Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More





































































































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GOP Senators More Troubled After Rice Meeting















Three Republican senators who met Tuesday with U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice say they are more troubled now over her initial explanations about the deadly Sept. 11 raid in Libya.



Rice met behind closed doors Tuesday with Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte — three of her harshest critics.





Ayotte said Rice told them that her national television description that a spontaneous demonstration triggered the attack on the U.S. consulate was wrong. She had made the comments five days after the raid based on intelligence information.



The lawmakers said the Obama administration still must answer questions about the attack.



Obama is considering Rice as a successor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.



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UK consumers lose their taste for green energy

















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In a world of rising energy costs and consumer alarm, UK energy policy continues to lack focus






















In every debate about energy, the phrase "keeping the lights on" keeps on cropping up. The UK's energy secretary Ed Davey took just three sentences to reach it in his recent statement on the government's energy bill, to be published later this week. The measures "will bring on the investment required to keep the lights on", he said.












Let's be clear: the lights aren't about to fail. There was never any real danger of that for a wealthy country willing to pay the right price in a global energy market.












In fact, what the new energy bill guarantees is that the lights will keep burning as brightly as ever. As has become the norm in UK energy policy, the bill virtually ignores efficiency measures. The UK is neither being encouraged to turn the lights off, nor to insulate its homes so it can turn the heating down, substantially cutting demand for electricity and resulting in savings for consumers.











Hard to swallow













To complicate matters, the business of tackling climate change has become rather difficult for many to swallow in an age of spiralling energy prices.












The reaction to Davey's "package of decisions" to encourage investment in Britain's energy infrastructure was a tale of two camps. It generally attracted positive reaction from experts, even if most bemoaned the absence of a decarbonisation target for 2030, an announcement of which has been postponed until after the next elections in 2015.












But the public reaction, led by the headline writers, was less than enthusiastic. "Bills will rise to pay for green power", said the Guardian newspaper. "Wind farms to increase energy bills by £178 a year", said the Daily Telegraph. The Daily Mail went further, with "Top Tory who earns thousands from green energy firms says it is 'reasonable' for bills to rise by £2-a-week to pay for wind farms".











Stretched consumers













Although the figures have been egregiously miscalculated by some, increasingly stretched British consumers of every political persuasion now know that they are expected to pay for green technologies – and pay upfront.












What's more, according to the result of a survey released in August, Britons' interest in climate change has declined markedly over the past five years. What has not declined is awareness that money is tight. So, mention climate change in the UK and people's eyes tend to glaze over. But mention a rise in energy bills and the eyes narrow and eyebrows furrow in anger. Mention that the rise is to pay for green measures, and you have the roots of revolution.












Davey's department announced a "clear, durable signal to investors", but headline writers saw something different amid popular resentment at energy costs, and they went for the jugular.











Biggest scandal













Let's be clear: there is plenty of scope for worthwhile investment in the UK as far as efficiency and green energy goes. As the Department of Energy and Climate Change's website puts it, "the UK has been blessed with a wealth of energy resources", including the best wind, tidal and wave resources in Europe. Back in 2010, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said that one of the biggest British scandals is that despite the UK having superb renewable energy potential and the know-how to exploit it, we are one of the worst-performing countries when it comes to harnessing it.












Huhne promised the renewables industry "will come of age under this government". It's worth pointing out that he is no longer in post, but the figures in the energy bill seem to fulfil this promise, at least partially.












Until this week, the Treasury had severely limited the amount that energy companies could collect from consumers in order to make investments in low-carbon infrastructure. That amount is about to rise considerably, giving them a useful pot of money with which to work. "It's in the right ballpark now," Ed Matthews of Transform UK, which aims to raise investment in clean energy technologies, told New Scientist.












It is not yet clear how this extra money will be split between renewable technologies, emissions cleaning and new nuclear power stations. Jim Watson, director of the Sussex Energy Group at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, told New Scientist that his back of the envelope calculations point to enough for investment in a big renewables plant, one nuclear power station and a carbon capture and storage demo or two.












It's good news, then. But it hasn't played that way. You can know the science, you can even fight your way through the murderous economic arguments and come out with a workable plan. But British consumers, who see only the bottom line, are going to struggle to get on board.











No motivation













Even if they wanted to do their bit for energy efficiency, there is little to motivate them. Most people now have no financial incentive to invest up front in making their homes more energy efficient, for instance, despite potential long-term savings.

























