US, Russia vie for largest natural gas reserves

Javier E. David , CNBC ? ? ? 3 hrs.

The United States, currently one of the world's largest sources of natural gas, may find itself fending off increasingly stiff competition in the resource's development, as the move to tap natural gas supplies goes global.

Considered by energy watchers to be one of the most promising avenues of energy development, natural gas is cleaner, more abundant and relatively less expensive than regular gas. The resource is being used in an ever-increasing array of activity, from generating electricity to powering locomotives and public transport ? which is putting upward pressure on market prices.

(Read more: Natural Gas Prices on the Rise, Challenging 'Cheap' Label)

Fewer regions have moved to harness natural gas as aggressively as the U.S., which accounts for more than a fifth of global natural gas consumption, according to data from the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental think-tank.

Still, global interest in the fossil fuel is on the rise as countries like Russia and Qatar move aggressively to tap their natural gas resources, with others like Israel following suit. The global interest poses a challenge to the U.S.'s growing clout in the sector.

(Read more: Israel to Invest in Navy to Protect Huge NatGas Fields)

In addition to international oil giants like Norway's Statoil and Chevron exploiting natural gas, Australia and countries in Africa and South America "are discovering gigantic fields all over the planet," said Richard Hastings, senior macro strategist at Global Hunter Securities. Development is "very robust and competitive," he added.

America's energy revolution has been in part hampered by a reluctance to ship its natural gas bounty to other countries. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Russia and the U.S. are running neck and neck for the title of the world's largest natural gas reserves.

Yet unlike the U.S. ? which is currently embroiled in a contentious debate about selling its natural gas stocks abroad ? other countries harbor little compunction about exporting the fuel to other resource-hungry nations.

Although the U.S. is one of the largest producers of natural gas, data from the CIA World Factbook lists the U.S as a distant challenger to natural gas export powerhouses like Russia, Qatar and Canada. Should the world's largest economy fail to sell more to other countries, analysts say it could put the U.S. at a disadvantage.

Global natural gas markets are highly competitive "except for captive markets like Russian sales to Europe," said John Felmy, chief economist of the American Petroleum Institute in Washington. "The U.S. being the largest producer of natural gas, it has the ability to be able to make some money off it."

The reluctance to export natural resources undercuts what analysts say is one of the U.S.'s major competitive advantages: generous mineral rights that make it relatively easy for companies and private citizens to drill with little interference from the government.

U.S. policy differs from other countries, where governments tightly control surface and mineral ownership, therefore restricting drilling and exploration. In Europe, a patchwork of European Union and local regulations are a barrier to natural gas exploitation.

"In terms of the development of the natural gas industry, what the U.S. policy make up does is allows the individual to benefit," said Matt Lucky, a sustainable energy fellow at Worldwatch Institute. That allows major energy companies and private landowners to exploit valuable mineral rights beneath their land, he said.

That distinction "has helped to drive exploration in the natural gas sector in the United States. A lot of people have become very wealthy in the U.S. by mineral rights," Lucky said. "That's not the case in in much of the rest of the world."

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Bravo Gives Kathy Griffin?s Talk Show The Axe!

Bravo Gives Kathy Griffin’s Talk Show The Axe!

Ginger funnywoman Kathy Griffin has confirmed that her talk show on Bravo has been cancelled. Griffin announced that she would not be returning for a third season on the show during a stand-up gig in Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday. Kathy told the audience that she?d been informed by Bravo of the decision the previous day. ...

Bravo Gives Kathy Griffin’s Talk Show The Axe! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/04/bravo-gives-kathy-griffins-talk-show-the-axe/

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Liberals to Obama: not so fast on Social Security cuts

The worst fears of progressive groups were confirmed Friday: President Obama's budget will include cuts to Social Security. But the call has gone out, and liberals are fighting back.?

By Linda Feldmann,?Staff writer / April 5, 2013

President Barack Obama speaks at the Police Academy in Denver on Wednesday. A senior administration official said Friday that Obama's proposed budget will call for reductions in in the growth of federal Social Security pensions and other benefit programs in an attempt to strike a compromise with congressional Republicans.

