Facebook closes big-ticket buy of WhatsApp
San Francisco (AFP) Oct 06, 2014 -
Facebook on Monday completed its buy of mobile messaging application WhatsApp, with the mostly stock deal tallying nearly $22 billion.
The acquisition was given the colossal price tag of $19 billion when the deal was struck in February, but a rise in Facebook shares has pushed the value even higher.
"We are looking forward to connecting even more people around the world, and continuing t ...
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London sees few land value concerns with fracking
London (UPI) Oct 6, 2014 -
There are few reasons to think advancing the shale natural gas agenda in the United Kingdom will hurt land values, a government spokesman said Monday.
The British shale natural gas campaign is in its infancy, though the government said imports could be reduced dramatically if the fledgling sector succeeds.
The British National Farmers Union, which represents the business interest ...
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BG Group said Cairo paid off small portion of debt
London (UPI) Oct 6, 2014 -
After receiving $350 million from the Egyptian government, British energy company BG Group said Monday the balance stands at around $1.2 billion.
BG Group said the Egyptian government paid down some of its debt as a result of raising funds specifically meant to address arrears in the oil and gas sector.
"While the group has been impacted by the reduction of liquefied natural gas ...
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Dutch grab of arctic oil angers Greenpeace
Amsterdam, Netherlands (UPI) Oct 6, 2014 -
Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace said it was frustrated the Dutch government was putting its oil interest above that of protecting the arctic.
Campaign director Joris Thijssen said a court in Amsterdam ruled in favor of letting oil from a field from the arctic Russian north land at the port of Rotterdam. The ruling, the environmental group said, was absurd.
Greenpeace has ...
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Ruble hits historic low against Western currency
Moscow (UPI) Oct 6, 2014 -
The value of the Russian ruble hit a historic low Monday when compared with U.S. and European currencies, the Russian Central Bank said.
It took just over 40 rubles to buy one U.S. dollar, or just over 50 rubles to buy a euro, in Monday trading, the bank said.
The bank said last week it was struggling to keep Russian inflation in check because of U.S. and European sanctions on Ru ...
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Shale players Forest, Sabine close to tying knot
Houston (UPI) Oct 6, 2014 -
The steps needed to become one of the premier players in the Eagle Ford shale play in Texas is nearly complete, Forest Oil and Sabine Oil and Gas said Monday.
Forest and Sabine issued a joint statement saying their merger was on pace for completion this year.
"Forest has set the date for the special meeting of its shareholders to consider and vote on, among other items, the combi ...
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Chevron brings Kuwaiti partners to Canadian shale
San Ramon, Calif. (UPI) Oct 6, 2014 -
A portion of Canadian shale natural gas acreage was sold to a Kuwaiti energy company for $1.3 billion, the Canadian subsidiary of Chevron said Monday.
"This sale demonstrates our focus on strategically managing our portfolio to maximize the value of our global upstream businesses and is consistent with our partnership strategy," Jay Johnson, a senior vice president for upstream operatio ...
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China a drag on steel demand: trade body
Paris (AFP) Oct 06, 2014 -
Global demand for steel will grow by just 2.0 percent this year owing to a rebalancing of the Chinese economy and a slowdown in other emerging countries, the sector's trade body said on Monday.
The growth forecast to 1,562 million tonnes in steel use by the World Steel Association is down from the 3.1 percent rate it forecast in April and the 3.8 percent recorded in 2013.
"The positive m ...
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World Bank cuts China, East Asia growth forecasts
Singapore (AFP) Oct 06, 2014 -
The World Bank on Monday trimmed its growth forecasts for developing East Asian economies this year and next, as China's economic expansion loses momentum and policymakers face tighter global monetary conditions.
Developing countries in East Asia and the Pacific are likely to see a growth of 6.9 percent this year and in 2015, slower than the 7.1 percent the bank had forecast in April, it sai ...
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Scotland upset with London power decisions
Edinburgh, Scotland (UPI) Oct 6, 2014 -
Scotland's largest power station is getting "priced out of the market" at a time when power is needed most, the Scottish energy minister said Monday.
