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January
US delays planned return of astronauts to moon until 2026
Written by nuke
NASA's Artemis 1 Space Launch System launches at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Nov 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images North America/Red Huber) -
WASHINGTON: The United States is pushing back its planned return of astronauts to the surface of the moon from 2025 to 2026, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Tuesday (Jan 9) amid technical challenges and delays.
Artemis, named after the sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, was officially announced in 2017 as part of the US space agency's plans to establish a sustained presence on Earth's nearest space neighbour and apply lessons learned there for a future mission to Mars.
Its first mission, an uncrewed test flight to the moon and back called Artemis 1, took place in 2022, after several postponements. Artemis 2, involving a crew that doesn't land on the surface, has been postponed from later this year to September 2025, Nelson told reporters.
Artemis 3, in which the first woman and first person of colour are to set foot on lunar soil at the moon's south pole, should take place in September 2026.
"Safety is our top priority, and to give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges," said Nelson.
NASA is also looking to build a lunar space station called Gateway where spacecraft will dock during later missions. Elon Musk's SpaceX has won the contract for a landing system for Artemis 3 based on a version of its prototype Starship rocket, which remains far from ready. Both of its orbital tests have ended in explosions.
Delays to Starship have knock-on effects because the spacesuit contractor needs to know how the suits will interface with the spacecraft, and simulators need to be built for astronauts to learn its systems.
The Artemis 1 mission itself revealed technical issues, such as the heat shield on the Orion crew capsule eroded in an unexpected way, and the ground structure used to launch the giant SLS rocket sustained more damage than expected.
As of March 2023, NASA has agreed to pay about US$40 billion to hundreds of contractors supporting Artemis, the same watchdog found.
A key difference between the 20th-century Apollo missions and the Artemis era is the increasing role of commercial partnerships, part of a broader strategy to involve private companies in space exploration to reduce costs and to make space more accessible//CNA-VOI
January
Singapore more than halfway to its 2030 solar power deployment target: Grace Fu
Written by nuke
Solar panels on Southeast Asia's first zero energy building in Singapore. (File photo: TODAY) -
SINGAPORE: Singapore is more than halfway to its solar power deployment target of at least 2,000 megawatt-peak by 2030, said Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu on Wednesday (Jan 10).
The country has doubled its solar power deployment since 2021 to over 1,000 megawatt-peak currently, she added.
The minister gave the updated figures in parliament in response to questions on Singapore's progress in transitioning towards renewable energy.
During the UN Climate Change Conference 2023 (COP28), Singapore co-facilitated negotiations on mitigation and the first global stocktake that contributed to the successful adoption of the UAE Consensus, which calls on countries to transition away from fossil fuels, said Ms Fu.
The UAE Consensus also calls on countries to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency globally by 2030.
At the conference, Singapore signed the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency pledge.
"Singapore supports the UAE Consensus. As part of our long-term low-emissions development strategy, Singapore has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, despite being a small, alternative energy disadvantaged city-state with many natural limitations on our climate action measures," said the minister.
The country has been accelerating its energy transition, with solar energy as one of its key pushes.
Solar energy is one of the four "switches" that Singapore is deploying to achieve its net-zero target by 2050. The other three are natural gas, regional power grids and low-carbon alternatives.
Solar energy will eventually allow Singapore to meet about 10 per cent of its projected electricity demand in 2050, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said in November last year.
The country is on track to meet the 1,500 megawatt-peak goal of solar deployment by 2025.
According to EMA's Singapore Energy Statistics 2023 report, the private sector has been the driving force behind the growth in solar deployment, accounting for 63.5 per cent of the total installed capacity.
Apart from solar energy, Singapore is working towards importing low-carbon electricity from the region.
In their supplementary questions, Members of Parliament asked about timelines and net-zero strategies moving forward.
MP Liang Eng Hwa (PAP-Bukit Panjang) asked if Ms Fu was satisfied with the overall outcome of COP28 and if Singapore's position on nuclear energy has changed following other countries' call to triple the world's nuclear energy capacity by 2050.
Answering Mr Liang's first question, Ms Fu noted several improvements and movements in negotiations.