Susan Walsh/AP/File

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Liberal groups issued a primal scream Friday over the news that President Obama?s budget next week will include cuts to Social Security.

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The president is proposing a new formula to calculate inflation, called ?chained CPI,? effectively reducing annual increases in the payments to most seniors. This would come as part of a compromise on deficit reduction with Republicans that would also include higher taxes on the wealthy and increased spending on some domestic programs such as infrastructure.

But to progressive advocacy groups, compromising upfront on social safety-net programs equals surrender, and they will have none of that. Supporters? (and reporters?) in-boxes exploded Friday with indignant reactions and suggestions of betrayal. Petitions are circulating. Funds are being raised.

Mr. Obama may have stuck his hand in a hornet?s nest, but having been safely reelected, he may feel he can take the gamble of alienating some of his supporters in the name of trying to reach a deal. But voices on the left disagree.

?The president?s decision to include cuts to Social?Security?benefits in his budget is wrong policy and dumb politics,? writes Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America?s Future (CAF). ?His chained CPI plan is wrong because it hurts Americans who have worked hard their entire lives and who need the support that Social?Security gives them. It is wrong because Social?Security?is financed separately and does not contribute to the deficit.?

It is ?dumb? politically, Mr. Hickey continues, because now Republicans will call chained CPI a Democratic proposal and will attack Democrats in the next election for trying to cut Social Security.

In another e-mail, CAF made a pitch for donations. ?Social Security represents America at its best, and now it is up to you to defend it,? writes the group?s other co-director, Robert Borosage.

MoveOn.org and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich released a video and petition Friday urging Obama to drop chained CPI and propose instead a higher cap?on?income subject to Social Security taxes.

?Social Security is not driving the deficit; therefore it should not be part of reforms aimed at cutting the deficit. The chained CPI, deceptively portrayed as a reasonable cost of living adjustment, is a cut to Social Security that would hurt seniors,? Mr. Reich says.?

?There are several sensible reforms to Social Security that should be considered to help make it sustainable, including lifting the ceiling?on?income subject to Social Security from $113,700 to $200,000 or more, as well as instituting a 1 percent raise in the payroll tax rate, a rate that hasn't changed in over 20 years,? Reich adds.

Jim Dean, chairman of Democracy for America ? and brother of former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean ? called the news that Obama?s budget would include cuts to Social Security ?a shot across the bow for the progressives who called their neighbors, spent weekends knocking doors, and donated millions to reelect him.???

An e-mail from Mr. Dean links to a petition aimed at Congress.

?President Obama thinks Democrats will fall in line behind these proposals,? Dean continues. ?If we can show that there is enormous opposition to these Social?Security?cuts, we can pressure Democrats in Congress to take these devastating cuts off the table.?

Where the liberal outrage will lead is uncertain. There?s plenty in Obama?s forthcoming budget that the Republicans have already rejected out of hand, including more tax increases after those they conceded in the Dec. 31 "fiscal cliff" deal. ?

Political analysts already see the chances of a grand bargain on deficit reduction between Obama and the Republicans as a long shot. So maybe the hyperpartisanship of Washington will keep chained CPI from becoming a reality. But in the progressive world, nobody?s taking any chances.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/0BiA-hcIhdY/Liberals-to-Obama-not-so-fast-on-Social-Security-cuts

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WrestleMania Diary: AJ Lee, Day 4

PAPER VIEW, 10:55 a.m.
If AJ Lee?s home were somehow set ablaze, there are two things she would scoop up before fleeing out the nearest exit: her blond Chihuahua and what she calls her ?fire box,? a compact collection of her most treasured personal trinkets and professional mementos.

The inaugural contents of that sentimental repository, which also houses the wrist tape from her in-ring debut, were her WrestleMania XX tickets that granted AJ and her father access to the Diva-to-be?s first live WWE experience. She?s even kept their original envelope.

