Volcker Should Be Means to End Too-Big-to-Fail

According to an article published today on the Wall Street Journal,"critics of the Volcker rule approved by regulators Tuesday point out that trading mishaps weren't the root cause of the financial crisis. That, to a degree, is true. If so, they argue, Volcker is a misguided attempt to shackle banks".

"Yet the rule starts to address the question of what a bank should be, or at least what activities should be backed by insured deposits, and ultimately taxpayers. Focusing on what banks do, rather than their absolute size, may prove a better way of making financial behemoths safer".

"Under Volcker, trading for a firm's own account is now mostly out of bounds, as is owning large stakes in hedge or private-equity funds. That should limit risks, even if the rule won't completely eliminate trading-related mishaps. Banks will, after all, be able to continue placing wagers on government bonds or taking trading positions in their role as market makers".

"And many will argue, with some justification, that the rule doesn't go far enough, in, for example, restricting activities related to market making. The prohibition does, though, draw a line, making it clear that banks' business is about lending, not investing.

If regulators are willing to think along the lines of what a bank shouldn't be allowed to do, that raises questions about other activities. Why, say, are banks allowed to run fund-management businesses? While these don't pose the same risks as proprietary trading, the insured-deposit backstop does give them an advantage in competing against stand-alone fund-management firms.

There is also the question, left untouched by Volcker, of why commercial banks should be in the business of market-making in the first place. 

Indeed, the Volcker rule is a good, even if imperfect, start toward getting banks back to being banks. It shouldn't mark an endpoint".

Gold Climbs as Traders Reexamine Taper Concerns,it will be smooth.

   According to a Wall Street Journal report,gold and silver prices jumped Tuesday as the dollar sank close to a six-week low against the euro amid renewed concerns about U.S. budget talks and continued focus on the Federal Reserve's upcoming monetary-policy meeting.

Gold for February delivery, the most actively traded contract, was recently up $32.80, or 2.7%, at $1,267 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Comex silver for March delivery was up 71.9 cents, or 3.7%, at $20.420 a troy ounce.

Both precious metals continued to rebound from recent lows amid speculation that Federal Reserve officials will be unlikely to make deep cuts to the central bank's stimulus program. The Fed's voting members are due to meet Dec. 17 and 18 to review monetary policy, with expectations that the board will weigh reducing the $85 billion a month in bond purchases.

Investors are also looking ahead to the year-end budget talks in Washington, D.C. The U.S. House and Senate budget chairmen have been trying to finalize a small-scale accord on spending cuts and deficit reduction that could set the stage for a wider-ranging deal down the road. However, there are no guarantees the current accord will pass either the Republican-led House or the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Many investors sought out gold during the last federal government shutdown, in October, as concerns about a U.S. sovereign-debt default fanned appetite for an alternative to the dollar.

Gold and silver futures also drew strength from the currency's weakness on Tuesday. The dollar traded near a six-week low against the euro, with the common European currency recently swapping hands at $1.3767, up from $1.3734 earlier.

As the dollar eases, dollar-denominated commodity futures contracts become cheaper for traders who use other currencies.

  Some analysts said that part of gold's recent move higher is also fueled by investors who have been bearish gold for the bulk of 2013 and are now closing out those positions as they clear their book ahead of the year end. Traders must purchase a bullish wager, or so-called long position, to neutralize a bearish wager, or so-called short position.

Japan household helper plan shows wider immigration dilemma

But a year after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office, an idea that some thought might be an easy win for immigration reform while meeting a stated aim of Abe's growth strategy has made no apparent progress.

If Abe's government drags its feet on one small step, it suggests scant prospects for any broader measures to let in foreign workers any time soon - which many experts say will be necessary for Japan to sustain its economic growth in the face of a rapidly shrinking workforce.

"Japan needs to let in more foreign workers to solve its population problem," said Hidenori Sakanaka, former head of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau. "Letting in more domestic workers is just a small part of the big picture, but it might make a big difference to the people who employ them."

The proposal has been discussed by three ministries, people familiar with the process say, although Abe has not publicly mentioned the idea. Loosening visa requirements for domestic helpers could allow more Japanese women to return to full-time work, proponents say.

That is one goal in a broader Abe strategy to get Japan on the path of stable economic expansion after almost two decades of debilitating deflation and sluggish growth.

But after Abe won plaudits for pushing aggressive fiscal and monetary expansion after coming to power last December, reaction to his longer-term economic growth plans has been less enthusiastic.

His immigration-reform plans would make it easier for highly skilled immigrants to get work visas and cut the time needed to qualify for permanent residency. This falls short of the comprehensive steps needed to address the country's shrinking birthrate and burgeoning elderly population, experts say.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Japan: Business sentiment among major firms remains positive

Business sentiment among major companies fell back in October-December after hitting a record high in the previous quarter, a quarterly government survey showed Tuesday.

The business sentiment index for companies with capital of ¥1 billion or more fell to plus 8.3 from plus 12 for July-September, according to the joint survey by the Finance Ministry and the Cabinet Office.Business sentiment was affected by rising import prices of minerals and crude oil on the back of the yen's depreciation. However, the index stayed in positive territory for the fourth consecutive quarter.

NewsOnJapan

Japanese carmakers regain top share in China

Japanese automakers regained the top share in China's foreign car market last month. Their sales nearly doubled from a year earlier.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Tuesday that 2-million 43-thousand new cars were sold in the country in November. That's up 14.1 percent year on year.

