Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has said his country does not rule out a pre-emptive military strike anywhere in the world if the national interest demands it.

India's desire to get to the Moon is another example of how Chinese space plans are shaking up the international space scene.

Software cyberbabes, created by powerful computers, sophisticated modelling packages and active imaginations are getting extremely human-like. But they raise questions about what people might be able to do with the models if they get too realistic and we cannot tell the difference anymore.

Working from their university labs in two different corners of the world, American and Australian researchers have created what they call a new class of creative beings: "the semi-living artist".