New York, Oct 27: US vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, along with guest campaigner Elisabeth Hasselbeck from "The View”, condemned criticism of the Alaska Governor’s 150,000 dollars fancy wardrobe as sexist.

The duo claimed that GOP vice presidential nominee’s spending on her wardrobe was too trivial an issue in front of the problems that had been haunting the country.

Palin argued that she was more at home in the bargain bins. She went to the extent of even itemising her accessories.

Speaking on the ABC daytime talk show on October 26, Hasselbeck introduced Palin and responded to the garment gab-fest by calling the clothes carping "deliberately sexist."

Chennai, Oct 27: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today got an assurance from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) party chief M Karunanidhi that he "would not precipitate" a crisis in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government over the Sri Lankan ethnic Tamils issue.

Islamabad, Oct 27: PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who was his party’s front runner for the post of Prime Minister after February election and had once threatened to create a vertical split in the party, has reportedly turned his stance, saying that the ongoing economic and energy crises and the scourge of terrorism in the country was a ‘conspiracy against the government’.

“I think some hidden forces are trying to destabilise the government,” the Daily Times quoted him as telling a foreign news agency.

Islamabad, Oct 27: Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is said to be keen on leading the PML-Q, the political party which he backed during last February elections. He reportedly expressed this desire in front of his personal friends in Lahore last week at a dinner.

Musharraf also told his friends that if the Chaudhrys of Gujarat, who are presently holding the reins of the party, were not ready to quit, “then someone from the ranks of the party should make them leave so that he could take over without much fuss”.

The issue of the country’s financial turmoil appears to be benefiting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a fairly steady manner, with November 4 election just round the corner.

Though Obama’s 11-point lead over his rival Republican John McCain, according to Sunday’s Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll, is his lowest of the month over the economy issue, it nevertheless is a gap that McCain has to think about.