London, Oct 26: Critics believe that the Preventing Violent Extremism Fund, which was started last year by former Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly to prevent teenagers turning to dangerous forms of Islam, is being spent aimlessly without achieving the desired objectives.

They say that large sums of money out of the Fund are being given to projects that do not meet its specific objectives, and are being handed out to community groups without councilors considering them first.

London, Oct 25 : English business magnate Sir Richard Branson’s attempt at a transatlantic record may be in jeopardy after “massive seas and very strong gales” swept away a life raft, and ripped the main sail.

Branson, his children Holly, 26, Sam, 23, and Olympic hero Ben Ainslie had set sail from New York on October 22 in an attempt to set a record for the fastest crossing.

The billionaire spoke via satellite from his 99-foot yacht Virgin Money, and revealed that the storms hammering the Atlantic “may have been too much for the boat and we may have pushed it too hard”.

London, Oct 25 : Sarah Palin, the Republican Party vice-presidential nominee for the US elections 2008, has failed in her aim to keep beluga whales off the endangered species list.

According to a report in New Scientist, the US government has added beluga whales in the Cook Inlet in Alaska to the endangered species list.

This is despite Palin’s efforts as state governor to prevent protection for this population being boosted.

London, October 25 : In the run up to the presidential election in the United States, a research team has come up with a personality test that can help find out whether an individual is fit for the Oval Office.

The new approach tests five big factors of personality—namely neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness—as well as their sub-factors.

So far, it has been used to make psychological assessments of all 41 US presidents prior to George W. Bush, and to rank them eight different types, from "dominators" to "actors".

More recently, the same tool was used to profile John McCain, Rudolf Guiliani, and Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, the analysis did not include Barack Obama.

London, Oct 25 : A new study has suggested that an unusual pair of craters on Mars formed when a moon broke apart before crashing into the planet’s surface about a billion years ago.

According to a report in New Scientist, the alignment of two oval-shaped craters on Mars – one spanning 10 km and the other, 3 km – hints they might have been gouged out by a fallen moon that broke apart in the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

The two craters, which lie about 12.5 kilometers apart, share the same oval shape and nearly the same west-east alignment.

On the sets of Vipul Shah's Latest film 'London Dreams', the British Film Minister Barbara Follet formally declared the signing of the Bilateral Treaty with Bollywood, under which Indian Producers shall benefit from Tax Concessions, can acquire fresh funding sources and also get easy practical support .The Minister met Ajay Devgan who along with Asin are the lead pair to avail the facility of the treaty as shooting started much before the deal was finalized.