Japanese automakers sold 325 thousand units, about 1.9 times more than in the same month last year.

They took a market share of 19 percent, surpassing their German rivals. Japanese cars regained the top spot for the first time since December last year.

Source: NHK

World leaders praise Mandela at memorial service

World leaders have praised the late South African President Nelson Mandela at his memorial service.

The service was held on Tuesday at a soccer stadium in Johannesburg. The stadium was the scene of Mandela's last public appearance at the closing ceremony of the 2010 World Cup soccer finals.Among the 100 dignitaries were US President Barack Obama, 3 of his predecessors and Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked people to celebrate the life of the icon of the anti-Apartheid movement. He said South Africa will see a rainbow of hope through the rain of sadness.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Chinese VP expresses deep condolences at Mandela's memorial service

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao on Tuesday expressed deep condolences and paid high tribute to former South African President Nelson Mandela, saying Chinese will always cherish Mandela's contribution to China-South Africa relations.

Speaking at the memorial service held in FNB stadium in Johannesburg, the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping said Mr. Mandela was the pride of the African people.

"For all his life, he had strived for the liberation of African nations, championed the dignity of the African people and endeavored to advance the unity of all African countries and move forward Africa's cooperation with the world," Li said.

He had dedicated his entire life to the development and progress of Africa, he added.

He referred Mandela as one of the founding fathers of China- South Africa relations. "Mr. Mandela had committed himself to China-South Africa friendship and China-Africa cooperation with great passion. The Chinese people will always cherish the memory of his significant contribution to China-South Africa friendship and China-Africa relations," he said.

He mentioned Mandela was an old friend of the Chinese people and a household name in China. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of such a great friend. At the same time, we are heartened to see that the cause Mr. Mandela had started will be carried forward," he said.

He also mentioned South Africa as a major emerging country which is playing a constructive role on the international stage and actively upholding the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries. "We believe that under the leadership of President Zuma and the government of South Africa, the South African people will continue to make big strides forward along the path of national rejuvenation and development," he said.

"China stands ready to work with South Africa to deepen China- South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership, bring benefits to the two countries and two peoples, and make positive contribution to the noble cause of world peace and development," he said.

Li is among more than 90 world leaders who came to the memorial service to honor Mandela who died of lung trouble on Dec. 5 at his home at the age of 95. The leaders include U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff as well as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Mandela led the decades-long struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He was jailed for 27 years and released in 1990. Mandela became South Africa's first post-apartheid president in 1994.

Source: Xinhua

China's inflation moderates in Nov., positive to markets

Monday's figures showed inflation in China easing in November.

Analysts believe slower rising prices coupled with slightly improving growth prospects should positively influence markets and policymakers.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, grew 3 percent year-on-year in November, down from 3.2 percent in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

Inflation was 3 percent in cities, and 3.1 percent in rural areas. Food prices rose 5.9 percent in the last year, while non-food products edged up only 1.6 percent.

On a month-to-month basis, November CPI contracted 0.1 percent and food prices dropped 0.2 percent from October. Prices of non-food products were flat.

In the first 11 months of 2013, CPI rose 2.6 percent year-on-year, well below the government target for the year of 3.5 percent.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level, contracted 1.4 percent year-on-year in November, following a 1.5 percent drop in October.

LOWER FOOD INFLATION

Yu Qiumei, a senior statistician with the NBS, said food prices, which account for roughly a third of CPI, edged down slightly in November. Grain, beef, mutton, milk and fruit all rose month-on-month, but pork, fresh vegetables, eggs and aquatic products were all down.

November's vegetable prices contracted by 3.8 percent from October, but Yu stressed differences in vegetable prices across regions. In the northeast and northwest vegetable prices rise due to snow and low temperatures, while vegetable prices fell in most other parts of the country.

The moderation in CPI was due to lower food inflation, according to a research note by Zhi Xiaojia and Lu Ting of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Annualized food inflation fell to 5.9 percent from 6.5 percent in October. Vegetable and pork prices dropped 3.8 percent and 0.5 percent in November.

"We expect CPI inflation to remain around 3.0 percent year-on-year in December, and we forecast an average of 3.1 percent CPI inflation in 2014," the research note read.

Qu Hongbin, HSBC's chief China economist, said November CPI of 3 percent was lower than market and HSBC expectations of 3.1 percent.

Overall inflation pressure remained modest in November thanks to relatively weak demand conditions and gradual recovery, Qu said in a research note.

"With PPI remaining in negative territory for 21 consecutive months, upstream price pressures will continue to be manageable," Qu said.

Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's cabinet, said overall prices for November were stable and factors favorable to stable food prices are increasing.

Seasonal factors behind price fluctuations of fresh vegetables are decreasing and CPI inflation could ease further, Zhang said.

POSITIVE FOR MARKETS, POLICYMAKERS

Zhi and Lu, of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said with November CPI inflation slowing more than expected and PPI inflation remaining negative, markets could breathe a sigh of relief. In the past few weeks, markets have been worried that the central bank could be forced to tame the rising CPI by tightening the credit supply, leading to rising bond yields.

Monetary policy is expected to remain neutral in December and into 2014, even though money market rates and bond yields could rise on interest rate liberalization, according to Zhi and Lu.

"Muted CPI inflation and slightly better growth than expected should be positive for markets," they said.

