Government wins FDI battle, says reforms on track

NEW DELHI: The UPA government on Friday dealt a major blow to the opposition in the Rajya Sabha by winning a vote on FDI in retail by 14 votes and declared that there was no stopping India's reform process.

In contrast to speculation that the government may lose the vote in the upper house, the victory proved pretty easy as the Samajwadi Party (SP) trooped out — like in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday — while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) voted for foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.

As a disappointed opposition claimed "moral victory" on the strength of the speeches made in the house over two days, parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath said after the vote: "Our reforms are on track."

Commerce minister Anand Sharma, the main speaker for the government on the contentious issue, took on the opposition after it said the FDI did not have the support of most MPs even if the final vote went in favour of the treasury benches.

"We challenge them," he said. "If we are a minority government, let them bring a no-confidence motion (against us)."

The opposition-backed motion against FDI in retail got 109 votes while the government managed 123.

One member, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, was away in Kolkata playing a match against England. But officials admitted there was some confusion on the final voting figures.

Minutes before the voting process began, all nine SP members walked out, bailing out the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) - for a second time in three days.

On Thursday, day one of the debate in the Rajya Sabha, Mayawati took on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and declared triumphantly that 15 MPs of her BSP would vote with the UPA government.

Both the BSP and SP provide legislative support to the Congress-led government.

The government move to provide 51% foreign equity in multi-brand retail has long been a contentious issue, stalling almost the entire first two weeks of the winter session of parliament.

With Friday's vote, global names like Carrefour, Tesco and Wal-Mart can set up stores in India.

Earlier, addressing the house during the debate, Anand Sharma denied accusations that the FDI decision was a unilateral one and said the government had talked "to everyone, farmers, traders, consumers, states".

The government also held inter ministerial consultations and heard various recommendations, he said.

Some sparks flew during the Rajya Sabha debate, with Anand Sharma's reference to Rajya Sabha member NK Singh kicking up a row and leading to an adjournment.

Sharma spoke about NK Singh having chaired a panel on FDI during the NDA rule. Singh was then principal secretary to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

After the parliament defeat, Communist leader D Raja accused the UPA government of "brazenly" identifying itself "with multinationals and then claims it is with aam admi". "The sense of the house is againstFDI."

The AIADMK gave a "solemn assurance" that the next central government would reverse the FDI decision.

AIADMK leader V. Maitreyan, who moved the motion for the debate in the Rajya Sabha, said the final vote on the issue would be cast by the people in the next election.

"I give a solemn assurance that after the next Lok Sabha elections, the next government will reverse the decision of the UPA.

"FDI will only be on paper and will not be implemented in states," he added.

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Space Pictures This Week: Lunar Gravity, Venusian Volcano

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  Cassiopeia’s Bubble

  Image courtesy T.A. Rector, UAA/WIYN/NOAO/NSF

  A new camera called the One Degree Imager, located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, is responsible for this enticingly crisp image of the Bubble Nebula. Released on December 4, this closeup highlights the sphere of gas blown out by the nebula's central star, which is 45 times larger than our own sun.

  Located in the constellation Cassiopeia, the Bubble Nebula is ten light-years across. Intense radiation from the massive star causes the otherworldly glow that lights up what looks like a celestial soap bubble.

  (Related: "Amazing Hubble Images.")

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  











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  Midnight Light

  Photograph by Frank Olsen, My Shot

  Delicate green auroras light up the water at Buksnesfjord, Norway, in a picture taken just after midnight on December 4.

  (See pictures of auroras sparked by a massive solar flare.)

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  











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  Great Escape

  Image courtesy SDO/NASA

  Sheets of plasma—or superheated gas—break off from the surface of the sun in this image taken in extreme ultraviolet light. Before floating free, the plasma rose up and danced along pathways determined by magnetic fields. These unseen forces pushed and pulled the gas into contorted shapes.

  (Learn about the sun.)

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  











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  New Look

  Image courtesy NASA

  What looks like a jawbreaker is actually a gravity map of the moon. Red areas indicate places with higher gravity fields while blue areas indicate lower gravity fields.

  (Learn about lunar exploration.)

  Twin probes circling the moon—part of NASA's GRAIL mission—since 2011 have been recording changes in gravity as they fly over peaks and valleys on the lunar surface. As one probe flies over an area with a greater gravity field, the washing-machine-size instrument speeds up slightly, increasing the distance between it and its sister probe. These minute changes in position have enabled scientists to construct this very detailed view of local changes in the moon's gravity.

  (How well do you know your moon myths? Take our quiz.)

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  











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  Grainy Picture

  Illustration courtesy L. Calçada, ESO/NAOJ/NRAO
  

  In this artist's conception of fine-grained particles around a brown dwarf—or a failed star—bits of debris are on their way to becoming a rocky planet.