With the global stocktake, there was a "louder" and "more concerted call" to accelerate action in this decade due to climate projections that indicate the world needs to do more in the near term, said Ms Fu.
It is no longer about setting net-zero targets but charting a pathway to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, said Ms Fu, adding that there were "very specific recommendations and agreements".
"And there are many other details, it's a very extensive and comprehensive process ... It deserves a much more extensive discussion."
On nuclear energy, the government has not changed its position. It has yet to make a decision on adopting nuclear energy as a potential source of renewable energy, but is instead keeping tabs on how the technology develops.
"We think the advanced nuclear technology offers us some potential. In terms of safety, there's better safety in these technologies and also in terms of cost competitiveness, these are very ... important decision metrics that feed into our energy decision," said the minister.
"So we have not made a decision on adopting nuclear energy, but we are building capabilities to understand how this technology is advancing and also how these technologies can potentially be of help to Singapore."//CNA-VOI
January
Japan's Tohoku Electric to delay nuclear reactor restart on construction works
Written by nuke
Tohoku Power Electric Co.'s Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant is seen in Onagawa town, Miyagi Prefecture, September 7, 2011. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo -
TOKYO : Japan's Tohoku Electric Power said on Wednesday it will delay the restart of reactor No. 2 at its Onagawa nuclear station due to additional safety construction works, keeping all its nuclear power plants shutdown since the 2011 earthquake.
Japan is gradually bringing nuclear power back to its energy mix in a move to reach carbon neutrality goals and to reduce imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) which it imports from elsewhere including from Russia.
Tohoku, whose Onawaga plant was closest among Japan's nuclear stations to the epicentre of the magnitude-9 quake in March 2011, received a regulatory approval to restart the No. 2 reactor in 2020 but has seen a delay in completion of safety construction measures.
On Wednesday, it said it expected a delay of several months in finishing safety construction measures earlier targeted for February. Timing of the reactor restart, set for May, will also be changed, Tohoku said, without providing a new timeline.
The station was swamped by the 2011 tsunami, but survived with its cooling system intact, saving its reactors from the threat of meltdowns similar to those that occurred at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi plant to the south.
Japan's Hokuriku Electric Power on Sunday reported a small oil leak from its Shika nuclear power station, which was shaken by a powerful earthquake on New Year's Day, but said external radiation levels were not affected and there were no adverse impacts on the environment or human health.
Days before the magnitude 7.6 quake, which has killed over 200 people in the Hokuriku region, Japan's nuclear power regulator lifted an operational ban on Tokyo Electric Power's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's biggest.
Resumption of the plant, offline following the Fukushima disaster, needs consent from the local governments of Niigata prefecture, Kashiwazaki city and Kariwa village, where it is located, and its timing is unknown//CNA-VOI
January
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, December 29, 2023 Photo -
SYDNEY :Global stock markets were lacklustre on Wednesday, while the dollar stayed strong, as market optimism about early U.S. interest rate cuts ebbed and the latest escalation of hostilities in the Middle East weighed on sentiment.
MSCI's broad index of world equities was 0.1 per cent lower, following a 0.8 per cent fall on Tuesday, marking a weak start to 2024 that may herald the end of the blistering gains for stocks and bonds that began late last year.
Europe's STOXX 600 share index opened flat and Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.3 per cent.
Caution crept in ahead of the release of minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's December meeting, due at 1900 GMT on Wednesday.
Fed officials in December predicted 75 basis points (bps) of rate cuts in 2024, driving money market bets for around double that amount of cuts that prompted a cross-market year-end rally.
Futures markets still see a 70 per cent chance of the Fed starting to lower U.S. borrowing costs from their current 22-year high from March.
"The market has already executed a pivot on the Fed’s behalf," strategists at Rabobank said in a research note, adding that the minutes "may still reinforce" the views of policymakers who are less committed to imminent cuts.
Reuters analysis of Fed policymakers' recent comments shows that, while many of them have noted improvements on inflation and some easing of wage pressures, most have not said monetary easing is urgent.
Important U.S. data this week should clarify the outlook further, with ISM's manufacturing survey, due later on Wednesday, set to signal whether the central bank has any new signs of an economic slowdown to worry about. The market-moving U.S. nonfarm payrolls report is due on Friday.