This latest data confirms that an economy which slowed down noticeable earlier this year has regained solidity, and analysts expect the recovery to continue.

Gross domestic product growth accelerated to 7.8 percent in the third quarter this year, up from 7.5 percent in the second and 7.7 percent in the first.

Qu expects inflationary pressure to remain modest across the board, held down by a negative output gap, despite anticipated seasonal fluctuations in food prices around Chinese Lunar New Year on Jan. 31.

"Monetary policy will retain its status quo over the coming quarters," Qu said, maintaining that inflationary pressure would be manageable, allowing policymakers to support growth during a period of structural reform.

Source: Xinhua

Thailand’s mobile internet usage nearly doubles this year

It’s almost the end of the year, so many organizations are coming out with data observed throughout the year. Last week, Telenor released data on mobile phone consumers in Thailand. This time, Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission(NBTC) has released a study of phone and mobile web usage in Thailand. The study was conducted among 4,020 Thais between 15 and 70 years of age.

79.2 percent of mobile subscribers in Thailand are on a prepaid service. Mobile internet usage has grown from 18.4 percent to 31.9 percent in the country in the past year.

Bangkok has the highest usage of mobile internet in the country, accounting for 53.2 percent of the whole country mobile usages, followed by the southern part of the country (32.6 percent), then the Central (29.5 percent), North (24.3 percent), and East (18.9 percent).

NBTC’s report found there’s an increase in usage on both mobile internet and home broadband connections. Mobile phones are the top medium that Thais use for making calls (93.5 percent). The report notes the decrease in using landline phones. However, landlines are still being used, though mostly to connect to the internet rather than for phone calls. Landline phones only account for 27.9 percent of the phone calls that were made in Thailand, while only 23.9 percent of the survey respondents use public telephones.

Social networking FTW

The services that are used most among Thailand’s mobile netizens are:

1. Social networking (33.1 percent)
2. Messaging (29.4 percent)
3. Search engines (28.9 percent)

AIS is the telco winner

AIS has the highest market share in Thailand, at 51.8 percent. Dtac is the second at 37.3 percent, while True Move is the third with 11 percent market share.

Japan battles rising tide of Chinese illegal immigrants

Japanese authorities are fighting against an increasing number of illegal immigrants from China, which is in turn fuelling the drug trade.

In a seedy Tokyo suburb a flat crammed with 6 Chinese immigrants receives a bang on the door at dawn. Immigration police lead the men away to contemplate their return to China without the dreamed-off riches and without the £14,000 payoff for the smugglers that brought them here.Japan is coming to terms with this huge illegal immigration trade that brought it cheap labour but is stirring-up it's own crime wave as the Chinese smuggling gangs, known as Snakeheads, ship in huge amounts of drugs alongside their human cargo.
They're deporting the illegals that empty their bins and build their houses. Yet still they arrive as fast as they're being caught. Japan is too tempting a jewel. "I heard many people earned money easily in Japan. That's why I came," explains one immigrant.
After 6 years working secretly as a builder he's managed to build a 3-storey house back home. There is simply too much money to be made, too many dirty jobs the Japanese don't want to do, and too few immigration officers to catch them.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Bullying at Japan schools jumps 2.8-fold in FY 2012

A total of 198,108 cases of bullying were recognized at schools in Japan in fiscal 2012 that ended in March, up 2.8-fold from the previous year and the highest figure since the survey began in 1985, the education ministry said Tuesday.

The surge shows that a high-profile suicide of a junior high school boy in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, in 2011 helped enhance awareness of bullying among teachers, the ministry said.It added that the perception of bullying among teachers had been insufficient.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Nelson Mandela's Memorial: It felt at times like Mandela's soul was absent

''There were presidents and prime ministers, tens of thousands of people and an endless torrent of words. But one man was missing, both physically and figuratively: Nelson Mandela himself".

"The former South African president's body was not brought to the national memorial service in Johannesburg. His voice was not heard over the loudspeakers, though many others' were. And in a peculiarly rambling, rain-soaked event that got bogged down in domestic politics and ended in a near empty stadium, at times it felt as if Mandela's soul was absent too.

Nearly a hundred heads of state had travelled from all corners of the world to remember Mandela, who died last week aged 95, at what had been billed as the biggest funeral ever seen . As he arrived, Sir John Major, the former British prime minister, said: "This is unique. I don't think we've seen anything like this before and I don't think we'll see anything like it again."

But it was a tribute that did not match the monumental stature of the man, nor ride the spontaneous wave of emotion witnessed on the streets in recent days. What should have been a poetic tribute to a giant of 20th century history was soon infected with the prose of local politics. Every time South African president Jacob Zuma's face appeared on the giant TV screens, sections of the crowd booed and whistled.

There was only one speaker who made everyone stop and listen. The cacophony of cheers and applause for Barack Obama – who on his way to the podium stopped for a historic handshake with Cuban president Raúl Castro – left no doubt of his continued political rock star status, at least in Africa.

Officials had predicted that the 95,000-seat FNB Stadium would be filled and some spectators turned away but, in the end, it only reached about two-thirds capacity. Constant rain drove people into the top tier, leaving thousands of empty seats exposed to the TV cameras. Some of the dozens of trains reserved to take people to the stadium were delayed because of a power failure. Umbrella-wielding spectators who sprinted to their seats from 6am – hours before proceedings got under way – danced and sang with gusto, creating an atmosphere more akin to a football match than a wake. "It's more of a celebration that I expected," David Cameron told the Guardian before taking his seat. "You can see the atmosphere in the stadium is really something else."

