World

A team at Yale University in the US has built the world's first anti-laser — or coherent perfect absorber (CPA). The device, constructed from silicon, absorbs light and dissipates the energy as heat. Professor Hui Cao's researchers were following on from theoretical work last year by Professor Douglas Stone. Stone explained "we were working on a theory that could predict what could be used to form a laser," and the theory also predicted the possibility of an anti-laser. Lasers amplify light to produce coherent pulses. The new anti-laser focus

The residents of Speed, a small town in the south-east of Australia, have made the decision to modify the name of the town for one month in an attempt to improve road safety in the country. The name of the town will be adjusted to SpeedKills across next month. The idea was created by the Transport Accident Commission (TAC). A campaign was launched on the social networking website Facebook, saying that if 10,000 'liked' the campaign page, the name of the town — which has a population of 45 — would be changed. 'Rename Speed' has now gone on to a

Prince William of Wales has selected his brother Prince Harry to be the best man at his wedding. The announcement was made by a spokesman at St James's Palace. It has also been revealed that Prince William's fiancée, Kate Middleton, has asked her sister Philippa to be her Maid of Honour. Prince William and Middleton will marry on April 29th of this year at Westminster Abbey. When it was announced that William and Kate had become engaged Prince Harry commented saying that: "It means I get a sister, which I have always wanted," and that he was "

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have made a statement saying the inflation rate of the United Kingdom measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 4% in January 2011. In December 2010, this figure was 3.7%. According to BBC News Online, 4% is the highest CPI that the UK has experienced since November 2008. There are various reasons for the raised British inflation rate, including value added tax (VAT) increasing from 17.5% to 20% on January 4 and the value of crude oil rising. The inflation rate of the Retail Price Index in

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first pole position of the season today for the 2011 Daytona 500 that will be held at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. His time of 48.364 seconds was faster than all others who qualified. Jeff Gordon followed in the second position with a time of 48.396. Unlike other qualifying sessions, this qualifying session only decided the first and second position, while the others will be decided by the two Gatorade Duels held on February 17. It was the third time that b

Four dead bodies have been discovered in two separate locations within the town of Leicester, in Leicestershire, England, United Kingdom. All four individuals are thought to be from the same family unit, with one man, one woman and two children among the dead. On Friday night, Aram Abdul Razaq Aziz, who was male and aged 32, was discovered deceased in Watermead Country Park. On Saturday afternoon, the body of 24-year-old Joy Small was discovered in an apartment on Jersey Road. Her son, three-year-old Aubarr Aziz and her daughter Chanarra, aged

Penske Racing driver Kurt Busch won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2011 Budweiser Shootout held yesterday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. This became his first win of the season, and his first at Daytona International Speedway. Throughout the course of the race there were four cautions and 28 lead changes among ten different drivers. On the final lap, Denny Hamlin moved aside Ryan Newman, while doing so he moved below the double yellow line (out of bounds), which gave the victory to Busch while he settled for twelfth

A planned pro-democracy protest took place Saturday in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, despite a standing government ban on protests in the capital. Massive police presence reduced the event from its planned scope, and dispersed it after a few hours, but did not prevent it. The demonstration, planned for some time, was to be a march through Algiers, from May First Square, about five kilometers (three miles) to Martyrs Square. Instead, protesters demonstrated in May First Square for a few hours. Algeria has been officially in a state of eme

New safety procedures are to be implemented after an American Airlines Boeing 777 came close to colliding with two U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft off the coast of New York, United States, last month. Radar data indicates the aircraft came within of each other before the flight crew of the Boeing 777 took evasive action as an alarm sounded in the cockpit of the jet. An aviation official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the traffic collision avoidance system alarm which sounded in the cockpit of the passenger jet, which h

A Chilean policeman, Germán Hugo Ulloa Valdivia, died after falling from a seven meter high roof, during a foot pursuit in Santiago on Tuesday. Ulloa was pursuing some criminals who tried to rob a computer store. The policeman was taken to the Hospital de Carabineros (Carabiniers Hospital) where, despite medical efforts, he died on Thursday after the serious injuries caused by the fall. Carabineros de Chile said in a statement that they were saddened by the "sudden death of one of our functionaries, afforded by the unconditional support of hi

A massive winter storm has hit most of the United States with large amounts of blowing snow, rain, severe thunderstorms, and high winds, causing blizzard conditions in many areas, and hitting places like Chicago, Illinois with snow at the rate of 3–4 inches (7.6–10.2 cm) per hour. The massive storm stretches from New Mexico to Maine. Chicago received 19.5 inches (45.53 cm) of snow by Wednesday morning, and winds reached speeds of 50 mph (80.46 kph) in the night. Other places such as Buffalo, New York could get up to eight inches (20 cm) of sn

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to sue a police officer accused of creating a story about being shot by someone at El Camino High School, causing a costly search for the assailant by police. The officer, Jeffrey Stenroos, who had worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District police for eight years, caused thousands of students to remain on lockdown for hours. Traffic officers, county sheriffs, California Highway Patrol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were involved in the search. The council voted to ask Stenroos t