Kandahar, Sept 11 : Reacting to US President George Bush’s recent announcement of sending more troops to Afghanistan, the Taliban have said that this would further aggravate the situation in the strife-torn country.

“Sending additional troops to Afghanistan is not a solution to the problem but will further fuel the fighting. It will also provide more chances to Taliban to attack the enemy. The more US troops are sent to Afghanistan, the more loss of lives the US forces will suffer,” The News quoted Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid as saying in an interview with an Afghan news agency.

Washington, September 11 : NASA engineers are developing fission surface power technology, which would provide the necessary power for a lunar outpost when astronauts return to the Moon in the future.

A fission surface power system on the moon has the potential to generate a steady 40 kilowatts of electric power, enough for about eight houses on Earth.

It works by splitting uranium atoms in a reactor to generate heat that then is converted into electric power.

Washington, Sept 11 : A top US defence official has reportedly said that besides gunning down the terrorists crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan, the US should focus on eliminating the “safe havens” of these militants in Pakistan itself.

Washington, Sept. 11 : Republican presidential nominee John McCain has criticized British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for endorsing Barack Obama in a magazine article.

According to The Telegraph, the McCain Campaign has questioned Brown’s lavish praise of Obama’s economic policies.

The paper predicts that this endorsement could open a serious rift between the Republicans and the British Government, should the former enter the White House after November 4, 2008.

Washington, September 11: New analysis has revealed that the historic 1843 stellar outburst was in fact, a new type of star explosion that is fainter than a typical supernova and does not destroy the star, and may be common in the universe.

Astronomer Nathan Smith from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, has determined that Eta Carinae’s historic 1843 outburst was, in fact, an explosion that produced a fast blast wave similar to, but less energetic than, a real supernova.

Eta Carinae (ç Car) is a massive, hot, variable star visible only from the Southern Hemisphere, and is located about 7,500 light years from Earth in a young region of star birth called the Carina Nebula.

Washington, Sept. 11 : American Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties reportedly engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday.

According to CBS and the New York Times, at least 13 government employees in Denver and Washington are involved in the sex for oil scandal that surfaced in the US Interior Department.

The paper and the channel quoted an Inspector General for the Interior Department as saying that these employees rigged contracts, engaged in illegal moonlighting, drugs, sex and gift-taking from oil company representatives.