Brussels  - European Union officials in Brussels on Wednesday said Google's decision to halve the amount of time it stores internet users' personal data is "a good step in the right direction."

The search engine giant announced this week that it would be storing unique PC addresses, known as Internet Protocol (IP) numbers, for nine months rather than 18.

The move comes on the back of growing pressure from the EU, which is seeking to protect its citizen's privacy and would like internet search engines to retain users' personal data for a maximum of six months.

London, September 11 : Researchers at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia, have developed a computerised system that can prevent unnecessary graffiti, the removal of which involves huge costs.

Project leader Seng Chu Tan has revealed that the new system is particularly aimed at curbing graffiti that is scratched into surfaces, such as Perspex, which is much more difficult to cope with and usually requires the entire surface to be replaced at great cost.

The researcher says that the new device can hear when graffiti is being carved into surfaces, reports New Scientist magazine.

Washington, Sept 11 (: Exercising for the wheelchair bound may soon turn out to be fun, thanks to ‘TrekEase’, an arcade driving game of sorts, which is being developed by the University of Texas alumnus and students.

University of Texas at Austin alumnus, Chris Stanford (MSEE ''91), and Electrical & Computer Engineering undergraduates are working on testing their ideas for a virtual reality treadmill for the disabled.

Washington, September 11 : A new analysis has suggested that old growth forests are usually valuable “carbon sinks”, and they continue to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and mitigate climate change for centuries.

The analysis of 519 different plot studies, by researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) and several other institutions, found that about 15 percent of the forest land in the Northern Hemisphere is unmanaged primary forests with large amounts of old growth, and that rather than being irrelevant to the Earth’s carbon budget, they may account for as much as 10 percent of the global net uptake of carbon dioxide.

Washington, September 11 : A team of researchers have determined that the magnitude 7.9 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province on May 12 has brought several nearby faults closer to failure and could trigger another major quake in the region.

Researchers analyzing the May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake have found that geological stress has significantly increased on three major fault systems in the region.

Hanoi  - A joint Vietnamese-German university, the first such collaboration between the two countries, has opened in Ho Chi Minh City, its director said Thursday.

Wolf Rieck, president of the Vietnam-Germany University, said the school would initially offer degrees in civil and electrical engineering. The university is owned by the Vietnamese government.

"This is only the start," Rieck said. "The master plan of the university follows the line that we build up master courses in business administration, health care and so on."