The seats weren?t the best in the house, placing AJ and her dad high in the rafters of Madison Square Garden. The distance to the ring mattered little to the aspiring Diva, though, as she witnessed first-hand the reborn Undertaker square off with his brother Kane ? a confrontation between two of AJ?s favorite Superstars growing up.

?That was the most important day in my life up until that point, and also the happiest,? AJ says. ?I needed to hold on to that.?

GARDEN GROWN, 11:31 a.m
The World?s Most Famous Arena has transformed considerably since it last played host to The Show of Shows nine years ago, but if anyone?s familiar with metamorphoses, it?s AJ Lee. Due to ongoing renovations throughout Madison Square Garden, her and her father?s WrestleMania XX seats ? Sec. 426, Row E, Seats 17 and 18 ? technically no longer exist. Nevertheless, the determined Diva climbs the Garden stairs to find a view matching that of her seminal Show of Shows experience.

WATCH: AJ LEE RETURNS TO MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Satisfied that she has found a reasonable facsimile of her WrestleMania XX vantage point, AJ leans back, her legs propped up on the seat in front of her as she curiously gazes down ? ever the WWE fan ? at construction for the night?s WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

?I don?t think there?s a place I have more of a connection to than the Garden,? AJ says, who last did some MSG seat-searching prior to Survivor Series 2011. ?And that connection is to WrestleMania, and we?re going to personalize it even more tomorrow when it?s going to be in New Jersey, 10 minutes from my hometown. And I?m going to be there. It?s making it all real, and connecting the dots. I can?t wait for it to be 7 p.m. tomorrow night.?

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/29/wrestlemania-diary-aj-lee/day-four

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SKorea's top military officer puts off US trip

People watch a TV program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. South Korea?s top military officer has put off a plan to visit Washington because of escalating tension with North Korea that have also led more than a dozen South Korean companies to halt operations at a joint factory complex in the North, officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

People watch a TV program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 7, 2013. South Korea?s top military officer has put off a plan to visit Washington because of escalating tension with North Korea that have also led more than a dozen South Korean companies to halt operations at a joint factory complex in the North, officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A South Korean army soldier helps pick up a box as a driver dropped it on the road after arriving back from the North Korean city of Kaesong at Unification Bridge in Paju, South Korea, near the border village of Panmunjom, Saturday, April 6, 2013. More South Koreans on Saturday began to leave North Korea and the factory park where they work, four days after Pyongyang closed the border to people and goods. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A South Korean Army soldier walks on Unification Bridge in Paju, South Korea, near the border village of Panmunjom, Saturday, April 6, 2013. More South Koreans on Saturday began to leave North Korea and the factory park where they work, four days after Pyongyang closed the border to people and goods. (AP Photo/AhnnYoung-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? South Korea's top military officer has put off a visit to Washington because of escalating tensions with North Korea that have also compelled more than a dozen South Korean companies to halt operations at a joint factory complex in the North, officials said Sunday.

South Korea's military is on heightened alert following North Korean threats to launch attacks on the U.S. and South Korea and produce more fuel for atomic weapons. Pyongyang is angry over ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills and U.N. sanctions issued over North Korea's latest nuclear test.

South Korea's defense minister said last week that North Korea has moved at least one missile with a "considerable range" to its east coast, and speculated that the North may be planning to test it. The missile could possibly be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).

The tensions led South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo to cancel his plan to meet with U.S. counterpart, Gen. Martin Dempsey, in Washington on April 16 for regular talks.

The allies have agreed to reschedule the meeting because Jung couldn't be away from South Korea for several days at a time when North Korea is intensifying its rhetoric, said a South Korean Joint Chiefs spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.

The U.S. Defense Department has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for next week because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis, a senior defense official told The Associated Press Saturday.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to delay the test at an Air Force base in California until sometime next month, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the test delay and requested anonymity.

Previously, the U.S. had followed provocations from North Korea with shows of force connected to the joint exercises with South Korea. It has sent nuclear capable B-2 and B-52 bombers and stealth F-22 fighters to participate in the drills.

