Half of Americans are hopeful about their future despite a gloomy outlook for the economy, according to a new survey.

The poll of about 2,000 adults showed that although only 16 percent of Americans consider themselves well off, or upper middle class now, 50 percent think they will be in five to ten years.

But two thirds of those questioned said now they're just keeping even and they think the economy still hasn't bottomed out.

Mathieu Flamini scored only his second ever Serie A goal to give AC Milan a nervous 1-0 win over Bologna on Sunday and put the Rossoneri within a point of the title.

Milan, who almost conceded an equaliser in the second half, moved eight points clear of second-placed Inter Milan with three games left and can seal their first scudetto since 2004 with a draw at AS Roma next Saturday.

Arsenal beat Manchester United 1-0 to keep the Premier League title race wide open on Sunday with Aaron Ramsey's second-half winner cheered almost as loudly by Chelsea fans.

United stayed top of the table with 73 points from 35 matches but, with three games left, remained just three points clear of champions Chelsea who they play at Old Trafford next Sunday.

When doctors follow guidelines for treating patients after a heart attack, more patients survive, according to a new study from Sweden published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings show that "things that we test in clinical trials do work in real life (and) make huge impacts on mortality," said Dr. Debabrata Mukherjee, a cardiologist at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso who wrote a commentary published with the study in JAMA.

An appeals court ruled on Friday the Obama administration can continue using federal money to fund human embryonic stem cell research, a possible avenue toward new treatments for many medical conditions.

The appeals court overturned a ruling by a federal judge who found that the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines on such research violated the law because embryos were destroyed and it put other researchers working with adult stem cells at a disadvantage to win federal grants.

MAY DAY

Workers vandalised several open and serving restaurants on May Day—a holiday—in different parts of the capital.

Police said the vandalism started at 10am and lasted until noon in Karwanbazar, Gulistan and Hazaribagh areas.

Tejgaon police sub-inspector Mohammad Asad told bdnews24.com that the labourers vandalised eight to nine shops in Karwanbazar alone.

A UK-educated accounting professional will be the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a government source has said.

Chaklader Mansurul Alam, a former managing director of IPDC, has been chosen to replace Ziaul Haque Khandoker, who is likely to be given a new assignment, the source said.

Alam refused to confirm his appointment. So did finance minister A M A Muhith, who announced on Saturday that he would recast the SEC and name a new chairman "in a day or two".

The State Department on Sunday warned Americans worldwide of "enhanced potential for anti-American violence" following the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan, ending a years-long hunt for the mastermind behind the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

US President Barack Obama announced the news in a speech and said that bin Laden's body had been recovered following the US-led operation near Islamabad.

US stock futures rose about 0.7 percent, US Treasury and gold prices slipped, while the dollar rallied on the news.

COMMENTS:

Martin Indyk, vice president and director of foreign policy, Brookings Institution, Washington (Indyk is a former US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs):

Egyptian-born doctor and surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri is al Qaeda's No 2 leader likely to succeed Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a US-led operation.

Following are some key facts about Zawahri:

Challenging the might of the "infidel" United States, Osama bin Laden masterminded the deadliest militant attacks in history and then built a global network of allies to wage a "holy war" intended to outlive him.

The man behind the suicide hijack attacks of Sep 11, 2001, and who US officials said late on Sunday was dead, was the nemesis of former President George W Bush, who pledged to take him "dead or alive" and whose two terms were dominated by a "war on terror" against his al Qaeda network.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed Sunday in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama announced Sunday.

"Justice has been done," Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the Sep 11, 2001, attacks on the New York and Washington.

Osama bin Laden is dead and his body has been recovered by US authorities, US officials said on Sunday night.

US President Barack Obama was to make the announcement shortly that after searching in vain for bin Laden since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist is dead.

The Supreme Court has confirmed the High Court ruling that backed the sacking of Muhammad Yunus from Grameen Bank as its managing director.

Tuesday's dismissal of the Nobel Peace laureate's appeal by the full bench of the Appellate Division puts to rest a bitter battle between Yunus and the government.

The government has decided not to give fresh piped gas connections to households in a bid to promote liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Energy secretary Mesbah Uddin told reporters about the government decision on Tuesday.

"We've decided in principle not to give piped gas connections to households in the future as we want to promote LPG instead," he added.

WAR CRIMES TRIAL

The International Crimes Tribunal has permitted its probe panel to question major war crimes suspects Jamaat leaders Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.

The tribunal on Tuesday granted the appeal submitted by the investigation team and the prosecution panel.

The tribunal allowed the investigators to quiz them between 10am and 5pm at the Dhaka Central Jail on separate dates to be fixed later. But the tribunal did not allow the panel to take them on remand.

The Supreme Court chamber judge has stayed for six weeks the High Court order on demolition of the BGMEA Bhaban at Karwan Bazar.

Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the stay order on Tuesday.

The High Court on Sunday ordered the demolition of the BGME building as it was constructed in violation of the Wetlands Protection Act.

Associations of recruitment agencies in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to recruit four categories of workers for the Middle East country.

Under the MoU, Bangladeshi housemaids, drivers, security guards and gardeners will be sent to the kingdom country at reduced migration costs, president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Mohammad Abul Basher told newsmen after signing the agreement in the association office in the city.

Kumar Sangakkara has stepped down as captain of Sri Lanka's ODI and T20 teams.

However, he has offered to continue as the Test captain on an interim basis for the forthcoming series against England and Australia.

Besides, he will also continue as a player in all formats of the game.

Returning England captain John Terry said on Tuesday he was older and wiser than when he was stripped of the role last year but acknowledged he was not "everybody's cup of tea".

Coach Fabio Capello took the captaincy away from the centre back last year after newspaper allegations about his private life but, in a process played out largely in the media over the last 10 days, he reinstated him in place of the injury-plagued Rio Ferdinand.