Berlin - Berlin was preparing Monday to announce details of how Germany is to commit hundreds of billions of euros to a rescue plan for the world economic system, with Chancellor Angela Merkel expected to speak to the media in the afternoon.

Sources said she and the two leading Social Democrats in her coalition government had agreed in the night on the basics of the plan, with the next move being to discuss it in cabinet.

Baghdad, Oct 13: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the British forces to leave the country as they were no longer needed to maintain security there. He also criticised a “secret deal” made last year by Britain with the al-Mahdi Army, Iraq’s largest Shia militia, saying that Basra had been left at the mercy of militiamen who “cut the throats of women and children” after the British withdrawal from the city.

“We thank them for the role they have played, but I think that their stay is not necessary for maintaining security and control. There might be a need for their experience in training and some technological issues, but as a fighting force, I don’t think that is necessary,” timesonline. com quoted al-Maliki as saying in an interview.

New York, Oct. 13 : Even as the American economy seems to be in freefall, as Americans grapple with whether to vote for Obama, the first African American presidential nominee, or his Republican opponent, John McCain, it''s a decision unavoidably colored by race, whether we like it - whether we admit it - or not.

When asked if race will affect a voter''s decision, some say it is unavoidable, and that there are some voters who - issues aside - just aren’t ready to cross that racial divide at the polling booth.

Barack Obama, the son of a white American mother and a black father from Kenya, says his race is not an issue for him.

Washington, Oct. 13: Americans enthralled with John McCain and Barack Obama’s struggle to win the presidency may end up being disappointed on November 4.

Why, because according to Fox News, this historic election will be decided by voters in only six or so closely divided “battleground states.”

The reason the vast majority of states don’t matter in presidential elections stems from a winner-take-all rule (Nebraska and Maine being the notable exceptions). This rule awards all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes.

Vilnius - With most votes counted in the Lithuanian general election, the opposition Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats party looks likely to be the largest single party in the next parliament.

Provisional results released by the Central Election Commission show the conservative Homeland Union took 17.87 per cent of the vote in the portion of the vote run under proportional representation (PR) rules, giving it 17 of the 70 parliamentary seats decided in this manner.

Voter turnout was better than predicted at around 48 per cent.

The performance of the election so far came from the second-placed Rising Nation Party with 14.88 percent of the vote and 14 seats from the PR vote.

New Delhi, Oct 13: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will chair the 14th meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) here today.

Prevention of extremism, promotion of communal harmony and security among minorities, and equitable development are some of the important items on the agenda of the meeting.

Promotion of education among minorities, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes; elements contributing to national integration; and removal of regional imbalances, caste and identity divisions will also be discussed in the day-long meeting.