The vast venue arguably called for a spectacle of Mandela's life involving music, dance and archive footage on the scale of an Olympic opening ceremony . But instead it was a programme heavy laden with speeches by politicians that were not always audible over the sound system. As the crowd became restless, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the chair of the African Union, was drowned out by songs and vuvuzelas, the plastic horn widely used during the World Cup here in 2010.

For a long spell a section of the crowd turned their backs to the stage and instead stared upwards at a balcony containing Barack and Michelle Obama and former president Bill Clinton, wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea. VIPs and members of the public began filing out well before the end. When, after four hours, retired archbishop Desmond Tutu stood up to address a virtually empty stadium, it summed up the frustrated sense of what might have been".

Source: theguardian

Twitter Apps Updated With New Swipeable Design And Photo Support In Direct Messages

Today, Twitter has announced anupdate to itsapps for iOs and Android  as well as TweetDeck for Web, Chrome and PC (and Mac soon) that bring a renewed focus on direct messaging. The app now features a direct link to Direct Messages in the tab bar and allows you to send photos inside DMs for the first time.

This major redesign has been in the works for a while, and today marks the first time we’ve seen most of these elements all in one place. Twitter has been testing a variety of these features over the past few weeks, but now they’re all packaged together. You may have seen the DM icon in thetabbar or heard of some users gettinga swipeable timeline design  as a part of Twitter’s ongoing experiments which see just a small percentage of users getting each permutation of the design. Those experiments are then used to determine which features hit the app itself.

We had heard this release was coming and now we know which features made the cut. There is a bunch of new stuff in this update, but the addition of photo support to DMs and the enhanced placement of the icon right in the tab bar indicated a renewed interest in the private messaging portion of Twitter — which has been long neglected.

Source: techcrunch

Automotive: All-new Ford Mustang gets a fastback makeover, EcoBoost engine

Ford revealed the all-new, sixth-generation Mustang last week in a four-content event encompassing major cities like Barcelona, New York and Shanghai. The global event supported the new pony car's more worldly focus. The latest Mustang drops the heavily retro influence of generation five in favor of a more modern look and feel. It also gets the latest technologies, including an EcoBoost four-cylinder turbo.
If you've grown accustomed to the throwback styling of the fifth-generation Mustang, the 2015 model may be a bit of a shock. Unlike the fifth-gen design process, which made a very purposeful attempt at recreating specific styling cues from the 1960s, gen-six designers were working with a much more general definition of traditional Mustang styling: long, sculpted hood, short rear deck and a fastback cabin in between. Within that basic framework, they created a contemporary look aimed at broadening the car's appeal for a larger global market.
Gone are the fifth-generation's wide-eyed headlamps set behind a forward-leaning nose, replaced by a set of narrower, more sinister eyes that leer at the onlooker. They're not quite as narrow as the slits on the Evos, but the influence comes through. The fog light buckets at the edges of the 2014 GT's grille are supplanted by more traditional set-ups in the lower corners. The nose has a more upright posture, and it rolls fluidly into the cut-and-pinched hood from the upper lip of the hexagonal grille, another styling point borrowed from the Evos.
The cabin is framed by a steeply sloped windshield that melds into a lowered roof line, quickly transitioning into a long, slow plunge to the short deck in back. Ford calls it the "return of Mustang fastback," and it gives the Mustang a profile that looks more "European exotic," less "American muscle".
"What [you're] looking at is a car that has been lowered, a car that has been widened, a car that has more of a animalistic stance to it," explains Dave Pericak, Mustang chief engineer, continuing, "one that is more aggressive and sporty, then where we were, but taking all of the heritage that we have within Mustang and interpreting it in an extremely modern way."
The rear-end is the most familiar element. The broad, flat upper fascia and triple-bar taillights look similar to their gen-five counterparts. The taillights are more three-dimensional, however. Down below, a body-matching rear diffuser is flanked by dual tailpipes.

Underneath its overhauled styling, the new Mustang runs on completely revised chassis and powertrain equipment. Ford calls it the "most nimble pony ever."

"We already set a very high standard for Mustang’s dynamics with Boss 302, and our goal was to go above and beyond that with this new car," says Dave Pericak, Mustang chief engineer.

To accomplish that goal, Pericak and Co. gave the 2015 Mustang all-new front and rear suspension systems. The big news is in back, where the car treats drivers to an integral-link independent rear suspension, its geometry, springs, dampers and bushings tuned specifically for the high-performance muscle car. Up front, the double-ball-joint MacPherson strut system cradles the wheels, while a new perimeter subframe provides a stiff foundation for better wheel control.

A trio of engine options delivers power to the extra-nimble wheels. The usual V6 and V8 options are still present, with Ford saying they receive unspecified upgrades from the 2014's 420-hp 5.0-liter V8 (GT) and 305-hp 3.7-liter V6. The third option is a 2.3-liter four-cylinder.

Even the most casual Mustang fan might cringe at the return of a four-cylinder, but this turbocharged EcoBoost has comparable output to the current 305-hp V6, along with the promise of segment-leading fuel economy – not a bad combination for daily driving. Ford expects it to put out more than 305 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque.

