Teen Kiwi scientist’s traffic-light noise-meter can prevent hearing loss in preschoolers

September 8th, 2009 Report: S'pore teen 'slayers' planned mass suicideSINGAPORE — A Singapore newspaper says eight teen fans of the video game Slayers planned to commit suicide together last month, but most backed out after watching two of them jump to their deaths. The New Paper says Tuesday that according to a police investigation, 16-year-old Ku Witaya, a self-proclaimed Taoist medium, convinced his younger brother and six other boys that they had to die to become 'slayers' who would kill demons in a World War III.

June 23rd, 2009 Teen friends playing 'car tag' arrested in ArizonaPRESCOTT, Ariz. — Two teenage friends playing a game of "car tag" were arrested after a sheriff's deputy spotted them driving erratically.

August 13th, 2009 LDK shares fall on 2Q loss, analyst rates "Sell"NEW YORK — Shares of solar cell wafer maker LDK Solar Co. Ltd. tumbled on Thursday, the morning after the company posted a second-quarter loss as it wrote down the plummeting value of its inventory.

May 14th, 2009 TOKYO - Sony Corp suffered its first annual net loss in 14 years as the yen's rise against the dollar and harsh price competition amid the global economic downturn drove consumers away, the company said Thursday. Sony reported 98.9 billion yen ($1.03 billion) in net loss for the fiscal 2008 year against a 369.4-billion-yen net profit the year before.

February 27th, 2009 TOKYO - Sony Corp's president is to resign in April as the company was forecasting a record loss in the current business year because of a surge in the yen's value and declining sales, it said Friday. The Japanese electronics giant announced that Ryoji Chubachi would step down and chairman Howard Stringer would serve in both posts as the firm seeks to achieve a recovery in its core electronics business.

January 22nd, 2009 TOKYO - Japan's key Nikkei 225 Stock Average extended its losses Friday to a two-month low after Sony Corp announced a projected record operating loss for fiscal 2008. The Nikkei index tumbled 306.49 points, or 3.81 percent, to close at 7,745.25, and the broader Topix index of all first section issues was also down 22.36 points, or 2.81 percent, at 773.55.

January 22nd, 2009 SEOUL - Samsung Electronics Co, the leading South Korean electronics maker, posted its first quarterly loss, saying Friday that it was 20 billion won ($14.59 million) in the red in the final quarter of 2008. The world's largest maker of memory chips and liquid-crystal displays said the falling prices of memory chips and sinking demand for electronics during the global economic downturn was the cause for the loss after it had seen a profit of 2.21 trillion won in the same quarter a year earlier.

January 28th, 2009 TOKYO - Toshiba Corp Thursday projected that the company will record a 280 billion yen ($3.11 billion) in net and operating loss in fiscal 2008 as flash memory prices were slumping and global economic situation worsening. If that proves to be the case, the predicted loss will be the first since fiscal 2001.

January 12th, 2009 TOKYO - Japanese electronics giant Sony is expected to suffer an operating loss of about 100 billion yen ($1.12 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, its first loss since 1995, media reports said Tuesday. The projected loss, apparently because of a strong yen and sluggish sales of flat-screen televisions and other products, marks a major turnaround from a projection last October of an operating profit of 200 billion yen, Kyodo News reported citing sources.

August 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists has found a way to make nanostructured plastic solar cells, which are roughly 10,000 times smaller than a human hair. A research team headed by David Ginger, a University of Washington associate professor of chemistry, has developed the new technology.

August 3rd, 2009 Panasonic reports $558 million quarterly lossTOKYO — Panasonic is reporting a 52.98 billion yen ($558 million) loss for the fiscal first quarter as lower sales, falling gadget prices and retirement expenses offset cost cuts. Osaka-based Panasonic Corp.

August 27th, 2009 SYDNEY - A team of Australian and US researchers has set a new record for solar cell efficiency, by developing a multi-cell array that achieved an efficiency of 43 percent, beating the previous world record by 0.3 percent. According to a report by ABC News, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Professor Martin Green, who led the record-breaking effort, said that solar cells only convert a fraction of the energy from sunlight into electricity.

December 23rd, 2008 TOKYO - Stocks in Tokyo opened lower Wednesday, after Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's largest automaker, projected its first operating loss in 71 years for the current business year. Following a slump on Wall Street which was dragged down by falling US home prices, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average was down 234.83 points, or 2.69 percent to 8,488.95.

January 28th, 2009 TOKYO - Sony Corp Thursday reported its net profit plunged 94.8 percent in the October-to-December quarter to 10.4 billion yen ($116.37 million) because of a strong yen and dwindling demand for electronics. The earnings compared with a 200.2 billion yen net profit from the same quarter a year earlier.

January 12th, 2009 TOKYO - Stocks lost more than 4 percent in Tokyo Tuesday as market sentiment was dampened by media reports on speculation that Sony Corp would incur an operating loss for the fiscal year. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average tumbled 380.32 points, or 4.3 percent, to end the morning session at 8,456.48.