CORNING, N.Y., Aug. 16 -- Corning Incorporated said that its cable unit cut 900 jobs through layoffs and buy out offers. With these cuts, the cable unit, Corning Cable Systems, has slashed about 1,140 jobs, or 8 percent of its total work force, since May. "The decline in the telecom business has been unrelenting, and, unfortunately, we don't see a near-term recovery," Corning Cable Systems president and chief executive Sandy Lyons said in a statement. "Since the first of the year, we have instituted several cost-reduction measures to preserve jobs as long as possible," he said. "Regrettably, what we're continuing to see in the marketplace has forced us to take this broader action."