New Delhi, Sep 16 : France on Tuesday said the Nuclear Suppliers Group''s waiver to India for conduct of nuclear commerce makes it possible for the two to sign a bilateral trade agreement in this area.

Describing the NSG waiver to India as a "historic achievement," French Minister of State for External Trade Anne Marie Idrac said here that "it opens the way for signing of the bilateral agreement, which was concluded during visit of President Sarkozy in January."

New Delhi, Sep 16 : The Union Government is planning to issue guidelines to Internet service providers to secure wireless fidelity (WiFi) networks so that terrorists do not use it to send threatening e-mails.

“We are always in constant talks with the Department of Telecom on security issues. We might take some action soon,” Department of Information Technology Special Secretary R Chandrashekar said.

The move comes on the heels of a group called Indian Mujahideen using an unprotected WiFi network to send emails almost at the same time of the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and Delhi.

Washington, September 16 : Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK are helping to develop new rechargeable batteries that could improve hybrid electric cars in the future.

As concern grows about climate change, a range of ‘green technologies’ are being developed to help reduce carbon emissions.

Hybrid petrol/electric cars that use conventional metal-hydride batteries are already available but they are heavy and the cars have limited power.

Professor Saiful Islam, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath, is researching new materials to use in rechargeable lithium batteries, similar to those that have helped to power the worldwide ‘portable revolution’ in mobile phones, laptops and MP3 players.

Washington, September 16 : A new study has shown that oil palm plantations are no substitute for tropical rainforests, which makes the protection of the rainforests all the more important.

Emily Fitzherbert from the Zoological Society of London and University of East Anglia carried out the study.

The continued expansion of oil palm plantations will worsen the dual environmental crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, unless rainforests are better protected, warn scientists.

“There has been much debate over the role of palm oil production in tropical deforestation and its impacts on biodiversity. We wanted to put the discussion on a firm scientific footing,” said Fitzherbert.

London, September 16 : A new study has reported an object that brightened intensely and then faded back into obscurity over a period of about seven months, which is unlike anything astronomers have seen before.

According to a report in New Scientist, the Hubble Space Telescope first spotted the object, called SCP 06F6, in the constellation Bootes in February 2006 in a search for supernovae.

Nothing had been seen at its location before it started to brighten, and nothing was spotted after it dimmed, which suggests it is normally too faint to observe and that it brightened by at least 120 times during its firefly-like episode.

Washington, September 16 : Two University of Southern California researchers have written a piece of software that can help create a musical accompaniment in the style of any chosen artist, or even the particular style used in select pieces by the artist.

Elaine Chew, an accomplished pianist and professor at the USC Viterbi School Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and graduate student Ching-Hua Chuan have revealed that they started developing the system called ASSA (Automatic Style Specific Accompaniment) two years ago.