Washington, October 26 : An ongoing study by members of “the Palin Watch” at The University of Alabama suggests that the media coverage given to the first Republican vice-presidential candidate is quite similar to that received by her Democratic counterpart Geraldine Ferraro, who became the first ever female candidate representing a major party in 1984.

Washington, October 26 : An American research team has created a new cast stainless steel that is 70 percent stronger than comparable steels.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the U. S. ITER Project Office, the minds behind the innovation, are currently evaluating the new steel for use in the huge shield modules required by the ITER fusion device.

ITER as a multibillion-dollar international research and development project, aimed at determining the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power and enabling studies of self-heating burning plasmas.

Washington, October 26 : YouTube CEO Chad Hurley has opposed the probability of introducing a rating system to the content uploaded on the popular video sharing website.

He said that it was unlikely that YouTube would ever introduce a ranking system since they did not want to come in the way of a viewer’s freedom to select a video he/she wished to see.

"I''m not sure it is our job to solve the world''s problems," Wired News quoted him as saying.

"I''m not trying to hide from responsibility but we also have to respect freedom of speech," he added.

Miami - As if it were a generational war, Florida's Cuban- Americans are divided by age over centre-left Democrat Barack Obama and centre-right Republican John McCain for the White House.

As in earlier elections, particularly the controversial vote in 2000 when the country was left hanging for weeks like so many ballot chads, Florida is likely to play a key role on November 4.

Bangkok ­ One thing is for sure: the next US president will come to the White House with some first-hand experiences in Asia.

Republican John McCain, 72, a decorated war hero, was shot down on a bombing mission in 1967 over North Vietnam, captured and tortured in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton," where he was kept as a prisoner of war until 1973.

Democrat Barack Obama, 47, spent part of his peripatetic youth in Indonesia, where he attended a public Muslim school - not a Madrassah as some of his critics have alleged - in Jakarta between 1969-71.

Washington - The director of the did not abuse his authority in an extramarital affair he had with a subordinate and the fund's board said Saturday it planned to continue with Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the helm.

The 24-member IMF executive board met Saturday to review an investigation into the matter and said in a statement it had "concluded that there was no harassment, favoritism, or any other abuse of authority by the managing director."