Washington, Oct 25 : American voters have a heady sense of historic occasion, a phenomenon that favors Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

He would be the nation’s first Black president, and many people want to be a part of the momentum. A record turnout is expected, the Washington Times has said.

“This is indeed a historic election of epic proportions. It looms large on the Richter scale of history, so to speak,” said Bruce Buchanan, a presidential historian at the University of Texas at Austin.

“The maltreatment of African Americans has been the great stain on the American experiment and has been at the heart of our politics since the beginning,” Buchanan said.

Washington, Oct 25 : President George W Bush and first lady Laura Bush on Friday cast their votes for Republican candidate John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, filling out an early voting ballot that will be sent by mail back to Texas.

“Today the President and Mrs. Bush cast their ballots for the 2008 election during the early voting process,” said White House press secretary Dana Perino.

“The ballots will be mailed back to Texas today. They plan to be here at the White House on election night,” she said.

Melbourne, Oct 25: Electronic toys such as a lifelike dog and a walking, growling dinosaur are among top choices on the Christmas wish list for Aussie kids this year, according to a new survey.

The survey, conducted for battery company Duracell, polled 200 girls and boys between the ages of five and 10.

It found that the top choice was the lifelike Furreal Friends Biscuit, My Lovin'' Pup, which can obey six different voice commands, move its ears, blink, bark and wag its tail.

Bakugan Battle Brawlers landed the second spot while the Ultra Dinosaur, which comes to life at the touch of a button, acme third.

Gadget expert and blog editor Nick Broughall said kids’ taste in toys was changing.

New Delhi: The empowered group of ministers (eGoM) on special economic zones (SEZs) has given a clean chit to Essar's steel SEZ in Hazira and Adani's port SEZ in Mundra.

Speaking on this, a government official said, “The EGoM has taken a stand favouring the SEZs. The zones will not have to be de-notified.”

With this, the total land area for the combined SEZ has increased to more than 5,000 hectares, which is more than the present land ceiling. However, the eGoM made it very clear that the port SEZ would not be eligible for tax sops for the area falling inside the port, which is an old construction.

As part of its pan India launch, one of the country’s leading direct-to-home (DTH) service provider, Sun Direct Pvt Ltd, launched its services in Delhi and the national capital region (NCR). With a current subscriber base of 1.5 million, the DTH company targets to reach 3-million subscriber base by the end of this year.

Largely based in the southern states, the company had launched its services in Gujarat, Rajasthan, HP, Punjab and Haryana in September 2008.
For a basic package of 130 channels, the company charges Rs 1,999 towards 10 months of subscription fee and installation charges. Besides this, the company also provides add-on packages to its customers which are charged at Rs 10 to Rs 115 per month.

Finnish mobile handset maker Nokia has launched a new CDMA mobile phone, Nokia 2228.