Kyle Rodda, an analyst at Capital.com, said the combination of event risk and thin liquidity at the tail end of the holiday raises the prospect of exaggerated moves in markets and heightened volatility this week.
"All that's required is a catalyst, which could come from the data flow in the coming days," Rodda said.
Futures markets tipped Wall Street's S&P 500 index to open flat later in the day after Tuesday's 0.6 per cent fall in a retreat from record highs.
The tech-focused Nasdaq slid 1.6 per cent on Tuesday, dragged lower by a nearly 3 per cent drop in Apple to a seven-week low after Barclays downgraded its shares.
It was also set to flatline on Wednesday, judging by futures trade.
A climb in U.S. Treasury yields as the government debt securities sold off also continued on Wednesday. The benchmark 10-year yield, a barometer of expected long-term borrowing costs, briefly popped above 4 per cent on Tuesday.
It was last trading around 2 bps higher at 3.96 per cent.
Germany's 10-year Bund yield climbed 3 bps to 2.089 per cent, rising for the fourth consecutive session.
Market sentiment was souring after tensions in the Middle East ratcheted up.
Israel on Tuesday killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon's capital Beirut, Lebanese and Palestinian security sources said, raising the risk of war in Gaza spreading well beyond the Palestinian enclave.
Denmark's Maersk and German rival Hapag-Lloyd said on Tuesday their container ships would continue to avoid the Red Sea after a series of attacks on vessels blamed on Houthi militants.
The U.S. dollar, which climbed 0.8 per cent against an index of major currencies overnight to a two-week high, held steady at 102.1.
Brent crude oil futures,, were 0.2 per cent lower at $75.69 a barrel as expectations of ample supply outweighed concerns about disruptions to Red Sea shipping routes [O/R].
Spot gold rose 0.3 per cent to $2,065.39 an ounce//CNA-VOI
January
Dollar clings to previous day's gains as focus turns to US data
Written by nuke
U.S. dollar banknote is seen in this picture illustration taken May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo -
LONDON/SINGAPORE :The dollar stayed near a two-week high on Wednesday after jumping the previous day, its rally underpinned by elevated U.S. Treasury yields and a cautious turn that weighed on Wall Street.
Trading was relatively subdued, with Japanese markets shut for a holiday and investors waiting for important U.S. economic releases later in the day, including minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting.
The euro was last up 0.12 per cent against the dollar at $1.0954. It fell 0.95 per cent on Tuesday, its biggest daily drop since July.
That helped push the dollar index, which tracks the currency against six major peers, slightly lower to 102.18, although it held on to almost all of the previous day's gains of 0.86 per cent.
A surge in risk appetite at the end of last year, sparked by a drop in inflation and a dovish tilt in the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting, fuelled bets for U.S. rate cuts in 2024, toppling the greenback and sparking a rally in Treasuries and stocks. The dollar index hit a five-month low of 100.61 last week.
That buoyant mood failed to carry over into the New Year, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closing lower on their first trading session of 2024, dragged down by big tech names [.N]. Treasury yields jumped as prices fell, boosting the attractiveness of U.S. debt and propelling the dollar higher.
"I think that what happened in the latter half of December was just not justified," said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets.
"The markets got carried away with this view of imminent Fed cuts in the first quarter, that took the dollar off. So I do think that this reversal can carry on for a bit longer."
The greenback was last up 0.43 per cent against Japan's yen at 142.57 to the dollar, adding to the previous day's 0.82 per cent gain.
Investors will scrutinise the minutes from the Fed's December meeting, due at 1900 GMT (2 p.m. ET), for any hints about how many rate cuts the central bank will actually carry out this year.
Data on U.S. job openings for November and a survey-based gauge of the manufacturing sector could also move markets.
"As more people come back it will be more about the data," said RBC's Tan.
The New Zealand dollar, often used as a proxy for risk appetite, was last 0.11 per cent higher at $0.6259, having slid to a two-week low of $0.6246 earlier on Wednesday.
Sterling gained 0.21 per cent to $1.2646, having slid 0.87 per cent in the previous session, its sharpest daily fall in nearly three months.
