Space Pictures This Week: Lunar Gravity, Venusian Volcano









































































































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November Unemployment Falls to 7.7 Percent












The economy generated 146,000 new jobs in November and unemployment fell to 7.7 percent, better than economists expected, despite worries that superstorm Sandy and the looming fiscal cliff would dampen hiring.


There are still 12 million people unemployed in the country, but the Labor Department said Sandy did not "substantively impact" employment.


The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics dialed back job gains for the previous two months. In October, the U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs, not the 171,000 reported before the election. The jobs added in September were also revised downward to 132,000 from 148,000.


Stephen Bronars, chief economist with Welch Consulting in Washington, D.C., said many economists believed Superstorm Sandy would have influenced Friday's jobs report after causing devastation especially in the Caribbean and U.S. Northeast. Many expected an addition of 90,000 jobs causing the unemployment rate to tick up slightly.


Though the job numbers seemed strong, Bronars still said the overall report was "mixed" as many people were giving up their job searches. He also said he expects the payroll number for November will also be revised downward in the next two months.


"We need to see a few more months of data to see the full impact of both Sandy and expiring unemployment insurance benefits," Bronars said.






Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images







Businesses and residents in the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which produce about one-eighth of U.S. GDP, experienced prolonged power outages and major infrastructure damage.


Bronars said, "Sandy hit the U.S. at a place where it inflicted close to the maximal possible economic damage from a storm that size."


New Jersey and New York were the hardest hit, with at least 120,000 jobs lost, at least temporarily, in those two states, some estimates showed. The Labor Department will release official regional and state unemployment estimates on Dec. 21.


Expiring unemployment insurance benefits for many jobless workers also affected the labor department's household survey as benefits have run out for hundreds of thousands of workers. A condition for receiving unemployment insurance benefits is an active job search.


"It is not surprising that some of the workers that have been out of work for a year and a half would give up job search, for a while, after their benefits ran out," Bronars said.


The labor force dropped by 350,000 in one month and employment fell by 122,000 according to the household survey.


"Those numbers are weak, even given Hurricane Sandy," Bronars said.


In addition, the employment to population ratio and the labor force participation rates fell.


On Wednesday, payroll provider ADP, reported that private companies added 118,000 jobs in November, down from 157,000 in October. However, ADP includes in its figures people as employed if they remain on payroll, whereas the Labor Department's includes workers as employed if they are paid.


Now that election season is over, employers and investors are surrounded by worries from another uncertainty, the fiscal cliff.


Read more: Eliminating Charitable Deduction Would Help Budget, Hurt Charities


Bronars said the November report will not have quite picked up effects of the looming fiscal cliff, as employers prepare for a mix of government spending cuts and tax increases after the end of the year.






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OUE sets deadline for F&N takeover offer






SINGAPORE: A consortium led by property group Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) has set a deadline for its takeover offer of conglomerate Fraser and Neave (F&N).

Its S$13.1 billion offer for F&N will close on 3 January.

OUE is controlled by Lippo Group, a major Indonesian conglomerate that was founded by tycoon Mochtar Riady. Mr Mochtar is father of OUE's executive chairman Stephen Riady.

The OUE-led consortium offered to buy out shares of F&N at S$9.08 a piece on 15 November.

It is backed by Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings, which holds a 14.8 per cent stake in F&N. Kirin is also F&N's second largest shareholder.

OUE's offer was 2.25 per cent higher than the S$8.88 per share offered by rival TCC Assets, which is controlled by Thai beverage tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi.

Through his entities TCC and Thai Beverage, he now owns almost a third of F&N.

TCC's S$8.7 billion bid for F&N will close on 11 December.

Analysts expect both sides to battle it out for F&N given the attractiveness of its property and soft drinks business.

They say TCC, which has extended the deadline on its offer twice, could ask for yet another extension next Tuesday before making their next move.

