Washington, Oct 24: Former press secretary of George W Bush, Scott McClellan, has backed Democrat Barack Obama to triumph in the race for the White House.

McClellan made his declaration, which had been expected, during the taping of a CNN programme to be broadcast on Saturday.

“From the very beginning I’ve said I’m going to support the candidate who has the best chance of changing the way Washington works and getting things done,” the former White House spokesman told presenter DL Hughley.

“I will be voting for Barack Obama,” he said.

McClellan’s endorsement comes days after another prominent Republican, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, announced his support for Obama.

Washington, Oct 23: Thousands of Aborigine rock paintings discovered in the remote ranges of northern Australia may force a rewrite of the nation’s history books, as the art, which is 15,000 years old, depicts contact with other cultures possibly centuries before the arrival of the British.

The paintings were found in the Arnhem Land, which juts out into the Arafura Sea at the top of Australia.

According to a report in National Geographic News, the library of Aborigine history shows ships—including WWII destroyers and ocean liners—extinct animals, and modern inventions, such as bicycles, planes, and cars sketched onto the walls of rock shelters in the Aborigine territory of Arnhem Land.

Washington, Oct 23: A new research has uncovered how some people are good at generalizing from past experience, while others are not.

The study has revealed how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to direct future choices.

Usually, decisions are guided by drawing on past experiences, perhaps by generalizing across discrete events that overlap in content.

But, how such experiences are integrated into a unified representation was unclear, until now.

Washington, Oct 23: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reportedly described (her party) Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a “fantastic person”, but fell short to fully endorse her candidature for the second most powerful post in the country.

She also said that Hillary Clinton too was a terrific personality.

Madrid - Spain was stepping up diplomatic activity Thursday in a push to be invited to an economic summit to take place in Washington in mid-November.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was scheduled to travel to the Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) in Beijing, where he would meet European leaders and seek their backing for an invitation to the Washington summit, media reported.

Spain was carrying out "intense diplomatic activity on all levels," according to the daily El Pais.

The US has invited only members of the G-8 group - which Spain is not part of - plus developing countries with the largest economies to the summit, dealing with the challenges of the global economy in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Washington, Oct 23: In a study conducted on worms, British researchers have found that mutation in a gene that corresponds to a gene in humans, plays a crucial role in alcohol tolerance, i. e. the body’s ability to consume more alcohol.

Previous studies on mice by American researchers have suggested a link between a gene mutation in mice and tolerance to alcohol.

The researchers at Liverpool specifically looked at the role the gene plays in communication between cells in the nervous system.