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Obama drafts in Geithner to crack budget impasse






WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has made Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner lead White House negotiator in budget talks with Congress aimed at averting the fiscal cliff, a report said Monday.

The Wall Street Journal said Geithner was viewed on Capitol Hill as a straight-shooter who had a better chance of brokering a deal than Jacob Lew, Obama's former budget chief who has burnt his bridges with some Republicans.

If no deal is reached before the end of the year, a poison pill law of tax hikes and massive spending cuts, including slashes to the military, comes into effect with potentially catastrophic effects for the fragile US economy.

The report said Geithner, who is preparing to leave his post as treasury secretary early in Obama's second term, has spent months already preparing for the fiscal talks, which will begin this week in earnest in Washington.

Geithner will be joined by White House budget and tax experts, including Lew, now Obama's chief of staff, and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, the Wall Street Journal said.

They will try to hammer out an elusive compromise with congressional aides but final decisions will be made by political leaders such as Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner, the report said.

In recent days, several leading Republicans have indicated a willingness to accept a deal that includes more revenue from ending loopholes in the tax code in return for cuts in funding to Democrats' beloved welfare programs.

Geithner, 51, is not affiliated with any party and has spent his career in government finance and on the political sidelines.

He first joined the Treasury at age 27. When George W. Bush became president in 2001, he went to work for the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Monetary Fund.

At 42, he was tapped to be head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, considered the Fed's second-most influential post because the New York bank interacts directly with a powerful constituency that includes Wall Street.

Despite holding high office in the years leading up to the 2008 financial collapse, when regulatory authorities are accused of having been asleep at the wheel, he was tapped by Obama to lead the recovery.

Upon assuming office in early 2009, he was charged with overseeing two major bailout packages worth more than $1.5 trillion and aimed at shoring up the country's distressed banking sector.

The administration has said that the stimulus, while costly, averted another Great Depression, while conservative critics have branded it a costly expansion of government that has failed to revive the economy.

- AFP/fa



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Apple shares have fallen far enough, Citi says


Citi prefers to be optimistic when it comes to Apple.

It's not really alone in this (as the firm notes, 51 out of 56 analysts recommend investors buy Apple shares), but what is different is the optimism comes after a rough patch for Apple's stock.

Apple shares have dropped pretty badly over the past couple months -- down about 18 percent from a high of $705.07 in September -- but that decline is likely about over, Citi says.

The firm today started coverage on the electronics giant by recommending investors buy shares and saying the stock should reach $675 over the next 12 months. It notes that Apple shares typically climb 20 percent to 50 percent following selloffs similar to the most recent drop.


Apple's stock is bouncing a bit today following declines over the past couple months.



(Credit:
Google screenshot by Shara Tibken/CNET)

Citi's opinion about Apple isn't much different from other analyst firms. It believes the giant's share of the smartphone market is at risk from low-end smartphones and competition from other ecosystems. It expects
tablets to grow, but that will hurt margins.

It also notes new competition is pressuring pricing, accelerates product introduction, and can hurt branding.

"Room for error is diminished, placing growing emphasis on execution," the firm noted.

All of those factors are making investors a little cautious, Citi said, and that likely will prevent shares from jumping as high as they have been. As a result, the firm says it is focusing on "incremental earnings changes," investing in periods of the great possible jump in earnings and selling shares when estimates show the greatest risk.

"This is tantamount to investing in 'product cycles,' and while we expect some investors will bristle at this approach, we believe returns will be optimized employing this approach in future," Citi said.

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Distant Dwarf Planet Secrets Revealed


Orbiting at the frozen edges of our solar system, the mysterious dwarf planet Makemake is finally coming out of the shadows as astronomers get their best view yet of Pluto's little sibling.

Discovered in 2005, Makemake—pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh after a Polynesian creation god—is one of five Pluto-like objects that prompted a redefining of the term "planet" and the creation of a new group of dwarf planets in 2006. (Related: "Pluto Not a Planet, Astronomers Rule.")

Just like the slightly larger Pluto, this icy world circles our sun beyond Neptune. Researchers expected Makemake to also have a global atmosphere—but new evidence reveals that isn't the case.

Staring at a Star

An international team of astronomers was able for the first time to probe Makemake's physical characteristics using the European Southern Observatory's three most powerful telescopes in Chile. The researchers observed the change in light given off by a distant star as the dwarf planet passed in front of it. (Learn how scientists found Makemake.)