Liu Jinshu, deputy lead analyst at SIAS Research said: "TCC can't drag this out over a prolonged period, with the OUE bid announced last month, there is pressure for them to raise the stake.

"The premium offered by OUE's offer at S$9.08 a share is not high. TCC might not find it attractive after they have invested so much resources and effort in F&N. There is potential for TCC to rope in a partner and put in a higher bid for F&N."

F&N's share price closed at S$9.39 on Thursday, leading analysts to say that shareholders are holding out for a better offer and that a bidding war could emerge.

"We are seeing steady level being held at around the S$9.40-S$9.50 share mark on the exchange traded share. At the moment we are waiting to see who would move first in terms of putting in a better offer… I think we are likely to see both sides improve before we actually get to the end of any takeover," said Head of Premium Client Management at IG Markets Jason Hughes.

F&N is expected to appoint an independent financial advisor to review OUE's offer.

- CNA/jc



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BJP is bigger evil than Cong and JD(S): Yeddyurappa

BANGALORE: A week after snapping his four decade old association with BJP, former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa came down heavily on BJP, calling it 'a bigger evil' than Congress and JD(S).

"BJP is a bigger evil than Congress or JDS. So I have decided not to return to my previous party under any circumstance" Yeddyurappa said. However, he said he cannot forget the party as it has given him everything right from the post of president of a municipality to CM.

The 70-year-old former BJP strongman, who is set to formally launch his regional outfit Karnataka Janata Party in Haveri on Sunday said he has distanced himself from RSS ideology and is now wedded to the principles of Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar and Jayaprakash Narayan.

Yeddyurappa claimed that he has the support of 50 to 55 BJP MLAs and 12 MPs. He dared BJP leadership to take action against his supporters. In the same tenor, he also took on chief minister Jagadish Shettar. "I made a mistake in making Shettar CM. But I do not want to topple it and face allegations that I was responsible for it,'' he said.

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High-Voltage DC Breakthrough Could Boost Renewable Energy

Patrick J. Kiger


Thomas Edison championed direct current, or DC, as a better mode for delivering electricity than alternating current, or AC. But the inventor of the light bulb lost the War of the Currents. Despite Edison's sometimes flamboyant efforts—at one point he electrocuted a Coney Island zoo elephant in an attempt to show the technology's hazards—AC is the primary way that electricity flows from power plants to homes and businesses everywhere. (Related Quiz: "What You Don't Know About Electricity")

But now, more than a century after Edison's misguided stunt, DC may be getting a measure of vindication.

An updated, high-voltage version of DC, called HVDC, is being touted as the transmission method of the future because of its ability to transmit current over very long distances with fewer losses than AC. And that trend may be accelerated by a new device called a hybrid HVDC breaker, which may make it possible to use DC on large power grids without the fear of catastrophic breakdown that stymied the technology in the past.  (See related photos: "World's Worst Power Outages.")

Swiss-based power technology and automation giant ABB, which developed the breaker, says it may also prove critical to the 21st century's transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, by tapping the full potential of massive wind farms and solar generating stations to provide electricity to distant cities.

So far, the device has been tested only in laboratories, but ABB's chief executive, Joe Hogan, touts the hybrid HVDC breaker as "a new chapter in the history of electrical engineering," and predicts that it will make possible the development of "the grid of the future"—that is, a massive, super-efficient network for distributing electricity that would interconnect not just nations but multiple continents. Outside experts aren't quite as grandiose, but they still see the breaker as an important breakthrough.

"I'm quite struck by the potential of this invention," says John Kassakian, an electrical engineering and computer science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "If it works on a large scale and is economical to use, it could be a substantial asset."

Going the Distance

The hybrid HVDC breaker may herald a new day for Edison's favored mode of electricity, in which current is transmitted in a constant flow in one direction, rather than in the back-and-forth bursts of AC. In the early 1890s, DC lost the so-called War of the Currents mostly because of the issue of long-distance transmission.

