Wasila (Alaska), Sept. 13: Republican vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin believes Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is probably regretting not picking Hillary Clinton as his running mate.

Praising Clinton for her dynamism, Palin told ABC News: "I think he's regretting not picking her now, I do. What, what determination and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way -- she handled those well."

Washington, September 13: Scientists have come up with explanations for the massive spread out of hurricane Ike in the US, which has been a big meteorological mystery till now.

Hurricane Ike is a super-sized storm with winds howling over vast fetches of water, piling up massive storm surges.

Scientists have wondered why some storms get so big while others stay small, despite having the same hurricane-force winds, the prominent example being Ike.

New York, Sep 13 : American educated Pakistani neuroscientist and “the most significant” US capture in the fight against terrorism in five years, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, incarcerated in a New York prison, has been diagnosed with a chronic depressive-type psychosis, according to court documents.

Siddiqui, who is accused of attempted murder of American soldiers in Afghanistan, disappeared mysteriously in Pakistan in 2003.

Washington, Sept. 13 : The 2012 presidential election may very well turn out to be an all woman affair, with Republican greenhorn Sarah Palin taking on veteran Hillary Clinton.

Palin is an "authentic model of feminism" and her vice-presidential candidacy "could well" lead to an historic all-female White House race in 2012 against Hillary Clinton, The Telegraph quotes a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, as saying.

Washington, September 13: Researchers have uncovered a gene in corals that responds to day/night cycles, which provides some tantalizing clues into how symbiotic corals work together with their plankton partners.

Corals are fascinating animals that form the largest biological constructions in the world, sprawling coral reefs that cover less than 0.2 per cent of the seafloor yet provide habitats for more than 30 per cent of marine life.

In shallow waters that don’t have abundant food, corals have developed a close relationship with small photosynthetic critters called dinoflagellates.

The dinoflagellates use sunlight to produce energy for the coral, which in turn use that energy to construct mineralized skeletons for protection.

Lahore, Sep 13: New rules of engagement authorising United States ground attacks inside Pakistan, signed by President George W Bush in July, were not agreed to by Islamabad, American and Pakistani officials have said.

Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani was informed last month by senior US defence officials that if Pakistan failed to stem the flow of Taliban and other terrorist fighters into Afghanistan, the US would adopt a new strategy – one allowing ground strikes on targeted insurgent encampments.

The Washington Post quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying that General Kayani believed the strategy was still under discussion and that Pakistan’s counterinsurgency performance was improving.