"These events are extremely difficult to predict and observe, but they are the only means of obtaining accurate knowledge of important properties of dwarf planets," said Jose Luis Ortiz, lead author of this new study and an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, in Spain.

It's like trying to study a coin from a distance of 30 miles (48 kilometers) or more, Ortiz added.

Ortiz and his team knew Makemake didn't have an atmosphere when light from the background star abruptly dimmed and brightened as the chilly world drifted across its face.

"The light went off very abruptly from all the sites we observed the event so this means this world cannot have a substantial and global atmosphere like that of its sibling Pluto," Ortiz said.

If Makemake had an atmosphere, light from the star would gradually decrease and increase as the dwarf planet passed in front.

Coming Into Focus

The team's new observations add much more detail to our view of Makemake—not only limiting the possibility of an atmosphere but also determining the planet's size and surface more accurately.

"We think Makemake is a sphere flattened slightly at both poles and mostly covered with very white ices—mainly of methane," said Ortiz.

"But there are also indications for some organic material at least at some places; this material is usually very red and we think in a small percentage of the surface, the terrain is quite dark," he added.

Why Makemake lacks a global atmosphere remains a big mystery, but Ortiz does have a theory. Pluto is covered in nitrogen ice. When the sun heats this volatile material, it turns straight into a gas, creating Pluto's atmosphere.

Makemake lacks nitrogen ice on its surface, so there is nothing for the sun to heat into a gas to provide an atmosphere.

The dwarf planet has less mass, and a weaker gravitational field, than Pluto, said Ortiz. This means that over eons of time, Makemake may not have been able to hang on to its nitrogen.

Methane ice will also transform into a gas when heated. But since the dwarf planet is nearly at its furthest distance from the sun, Ortiz believes that Makemake's surface methane is still frozen. (Learn about orbital planes.)

And even if the methane were to transform into a gas, any resulting atmosphere would cover, at most, only ten percent of the planet, said Ortiz.

The new results are detailed today in the journal Nature.


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President Obama Prepares for Cabinet Shuffle


Nov 26, 2012 6:45am







ap barack obama hillary clinton ll 120514 wblog President Obama Prepares for Cabinet Shuffle

Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo


As President Obama prepares for his second term, preparations have begun for the traditional shuffling of the Cabinet.


Top priority for the president: filling slots for those top officials heading — if not running — for the door: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner.


To replace Clinton, Democratic insiders suggest that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan Rice is the frontrunner, with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., also a viable candidate.


Rice has been harshly criticized by Republicans for the erroneous comments she made on Sunday news talk shows after the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, comments that were based on intelligence reports that falsely blamed the attack on a protest against an anti-Muslim video. When the president, during his recent press conference, offered a vociferous defense of Rice, many of those close to him began to suspect he was tipping his hand as to what he might decide.


To replace Geithner at Treasury, White House chief of staff Jack Lew is thought to have the inside track if he wants it, with other possibilities including Neal Wolin, the current deputy secretary of the Treasury and Lael Brainard, current under secretary of the Treasury for international affairs.


Other informed sources suggest that there is consideration being given to a business/CEO type such as investor Roger Altman, former Time/Warner chair Richard Parsons, and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg.


Those are the two most pressing jobs to fill, with Clinton exhausted from a long stretch in government — eight years as first lady, eight as senator, and four as secretary of state — and the president having personally promised Geithner’s wife that he could leave as soon as possible after the election.


Any of the business/CEO types being discussed for treasury secretary could also serve as secretary of commerce, a position that for the Obama administration has proved as troublesome as the role of drummer in Spinal Tap. Jeff Zients, the acting director of the Office of Management & Budget, is said to be under consideration.


It’s too flip to refer to it as a consolation prize, but informed sources say that — with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also planning on leaving — Kerry could be offered the position secretary of defense if he wants it, though the Massachusetts senator has suggested he only wants State. Another option, Michelle Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense for Policy, would be the first female to serve in that position. There was some discussion of National Security Adviser Tom Donilon moving across the river, but it seems clear, sources say, that he’s staying where he is.


If Lew leaves to take the position at Treasury, some possible replacements for him as chief of staff include deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough or Vice President Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain. Tom Nides, deputy secretary of state for management and resources, has also been discussed.


President Obama’s senior adviser David Plouffe has also long discussed leaving the White House. There are many options to fill his shoes, including the elevation of communications director Dan Pfeiffer. Also possible: bringing back former press secretary Robert Gibbs, or former deputy chief of staff/campaign manager Jim Messina. Another option might be to bring in some of the people who were part of the messaging shop in the campaign — David Simus, who served as director of opinion research for the campaign, or Larry Grisolano, who did ads for campaign.


