Nobel honours ‘masters of light’

Three scientists who corralled light to transform our communications systems share this year’s physics Nobel Prize.

Briton Charles Kao is lauded for his work in helping to develop fibre optic cables, the slender threads of glass that carry phone and net data as light.

Willard Boyle and George Smith, both North Americans, are recognised for their part in the invention of the charge-coupled device, or CCD.

This light detector initiated the digital camera revolution.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which administers the prize, said half of the award would go to Kao, who was born in Shanghai, China, in 1933 and holds UK-US citizenship.

It was his insight while working in Britain in the 1960s, said the academy, which allowed researchers to take fibre optics to a new level – to enable these thin cables to transmit light over much longer distances than had previously been possible.
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Does sex still sell? Adult industry not immune to recession

EDISON, New Jersey (CNN) — More than 100 purveyors of adult entertainment waited hours for Edison’s giant convention hall to fill last month, a slow attendance that reflected recessional challenges that nearly all industries have faced.

The adult entertainment industry certainly hasn’t been in freefall like the auto manufacturers, but it has felt the pinch of consumers with shallower pockets than they once had.

Most adult entertainment companies are privately owned, making it hard to quantify overall sales from year to year. But many agree the multibillion dollar industry is finding it harder to sell sex.

XBIZ, an organization that covers all sectors of the adult entertainment business, says piracy, free online content and legal challenges have all adversely affected the industry.
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The red and the black

As the People’s Republic celebrates its 60th birthday, the gangsterism the communists boasted of vanquishing has staged a comeback

SHORTLY before the 60th anniversary of communist China’s founding on October 1st, police in the south-western city of Chongqing opened an unusual exhibition. On display, to invited guests only, were 65 luxury cars formerly owned by the bosses of the city’s crime gangs as well as an assortment of jewellery, guns and drugs. Chongqing, the wartime capital of China, had been a hub of organised crime in pre-communist days. Now the gangs are back, with roots in the party that almost wiped them out six decades ago.

In Beijing the huge military parade on October 1st, China’s first in ten years, was intended to show off a modern, powerful face. The country’s leaders had reason to flaunt their stuff this year. Not only has China made enormous economic and technological strides since 1999, but it has also weathered the global financial crisis with remarkable resilience. Officials had worried that widespread lay-offs in export businesses could lead to social unrest. But, apart from bloody rioting in the far-western region of Xinjiang in July, fuelled mainly by ethnic rivalry, the past few months have seen no obvious increase in the number or scale of protests.
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Report: More than 1M preemies die in first month annually

(CNN) — More than 1 million babies born prematurely die each year before they are a month old, the March of Dimes said Sunday in the first comprehensive global report on premature births.

The organization suggested the situation could worsen if the rate of premature births increases.

Each year, 12.9 million infants — or nearly 10 percent of the annual worldwide birth total — are born before 37 weeks of development in the womb, the organization said. More than 85 percent of the premature births occur in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

“Premature births are an enormous global problem that is exacting a huge toll emotionally, physically and financially on families, medical systems and economies,” March of Dimes President Jennifer Howse said in a statement. “In the United States alone, the annual cost of caring for preterm babies and their associated health problems tops $26 billion.”

The March of Dimes report, which used data collected by the World Health Organization, breaks down premature birth rates by continent.
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Socialists win in Greece; ‘hard work’ ahead, Papandreou says

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) — Greece’s opposition Socialist party on Sunday defeated the incumbent center-right government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, as Socialist leader George Papandreou promised to chart a new course for an economic comeback.

“On this course, nothing is going to be easy — it will take work, hard work,” Papandreou said in his victory address. “And I will always be honest with the Greek people so that we may better solve the problems of the state.”

Sunday’s national elections were held two years before originally scheduled. Karamanlis called the elections in response to pressure from Papandreou’s Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece, which threatened to block the election of a president in February if no general election was held. The Greek constitution requires the two major parties to agree on the election of a president, giving either party an effective veto.

Karamanlis’ term was not due to expire until September 2011. But Papandreou insisted on new elections before the end of President Karolos Papoulias’ term as president.
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US economic power ‘is declining’

US economic power is declining as a result of the financial crisis, the head of the World Bank has said.

“One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations,” said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

The US, the world’s biggest economy, has been in recession for almost two years, while emerging economies like China and Brazil have grown.

This may help bring about a long-term rebalancing of the world economy.
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Rio to stage 2016 Olympic Games

Brazil will become the first South American country to host the Olympics after the city of Rio de Janeiro was chosen to stage the 2016 Games.

Rio won a majority of the 95 votes at the meeting in Copenhagen, eliminating Madrid in the final round. Tokyo and Chicago had already been knocked out.

“The world has recognised that the time has come for Brazil,” said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Chicago’s early exit was a surprise, after bookmakers made them favourites.

US President Barack Obama had flown to Denmark on Friday morning to join his wife, Michelle, and make an emotional address to the International Olympic Committee delegates.

But the gesture – the first time a current US president had addressed the IOC in an attempt to win the Games – failed to persuade the voters as Chicago became the first city to see its dream of hosting the biggest sporting event in the world fall by the wayside.
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Indonesia quake deaths pass 1,000

At least 1,100 people have died in the earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday, the UN humanitarian chief has said.

John Holmes said many hundreds more had been injured, and both figures were set to rise further.

Rescuers are working into the night to find survivors in the rubble of hundreds of collapsed buildings.

The 7.6-magnitude quake struck close to the city of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province.

The earthquake brought down hospitals, schools and shopping malls, cut power lines and triggered landslides.
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Global economy expanding says IMF

The global economy is expanding again and financial conditions have improved significantly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

But in its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF said the “pace of recovery is expected to be slow”.

It added that the recovery is likely to be “insufficient to decrease unemployment for quite some time”.

On Wednesday, the IMF cut its forecast for the amount that banks are likely to lose in bad loans and investments.

The total it expects banks to lose between 2007 and 2010 is now $3.4tn (£2.1tn), down from its previous estimate of $4tn.

This reduction is a direct result of the improved outlook for the global economy.
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