In Edison's time, because of losses due to electrical resistance, there wasn't an economical technology that would enable DC systems to transmit power over long distances. Edison did not see this as a drawback because he envisioned electric power plants in every neighborhood.

But his rivals in the pioneering era of electricity, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, instead touted AC, which could be sent long distances with fewer losses. AC's voltage, the amount of potential energy in the current (think of it as analogous to the pressure in a water line), could be stepped up and down easily through the use of transformers. That meant high-voltage AC could be transmitted long distances until it entered neighborhoods, where it would be transformed to safer low-voltage electricity.

Thanks to AC, smoke-belching, coal-burning generating plants could be built miles away from the homes and office buildings they powered. It was the idea that won the day, and became the basis for the proliferation of electric power systems across the United States and around the world.

But advances in transformer technology ultimately made it possible to transmit DC at higher voltages. The advantages of HVDC then became readily apparent. Compared to AC, HVDC is more efficient—a thousand-mile HVDC line carrying thousands of megawatts might lose 6 to 8 percent of its power, compared to 12 to 25 percent for a similar AC line. And HVDC would require fewer lines along a route. That made it better suited to places where electricity must be transmitted extraordinarily long distances from power plants to urban areas. It also is more efficient for underwater electricity transmission.

In recent years, companies such as ABB and Germany's Siemens have built a number of big HVDC transmission projects, like ABB's 940-kilometer (584-mile) line that went into service in 2004 to deliver power from China's massive Three Gorges hydroelectric plant to Guangdong province in the South. In the United States, Siemens for the first time ever installed a 500-kilovolt submarine cable, a 65-mile HVDC line, to take additional power from the Pennsylvania/New Jersey grid to power-hungry Long Island. (Related: "Can Hurricane Sandy Shed Light on Curbing Power Outages?") And the longest electric transmission line in the world, some 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles), is under construction by ABB now in Brazil: The Rio-Madeira HVDC project will link two new hydropower plants in the Amazon with São Paulo, the nation's main economic hub. (Related Pictures: "A River People Await an Amazon Dam")

But these projects all involved point-to-point electricity delivery. Some engineers began to envision the potential of branching out HVDC into "supergrids." Far-flung arrays of wind farms and solar installations could be tied together in giant networks. Because of its stability and low losses, HVDC could balance out the natural fluctuations in renewable energy in a way that AC never could. That could dramatically reduce the need for the constant base-load power of large coal or nuclear power plants.

The Need for a Breaker

Until now, however, such renewable energy solutions have faced at least one daunting obstacle. It's much trickier to regulate a DC grid, where current flows continuously, than it is with AC. "When you have a large grid and you have a lightning strike at one location, you need to be able to disconnect that section quickly and isolate the problem, or else bad things can happen to the rest of the grid," such as a catastrophic blackout, explains ABB chief technology officer Prith Banerjee. "But if you can disconnect quickly, the rest of the grid can go on working while you fix the problem." That's where HVDC hybrid breakers—basically, nondescript racks of circuitry inside a power station—could come in. The breaker combines a series of mechanical and electronic circuit-breaking devices, which redirect a surge in current and then shut it off.  ABB says the unit is capable of stopping a surge equivalent to the output of a one-gigawatt power plant, the sort that might provide power to 1 million U.S. homes or 2 million European homes, in significantly less time than the blink of an eye.

While ABB's new breaker still must be tested in actual power plants before it is deemed dependable enough for wide use, independent experts say it seems to represent an advance over previous efforts. (Siemens, an ABB competitor, reportedly also has been working to develop an advanced HVDC breaker.)

"I think this hybrid approach is a very good approach," says Narain Hingorani, a power-transmission researcher and consultant who is a fellow with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. "There are other ways of doing the same thing, but they don't exist right now, and they may be more expensive."

Hingorani thinks the hybrid HVDC breakers could play an important role in building sprawling HVDC grids that could realize the potential of renewable energy sources. HVDC cables could be laid along the ocean floor to transmit electricity from floating wind farms that are dozens of mile offshore, far out of sight of coastal residents. HVDC lines equipped with hybrid breakers also would be much cheaper to bury than AC, because they require less insulation, Hingorani says.

