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| December 21, 2013 |
 Russia starts pumping oil at Arctic rig raided by Greenpeace Moscow (AFP) Dec 20, 2013 - Russia's state-held energy giant Gazprom said Friday it had launched production at an Arctic oil rig raided in September by 30 Greenpeace activists whom the authorities later detained for two months. The landmark announcement marked the formal start of Russia's long-planned effort to turn the vast oil and natural gas riches believed to be buried in the frozen waters into profits for its ambi ... more |  |
Venezuela to raise domestic gas prices? Caracas, Venezuela (UPI) Dec 20, 2013 - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signaled he wants to raise gasoline prices, which are considered among the cheapest in the world at about 5 cents a gallon. "Without a doubt there's a distortion that we need to correct," Maduro said Wednesday, in reference to the country's highly subsidized gasoline. His comments came during a rare meeting with opposition political leaders, the Wall ... more |  |
Intelligence chief killed in Libya's Benghazi Benghazi, Libya (AFP) Dec 20, 2013 - The head of military intelligence in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi was shot dead on Friday during a visit to his family in nearby Derna, a security official said. "Unknown assailants opened fire at Colonel Fethallah al-Gaziri, head of Benghazi military intelligence, and killed him," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. He said the colonel, recently named to the post, w ... more |  |
Cyprus likely partner as Israel mulls gas exports, but Turkey beckons Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Dec 20, 2013 - Israel is studying its options for exporting its natural gas riches in the eastern Mediterranean, but instability in neighboring Egypt and friction with former ally Turkey are blocking possible undersea pipeline links with them to take the gas to Europe. That leaves a joint export operation with neighboring Cyprus, which will be the next big offshore gas producer in the region, looking ... more |  |
China state oil firm evacuating workers in South Sudan Beijing (AFP) Dec 20, 2013 - A Chinese state oil company said Friday it was evacuating workers because of political violence in South Sudan that has left hundreds dead. "We are arranging the orderly evacuation of our workers, but I can't tell the evacuation destination or how many workers are being flown out," a spokesman for China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) told AFP. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported ... more |  |
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 US, EU wrap up third round of free-trade talks Washington Dec 20, 2013 - The United States and the European Union on Friday ended a third round of talks to create the world's largest free-trade area to boost growth and jobs in their huge economies. US and EU trade officials wrapped up five days of negotiations in Washington, where the talks began in July, to hammer out the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an ambitious agreement to expand tra ... more |  |
US cites progress in trade talks with China Beijing (AFP) Dec 20, 2013 - The United States on Friday said progress had been made on several trade fronts in talks with China, welcoming Beijing's promise to make a fresh attempt to join a global government procurement deal. "There was a commitment to provide a revised offer in 2014 to join the World Trade Organization government procurement agreement," US Trade Representative Michael Froman told reporters at the con ... more |  |
 Australia gives environmental nod to $5.7 bln coal project Sydney, Australia (AFP) Dec 21, 2013 - Waratah Coal on Saturday welcomed the Australian government's approval of its $6.4 billion (US$5.7 billion) Galilee coal project, as conservationists warned the decision threatened the environment. The proposed coal mine, rail and infrastructure development in Queensland received approval for its environmental impact statement on Friday. "The project has been approved subject to 49 stric ... more |  |
 Brazil's Vale revamps power generation investments Rio De Janeiro (AFP) Dec 20, 2013 - Brazil's mining giant Vale said Thursday it has agreed to sell about half of its stake in a consortium that runs the Belo Monte dam in the Amazon. A Vale statement said the transaction involves the creation of a joint venture with the Brazilian power company CEMIG. As part of the deal, Vale is to sell its nine percent stake in Norte Energia, the consortium in charge of construction of th ... more |  |
 Cathay Pacific orders 21 Boeing 777-9X planes Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 20, 2013 - Cathay Pacific said Friday it has ordered 21 long-haul Boeing 777-9X planes at a list price of $7.48 billion dollars, as the Hong Kong carrier modernises its fleet off the back of disappointing earnings this year. The yet-to-be launched 777X series is Boeing's newest member of the 777 family, with advanced technology including composite wings and new engines that Boeing says consume 20 perce ... more |  |
