London, November 22 : An Indian-origin IBM expert has revealed that the company is all set to lead a U. S. Government-funded research project that aims at inventing electronic circuits that mimic brains.

Dharmendra Modha says that “cognitive computing” is a part of the research project that will bring together neurobiologists, computer and materials scientists and psychologists.

He is of the opinion that the the technology resulting from the team’s efforts might prove useful for large-scale data analysis, decision making or even image recognition.

London  - A security officer at the US embassy in London has been suspended from duty after writing a blog which questioned the foreign policy agenda of president-elect Barack Obama, London's Evening Standard newspaper reported Friday.

It said Joe Hubbard was employed by a British security firm hired to protect the embassy.

According to the Evening Standard, he wrote: "Obama has been praised by just about every anti-American dictator in the world."

"The real question of concern ... is what promises have Obama's camp given in return? Agents representing Obama have met with these leaders/groups and promised changes in US foreign policy," the entry said.

London  - A British yachtsman adrift on a raft in the Mediterranean after his boat sank was rescued after his concerned wife called the emergency services in London, it was reported Friday.

Louise Patel, 43, dialled the 999 emergency services number to report that she was worried about her husband Jayesh, who was sailing from the island of Majorca to Spain, and from whom she had not heard for 24 hours.

The message was quickly passed on to Spanish coastguards via the International Coastguard Liaison Station at Falmouth, in south-west Britain.

Spanish sea rescuers launched a major air and sea search, unaware that Patel's yacht had sunk six hours after leaving Palma de Majorca. Two days later the raft was spotted by a Majorcan search boat.

BLondon - An Australian man wanted in Germany on charges of denying the mass killing of Jews in the Holocaust has been freed from prison in London after the German authorities agreed to abandon a legal bid for his extradition, his lawyer said Friday.

Gerald Federick Toben, 64, who is of German origin, was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on October 1 on a European arrest warrant, alleging Holocaust denial and the spreading of anti-Semitic propaganda.

London - US pop queen Madonna was probably still asleep in Philadelphia early Friday after entertaining fans with her raunchy Sticky & Sweet tour the night before when a district judge in London granted the decree confirming that her eight-year marriage with Guy Ritchie was over.

The sober proceedings, listed as Ciccione M L v Ritchie G S at the High Court in London, were in stark contrast to the pair's lavish fairy-tale wedding at Scotland's Skibo Castle on December 23, 2000.

London, Nov 21 : A Brazilian surfer has broken his own record for catching a wave on the world’s longest surfboard.

Rico de Souza rode the 30ft board for ten seconds before being plummeting into the water at a beach in Rio de Janeiro.