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| Severe Antarctic weather slows Australian icebreaker bid to reach stranded ship Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:00 PM PST  By Maggie Lu Yueyang SYDNEY (Reuters) - Severe Antarctic weather was slowing an Australian icebreaker's bid to reach a Russian ship trapped in ice since Christmas eve with 74 people onboard, the Australian maritime rescue agency said on Monday. The Aurora Australis was currently about 11 nautical miles from the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy, said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which is co-ordinating the rescue. The Aurora Australis is travelling slowly due to the conditions to ensure the safety of all on board," AMSA said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan oil guards threaten to block gas pipeline to Tripoli: sources Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:57 PM PST  By Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Oil security guards in central Libya have threatened to block a gas pipeline to the capital Tripoli unless the government meets their salary demands, oil sources and local media said on Sunday. If confirmed, the protest would mark an escalation of a wave of strikes at oilfields and export terminals gripping Libya, reducing its lifeline oil exports to a trickle. The OPEC producer is facing turmoil as the government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan struggles to control heavily-armed militias who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their weapons to press for political and financial demands. A mix of tribes and militias have seized for months four export ports in the east alone to demand regional autonomy and a greater share of oil revenues from the central government. Full Story | Top |
| UK not to challenge EU environmental regulations on coal power plants - Times London Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:31 PM PST  (Reuters) - The United Kingdom will not challenge the European Union's environmental rules which have led to closure of many old coal power plants even as the country faces threats of power black outs within the next two years, The Times of London reported on Monday. "We are not planning to break the rules on that," Britain's Energy Minister Michael Fallon was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Britain's coal-fired generators, once the backbone of British energy industry, pumped out 91.86 terra watt-hours (TWh) of power in the first nine months of 2013 down three percent from the year before, according to provisional data published in a report by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. National Grid has already warned of winter blackouts if investments are not made in new capacities even while Britain's power market is tightening over its ageing power-generation capacity. Full Story | Top |
| Opportunity glimmers through China's toxic smog Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 01:11 PM PST  By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - As China's smog levels crept past record highs in early December, the phone lines at pollution-busting kit maker Broad Group lit up with Chinese customers worried about hazardous pollution levels that have gripped China this year. China's government is struggling to meet pollution reduction targets and has pledged to spend over 3 trillion yuan ($494 billion) to tackle the problem, creating a growing market for companies that can help boost energy efficiency and lower emissions. "Recently, we haven't been able to make products fast enough to keep up with demand," said Hu Jie, a general manager at Broad Group, which makes pollution-related products ranging from hand-held monitors to eco-friendly buildings. Pollution problems in China, the world's second-biggest economy, are by no means new. Full Story | Top |
| Saudi prince's firm says to file complaint vs France's EDF Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 08:24 AM PST  Soroof International, a conglomerate controlled by a Saudi Arabian prince, said on Sunday that it would file a complaint before Saudi courts against France's state-run utility EDF . The Saudi company cited the "faulty execution" by EDF of an agreement between the two sides to form a joint venture in Saudi Arabia that would develop electricity projects. The Saudi company is headed by Prince Bander Bin Abdullah Al-Saud. EDF was unable to comment immediately on the issue on Sunday, a working day in the Gulf but the weekend in Europe. Full Story | Top |
| Patient doing well with French company's artificial heart: report Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:36 AM PST A 75-year-old Frenchman was feeding himself and chatting to his family, more than a week after becoming the first person to be fitted with an artificial heart made by French biomedical company Carmat, one of his surgeons said. We are thinking of getting him up on his feet soon, probably as early as this weekend," Professor Daniel Duveau, who saw the patient on Thursday, told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper. Heart-assistance devices have been used for decades as a temporary solution for patients awaiting transplants, but Carmat's bioprosthetic product is designed to replace the real heart over the long run, mimicking nature using biological materials and sensors. It aims to extend life for patients suffering from terminal heart failure who cannot hope for a heart transplant, often because they are too old and donors too scarce. Full Story | Top |
| Italian woman defies animal rights militants after online abuse Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:19 AM PST An Italian woman who declared in an internet posting that she owed her life to medicines developed from testing on laboratory mice has gone on national television to answer abuse from animal rights militants. Caterina Simonsen, 25, received insults and abuse, which politicians rushed to condemn, after posting a defense of animal testing on Facebook. "Without it, I would have died when I was nine," wrote Simonsen, whose story has dominated Italian newspapers and television reports. Full Story | Top |
| Cracking ice bodes well for Antarctica ship rescue Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:22 AM PST The ice-bound ship, the Akademik Shokalskiy, left New Zealand on November 28 on a privately funded expedition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of an Antarctic journey led by famed Australian explorer Douglas Mawson. The Australian icebreaker the Aurora Australis is expected to reach the stricken ship at about midnight on Sunday. A Chinese icebreaker could not break through the thick ice earlier but the weather on Sunday boded well for a rescue. "The ice conditions seem to have improved and there appears to be some softening and some cracks appearing," Lisa Martin of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| US military personnel freed after brief detention in Libya Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 12:11 AM PST By Ayman al-Sahli and Lesley Wroughton SABRATHA, Libya/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four American military personnel were briefly detained in western Libya on Friday after part of their convoy failed to stop at a checkpoint and was found to be carrying weapons, Libyan officials said. U.S. and other Western embassies have beefed up security at their missions in Libya, which is still in turmoil two and a half years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. The military personnel were near Sabratha, a town located 70 km (45 miles) west of Tripoli, "as part of security preparedness efforts when they were taken into custody," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. One of the fleeing cars later caused a traffic accident in nearby Sabratha. Full Story | Top |
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