The two transmission options are an updated Getrag manual that Ford says has smoother shifting from a better-placed shift knob and a new Select-Shift six-speed automatic that gives Mustang owners the option of paddle shifting.

The Mustang may come from times when "horsepower" and "displacement" were the most important terms in car technology, but generation six represents a modern Mustang infused with modern car technologies. Those include SYNC connectivity with AppLink, the MyKey teen driver safety system, and the available Blind Spot Information System.

Ford plans to broaden the reach of the latest Mustang by launching it in 110 countries, including new markets in Europe and Asia. This push will include for the first time original factory-built right-hand models for markets like the UK, Australia and Japan.

Source:Gizmag,Ford.

DARPA developing giant folding space telescope

DARPA has announced planes to use a foldable plastic lens to “break the glass ceiling” of space telescopes. It’s part of the agency’s Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE) program, which aims at replacing conventional glass optics with lightweight polymer membranes that may one day make possible a foldable plastic orbital telescope 20 m (65 ft) wide that will be capable of seeing a medium-sized dog on Earth from 36,000 km (22,000 mi) away.

Putting telescopes into Earth orbit was one of the earliest and most successful goals of the space age. They’ve revolutionized astronomy with the groundbreaking discoveries of the Hubble and Kepler missions soon to be added to by the planned Jame Webb Space Telescope . Less obvious, but equally important are the telescopes that point in the other direction to keep an eye on the Earth for tasks ranging from weather forecasting to military reconnaissance.

The problem is that these telescopes are based largely on glass lenses and mirrors. These do a splendid job with an efficiency of 90 percent, but glass has its limitations – not the least of which is its weight. Glass is heavy. On Earth, telescope mirrors are limited in size because they start to deform under their own weight. In space, its even worse because, according to DARPA, optics in satellites are rapidly reaching the point where putting a larger mirror into orbit will be beyond the power of the largest rocket.

DAPRA’s solution to this is its MOIRE program, which aims to sidestep the whole glass problem with optics made out of a lightweight polymer membrane that is not only of comparable quality to glass, but can also be folded.

MOIRE is a two-phase project aimed at creating technologies that could be used to place a future high-resolution orbital telescope in geostationary orbit for real-time video surveillance of the Earth. It uses a polymer membrane that is the thickness of household plastic wrap. This membrane doesn’t reflect or refract light like conventional mirrors and lenses. Instead, it diffracts it like a Fresnel lens by means of microscopic concentric grooves etched into the plastic. These grooves range in size from hundreds of microns wide down to only four microns.

The optical membrane is less efficient than glass, but it makes up for this in size. And since it’s lightweight and can fold up, an orbital polymer telescope’s size can be very big without weighing much. DARPA estimates that such telescopes will be one-seventh the weight of a comparable glass-mirrored version.

The idea is that the membranes would be mounted in thin metal petals that would fold up like origami to form a spacecraft about 6 m (20 ft) in diameter. Launched into geostationary orbit, the satellite would unfold a long support structure with the membrane lens at one end and a sensor suite at the other. The lens would then unfold to a diameter of 20 m (65 ft) and focus light on the sensors to form images.

According to DARPA, this would be the single largest telescope ever built – twice the size of the ground-based twin 10-m Keck telescopes. From its geostationary position, it would see about 40 percent of the Earth’s surface at a resolution of one meter while generating videos at one frame per second.

MOIRE is now in its second and final phase. With Ball Aerospace & Technologies as the primary contractor, MOIRE demonstrated a ground-based, proof-of-concept prototype. This consists of a section of a 5-m wide optic using polymer membranes to replace glass and the development of the secondary optics needed to operate the telescope. Aside from achieving the proper flatness and stability, the MOIRE telescope scored a first for membrane optics by nearly doubling their efficiency from 30 to 55 percent and creating the first images ever with membrane optics.

DARPA says that the next part of Phase 2 will be an orbital test of the optical membrane as part of the US Air Force FalconSAT-7 program.

“Membrane optics could enable us to fit much larger, higher-resolution telescopes in smaller and lighter packages,” says Lt. Col. Larry Gunn, DARPA program manager. “In that respect, we’re ‘breaking the glass ceiling’ that traditional materials impose on optics design. We’re hoping our research could also help greatly reduce overall costs and enable more timely deployment using smaller, less expensive launch vehicles.”

Source:Darpa,Gizmag.

How Matternet Wants To Bring Drone Delivery To The People Who Need It Most

Last week, the media worldwas abuzz with the news that e-commerce giant Amazon was experimenting with a new program dubbed “Amazon Prime Air,” which would use small automated “drone” aircraft to make customer deliveries. But while Jeff Bezos’ primetime television announcement  of Amazon’s drone ambitions certainly attracted a lot of attention, it’s important to note that he is not the first person to express interest in the drone delivery space.

A small Silicon Valley startup called Matternet has been developing drone delivery technology for several years now. The company’s co-founder and CEO Andreas Raptopoulos’TED talk from this past summer   about the potential to use small drones for delivery purposes has garnered more than 200,000 views since it was posted online last month — and perhaps helped to inspire Bezos himself, as Bezos used some of the same language used in Raptopoulos’ TED talk when unveiling the concept of Amazon Prime Air on 60 Minutes.

One very interesting thing about Matternet is that the company believes drone delivery technology should be first used in the developing world, to deliver food, medicine, and other necessities to areas that are less accessible by car or truck. Often, consumer technologies start by serving a higher end market and trickle down to attain widespread utility — think computers, cell phones, automobiles, and the like. Matternet says its approach is to introduce drone delivery technology to the “people who need it the most,” and build the network from there.