  Current thinking on Earthlike, rocky planet formation says that random collisions between tiny debris occur in the disc of material surrounding newborn stars. But the recent discovery of such a disc surrounding a brown dwarf has some astronomers rethinking that hypothesis. If planets can form from the debris around these failed stars, then rocky planets may be much more common than previously thought.

  (Related: "Coldest Star Found-No Hotter Than Fresh Coffee.")

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  











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  Night Vision

  Image courtesy Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, Suomi NPP/NASA

  The Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime image of the aurora australis over the Antarctic coast south of South Africa. Despite the winter darkness and a waning crescent moon, the auroras produced enough light for sensors on board the new NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite to capture the boundary between the ice shelf and what some scientists call the Southern, or Antarctic, Ocean (dark line across the bright center swirl).

  Launched last year, Suomi NPP enables scientists to capture nighttime images of the Earth's atmosphere and surface. The new sensor is so sensitive, it can capture the lights from one ship at sea.

  (Learn about Antarctica.)

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  











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  Pearl Islands

  Image courtesy Michael Taylor, Landsat/NASA

  In NASA's Landsat 5 satellite image, the Mergui Archipelago shows off the vibrant greens of its rain forests and the brilliant blues of the surrounding tropical ocean. Located along the southern border of Myanmar (Burma), next to Thailand, the area is known for valuable pearl oysters (Pinctada maxima) and a highly diverse concentration of plants and animals.

  (See photos of Myanmar.)

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  











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  Venusian Volcano

  Illustration courtesy AOES Medialab/ESO

  The Venusian atmosphere is made mostly of carbon dioxide, along with periodic spikes in sulfur. Recent research has found that volcanoes on the planet's surface, seen here in an artist's conception, are likely injecting that sulfur into the upper atmosphere. Direct confirmation is difficult, however, since Venus's thick atmosphere precludes a peek at its peaks.

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  











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  Image courtesy SSI/ISA/ESA/NASA

  Published December 6, 2012

  
  

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Fiscal Cliff Debate Puts Spotlight on Small Businesses

At a sprawling 25,000-square-foot factory outside Dayton, Ohio, David Curliss manufactures high-tech composite fibers, structural adhesives and special sealants known as syntactic foams. The small business he founded a decade ago has grown steadily since the recession, employing 21 workers on several production lines.

But now, with a tax hike on the horizon as part of a deficit-reduction deal as evisioned by President Obama and the Democrats, it may become more difficult to expand his business and hire, Curliss says.

"What it absolutely means is less cash for growth in my business," he told ABC News. "In the worst-case scenario, it means we let someone go or have to reduce benefits."

Curliss is among an estimated 940,000 Americans who will report more than $200,000 in business income on their individual tax returns in 2013 and pay at the top marginal rates, according to the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

They are now at the center of the political storm over the "fiscal cliff" and debate on whether to raise top income tax rates at the end of the year.

Obama wants the two upper tax brackets to rise from 33 and 35 percent to 36 and 39.6 percent, respectively. Republicans staunchly oppose any increase, largely citing the impact on companies like Curliss'.

Performance Polymer Solutions, like thousands of small businesses, is structured as a so-called "pass-through" entity with the firm's income and profits passed directly to Curliss for reporting on his 1040. The company itself does not pay taxes.

On paper, the extra cash makes Curliss look like a rich man, subjecting his income to the top rates. Yet, he never actually sees the business income in his paycheck, he says. Instead, the money is kept inside the business to help it grow.

"Raising the top rates means there will be less cash in my company to reinvest in employees and benefits and equipment," he said.

Democrats, defending the need for revenue from the top 2 percent of U.S. income earners to help close the budget gap, say cases like Curliss' are the exception not the rule.

"Ninety-seven percent of small businesses would not see any increases in their income taxes," Obama said Thursday. "And even folks who make more than $250,000 would still have a tax break for their incomes up to $250,000."

Just 3 percent of more than 30 million Americans who report business income on their personal returns next year will pay at the top marginal rates, the Joint Committee found.

Many of them, colloquially referred to as "business owners," include independent doctors, lawyers and hedge fund managers whose companies are set up as "pass-through" entities with high incomes and few employees.

Experts say the vast majority of businesses paying taxes through the individual code are very small, make very little money and don't come remotely close to having to pay higher taxes if Obama gets his way.

The average income of a business that reports on an individual tax return is about $40,000, according to the Tax Policy Center.

"Most of these are sole proprietorships and their number of employees is zero," said Howard Gleckman, an analyst with the Center, noting that self-employed taxpayers include babysitters, plumbers and investors.

"All things equal, the lower the taxes, the better off we all are," Gleckman said. "The trade-off, though, is that if you believe the budget deficit is a big economic problem, and if you believe that the ultimate consequence of ongoing high deficits is higher interest rates, well then that's a cost, too."

