Weak yen fails to boost exports as Japan logs trade deficit
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 18, 2014 -
Japan on Thursday posted its 26th consecutive monthly trade deficit, as a sharply weaker yen failed to lift exports as the world's number three economy stalls.
Despite narrowing marginally from a year earlier, Japan's August trade shortfall underscored a mixed picture for exports to key markets including China and the United States, as well as slowing activity at home following April's sales ...
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Eni announces significant oil discovery in Ecuador
Milan, Italy (UPI) Sep 18, 2014 -
Italian energy company Eni said Thursday it made an oil discovery in Ecuador that could hold as much as 300 million barrels in place.
Eni announced the discovery at the Olgan-2 exploration well. Drilling encountered a 236-foot column of crude oil and initial production tests yielded a flow rate of 1,100 barrels of oil per day.
"Early estimates suggest that the Oglan discovery pot ...
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Automaker gets first permit in the Golden State
Herndon, Va. (UPI) Sep 16, 2014 -
On Tuesday, Audi got the first permit issued by California to test self-driving cars.
New state laws took effect today allowing automakers to do such testing on California roadways.
Scott Keogh, President, Audi of America said, "Audi is a driving force behind the research taking automated driving from science fiction to pre-production readiness."
California isn't the first ...
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More stimulus measures seen as China boosts economy
Shanghai (AFP) Sept 17, 2014 -
A reported $81 billion injection into China's major banks is probably the first of a series of fresh stimulus measures by Beijing to bolster its flagging economy, the world's second largest, analysts said Wednesday.
Online portal Sina late Tuesday quoted financial institutions as saying the People's Bank of China (PBoC), the central bank, would channel 500 billion yuan ($81 billion) into the ...
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Asia's billionaires see fastest wealth growth: report
Singapore (AFP) Sept 17, 2014 -
Asia's billionaires led by Chinese tycoons enjoyed the fastest increase in their wealth this year compared to their peers in the rest of the world, a report said Wednesday.
The combined wealth of Asia's billionaires grew 18.7 percent from last year to $1.41 trillion, said the report by Wealth-X, a research firm specialising in ultra-high net worth individuals, and Swiss bank UBS.
Asia ad ...
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Finnish Greens quit government in nuclear row
Helsinki (AFP) Sept 18, 2014 -
Finland's Green League party said Thursday it was leaving the ruling coalition over the approval by the government of a nuclear plant project to be built by Russia's Rosatom.
The Greens oppose the nuclear plant in Pyhaejoki, on the Finnish west coast, which will be operated by Finland's Fennovoima and has obtained a green light from the government.
"I feel heavy-hearted and I'm disappoin ...
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Border stand-off overshadows China leader's India trip
New Delhi (AFP) Sept 18, 2014 -
Indian and Chinese leaders pledged Thursday to resolve a long-running border dispute that led to a bloody 1962 war, as a stand-off between troops on the remote frontier overshadowed a rare summit in New Delhi.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had expressed concerns to China's visiting President Xi Jinping about "incidents" on the disputed border in the northern Ladakh region, whe ...
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UCI team is first to capture motion of single molecule in real time
Irvine CA (SPX) Sep 18, 2014 -
UC Irvine chemists have scored a scientific first: capturing moving images of a single molecule as it vibrates, or "breathes," and shifts from one quantum state to another. The groundbreaking achievement, led by Ara Apkarian, professor of chemistry, and Eric Potma, associate professor of chemistry, opens a window into the strange realm of quantum mechanics - where nanoscopic bits of matter seemi ...
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Making quantum dots glow brighter
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 18, 2014 -
Researchers from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the University of Oklahoma have found a new way to control the properties of quantum dots, those tiny chunks of semiconductor material that glow different colors depending on their size.
Quantum dots, which are so small they start to exhibit atom-like quantum properties, have a wide range of potential applications, from sensors, ...
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Three's a charm: NIST detectors reveal entangled photon triplets
Boulder CO (SPX) Sep 18, 2014 -
Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have directly entangled three photons in the most technologically useful state for the first time, thanks in part to superfast, super-efficient single-photon detectors developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Entanglement is a special feature of the quantum world in which certain properties of individual par ...
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Elusive quantum transformations found near absolute zero
Upton NY (SPX) Sep 18, 2014 -
Heat drives classical phase transitions-think solid, liquid, and gas-but much stranger things can happen when the temperature drops. If phase transitions occur at the coldest temperatures imaginable, where quantum mechanics reigns, subtle fluctuations can dramatically transform a material.
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook Univer ...
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