For wind farms and solar installations in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, HVDC cables could be run underground in environmentally sensitive areas, to avoid cluttering the landscape with transmission towers and overhead lines. "So far, we've been going after the low-hanging fruit, building them in places where it's easy to connect to the grid," he explains. "There are other places where you can get a lot of wind, but where it's going to take years to get permits for overhead lines—if you can get them at all—because the public is against it."

In other words, whether due to public preference to keep coal plants out of sight, or a desire to harness the force of remote offshore or mountain wind power, society is still seeking the least obtrusive way to deliver electricity long distances. That means that for the same reason Edison lost the War of the Currents at the end of the 19th century, his DC current may gain its opportunity (thanks to technological advances) to serve as the backbone of a cleaner 21st-century grid. (See related story: "The 21st Century Grid: Can we fix the infrastructure that powers our lives?")

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.


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Cliffhanger: Can They Get to 'Yes'?












There are all sorts of theories floating around Washington about what kind of deficit reduction deal Democrats and Republicans eventually cut and when and how they get there.


And, nearing the end of a week when little progress appears to have been made, one thing is certain: Americans are worried about the consequences of going over the fiscal cliff.


According to a new Quinnipiac University poll out this morning, voters by a 47 to 23 percent margin said that the consequences of falling off the cliff, which include deep spending cuts and painful tax hikes, would be bad for the economy. And even more -- 53 percent -- said lawmakers' failure to avoid the cliff would be "bad for their personal financial situation" compared to just 13 percent who said it wouldn't.


What's more, President Obama and Democrats head into the final weeks before Christmas operating from a position of relative strength, at least when it comes to public opinion.


Read: What national "fiscal cliff" polls tells us (and what they don't)


Obama's post-election job approval rating stands at 53 percent, according to the latest Quinnipiac numbers (40 percent disapprove), and 53 percent of voters also said they trust the president and Democrats more than Republicans to work out a deal in the deficit negotiations.
But the question of how that happens is another matter altogether. Some Republicans say that the best option is to simply get President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner in a room together and wait for them to hammer out a deal mano-a-mano.




In an interview this week with Bloomberg News, President Obama disagreed.


"I don't think that the issue right now has to do with sitting in a room," he told Bloomberg's Julianna Goldman. "The issue right now that's relevant is the acknowledgment that if we're going to raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with the very tough cuts that we've already made and the further reforms in entitlements that I'm prepared to make, that we're going to have to see the rates on the top two percent go up. And we're not going to be able to get a deal without it."


Related: Can the mortgage deduction survive the fiscal cliff?


Nevertheless, House Republican Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called on the president to lead and predicted that we are entering a crucial phase of the talks -- despite the fact that some lawmakers are leaving town for a long weekend.


"If you want the answer to solving the fiscal cliff, the House has put an offer on the table and the president now has to engage," McCarthy said at a news conference yesterday. "I think the next 72 hours are critical. If he sits back and continues to play politics that will give you your answer to where we are going. This is an opportunity for this country to lead. This is an opportunity for the president to lead."


And Speaker Boehner assured that he would "be available at any moment to sit down" with the president "to get serious about solving this problem." (President Obama and Boehner spoke by telephone yesterday).


In the end, more Americans are rooting for compromise rather than collapse: By a 48 to 43 percent margin, voters surveyed in today's Quinnipiac poll predicted that President Obama and Congress would reach agreement to avoid the cliff by the end of the year.



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Rubio, Ryan look to the future during award dinner speeches



“Nothing represents how special America is more than our middle class. And our challenge and our opportunity now is to create the conditions that allow it not just to survive, but to grow,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), the Leadership Award recipient at a dinner hosted by the Jack Kemp Foundation, a charitable nonprofit organization named for the late congressman and Housing and Urban Development secretary.