Analysts said the risk-off mood was also in part driven by concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions, after Israel killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday.
"I suspect that markets (are) starting the year with finding it hard to completely ignore geopolitics," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank//CNA-VOI
January
Oil prices hold steady amid economic concerns despite Red Sea worries
Written by nuke
Pump jacks of Wintershall DEA are pictured in Emlichheim near the northern German city of Meppen, Germany, Mar 9, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Fabian Bimmer) -
Voinews, Jakarta - Oil prices stabilised in early Asian trade on Wednesday (Jan 3) after sharp moves earlier in the week, as markets weighed concerns about the US economy and potential supply disruptions from ongoing tensions in the Red Sea.
Brent crude slipped 1 cent, or 0.01 per cent, to US$75.88 a barrel by 0300 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 4 cents, or 0.06 per cent, to US$70.42 a barrel.
Oil prices had climbed around US$2 earlier in the week following attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels over the weekend and the reported arrival of an Iranian warship on Monday. A wider conflict could close crucial waterways for oil transportation and disrupt trade flows.
However, the market fell in the previous session as market optimism about early and aggressive US interest rate cuts ebbed ahead of the release of Federal Reserve minutes and jobs data.
"Energy markets were unable to escape the broader pressure seen on risk assets with equity markets also weaker. The weakness in oil comes despite a ratcheting up in tensions in the Middle East," said ING analysts in a client note.
Expectations of ample supply in the first half of 2024 have kept a lid on prices ahead of OPEC+ plans to hold a meeting of its Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in early February. An exact date has not been decided, three sources from the alliance said.
"While the geopolitical situation is a concern for the oil market, a fairly comfortable oil balance over the first half of 2024 does help to ease some of these worries," said ING analysts.
"Given the scale of cuts we are already seeing, it will be increasingly difficult for the group to cut more if needed over the course of 2024," they said, pointing to the fact that recent cuts have been driven by voluntary reductions, rather than group-wide cuts.
Ahead of weekly US crude and product inventory reports, analysts polled by Reuters expected crude stockpiles fell last week, while distillate and gasoline stocks likely rose.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute industry group is due at 4.30pm local time (2130 GMT) on Wednesday, and data from the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, is due at 11am (1600 GMT) on Thursday, delayed by a day due to the New Year's holiday on Monday//CNA-VOI
January
Japan quake toll rises to 62 as weather hampers rescuers
Written by nuke
Firefighters inspect collapsed wooden houses in the city of Wajima on Japan's Noto Peninsula, the area hardest hit by the New Year's Day earthquake (Photo: AFP/Kazuhiro NOGI) -
Voinews, Jakarta, WAJIMA: Japanese rescuers scrambled to search for survivors on Wednesday (Jan 3) as authorities warned of landslides and heavy rain after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 62 people.
The 7.5-magnitude quake on Jan 1 that rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu triggered tsunami waves more than a metre high, sparked a major fire and tore apart roads.
The Noto Peninsula of the prefecture was most severely hit, with several hundred buildings ravaged by fire and houses flattened in several towns, including Wajima and Suzu, as shown by before-and-after satellite images released on Wednesday.
The regional government announced on Wednesday that 62 people had been confirmed dead and more than 300 injured, 20 of them seriously.
The toll was expected to climb as rescuers battle aftershocks and poor weather to comb through rubble.
More than 31,800 people were in shelters, the government said.
"More than 40 hours have passed since the disaster. We have received a lot of information about people in need of rescue and there are people waiting for help," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday after an emergency task force meeting.
The number of military personnel sent to the area on rescue missions has been doubled, with more rescue dogs also deployed, he added.
The operation was given extra urgency as the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a heavy rain warning in the region, advising people to be on alert for landslides until Wednesday evening.
There were "almost no houses standing" in one town in the Suzu area, said municipal mayor Masuhiro Izumiya.
"About 90 per cent of the houses (in that town) are completely or almost completely destroyed ... The situation is really catastrophic," he said, according to broadcaster TBS//CNA-VOI
December
Saudi Asks the World to Cease Military Operations in Gaza
Written by Rama Shidqi P.
