Washington, Oct. 15 : The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency''s use of interrogation techniques such as water-boarding against al-Qaeda suspects.

The classified memos, which have not been previously disclosed, were requested by then-CIA Director George J. Tenet more than a year after the start of the secret interrogations, according to four administration and intelligence officials familiar with the documents.

Washington, Oct 15 : Using sophisticated airborne radar and other Information Age tools and techniques, scientists are all set to probe one of the globe’s last major unexplored places, which is located in Antarctica.

A multinational team of scientists from six nations will virtually “peel away” more than four kilometers (2.5 miles) of ice covering an Antarctic mountain range that rivals the Alps in elevation, and which current scientific knowledge suggests shouldn’t be there at all.

Washington, Oct. 15 : Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has distanced himself from the low-income advocacy group ACORN, which has been under fire for allegations of voter fraud.

Obama, who rarely discusses the controversy surrounding the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, spoke to reporters about the issue in Oregon, Ohio, on Tuesday, just one day before he''s set to square off against John McCain in the final presidential debate.

Washington, Oct 15 : A team of archaeologists have discovered a mosaic floor from the Roman era, in Skelani, near Srebrenica, in the eastern part of Bosnia, the largest ever to be found in the Balkans.

According to a report by EMportal, at a depth between 80 and 180 centimetres below the ground’s surface, archaeologists discovered the ruins of buildings and streets of the Roman town, as well as the mosaic flooring that has been dated to the first century A. D.

“We have discovered the largest Roman mosaic ever to be found in the Balkans, and maybe even Europe”, said the director of the local museum in Bijeljina, Mirko Babic, who heads the team of archaeologists.

Washington, Oct 15 : People, who think they ''know-it-all'' might not be as knowledgeable as they believe, suggests a new study.

The new research suggests that they might be knowledgeable, if talking about products like wine or motorcycles, but when it comes to health plans, social policy, or nutrition, they lack adequate knowledge.

During the study, the international research team conducted a meta-analysis of 103 consumer knowledge research studies that took place between 1980 and 2007.

Washington, Oct 15 : Women who’re not comfortable revealing their age should stay miles away from University of Illinois-developed computer software that reveals a person''s age just by looking at his or her face.

The software, developed at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, could analyze an image of your face to verify your identity or run a commercial according to your interest.

"Age measurement is very difficult. If you use the face to estimate age we can really get the apparent age, or how old a person looks," Discovery News quoted Thomas Huang, the lead developer, as saying.