Washington  - Under pressure to rapidly adopt a rescue plan for the nation's finance system, US senators on Tuesday expressed anger at the prospect of bailing out Wall Street risk-takers but acknowledged the urgency of the issue.

US President George W Bush is asking Congress to pass an unprecedented 700-billion-dollar bailout of the financial sector, including buying up bad mortgage debts that have brought the banking system and the nation's economy to the brink of ruin.

Washington, September 23: Scientists have created a balloon-like membrane that is just one atom thick, which can be effectively be called as the ‘world’s thinnest balloon’.

According to a report in the Chronicle Online, the membrane, made using a lump of graphite, a piece of Scotch tape and a silicon wafer, is ultra-strong, leak-proof and impermeable to even nimble helium atoms.

The research, by Scott Bunch, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Cornell professor of physics Paul McEuen and Cornell colleagues, could lead to a variety of new technologies from novel ways to image biological materials in solution to techniques for studying the movement of atoms or ions through microscopic holes.

Washington, September 23: You may soon get to buy a cell phone with smarter and lighter cameras, for researchers at a private research university in New York have devised a way to create liquid lenses with water and sound.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute experts say that their advancement may pave the way for a new generation of lightweight cameras with low cost and high energy efficiency.

They have shown that the lens, made up of two droplets of water vibrating at a high speed, can change shape and move in and out of focus.

Washington, September 23: Cornell researchers have shown that it is possible to dupe global positioning system (GPS) into providing wrong navigation signals to tell a receiver his/her exact location.

GPS is a U. S. navigation system of more than 30 satellites circling Earth twice a day in specific orbits, transmitting signals to receivers on land, sea and in air to calculate their exact locations.

Washington  - Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven (G-7) leading industrialized democracies pledged Monday to take whatever action was necessary to ensure the stability of the global economy.

"We are ready to take whatever actions may be necessary, individually and collectively, to ensure the stability of the international financial system," the group said in a statement issued after a conference call.

Washington  - US stocks plummeted again Monday by more than 3 per cent across major indices, while oil prices soared amidst uncertainty on Wall Street over the US government's proposed mammoth bailout and whether it will rescue the economy.

The drop wiped out most of the gains made on Friday, when US and world markets rebounded on news of the rescue plan.