Washington  - The world should adopt economic stimulus plans that carry well into 2010, and possibly 2011, to ease a global recession and must expand financial regulation across all sectors to prevent a similar crisis in future, the International Monetary Fund said in a series of reports released Friday.

The IMF warned that the world economic crisis was showing no signs of letting up, and urged greater international coordination ahead of a G20 summit next month in London of the world's leading economies.

Washington - The United States shed 651,000 jobs in February, the latest sign of a deepening recession and raising the unemployment rate to 8.1 per cent, the US Labour Department said Friday.

The unemployment rate now stands at its highest level since 1983 and 4.4 million people have lost their jobs since the US recession began in December 2007 - more than half in just the last four months.

The Labour Department also sharply revised its figures over the last two months, now reporting 681,000 job cuts in December, the worst monthly loss since 1948, and 

Washington, Mar 6: A new study has stated that Sarah Palin's looks could have been the cause that she and John McCain lost in November''s election.

The article published in the Journal of Experimental psychology has been summarized by Tom Jacobs, reports The Politico.

While conducting the research, a group of 133 undergraduates were taken and they were asked to write a few lines about one of two celebrities: Palin or actress Angelina Jolie.

Washington, Mar 6: Mobile phones used by hospital workers can be a source of hospital-acquired infections that kill thousands of people every year, say researchers.

These superbugs could easily be transmitted from patient to patient causing potentially fatal infections.

During the study, the team tested the phones of doctors and nurses in hospital operating rooms and intensive care units, and found 95pct were contaminated with bacteria of different types, that may cause infections ranging from relatively minor skin complaints to life-threatening illness.

Washington, Mar 6: Partygoers at a recent bash at the Playboy mansion have claimed that they were shocked to see Hugh Hefner looking as if “he had aged 10 years in the last month.”

The Playboy mogul made a brief appearance at the Annual Kandyland Masquerade Ball at the iconic Mansion on February 28, but those attending the party claim that despite being surrounded by his girls, Hefner looked far from his normally alert and healthy self.