Source: techcrunch

Secret-Sharing App Whisper Adds Search And Topics To Find Other Users Like You

Whisper, the secret sharing startup backed by Sequoia and others, has just pushed a new version of its app into the app store that’s designed to help users search and browse through various topics. The update also adds a new “create flow” that will simplify the process of making and sharing Whispers anonymously with other members of the social network.

Whisper was built around the idea of helping people to combine images and text of their secrets, and then share them with others  . Sort of like a mobile version of long-running site Post Secret, Whisper allows users to express themselves freely, without having to worry about being judged or what others might think about them.

But the latest version is designed to make it not only easier to create Whispers, but also to find those on topics that interest you. The new Whisper create flow simplifies the process, allowing you to type in whatever you want to share, and then it’ll suggest a relevant photo for you that it has found. If you don’t like it, you can search for others or add one from your own image library.

All of that should encourage users to create more Whispers of their own. But like most apps, the vast majority of Whisper users are consuming content rather than creating it. For them, the whisper’s appeal lies in the ability to read other people’s secrets.

Since being launched earlier this year, Whisper has grown pretty rapidly. It now has more than 3 billion page views per month, up from 1.5 billion in May. And users typically spend upwards of 30 minutes a day getting sucked into reading other people’s secrets.

Before, they were stuck with just three options: The most recent Whispers, the most popular Whispers, and those posted nearby. But now users will be able to access a lot more.

“Before, [Whisper] was a big river of content coming through, but it was a lot of noise,” Whisper CEO Michael Heyward told me in a phone conversation. “It was challenging to give different types of people different types of content.”

The updated app now has the ability to search and browse Whispers based on topics, allowing users to dig deep into the things they most care about. To do that, Whisper had to do a bunch of work on the back end to break Whispers down into the relevant topics that they talk about.

There are more than 1 million different topics to choose from, and those topics are displayed at the bottom of each Whisper that you view. So if you searched for or stumbled on a Whisper about death, then you could follow that topic and see other related Whispers.

“We’re adding this whole other dimension to the product,” Heyward said. He asked us to imagine, for instance, what YouTube would be like if it were just a stream of the newest or most trending videos. Now Whisper will no longer be operating under similar constraints.

The addition of topics, and the fact that now every Whisper will have them, could also make those secrets available to outside developers as well. Heyward said that the introduction of new features could have major implications for a potential API, if Whisper wanted to make one available.

Whisper, which is based in L.A., now has 30 employees. The company has raised a total of $24 million from investors that include Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Trinity Ventures, Shoedazzle founder Brian Lee, and Flixster’s Joe Greenstein.

Source: techcrunch

World's leading authors: state surveillance of personal data is theft

"More than 500 of the world's leading authors, including five Nobel prize winners, have condemned the scale of state surveillance revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden and warned that spy agencies are undermining democracy and must be curbed by a new international charter".

"The signatories, who come from 81 different countries and includeMargaret Atwood , Don DeLillo, Orhan Pamuk, Gunther Grass and Arundhati Roy, say the capacity of intelligence agencies to spy on millions of people's digital communications is turning everyone into potential suspects, with worrying implications for the way societies work.

They have urged the United Nations to create an international bill of digital rights that would enshrine the protection of civil rights in the interner age.

Their call comes a day after the heads of the world's leading technology companies demanded sweeping changes to surveillance laws to help preserve the public's trust in the internet – reflecting the growing global momentum for a proper review of mass snooping capabilities in countries such as the US and UK, which have been the pioneers in the field.

The open letter to the US president, Barack Obama, from firms including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, will be followed by the petition, which has drawn together a remarkable list of the world's most respected and widely-read authors, who have accused states of systematically abusing their powers by conducting intrusive mass surveillance.

Julian Barnes,Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Irvine Welsh, Hari Kunzru, Jeanette Winterson and Kazuo Ishiguro are among the British authors on the list.

It also includes JM Coetzee, Yann Martel, Ariel Dorfman, Amit Chaudhuri, Roddy Doyle, Amos Oz, David Grossman, and the Russian Mikhail Shishkin.

Henning Mankell, Lionel Shriver, Hanif Kureishi and the antipodean writers CK Stead, Thomas Keneally and Anna Funder are other globally renowned signatories".

Source: theguardian

China Conclave Seeks Economic Growth Target

  According to a report from the Wall Street Journal published today, "the annual conclave of senior economic officials from central and local governments follows a gathering of top Communist Party leaders last month that hammered out a longer-term blueprint for economic and social reforms. The meeting that opened on Tuesday offers the leadership its first high-profile shot at more specific policy direction".

The official Xinhua news agency said the Central Economic Work Conference got under way Tuesday to review the country's economic performance for 2013 and "put forward overall requirements and major tasks for economic work in 2014." Xinhua didn't say when the conference would end. Last year's meeting lasted two days.

The meeting normally sets targets for growth and a ceiling on inflation, though the government usually doesn't make a formal announcement until the nation's parliament, the National People's Congress, convenes its annual session in March.

This year's growth target was set at 7.5%, and economists have been trying to assess whether the government will reduce its goal for next year to 7% or keep it at 7.5% amid a recovering—but still sluggish—global economy. China's economy regularly exceeds the growth target, but it is still a closely watched measure of the government's priorities, offering hints of monetary policy and shedding light on Beijing's views of the global economy.