– Jake Tapper



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Keystroke-logger checks your identity as you type



WHETHER an aggressive finger-jabber or a fluent touch-typist, the way you type says more about you than you might think. A biometric authentication system monitors the telltale timing gaps between the letters you type to continually verify your identity.

The traditional password is notoriously troublesome as a way of keeping your devices secure. Many people use simple, easy-to-guess passwords like qwerty or 123456, or reuse the same one across multiple services, putting only one line of defence in front of their entire digital life.

David Hibler of Christopher Newport University, Virginia, and colleagues designed software called URIEL, which uses the average time between keystrokes as a surprisingly accurate way of identifying an individual. The software learns the user's typing style by measuring the time between key presses over 10 areas of the keyboard as a user types, and learns who they are as they type words from a specific ...




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Portugal MPs to adopt unpopular austerity budget






LISBON: Portugal's parliament is due to adopt on Tuesday a massively unpopular 2013 budget that will make unprecedented austerity reforms in a bid to satisfy international creditors helping the country fight off economic collapse.

Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's centre-right government has a comfortable majority in parliament, virtually guaranteeing the budget will pass.

But lawmakers will face anger from many constituents, with a protest outside parliament against "austerity and recession" called by the country's main labour federation, the CGTP.

The CGTP organised a crippling general strike on November 14, a day of anti-austerity protests across southern Europe that boiled over into sporadic clashes -- including in Portugal, where protests outside parliament turned violent, leaving 50 people wounded.

Police officers, soldiers, firefighters and students have also staged major protests in recent weeks as public angst over the country's dire economic straits has grown.

The Portuguese economy, in recession since 2010, is expected to contract by three percent this year and one percent in 2013, while unemployment hit a record 15.8 percent of the workforce in the third quarter of this year.

The European Union and International Monetary Fund granted the country rescue funding of 78 billion euros ($100 billion) in May 2011 in exchange for drastic economic reforms aimed at reducing the country's swollen public deficit and debt.

But the austerity underpinning the reforms is weighing heavily on economic activity and the government's ability to fight unemployment.

The new budget aims at 5.3 billion euros in additional savings, achieved in part through further spending cuts but mostly through a tax hike that even Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar acknowledged is "enormous".

Next year, the government will also introduce a package of state reforms seeking to cut public spending by another four billion euros by the end of 2014.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warmly praised the government for its efforts at reform during a visit to Portugal this month, and the country has just passed a new quarterly audit by its creditors, the EU, IMF and European Central Bank -- the so-called "troika".

But the IMF has acknowledged the country faces serious economic risks.

"The near-term outlook is uncertain, and sizeable medium-term economic challenges remain," said an IMF statement on November 20.

As the government fights an uphill battle to cut spending and raise tax revenues wherever it can, the IMF said the success of Portugal's international rescue plan would depend in part on a factor beyond the country's control: the economic environment across the 17-nation eurozone.

The Socialist opposition has for its part condemned the austerity policies as "excessive", despite signing off on the international rescue plan.

"The deficit is not under control, the debt has risen to nearly 120 percent (of gross domestic product), unemployment is the highest in our history and the economy is collapsing," Socialist party secretary-general Antonio Jose Seguro said Saturday.

-AFP/ac



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No Powerball Winner; Jackpot Grows to $425 Million


Nov 25, 2012 10:37am







ap powerball jackpot jt 121125 wblog No Powerball Winner; Jackpot Grows to Record $425 Million

                                                                (Image Credit: Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)


The Powerball jackpot has swelled to $425 million, the largest in the lottery’s history, after no tickets matched the winning numbers in a drawing Saturday night.


The Powerball numbers for Saturday were 22-32-37-44-50, and the Powerball was 34.


Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said the jackpot could get even bigger before Wednesday, because sales tend to increase in the run-up to a big drawing.


The previous top windfall was $365 million. The jackpot was claimed by eight co-workers in Lincoln, Neb., in 2006.


PHOTOS: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners


While millions of Americans can have fun dreaming about how they’d spend the jackpot, the odds of winning are 1 in 175,000,000, according to lottery officials.


To put that in perspective, a ticket holder is 25 times less likely to win the jackpot then they are to win an Academy Award.


Even still, the old saying holds true: “You’ve got to be in it to win it.”




SHOWS: Good Morning America






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