-cool and assuring presence of President David Palmer, who was played by Dennis Haysbert.

But probably far fewer remember that Sammy Davis Jr also played a child who becomes president in the 1933 satire Rufus Jones for President.

New York - Florida's Freedom Bank was the 17th US bank to be seized by regulators this year amid the widening credit crisis and worst housing slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s, reports said Saturday.

The state's Office of Financial Regulation on Friday closed the bank, which had 287 million dollars in assets and 254 million dollars in deposits, according to a statement from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC).

Freedom Bank was to be acquired by Fifth Third Bank of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which will buy 36 million dollars of assets. Fifth Third was to pay a premium of 1.16 per cent, about 2.9 million dollars, to assume the deposits, FDIC said.