A new report by investment bank Goldman Sachs claims that by the end of the decade the Indian economy will have overtaken that of Great Britain and hold fifth place on the economic stage.
The report continues by stating that by the middle of the century India may be second only to China and overtake the US however the economic boom will have a heavy drain on energy needs. Read more »
A ten year old girl from Charleroi gave birth last year. She was seen by a physician for “unexplained abdominal pain.” Dr Robert Chef said, “When we examined her it turned out she was nine months pregnant. The child was carrying a full term baby.”
The Doctor reports the delivery went smoothly. The father, a 13 year old classmate, visited her in the hospital. The girl’s grandmother has taken custody of the infant and will raise it as her own.
The medical weekly De Huisarts reported up to 57 ten year old girls had been prescribed birth control pills last year. While some were for medical reasons, others were for birth control. Read more »
New methods of contraception were presented at “Future of male Contraception” conference, held in Seattle.
Men will be able to use non-hormonal pills, sperm blockers, testosterone-like pills and home sperm tests for contraception.
Among men, more than half agreed to use male contraception. Read more »
South Africa, a country still rife with sexual taboo, has hosted its first sex fair. The fair is based on one that has been running in Australia for over a decade. During arpatheid, there was a ban on pornography and erotica in South Africa.
At the fall of white minority rule, the sex industry in South Africa boomed, with sex shops and strip clubs opening across the country. However, sex is still not openly discussed in a country that is home to one of the worst AIDS epidemics.
According to organiser Silas Howarth said the Johannesburg “Sexpo SA” attracted some 40,000 people and he plans to hold fairs in Cape Town and Durban. Read more »
Germany’s women’s soccer team has retained the World Cup, beating Brazil 2-0 in yesterday’s final in China. They are the first women’s team ever to defend a World Cup or Olympic title and broke other records on their way.
Germany did not have one goal scored against them in the whole of the tournament, beating the competition 21-0 overall. This means they’ve gone 619 World Cup minutes without having a goal scored on their defence, breaking the former record of 442.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that her country’s performance “showed how beautiful women’s soccer can be.” Read more »
High tech companies in Japan are investing substantial sums of money determining how to construct and commercialize a blazingly fast new internet platform, far faster than even upcoming technologies.
The new technology would have the internet run on optical cable, allowing global data transfers of up to ten gigabits per second. At such a speed, a volume of data equal to a standard DVD could be transferred globally in less than half a second.
It would also have the advantage of being able to have more than 100 billion devices hooked up to it simultaneously, and would not be particularly affected by heavy network traffic. The project, if successful, could be in widespread use by 2015. Read more »
On Monday, Sony announced that in December they plan to be the first company to commercially launch a television that employs organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology, which doesn’t require a backlight and allows for extremely thin dimensions.
The first model will be 3 mm thick, but will only be 25.1 cm by 14.1 cm and cost $1,740. The innovative product gives a boost to a company that has recently taken a back seat to sensations like the Wii and iPod. The TV will part of their BRAVIA line.
The move marks a strong comeback for Sony at a critical time in the flat-screen market, and comes on the heels of new models that were announced in August, including one which will be larger than anything else currently available. Read more »
England: A coroner has ruled that the death of Matthew Wareing from an as yet unknown infection is almost certainly linked to a bite from a rat belonging to his children. At the time he put antiseptic on the wound and it began to swell 3 days later.
Ten days after the bite the businessman developed serious symptoms but chose to wait until after he had attended a business meeting to see a doctor. When he did seek medical attention he was placed in intensive care and died a day later.
“It does seem that the cause of death is directly linked back to the bite from the rat. The symptoms seem to have been rather surreptitious and come and gone. He seemed to feel better then took a sudden turn for the worse,” said coroner Roger Stone. Read more »
UK: 61-year-old Beryl Brazier has committed suicide after a administrative error left her being targeted by debt collectors for a debt of £15,670 rather than the £400 she actually owed the bank.
“They terrorised her to her death. Mum tried ringing them, writing to them and even visited the Citizen’s Advice Bureau to get these people off her back - but nothing would stop them,” said the woman’s daughter.
At the inquest a company called Datatrace admitted responsibility for the blunder. Deputy coroner Dr Turlough Farnan strongly suggested that debt collection and tracing agencies consider the implications of this death. Read more »