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AA to introduce new advanced defensive driving course






SINGAPORE: The Automobile Association of Singapore (AA) plans to introduce a new advanced defensive driving course, as part of its continuing efforts to promote safe driving and safer roads.

Speaking at the AA's 105th charity gala dinner held at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore, AA president Bernard Tay said that the association will be working with the authorities on the curriculum.

No timeline was announced for the course. AA holds defensive driving courses for the public once a year with the next one expected in June or July next year.

Some driving schools in Singapore such as the Bukit Batok driving centre currently conduct a day course on defensive driving, which includes skid planning and emergency planning. At Woodlands Driving school, defensive driving is included in their basic driving courses.

Mr Tay also announced that S$700,000 had been collected for three beneficiaries - the Singapore Road Safety Council, the Teck Ghee Citizens' Consultative Committee Community Development & Welfare Fund and the National Arthritis Foundation.

The event was graced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Members of Parliament Cedric Foo, Hri Kumar Nair and Lam Pin Min.

Mr Lee noted the growth of the AA from 56 members in 1907 to over 83,000 members today.

"We are a completely different world but it's a world where there's still a role for AA to serve their members, to educate them on road safety, provide them with services," said Mr Lee. - TODAY



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CBI likely to file FIR in offshore mining case

NEW DELHI: CBI is likely to register a case in connection with alleged irregularities in the country's first-ever attempt of offshore mining to explore untapped mineral wealth worth thousands of crores in the sea bed.

The agency, which had registered a preliminary inquiry in September, found enough material to proceed with regular case against some of the beneficiary companies and government officials posted at Indian Bureau of Mines in Nagpur, CBI sources said.

They said at least three officials of the Indian Bureau of Mines are likely to be named in the FIR along with four companies related to family members of an Indian Revenue Services officer who grabbed nearly half of 62 blocks which were put on offer despite lacking necessary qualifications.

They said last year, the government in a first attempt to explore offshore mineral wealth, had placed 62 blocks on offer out of which 28, nearly half, were bagged by companies owned by family members of the former Enforcement Directorate official who had also served in the mines ministry.

The final award of licences had been put on hold after aggrieved parties approached the Bombay high court and the Andhra Pradesh high court seeking their cancellation.

The companies allegedly owned by the son and brother of the officer are based in the national capital, they said.

It is alleged that companies were incorporated after bids were invited from the interested parties willing to go for exploration and did not have any experience in offshore mining at the time of notification.

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Scientific Results From Challenger Deep

Jane J. Lee


The spotlight is shining once again on the deepest ecosystems in the ocean—Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (map) and the New Britain Trench near Papua New Guinea. At a presentation today at the American Geophysical Union's conference in San Francisco, attendees got a glimpse into these mysterious ecosystems nearly 7 miles (11 kilometers) down, the former visited by filmmaker James Cameron during a historic dive earlier this year.

Microbiologist Douglas Bartlett with the University of California, San Diego described crustaceans called amphipods—oceanic cousins to pill bugs—that were collected from the New Britain Trench and grow to enormous sizes five miles (eight kilometers) down. Normally less than an inch (one to two centimeters) long in other deep-sea areas, the amphipods collected on the expedition measured 7 inches (17 centimeters). (Related: "Deep-Sea, Shrimp-like Creatures Survive by Eating Wood.")

Bartlett also noted that sea cucumbers, some of which may be new species, dominated many of the areas the team sampled in the New Britain Trench. The expedition visited this area before the dive to Challenger Deep.

Marine geologist Patricia Fryer with the University of Hawaii described some of the deepest seeps yet discovered. These seeps, where water heated by chemical reactions in the rocks percolates up through the seafloor and into the ocean, could offer hints of how life originated on Earth.

And astrobiologist Kevin Hand with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, spoke about how life in these stygian ecosystems, powered by chemical reactions, could parallel the evolution of life on other planets.


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