Huge laser experiment to reconstruct conditions at Sun's heart

Scientists are all set to begin the U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF), which is literally a huge laser experiment aimed at recreating conditions at the heart of our Sun. According to a report, the experiment is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of nuclear fusion, a process that could offer abundant clean energy.

The lab will kick-start the reaction by focusing 192 huge laser beams on a tiny pellet of hydrogen fuel. To work, it must show that more energy can be extracted from the process than is required to initiate it.

The California-based NIF is the largest experimental science facility in the U.S. and contains the world's most powerful laser. It has taken 12 years to build. "This is a major milestone," said Dr Ed Moses, director of the facility.

But the challenge of creating a practical fusion reactor has eluded scientists for decades. Now, however, they believe they are nearing their goal. Fusion naturally occurs at the center of stars where huge gravitational pressure allows the process to happen at temperatures of about 10 million Celsius.

"We are well on our way to achieving what we set out to do - control, sustained nuclear fusion and energy gain for the first time ever in a laboratory setting," he added. Experiments will begin in June 2009, with the first significant results expected between 2010 and 2012. Fusion is looked on as the "holy grail" of energy sources because of its potential to supply almost limitless clean energy.

At the much lower pressures on Earth, temperatures to produce fusion need to be much higher - above 100 million Celsius. If it works, NIF will release 10 to 100 times more energy than the amount pumped into the lasers to kick-start the reaction.

Obama : US does not plan to put troops in Pakistan

US will go after Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan after consulting with Islamabad but does not aim to use combat troops on the ground there, President Barack Obama said in an interview.

"If we have a high-value target within our sights, after consulting with Pakistan, we're going after them," Obama said in an interview broadcast on CBS's "Face the Nation" program.

Asked if that meant putting US troops on the ground in Pakistan, Obama said: "No. Our plan does not change the recognition of Pakistan as a sovereign government. We need to work with them and through them to deal with Al Qaeda. But we have to hold them much more accountable."

Obama made his comments in an interview conducted on Friday, the day he announced a new war strategy for Afghanistan that called for the elimination of Al Qaeda militants he said were plotting attacks on the United States from the rough region along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.

The plan called for another 4,000 US troops to help train the Afghan army, in addition to the 17,000 combat troops he ordered to Afghanistan ahead of elections in August. Spending on the conflict is expected to rise 60 percent from the current $2 billion per month, officials said.

"What we want to do is to refocus attention on Al-Qaeda," Obama said. "We are going to root out their networks, their bases. We are going to make sure that they cannot attack U.S. citizens, U.S. soil, U.S. interests and our allies' interests around the world," he said.

The approach seeks to make trust and improve ties with an ally that Washington has at times supported and at times ignored but now sees as critical in the fight against the militant group that carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, U.S. officials said.

To plant Al Qaeda, Obama said, the United States had to ensure it could not find a base in Afghanistan or Pakistan from which to organize attacks. He said Washington also needed to convince average Pakistanis that the struggle with extremists was not just a U.S. war.

"One of the concerns that we've had building up over the last several years is a notion, I think, among the average Pakistani, that this is somehow America's war and they are not invested," Obama said.

CEO of General Motors resigns at Obama's command

Obama government has asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to quit, but has refused to reveal why this decision was taken. General Motors issued a vague statement Sunday night that did not officially confirm Wagoner's departure.

"We are anticipating an announcement soon from the Administration concerning the reorganization of the U.S. auto industry. We continue to work closely with members of the Task Force and it would not be appropriate for us to speculate on the content of any announcement," Politico quoted the company, as saying.

The surprise announcement about the classically iconic American corporation is perhaps the most vivid sign yet of the tectonic change in the relationship between business and government in this era of subsidies and bailouts.

Wagoner has been CEO for eight years and at General Motors for more than 30 years. It is not yet clear who would replace him, or what role the administration would play in that process.

Business sources had said the White House intended very tough medicine in Monday's announcement, which turned out to be an understatement. The measures to be imposed by the government will have a dramatic effect on workers, unions, suppliers, bondholders, shareholders, retirees and the communities where plants are located, the sources said.

Earlier this month, President Obama agreed to loan five billion dollars to American auto parts manufacturers to help them weather the steep drop in new vehicle orders and the financial uncertainty at the Big Three.

Obama and his aides may have honed in on Wagoner for two reasons. First, his company is asking for the most in total federal aid: 26 billion dollars, a figure administration officials fear could grow even larger. Second, the General Motors chief was tied more directly to the ill-fated decisions that that brought much of the American auto industry to the brink of collapse.

Wagoner joined General Motors in 1977, has had a senior role in General Motors management since 1992, and became CEO of the company in 2000. He is considered responsible for increasing focus on trucks and SUVs-at the expense of the hybrids and fuel efficient cars that have become more popular in the last couple of years.