VOINews.id, Jakarta: Saudi Arabia calls on the international community to assume responsibility for immediately stopping Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, rejecting collective punishment methods targeting civilians in the Gaza Strip, Palestine and attempting to evict its residents forcibly.
December
California approves rules for converting sewage waste to drinking water
Written by nuke
A landscaper drinks water in temperatures that have reached well above triple digits in Palm Springs, California, US, July 20, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/David Swanson) -
LOS ANGELES: California regulators on Tuesday (Dec 19) cleared the way for widespread use of advanced filtration and treatment facilities designed to convert sewage waste into pure drinking water that can be pumped directly into systems feeding millions of household taps.
Proven technologies capable of recycling wastewater for human consumption, a concept once derided by critics as "toilet to tap", have gained greater credence in recent years as water-conscious California faces worsening drought cycles from climate change.
More than a decade in the making, the regulations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board represent a landmark in the quest to reclaim some of the hundreds of millions of gallons of waste discharge that flows out to sea unused each year, supporters say.
"Today heralds a new era of water reuse," Patricia Sinicropi, executive director of the recycling trade group WateReuse California, said in a statement.
A number of communities have for years been blending highly purified wastewater into aquifers and reservoirs before people can drink it, a practice known in the parlance of engineers and resource managers as "indirect potable reuse".
In the sprawling Orange County suburbs south of Los Angeles, home to Disneyland and upscale beach towns, much of the drinking supply for 2.5 million people comes from highly distilled waste that is used to recharge the groundwater basin and eventually is drawn back to the surface.
The 69-page document approved on Tuesday provides a legal and regulatory framework for "direct potable reuse", allowing the end-product of advanced purification to be fed straight into drinking water systems, without first making a stop in some kind of environmental buffer.
The foundation of the technology, used for more than a decade in Orange County, puts pre-treated waste discharge through intense microfiltration, reverse osmosis and disinfection by ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide.
The new regulations mandate an additional ozone disinfectant process and biological carbon filtration. Greater pathogen removal and stricter monitoring is also required.
Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the state board's drinking water division, said it would likely take at least five years before the first direct potable reuse plant is operating.
Los Angeles and San Diego also have plans to develop direct potable recycling, as does the Santa Clara Valley Water District in the San Francisco Bay area.
Texas is the only US state to have previously approved direct potable recycling, with two small-scale systems that went online in 2014 to serve towns stricken by a drought-caused water emergency. Colorado also has developed relatively limited guidelines for such projects.
The technology for purifying wastewater is similar to that used in desalination, the seemingly more palatable process of converting salt water to fresh//CNA-VOI
December
Paris 2024 has contingency plans for opening ceremony
Written by nuke
Members of the Paris police bomb squad intervene on the Champs Elysees avenue near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as the bomb-disposal team gear up for heightened security operations for Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, France, December 4, 2023. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo -
PARIS: Paris 2024 organisers admitted that there were contingency plans for the Olympics opening ceremony on Thursday (Dec 21) after French President Emmanuel Macron revealed the event could be moved from the River Seine in case of a major security alert.
"Given we're professionals, there obviously is a Plan B, Plan C et cetera," Macron said on Wednesday when asked if heightened security across Europe over tensions in the Middle East could thwart plans to hold the ceremony as planned.
France raised its security threshold in October when a man with a knife killed a teacher in a school in northern France.
Earlier this month, however, the sports minister and Paris 2024 organisers ruled out a change of plans after a man armed with a knife and hammer killed a German tourist and left two people wounded near the Eiffel Tower.
"There is no single fallback plan, but rather a variety of adaptation measures - what we call in our jargon contingency plans - which are not intended to be public in any other way," Paris 2024 said in a statement to Reuters.
"We have contingency plans for all identified risk scenarios: heatwaves, cyber attacks, and the ceremony is no exception."
France expects up to 600,000 visitors when 160 boats are due to set off on Jul 26 from the Pont d'Austerlitz in central Paris for a 6km journey to the Pont d'Iena.
"The President referred to these adjustment variables by taking an extreme scenario: a series of attacks, for example, but above all he reaffirmed his confidence in the collective ability of those involved to organise the ceremony as announced, emphasising that the event would take place with the highest standards of security and support," the statement said//CNA-VOI