China's economic growth slows to 24-year low: govt
Beijing (AFP) Jan 20, 2015 -
China's gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent in 2014, official data showed Tuesday, slumping to a 24-year low with authorities describing the slower pace as the "new normal" for the world's second-largest economy.
The figure announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was slower than the 7.7 percent seen in 2013, but exceeded the median forecast of 7.3 percent in an AFP survey of ...
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Amazon win highlights blurring TV/Internet line
Los Angeles (AFP) Jan 14, 2015 -
The Golden Globes triumph of Amazon's online series "Transparent" highlights the increasingly blurred lines between televion and the Internet. "TV and the Internet are becoming one and the same, and in a few years that line will completely dissolve," said media analyst Jeff Bock of box officer tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"Transparent," which tells the story of a transgender father and his ...
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Ricoh intros super day/night digital binocular
Malvern, Pa. (UPI) Jan 15, 2015 -
Digital day/night binoculars that penetrate fog, smoke, rain and sand for clear imaging have been introduced by Ricoh Americas Corporation.
Designed for military, law enforcement and commercial customers, the RICOH NV-10A clarifies, brightens and sharpens images with just a push of a button. The product's use of PENTAX Atmospheric Interference Reduction technology reintroduces color tha ...
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Samsung launches first Tizen phone in break from Android
Seoul (AFP) Jan 14, 2015 -
Samsung on Wednesday launched its first smartphone using its home-grown Tizen operating system, aimed at breaking the South Korean electronics giant's dependence on Google's Android.
The Samsung Z1, which has 3G capability and a liquid-crystal display, was launched in India with a price tag of 5,700 rupees ($90), the world's largest smartphone maker said in a statement.
The Tizen operati ...
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UAE says falling oil prices will not impact clean energy
Abu Dhabi (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
The United Arab Emirates on Monday downplayed fears that the fall in oil prices could negatively impact the development of renewable energy projects.
"Our interconnected energy landscape has evolved beyond the point where the price of oil determines the fate of clean energy," said minister of state Sultan al-Jaber who is also chairman of Masdar, Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company.
Oil ...
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Two workers die at separate Fukushima nuclear plants: operator
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 20, 2015 -
A worker at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant died Tuesday after falling into a water tank, the country's nuclear operator said, the second fatal accident to blight efforts to stabilise the tsunami-battered facility.
Separately on Tuesday, another worker died because of an incident at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, which is located several kilometres (miles) south of the dam ...
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Charge instability across all copper-based superconductors
Vancouver, Canada (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
University of British Columbia physicists have detected 'charge ordering' in electron-doped cuprate superconductors for the first time, according to research published in Science.
Charge ordering is a ripple-like instability at the electron level that competes with superconductivity and likely suppresses the temperature at which materials demonstrate superconducting properties. Until now, ...
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