The Scottish government said it was frustrated with British policy decisions that translate to an extra $60 million per year in charges for its Longannet power station. Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said he wanted to meet immediate ...
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Turkey may need to go green, director says
Ankara, Turkey (UPI) Oct 6, 2014 -
A project started nearly 40 years ago could help ensure energy security in Turkey through renewable reserves, a director said Monday.
Sadrettin Karahocagil, director of the Southeastern Anatolia Project, said renewable energy could stave off a future energy crisis in Turkey.
"There will be times when we can't find energy," he said. "[This project] is a solution, a preparation for ...
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"Multi-spectra glasses" for scanning electron microscopy
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
Reflection zone plates produced by HZB enable lighter elements in material samples to be precisely detected using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) by providing high resolution in the range of 50-1120 eV.
The scanning electron microscope is not only used for precisely surveying the surface topology of samples, but also for determining their chemical compositions. This is done by exciting ...
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Solar Ware Samurai PV Central Inverter achieves maximum efficiency of 99.01 percent
Roanoke VA (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
The Solar Ware Samurai, a revolutionary new central inverter from TMEIC, achieved a maximum efficiency of 99.01 percent in California Energy Commissioning (CEC) testing, setting a new standard among photovoltaic central inverters.
TMEIC, a global leader in powering industry, developed the Solar Ware Samurai through decades of research, and created the most advanced inverters in the industr ...
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First-ever global life cycle assessment of renewable energy future
Trondheim, Norway (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
A future where electricity comes mostly from low-carbon sources is not only feasible in terms of material demand, but will significantly reduce air pollution, a study published in the 6 October Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says.
An international team led by Edgar Hertwich and Thomas Gibon from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology conducted the first-ever gl ...
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New Absorber Will Lead to Better Biosensors
Evanston IL (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
Biological sensors, or biosensors, are like technological canaries in the coalmine. By converting a biological response into an optical or electrical signal, they can alert us to dangers in our external and internal environments.
They can sense toxic chemicals and particles in the air and enzymes, molecules, and antibodies in the body that could indicate diabetes, cancer, and other disease ...
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The World's 10 Biggest Energy Gluttons
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
Next time you get into your car and drive to the supermarket, think about how much energy you consume on an annual basis. It is widely assumed that Westerners are some of the world's worst energy pigs. While Americans make up just 5 percent of the global population, they use 20 percent of its energy, eat 15 percent of its meat, and produce 40 percent of the earth's garbage.
Europeans and p ...
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Batteries included: A solar cell that stores its own power
Columbus OH (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
Is it a solar cell? Or a rechargeable battery? Actually, the patent-pending device invented at The Ohio State University is both: the world's first solar battery.
In the October issue of the journal Nature Communications, the researchers report that they've succeeded in combining a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device.
Key to the innovation is a mesh solar panel, which all ...
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Crumpled graphene could provide an unconventional energy storage
Boston MA (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
When someone crumples a sheet of paper, that usually means it's about to be thrown away. But researchers have now found that crumpling a piece of graphene "paper" - a material formed by bonding together layers of the two-dimensional form of carbon - can actually yield new properties that could be useful for creating extremely stretchable supercapacitors to store energy for flexible electronic de ...
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Fast, cheap nanomanufacturing
Boston MA (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
Luis Fernando Velasquez-Garcia's group at MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) develops dense arrays of microscopic cones that harness electrostatic forces to eject streams of ions.
The technology has a range of promising applications: depositing or etching features onto nanoscale mechanical devices; spinning out nanofibers for use in water filters, body armor, and "smart" text ...
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Nanoparticles Break the Symmetry of Light
Vienna, Austria (SPX) Oct 07, 2014 -
Nanoparticles can emit light into ultra-thin glass fibres. Physicists at the Vienna University of Technology have now managed to select the direction of the light using an unusual kind of coupling between spin and the direction of propagation.
How can a beam of light tell the difference between left and right? At the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) tiny particles have been couple ...
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