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MOM says Jurong crane incident workers had approached ministry for help

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the two workers from China involved in a crane incident at Jurong Port Road on Thursday morning had approached the ministry previously.

The two construction workers, Mr Zhu Guilei and Mr Wu Xiaolin, were at the top of the crane at a construction site at 31, Jurong Port Road, citing unhappiness with their employer Zhong Jiang (Singapore) International Pte Ltd.

In a statement, MOM said Mr Zhu had first come to the Ministry in July 2011 to enquire how he and his friend could resign and return home.

Mr Zhu was then working for a different company.

On Wednesday, Mr Zhu approached MOM's customer relations officers at the MOM Services Centre together with Mr Wu, as they had tendered their resignations and planned to return home.

They claimed they had outstanding salaries owed to them. However, they did not have the necessary documents to support their claims.

MOM officers asked them to return with the documents so that the ministry could investigate, and both Mr Zhu and Mr Wu had agreed to do so.

The MOM has stressed that it will not hesitate to take action against employers who fail to pay their workers on time.

And it urges workers not to take matters into their own hands and break the law. Those facing employment issues should approach MOM for advice and assistance. They can also call the MOM hotline at 6438 5122.

Separately in a statement, the Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC) said it is dismayed to hear of the protest by two migrant workers at Jurong Port Road on Thursday morning, especially in the light of recent developments.

Its Chairman Yeo Guat Kwang said this was a further reminder of the need to expand our outreach and engagement with migrant workers to raise their awareness of channels of help available to them.

- CNA/de

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Zee chief gets shield against arrest till Dec 14

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday granted interim protection against arrest to Zee group chairman Subhash Chandra till December 14 in a case of an alleged extortion bid of Rs 100 crore by two journalists of his TV channel.

Additional session judge Raj Rani Mitra granting the shield against arrest on the anticipatory bail pleas of Chandra and Zee group's managing director Puneet Goenka.

Both of them were told to deposit their passport with the investigating officer and join the probe.

Chandra and Goenka filed anticipatory bail pleas on Wednesday.

Police had twice served notice on Chandra last month asking him to join investigation after the arrest of Zee editors Sudhir Chaudhury and Samir Ahluwalia for their alleged bid to extort Rs 100 crore from Congress MP Naveen Jindal's company.

Chaudhary, head of Zee News, and Ahluwalia, head of Zee Business, were arrested Nov 27 on charges of allegedly attempting to extort money from Jindal's company in exchange for not filing news reports linking his firm to irregular coal blocks allocation. The company filed an extortion case.

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A 2020 Rover Return to Mars?

NASA is so delighted with Curiosity's Mars mission that the agency wants to do it all again in 2020, with the possibility of identifying and storing some rocks for a future sample return to Earth.

The formal announcement, made at the American Geophysical Union's annual fall meeting, represents a triumph for the NASA Mars program, which had fallen on hard times due to steep budget cuts. But NASA associate administrator for science John Grunsfeld said that the agency has the funds to build and operate a second Curiosity-style rover, largely because it has a lot of spare parts and an engineering and science team that knows how to develop a follow-on expedition.

"The new science rover builds off the tremendous success from Curiosity and will have new instruments," Grunsfeld said. Curiosity II is projected to cost $1.5 billion—compared with the $2.5 billion price tag for the rover now on Mars—and will require congressional approval.

While the 2020 rover will have the same one-ton chassis as Curiosity—and could use the same sky crane technology involved in the "seven minutes of terror"—it will have different instruments and, many hope, the capacity to cache a Mars rock for later pickup and delivery to researchers on Earth. Curiosity and the other Mars rovers, satellites, and probes have garnered substantial knowledge about the Red Planet in recent decades, but planetary scientists say no Mars-based investigations can be nearly as instructive as studying a sample in person here on Earth.

(Video: Mars Rover's "Seven Minutes of Terror.")

Return to Sender

That's why "sample return" has topped several comprehensive reviews of what NASA should focus on for the next decade regarding Mars.

"There is absolutely no doubt that this rover has the capability to collect and cache a suite of magnificent samples," said astronomer Steven Squyres, with Cornell University in New York, who led a "decadal survey" of what scientists want to see happen in the field of planetary science in the years ahead. "We have a proven system now for landing a substantial payload on Mars, and that's what we need to enable sample return."

The decision about whether the second rover will be able to collect and "cache" a sample will be up to a "science definition team" that will meet in the years ahead to weigh the pros and cons of focusing the rover's activity on that task.  

As currently imagined, bringing a rock sample back to Earth would require three missions: one to select, pick up, and store the sample; a second to pick it up and fly it into a Mars orbit; and a third to take it from Mars back to Earth.

