Mountain View, California  - Google is set to expand its lead in the online advertising market by allowing advertisements within games, the company announced Wednesday.

Google would use its new so-called AdSense for Games programme to sell in-game video ads, the world's leading search engine provider said.

The company also hopes to make profits from its YouTube video platform by introducing a new "Click to Buy" programme allowing users to buy digital tunes from Apples iTunes or Amazon. com without leaving the site.

Washington, Oct. 8 : Making healthcare affordable is a top priority among most American voters surveyed by the Washington Times.

According to the paper, voters want to know what their 44th president plans to do about rising health costs and the inaccessibility of quality healthcare.

"When faced with a choice, voters nationally would prefer the next president address healthcare rather than tax cuts. Seventy percent view healthcare as their priority, compared with 27 percent who say cutting taxes would be their choice," a news release said.

Washington, Oct. 8 : If McCain doesn''t quickly counter Barack Obama''s growing lead, the election will be over before November 4.

According to CBS, Obama walked away with a victory - and keeps the momentum solidly in his favor.

Most important for Obama, he went a long way to establishing his commander in chief credentials through impressive answers to national security questions on Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coming as polls show more people view him favorably as a leader, the debate should add to Obama''s lead in the key swing states.

Washington  - The global credit crisis has had relatively little impact in Middle Eastern countries, where economic growth is being sustained by non-oil sectors, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

The IMF's semi-annual World Economic Outlook noted that there are high inflationary pressures in the oil-exporting nations, but projected that gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the region will weaken only modestly from its current 6.5 per cent to 6 per cent in 2009.

The impact of declining demand in partner economies and rising supply constraints in the oil sector will be mitigated by a spurt in domestic demand for oil as well as increased activity in the non-oil sector.

Washington, Oct. 8 : John McCain is heading to near-certain defeat in the presidential election because American voters no longer trust Republicans on the economy, a strategist for the party warned yesterday.

Steve Lombardo, who has worked on Republican campaigns since 1992 and advised McCain''s opponent, Mitt Romney, in the primaries, said it would take a major external event, such as a terrorist attack or a crippling error by Barack Obama, for McCain to make a comeback.

Nashville (Tennessee, US), Oct. 8 : As long as John McCain talks about the current economic crisis in America, the Democrats will stand to gain because the crisis is being seen as a creation of a Republican administration.

According to the Globe and Mail, talking about the economy benefits Democrats rather than the Republicans, despite McCain relentlessly criticizing the Democrats for the current economic emergency.

Obama says the real root of the economic crisis is the deregulation of the financial-services sector, championed by McCain, which led to abuses by banks and insurance companies.