In addition, the U.S. said last week that two of the Navy's missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean Peninsula, and a land-based missile-defense system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses.

Washington is taking the North Korean threats seriously, though U.S. leaders say they have seen no signs that the North is preparing for a large-scale attack.

North Korea successfully shot a satellite into space in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February. It has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, though many analysts, say the North hasn't achieved technology to manufacture a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could fit on a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S.

North Korea also raised tensions Wednesday when it barred South Koreans and supply trucks from entering the Kaesong industrial complex, where South Korean companies have employed thousands of North Korean workers for the past decade.

North Korea is not forcing South Korean managers to leave the factory complex, and nearly 520 of them remained at Kaesong on Sunday. But the entry ban at the park, the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project, is posing a serious challenge to many of the more than 120 South Korean firms there because they are running of raw materials and suffering lack of replacement workers.

Nine more firms, including food and textile companies, have stopped operations at Kaesong, bringing to 13 the total number of companies that have done so, South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement Sunday.

North Korea also briefly restricted the heavily fortified border crossing at Kaesong in 2009 ? also during South Korea-U.S. drills ? but manufacturers fear the current border shutdown could last longer.

__

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-07-Koreas-Tension/id-b6806c2ddf0f4cdc91d22d9072c7f935

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Microsoft to Patch IE10 Pwn2Own Bugs Next Week

Microsoft to Patch IE10 Pwn2Own Bugs Next Week

Oh yes, oh yes, it?s Patch Tuesday once again and Microsoft has nine security updates on tap for your downloading pleasure, two of them deemed critical. The download will also finally address the Pwn2Own bug, discovered last month at the Pwn2Own hack-a-thon.

Google and Mozilla patched the vulnerabilities disclosed in their Chrome and Firefox browsers within hours of the contest, but Microsoft has yet to issue a post-Pwn2Own fix for IE.

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Source: http://www.hardocp.com/news/2013/04/06/microsoft_to_patch_ie10_pwn2own_bugs_next_week/

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Power restored to Japan nuke plant cooling system

TOKYO --?

Power was restored Friday to a cooling system at a tsunami-damaged nuclear plant in Japan that failed for the second time in a month after an outage caused by construction work to keep out rats suspected of setting off the earlier blackout.

Power for the cooling system for a storage pool for fuel was restored after a two-hour break at reactor No. 3, and there was no immediate danger from the breakdown, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that operates Fukushima Dai-ichi in northeastern Japan.

Work to put up nets to keep out rats and other animals at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in northeastern Japan inadvertently caused the power outage, TEPCO spokesman Akitsuka Kobayashi said. Details were not clear, and the outage was still under investigation.

A dead rat found near a switchboard was suspected of the power outage last month that led to a cooling system not working for two days at the plant.

Nuclear Regulation Authority spokesman Takahiro Sakuma said an alarm went off in the afternoon about the latest problem at reactor No. 3.

The cooling system can be turned off for two weeks before temperatures approach dangerous levels at the spent fuel storage pools. But if the water runs dry, the fuel rods, even spent ones, will spew enormous levels of radiation.

The plant went into multiple meltdowns after the March 2011 tsunami damaged backup generators and all cooling systems failed, including those for the reactors.

The plant is being decommissioned, but continues to have glitches.

Fears are growing about the safety of nuclear plants, and people have periodically staged streets protests that are rare in Japan.

Only two of the nation's 50 working power plants are up, and the government is running beefed up safety checks on the plants, including scrutinizing quake faults right below or near the plants.

Shinzo Abe, who became prime minister about three months ago, has expressed a desire to restart nuclear plants. Japan lacks natural resources and relied on nuclear energy for about a third of its electricity needs prior to March 2011. Energy imports have soared over the last two years, putting a strain on the economy.

Source: http://www.lakewyliepilot.com/2013/04/05/1868769/fukushima-nuclear-plants-cooling.html

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