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 News Corp buys 'social news' agency Storyful New York (AFP) Dec 20, 2013 - Rupert Murdoch's publishing group News Corp. said Friday it had acquired the "social news agency" Storyful, which seeks to merge journalism with social media. US-based News Corp. will pay $25 million for the Irish-based start-up, according to a statement. The firm acquires and distributes video and user-generated content to its partners, and provides social media dashboards, analytics an ... more |  |
 Chinese billionaire feared dead in France helicopter crash Bordeaux (AFP) Dec 21, 2013 - Four people were feared dead Saturday including a Chinese billionaire and his 12-year-old son after the helicopter in which he was overflying his newly purchased French vineyard crashed into a river. Lam Kok, the 46-year-old head of the Hong Kong-based Brilliant group, had just bought a major Bordeaux vineyard in a sale accompanied by great fanfare and was surveying his new property in a hel ... more |  |
 Oracle to buy cloud firm for $1.5 bn New York (AFP) Dec 20, 2013 - Business software giant Oracle announced plans Friday to boost its cloud services with a $1.5 billion acquisition of Responsys. Responsys, which like Oracle is based in California, was formed in 1998 to provide software that would enable marketers to design, execute and manage email campaigns. The group claims more than 450 clients in a range of sectors and had 2012 revenues of $163 mill ... more |  |
Outside View: Untapped demand for in-flight mobile services Copenhagen, Denmark (UPI) Dec 20, 2013 - The United States exemplifies mobile leadership in many ways: mobile operating systems, LTE networks, smartphones and mobile applications. But these advances can't be used when flying if the FCC ban on mobile communications remains in place. It is ironic that while consumers are clamoring for connectivity in every other aspect of life that there is movement to ban connectivity in the ai ... more |  |
Researchers Design First Battery-Powered Invisibility Cloaking Device Austin TX (SPX) Dec 20, 2013 - Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have proposed the first design of a cloaking device that uses an external source of energy to significantly broaden its bandwidth of operation. Andrea Alu, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering, and his team have proposed a design for an active cloak that draws ener ... more |  |
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Uranium (IV) found to be mobile in a natural wetland Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Dec 20, 2013 - Because they are known to mop up pollutants, artificial wetlands are considered to be an efficient strategy to contain waterborne uranium. But studying a natural wetland near a former uranium-mining site in the French region of Limousin, researchers have found that under certain circumstances, uranium can be partly remobilized into the surrounding water. In a recent publication in Nature C ... more |  |
UTSA Institute for Economic Development researches oil, gas economic impact San Antonio TX (SPX) Dec 20, 2013 - Development of oil and natural gas in a 16-county region of West Texas added more than $14.5 billion in total economic impact during 2012, according to a study released by the Center for Community and Business Research in The University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development. Additionally, the region supported 21,450 full-time jobs for workers in oil and gas, drilling, ... more |  |
 DNA motor 'walks' along nanotube, transports tiny particle West Lafayette IN (SPX) Dec 20, 2013 - Researchers have created a new type of molecular motor made of DNA and demonstrated its potential by using it to transport a nanoparticle along the length of a carbon nanotube. The design was inspired by natural biological motors that have evolved to perform specific tasks critical to the function of cells, said Jong Hyun Choi, a Purdue University assistant professor of mechanical engineer ... more |  |
Toward lowering titanium's cost and environmental footprint for lightweight products Washington DC (SPX) Dec 20, 2013 - A novel method for extracting titanium, a metal highly valued for its light weight, high strength, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility, could lower its cost and make it more widely accessible, for example, for producing lighter car parts to improve fuel efficiency. The method, which significantly reduces the energy required to separate it from its tightly bound companion, oxygen, app ... more |  |
'Macrocells' influence corrosion rate of submerged marine concrete structures Houston TX (SPX) Dec 20, 2013 - Using numerical modeling, an Italian research team has discovered the role 'macrocells' play in the corrosion of hollow submerged marine concrete structures such as tunnels and parking structures. In marine environments, chloride-induced corrosion of steel can quickly take a toll on hollow submerged structures such as tunnels or parking structures by degrading their concrete and reinforced ... more |  |
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