A higher growth target will mean that efforts to restructure the economy, which has long relied on government investment and exports for growth, could take a back seat to providing sufficient economic momentum to create enough new jobs and ensure social stability. That would mean more government investment projects—one of the tried-and-true methods for stimulating growth.

By contrast, a lower growth target would give China room to streamline bloated state enterprises, curb polluting industries and tackle industry overcapacity. Less emphasis on infrastructure spending could also give them room to expand social services, which could help Beijing's efforts to make consumers a greater driver of growth.

On Tuesday, policy makers got a little bit of good news in their efforts to rebalance the economy as retail sales climbed 13.7% year over year—their fastest pace since December last year and signaling that consumption was gaining a bit of traction—just as fixed asset investment showed signs of slowing.

"I hope to see a growth target of 7% next year," said Li Xuesong, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who adds that slower growth will let the government focus on its longer-term objectives. "But we are expecting a target of 7.5%."

Economists expect China to maintain an inflation target of 3.5% next year—unchanged from this year's target but above recent price increase levels. The consumer price index rose 3% year on year in November, slipping back slightly from a 3.2% gain in October. If Beijing follows through on giving markets greater say in areas where it controls pricing, such as energy and water, that could lead to higher inflation.

The work conference may also give a hearing to key social policies—such as a relaxation of the one-child policy—unveiled at the November meeting of Communist Party leaders. Local governments are to set their own pace for pushing ahead with what is seen as helping to slow a reduction in the workforce as fewer babies are born. The work force decline is pushing up wages and potentially undermining the nation's social security system as the number of retirees expands rapidly.

Asian Stock Markets Lose Ground

   According to a report from the Wall Street journal,asian markets lack enthusiasm after the release of chinese data:
"Chinese Fixed-asset investment grew by 19.9% in the first 11 months of the year, just below expectations, though a 13.7% rise in retail sales in November did overshoot consensus.
Chinese stocks did not react with much enthusiasm, however, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipping 0.3% to 23744.19 and the Shanghai Composite ending less than one point lower at 2237.49.

Earlier in the year, when there were concerns over the health of the Chinese economy, positive economic data often had a significant impact on stocks. But now that the market is used to the idea that the economy has stabilized, the data points are having less of an effect as investors look to further signs that Beijing could implement economic reforms. In particular, the market was looking at a meeting of senior officials that began in China on Tuesday to review this year's economic progress and map plans for 2014.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3% to 15611.31 after a 2.3% jump on Monday, as the yen strengthened during Asian trade. Although the dollar gained 0.4% against the yen on Monday it retreated slightly on Tuesday—trading at ¥103.13 late in Asia, though it remained within striking distance of the 2013 high of ¥103.74.

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.4% to 1993.45 and Singapore's Straits Times Index was down 0.9% late in Asia.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended flat at 5143.60, paring earlier gains, as shares stabilized after a Monday selloff following a profit warning fromQBE Insurance  that surprised the market and hit broader sentiment. The insurer fell another 9.8% Tuesday".

Singapore PM urges Japan to abolish tariffs

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged Japan to abolish all tariffs. In the ongoing free trade talks, Japan hopes to maintain its tariffs on 5 key agricultural products.

Lee said this in an interview with NHK on Monday in Singapore, where the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks are being held.

The prime minister said most participating countries think that tariffs should ultimately be abolished for all goods, without exception.

Sourece: NewsOnJapan

Japan may soon start losing wealth

Japan may still be the world's largest creditor nation, but it is likely to starting losing some of its wealth within the next couple of years, as its broadest trade measure lurches closer to its first annual deficit in more than 30 years.

The nation's current account balance, the broadest measure of trade with the rest of the world, posted a second monthly deficit on a seasonally adjusted basis in October of ¥59.3 billion ($576 million), government figures showed Monday. That's the first back-to-back shortfall under the current data series that started in 1996.On a nominal basis, the current account also logged its first deficit since January, its fifth shortfall since the watershed month of March 2011, when the earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan's economy and caused changes to Japan's energy usage through the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Japan has posted a current account surplus every year since 1981, on the back of its strong exports and overseas investment income.
While the monthly figures so far this year suggest the current account will stay in the black in 2013, economists see a trend of regular deficits becoming clearer over the next couple of years.
Part of Japan's current account problems stem from the surge in imports of fossil fuels needed to make up for the loss of nuclear power, after reactors were shut down following the tsunami-triggered Fukushima nuclear accident. Those imports are weighing heavily on the trade balance.

Source: the Wall Street Journal

Japan swings to current account deficit in October

Japan unexpectedly swung into a current account deficit in October as its massive goods and services trade deficit eradicated the benefits of solid income from overseas investment.

The Y127.9 billion deficit in the current account, the broadest measure of Japan's trade with the rest of the world, was much worse than the Y420.8 billion surplus the country registered a year earlier, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed Monday. Economists surveyed by the Nikkei and The Wall Street Journal had been expecting a surplus of Y160.1 billion for the month.A Y1.092 trillion trade deficit was largely responsible for the red ink, the data showed.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Japan: Annual gun festival held at shrine in Saitama

Dozens of hunters fired blank shots to drive sacred horses up to a shrine in an annual gun festival in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo.

