Robert Edwards wins Nobel Prize for Medicine

British physiologist Robert Edwards, whose work led to the first "test-tube baby", won the 2010 Nobel Prize for medicine or physiology, the prize-awarding institute said on Monday.
Edwards, 85, won the prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.5 million), Sweden's Karolinska Institute said.
"His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity including more than 10 percent of all couples worldwide," the institute said in a statement.
Robert Geoffrey Edwards was born in September 1925. After finishing Manchester Central High School, he served at the University College of North Wales (UCNW) in Bangor, but soon realized that he was interested not so much in plants but rather in animal reproduction and transferred to the Department of Zoology and received his B.Sc. in 1951 from UCNW; in 1962 the same institution offered him the degree of DSc.
Edwards co-founded one of the first IVF clinics in the world at Bourn Hall, Cambridge in 1980. That same year, one "test tube baby" was born in the United States. In 1990, the number rose to 4,000 in the US, and in 1998, it reached 28,500. In 2001 he was awarded the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award by the Lasker Foundation "for the development of in vitro fertilization.
Nobel Prize for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace and Economic Sciences would be announced on October 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11 respectively.

Russian company announces to launch space hotel

A Russian company has announced plans to launch a comfortable space hotel for tourists who up to now have shared cramped accommodation with astronauts.
The company, Orbital Technologies plans to launch the first module of the hotel in 2015-16, its chief executive Sergei Kostenko told at a presentation. A cosy fit, the first module will measure just 20 cubic metres (706 cubic feet) and have four cabins, designed for up to seven passengers, who would go into orbit using the Soyuz shuttle, Kostenko said.
Up to now space tourists, who have included the Canadian founder of the Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte, have squeezed into the International Space Station (ISS) along with cosmonauts and animal life including fruit flies.
The new hotel will offer more comforts than the ISS, Kostenko said. "Our planned module inside will not remind you of the ISS. A hotel should be comfortable inside, and it will be possible to look at the Earth through large portholes," Kostenko said, calling it a "cosmic hotel". The space hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space, Kostenko said.
The space tourism program was halted earlier this year as the crew numbers on the ISS increased, leaving no room for extra passengers. Kostenko said that the project has found Russian and American investors, and we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, without elaborating. "At the moment, the project is already at the design stage," he said.
The space hotel would be built by Russian spacecraft manufacturer Energia, the company's website said. It would follow the same orbit as the ISS.
Kostenko told that a number of agreements on partnership have already been signed with Energia and the Russian space agency.
The company's website cites the deputy head of Russian space agency Roskosmos, Vitaly Davydov, as saying that the suggested project is extremely interesting.

Russian-US space crew lands in Kazakhstan

A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut back to Earth from the International Space Station landed safely in Kazakhstan on Saturday.
"The TMA module has landed," an announcer at Mission Control outside Moscow said to applause from officials and relatives, relieved after an initial attempt to return from the orbital outpost was foiled by an equipment problem on Friday.
Space officials said the capsule landed upright, on time and on target near Arkalyk on the central Kazakh steppe.
NASA TV showed technicians crouching over the hatch of the gumdrop-shaped capsule and helping Soyuz commander Alexander Skvortsov out in his spacesuit.
NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson was next out, smiling as she was carried to an armchair at the landing site and covered with a blue blanket.
As cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko was extracted from the hatch in the top of the cramped capsule, Dyson chatted on a satellite phone.
Skvortsov, Dyson and Korniyenko spent nearly six months aboard the International Space Station.
They were to have returned on Friday, but the descent was aborted after latches holding their Soyuz TMA-18 craft to the orbital station failed to open, sending puzzled engineers scrambling for answers.

