New York, Nov 8: A longtime aide of John McCain’s vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, has bashed critics claiming that the Alaska governor was unfairly being made a scapegoat for the Republican campaign’s missteps.

Meg Stapleton gave a piece of her mind to anonymous critics inside the now defunct McCain-Palin team, claiming that they were inappropriately using Palin’s infamous 150,000 dollars shopping spree to cover up their misdeeds.

New York - US stocks rose Friday, after two days of major declines, despite a sharp hike in unemployment and massive losses reported from major automakers.

The Wall Street rally was attributed to speculation that the Federal Reserve would lower interest rates next month to combat a surging unemployment rate. The US Labour Department reported Friday that unemployment climbed to 6.5 per cent in October, after another 240,000 jobs were lost in a worsening sign for the economy.

Former Governor Spitzer, who reinvented the office of attorney general, but had trouble adjusting to being governor, has been reprieved. A statement by Michael Garcia, United States attorney ends eight months of uncertainty for the disgraced governor, who will not face any criminal charges for patronizing a high-priced prostitution ring.

A Democrat, Spitzer, who after eight years as state attorney general, was elected as Governor in 2006, built his reputation as a prosecutor, who single-mindedly tackled white-collar corruption and promised to bring the ethics back to Albany.

New York, Nov 7 : Modelling agency Elite Model Management, known for its world-class beauties, has won a case against escort service website Elitemodel. cc for using the name “Elite”.

When Elite Model Management filed the lawsuit last summer, the unnamed owners of the website, who had used a Park Ave. address, took the site down, revealed attorney Abraham Skoff, The News reported.

But they failed to respond to trademark-infringement claims made by Elite lawyers, which prompted Federal District Court Judge P. Kevin Castel to issue a default judgment in Elite’s favour.

New York - The World Health Organization on Thursday praised a decision to completely ban smoking and sale of cigarettes inside UN headquarters in New York as well as in other cities.

A smoking ban had been in place, but government delegates attending UN meetings at headquarters in New York, Geneva and Vienna, the three major UN buildings, usually ignore the ban, citing their rights as government officials.

New York, November 6: CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour may soon be getting her own show, according to sources.

"She's getting her own hour. She was furious after CNN gave (Newsweek correspondent) Fareed Zakaria his own show on Sunday - especially since it''s all about international affairs which is her specialty," the New York Post quoted an insider as saying.

The source further revealed that bosses at CNN eventually bowed to Amanpour's wrath, and that they are now ready to announce her program.