The festival was held on Sunday at Hachiman Shrine in Ogano Town.

People encouraged the horses to climb the steep steps up to the shrine, believing it is a promising sign for safe hunting and a good harvest.

Source:NewsOnJapan

Japan revises GDP growth to annual 1.1 % in Q3

The Japanese government on Monday downgraded the country's July-September economic growth read to an annualized rate of 1.1 percent, down from 1.9 percent released last month.

The period's growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) corresponded to a 0.3-percent increase from the previous quarter, said Japan's Cabinet Office in a report.

Source: NesOnJapan

China's fixed-asset investment growth cools

China's urban fixed-asset investment growth cooled to 19.9 percent year on year in the Jan.-Nov. period, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Tuesday.

The country's urban fixed-asset investment growth expanded 19.9 percent year on year to 39.13 trillion yuan (6.4 trillion U.S. dollars) in the Jan.-Nov. period, down 0.2 percentage points from the growth rate in the first ten months, according to the NBS.

In November, urban fixed-asset investment grew 1.47 percent from the previous month, the NBS data showed.

From January to November, investment from the private sector, which accounted for 63.5 percent of total fixed-asset investment, grew 23.2 percent year on year to 24.84 trillion yuan. ( From January to November, investment in primary industry hit 850.9 billion yuan, up 31.7 percent year on year, while investment in secondary industry amounted to 16.7 trillion yuan, up 17.3 percent year on year. Investment in tertiary industry expanded 21.5 percent year on year to 21.6 trillion yuan.

Investment in China's western regions grew by 23.1 percent year on year, followed by 23 percent in the central regions and 18.4 percent in the east.

The NBS said the property sector attracted 7.74 trillion yuan of investment in the first eleven months, up 19.5 percent year on year. The growth rate increased 0.3 percentage points from that of the first ten months.

Residential housing investment accounted for 68.6 percent of the total property investment, up 19.1 percent year on year to 5.3 trillion yuan.

Sales of commodity housing surged 30.7 percent year on year to 6.99 trillion yuan, but the growth rate dipped 1.6 percentage points from the rate registered in the first ten months.

Source: Xinhua

China: GDP not the only benchmark, but still important

China has promised to cut the weight of GDP when assessing the work of local governments, but the country has not scrapped economic development, central authorities said Tuesday.

The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee issued a document on Monday promising to shift away from GDP-obsessed assessments of local governments as the nation attempts to bring its economy onto a more sustainable track.

The document orders local governments to abandon the development mode of "high investment and heavy pollution for fast growth rate" and set more evaluation criteria related to resources, the environment, scientific innovation, employment, income, health and social insurance.

"Not judging by GDP alone does not mean we no longer want GDP or economic growth, nor does it mean we will not assess development based on GDP criteria. We emphasize assessment based on scientific and comprehensive development," the Organization Department explained in a statement given to Xinhua on Tuesday.

The move will not affect local economic development, instead it will solve prominent problems in the development process and will ultimately benefit China's future development, according to the statement.

Local officials will shoulder a heavier burden and task of development because they must focus not only on the economic aggregate and growth rate, but also on the quality of development, growth mode and potential, the statement said.

Officials can now devote themselves to promoting economic restructuring, improving the well-being of the people, and laying a sound foundation for long-term local development, it said.

The statement warned against heavy government debts. It reiterated that local governments are prohibited from taking on huge loans to develop impractical "image" or "vanity" projects, and they will not be allowed to drive the economy through blind investment.

Source: Xinhua

British navy's destroyer HMS Daring arrives in Shanghai

A destroyer from Britain has arrived in the Shanghai on a goodwill mission.

The goodwill visit to China comes at an important time in bilateral relations, just after the British Prime Minister David Cameron concluded his Chinese trip with the strongest delegation he has ever sent to the country.

A large number of senior officials and diplomats from both sides participated in the welcoming ceremony.

"We're very pleased to be able to host the anti-piracy conference. We know that China has a quite active involvement in the anti-piracy arena and something we look forward to boost our cooperation in two days' time," CDR Angus Essenhigh, Commanding Officer of HMS Daring, says.

The commanding officer praised the Chinese navy and looking forward to more exchanges with the navy in the near future.

HMS Daring has finished two thirds of its nine-month deployment. The ship just finished supporting relief efforts in the Philippines.

"It's an important step of good will and I'm delighted to be able to welcome the ship here. This sort of thing just did not happen that frequently in our relationship. I think it was six years ago the last time our navy ship visited China," Sebastian Wood, Britain's Ambassador to China, says.

The Ambassador said the goodwill visit symbolizes the potential for deeper cooperation between the two sides in areas from security to creativity, culture and innovation.

The visit signals the further bilateral relations between the two countries. The destroyer will stay in Shanghai for the next two days. And a number of bilateral meetings and other activities are scheduled. 

Source: CCTV

China yuan strengthens to new high against US Dollar

The Chinese currency Renminbi, or the yuan, rose to a new record high against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday.

The yuan strengthened 16 basis points to reach 6.1114 per U.S. dollar, the strongest since July 2005, when the country launched reforms of the exchange rate mechanism, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

The People's Bank of China on Monday set the dollar-yuan central parity rate at 6.1130, stronger than Friday's 6.1232. This was in line with broad dollar weakness despite better-than-expected U.S. job data released on Friday.

In China's foreign exchange spot market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 1 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market each business day.

Source: Xinhua