Washington, September 25 : The recent hacking of U. S. Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin''s Yahoo e-mail account has raised fresh concerns over how easy it is to break into any web account.

The hacker — said to be David Kernell, son of Democratic Tennessee state Rep. Mike Kernell — exploited a flaw in Yahoo''s webmail service that requires all its users to secure their accounts through easily obtainable information like a pet''s name, where you met your spouse, or what your high school mascot was.

New York - Washington Mutual Inc (WaMu), the largest savings and loan association in the United States, has approached a number of private equity firms to gauge their 
interest in a takeover to shore up its financial position, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The Seattle-based lender has lost more than 90 per cent of its share value in the past 12 months, suffering the effects of the credit crisis. Chairman Kerry Killinger stepped 
down in June 2008.

Vienna - Austrian crane manufacturer Palfinger AG announced Thursday it was taking over Omaha Standard Inc, a leading truck-body maker in the United States that was under pressure from the financial crisis.

Palfinger, the world 's biggest producer of truck-bound cranes, said it would take over 100 per cent of the Iowa-based maker of bodies for pick-up and service trucks.

Omaha Standard has expanded its production capacity in recent years, but has not been able to use it fully due to the economic and financial crisis in the US.

The Austrian company said in a statement that Omaha Standard would be able to benefit from Palfinger's distribution channels.

Warsaw - Poland as well as the rest of Europe and the United States have to deal with an increasingly aggressive Russia, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in statements published Thursday in the country's biggest daily.

Poland was a US key ally in the region, Rice said in a statement in the Wyborcza newspaper, and said Russian leaders were currently making bad choices.

Referring to Russia's recent conflict with Georgia, Rice said the Kremlin should respect the sovereignty of its smaller neighbors. Russia's actions, she said, are pushing it toward the path of isolation.

New York, Sept 25 : In the wake of the fresh spate of suicide attacks in Pakistan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan needed a ‘negotiated settlement’ and not a “military action”.

He said that as the British and Soviet forces failed to resolve the Afghan crisis, the US-led NATO troops could also not do any better in Pakistan.

Washington, Sept 25 : Scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have revealed that calorie restriction, a diet that is low in calories and high in nutrition, may not be as effective at extending life in people as it is in rodents.

Previous studies have shown that laboratory animals given 30 percent to 50 percent less food can live up to 50 percent longer, however, a new study suggests the diet may not have the desired effect in people unless they focus on their protein intake.

The team led by John O. Holloszy have found discrepancy between humans and animals on calorie restriction.