Washington, Jan 20 : As the world continues to drown in recession, a surprising new finding has come to surface - the Barack Obama industry is reportedly worth at least a quarter of a billion dollars.

A CBS News business correspondent has reported that the business of Obama is booming.

"We even sell an Obama dollar bill now that has his picture on it for 10 dollars. So even his money''s more valuable," said Jim Warlick, owner of the Washington, D. C., store Political Americana.

Washington, Jan 20 : A British study has found that food advertisements in magazines promoting healthier lifestyles are often contradicting the messages they are trying to put across.

Lead researcher Jean Adams, lecturer in public health at Newcastle University the ads are often promoting products high in sugar and salt and low in fibre.

"Nearly every magazine contains advice on a healthier lifestyle, yet we found the food adverts were for products high in sugar and salt and low in fibre such as ready meals, sauces and confectionary," said Dr Adams.

Washington, Jan. 20 : Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President-elect Joe Biden, has suggested that her husband Joe was offered his choice of either the V. P. slot or the job of Secretary of State in the Obama administration.

The soon-to-be-veep shushed his wife immediately after she made the statement on the Oprah Winfrey show, prompting laughter from the audience.

Obama''s one time rival Hillary Clinton was eventually offered the job.

New York, Jan. 20 : Eager to find new ways to bypass reporters and get out their message unfiltered, Israelis and Palestinians found cyberspace fertile ground for a propaganda war.

According to the New York Daily News, frustrated by the media focus on the suffering of women and children, the Israeli Defense Forces have started their own YouTube channel, where they posted videos showing air strikes on Hamas rocket installations.

Washington, Jan. 20 : Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, celebrating his 67th birthday, was the guest of honor Monday night at a Kentucky Blue Grass ball for 1,400 that included other celebrities, lawmakers and native Kentuckians.

Steve Buttleman, official bugler of the Churchill Downs racetrack, said it was appropriate to be saluting Obama and Ali at the same time.

He said Obama was the leader of the greatest nation on Earth and Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer of all time.

Washington, Jan 20 : Yellow band disease (YBD)-a bacterial infection that sickens coral colonies- is apparently getting worse with global warming, say researchers, who have now identified the bacteria responsible for the disease.
Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have reported isolating the bacteria that cause YBD: a group of four new Vibrio species, which combine with existing Vibrio on the coral to attack the zooxanthellae, which are the photosynthetic symbionts of corals.