Taliban pulled from Medal of Honor game

Electronic Arts has given in to protests and pulled the ability to play as Taliban fighters from its upcoming Medal of Honor video game.
The game, which is being released for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on Oct. 12, is set in the early stages of the current Afghanistan conflict. It was to allow gamers to fight as Taliban against U.S. and allied troops in its online multiplayer mode, a feature that sparked criticism from some military officials and families of soldiers who have died in Afghanistan.
Critics said allowing people to play as the enemies in a current conflict would be insensitive to the families of soldiers who have died.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based company relented Friday and said it will cosmetically change the feature so that players will instead control generically named fighters.
"Because the heartbeat of Medal of Honor has always resided in the reverence for American and allied soldiers, we have decided to rename the opposing team in Medal of Honor multiplayer from Taliban to Opposing Force," executive producer Greg Goodrich said in a statement on the game's website. "While this change should not directly affect gamers, as it does not fundamentally alter the gameplay, we are making this change for the men and women serving in the military and for the families of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice — this franchise will never willfully disrespect, intentionally or otherwise, your memory and service".
Gamers were divided on the change. Some criticized the company for setting the game in a current conflict in the first place. "I just do not feel right knowing I am buying a game about a current war going on to loin [sic] the pockets of EA executives with money," said one gamer in a Gamespot forum.
Others were critical of the company for backing down. "What a contradiction of what this game means," wrote a gamer. "This whole time they were preaching about realism and they can't even say who the enemies are." Many gamers also accused the media of practising a double standard. Films such as last year's The Hurt Locker — set during the conflict in Iraq — can win best-picture awards while video games dealing with similar topics evoke controversy. EA president Frank Gibeau commented on that trend in August. "At EA we passionately believe games are an art form, and I don’t know why films and books set in Afghanistan don’t get flak, yet [games] do," he told the Develop-Online website. "Whether it’s Red Badge Of Courage or The Hurt Locker, the media of its time can be a platform for the people who wish to tell their stories. Games are becoming that platform." The new Medal of Honor game is a reboot of the long-running series, which was created by film director Steven Spielberg and saw its first release on the original PlayStation in 1999. All of the games in the series have taken place during the Second World War, with the new game representing the first time a new setting has been used. The switch to using "Opposing Force" brings Medal of Honor closer to another successful war game franchise, Activision's Call of Duty. The most recent game in that series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 — released a year ago — used fictional Middle Eastern characters in its multiplayer mode also named "OpFor." Japan's Konami drew similar criticism last year over Six Days in Fallujah, a game it planned on developing in conjunction with Iraq war veterans. The company dropped plans for the game just over a month after announcing it.

Musharraf should come back and explain the cause of NRO: Malik

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that Musharraf admitted NRO to be his big mistake, now he should come back and explain the court how he committed that.
Federal Minister was talking to media-men after meeting Indian High Commissioner, Sharat Sabharwal in Islamabad, said he discussed the advancements in the investigation of Mumbai attacks and some other joint interests of the two sides. Malik said he has told Indian High Commissioner that Pakistan has constituted a commission on Mumbai attacks which consists of Prosecution, Defense and Coordinator. Their names have been given to the Indian side. He said two nations’ cooperation has improved since he has met Indian Home Minister, Chidambaram and the roadmap created by mutual consent will be followed.
Federal Minister avoided commenting on NRO saying that the case is in the court. He said he wants to make it clear that PPP never signed NRO.

MQM leaders demand more security for Altaf Hussain

MQM North American leaders have written letter to British PM David Cameron to increase the security of MQM chief Altaf Hussain.
It is written in the letter that MQM’s philosophy is to provide relief to common man, end feudalism from the country and eradicate religious extremism from society that’s why Altaf Hussain life might be in danger from these anti-democratic and extremist powers. It is written in the letter that these elements want to end this movement. It is written that Altaf Hussain’s life is in danger after the death of Dr. Imran Farooq and MQM leaders fear that their chief can be killed. They demanded the British PM to increase the security of Altaf Hussain.

NATO supply goods stealers apprehended

Five men accused of stealing NATO supply goods have been apprehended by Islamabad police. Police has seized wireless sets, helicopter spare parts, army communication equipment and two vehicles used to supply military weaponry from the suspects.
According to police officials, suspects with the help of drivers of NATO trucks used to steal and sell NATO supply goods in the open market. Suspects, who belong to the area of Landi Kotal, were arrested from the area of Dhok Paracha. Police said suspects have also stolen 6 NATO containers.
SP Sadar, Captain Liaqat Ali told Dunya News that a special team has been constituted to catch the other people linked to this network and to recover the stolen goods. Suspects have been handed over to CID police for further investigation.