"A sample return would rely on all the Mars missions before it," said Scott Hubbard, formerly NASA's "Mars Czar," who is now at Stanford University. "Finding the right rocks from the right areas, and then being able to get there, involves science and technology we've learned over the decades."

Renewed Interest

Clearly, Curiosity's success has changed the thinking about Mars exploration, said Hubbard. He was a vocal critic of the Obama Administration's decision earlier this year to cut back on the Mars program as part of agency belt-tightening but now is "delighted" by this renewed initiative.

(Explore an interactive time line of Mars exploration in National Geographic magazine.)

More than 50 million people watched NASA coverage of Curiosity's landing and cheered the rover's success, Hubbard said. If things had turned out differently with Curiosity, "we'd be having a very different conversation about the Mars program now."

(See "Curiosity Landing on Mars Greeted With Whoops and Tears of Jubilation.")

If Congress gives the green light, the 2020 rover would be the only $1 billion-plus "flagship" mission—NASA's largest and most expensive class of projects—in the agency's planetary division in the next decade. There are many other less ambitious projects to other planets, asteroids, moons, and comets in the works, but none are flagships. That has left some planetary scientists not involved with Mars unhappy with NASA's heavy Martian focus.

Future Plans

While the announcement of the 2020 rover mission set the Mars community abuzz, NASA also outlined a series of smaller missions that will precede it. The MAVEN spacecraft, set to launch next year, will study the Martian atmosphere in unprecedented detail; a lander planned for 2018 will study the Red Planet's crust and interior; and NASA will renew its promise to participate in a European life-detection mission in 2018. NASA had signed an agreement in 2009 to partner with the European Space Agency on that mission but had to back out earlier this year because of budget constraints.

NASA said that a request for proposals would go out soon, soliciting ideas about science instruments that might be on the rover. And as for a sample return system, at this stage all that's required is the ability to identify good samples, collect them, and then store them inside the rover.

"They can wait there on Mars for some time as we figure out how to pick them up," Squyres said. "After all, they're rocks."

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Kate Middleton Leaves London Hospital

Kate Middleton left King Edward VII Hospital in London this morning after being admitted four days ago following the palace's announcement that she is pregnant and being treated for hyperemesis gravidarum.

"The Duchess of Cambridge has been discharged from the King Edward VII Hospital and will now head to Kensington Palace for a period of rest," Nick Loughran, the assistant press secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, said in a statement. "Their Royal Highnesses would like to thank the staff at the hospital for the care and treatment The Duchess has received."

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Middleton, 30, who is less than 12 weeks pregnant, was seen leaving the hospital with Prince William at 11 a.m. GT today. A smiling Middleton was holding yellow flowers and waved to the crowd as she departed from the hospital in a black car.

The Duke and Duchess were spending time with her parents in Bucklebury when she became ill with the symptoms of hyperemesis gravidarum, or acute nausea.

Prince William sprung into action and drove his wife, along with their personal security team, 50 miles in their Range Rover to the hospital, where Kate was placed on an IV drip.

The royal family was only notified of Kate's pregnancy a few hours before the rest of the world.

The royal couple decided to go public with the pregnancy because Middleton had to be hospitalized Monday afternoon, a palace source said.

Hyperemesis gravidarum, or acute nausea, is usually diagnosed about nine weeks into a pregnancy, and in most cases resolves itself by 16 or 20 weeks, according to Dr. Ashley Roman, a professor and obstetrician-gynecologist at NYU Langone Medical Center.

It can last the whole pregnancy in rare cases.

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Rubio, Ryan look to the future during award dinner speeches

Two high-profile Republican members of Congress who stand at the forefront of the effort to rebuild the party after a stinging presidential defeat delivered speeches Tuesday night aimed at turning the page with a fresh emphasis on inclusion and a renewed focus on growing the middle class.

“Nothing represents how special America is more than our middle class. And our challenge and our opportunity now is to create the conditions that allow it not just to survive, but to grow,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), the Leadership Award recipient at a dinner hosted by the Jack Kemp Foundation, a charitable nonprofit organization named for the late congressman and Housing and Urban Development secretary.

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Sembcorp Marine says able to handle rig accident without activating SCDF

SINGAPORE: Sembcorp Marine said that the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was not activated when the rig accident happened as the company was able to handle the situation.

It said only the company's emergency response team was activated.

SembCorp said its criteria for SCDF activation is when there is a major fire.

For this particular rig, the last evacuation drill was carried out in August this year.

SembCorp said it also conducts yearly joint exercises on fire and rescue operations with SCDF.

A joint drill with SCDF was carried out in September this year. Internally, the company conducts about 40 drills on a yearly basis.

When the incident happened at 10.30am on Monday, the evacuation took about 20 minutes and another 25 minutes for head count.

All in, the entire evacuation took less than an hour including the search for men overboard.

Currently, three workers are still being warded in hospital for minor injuries.

Sembcorp Marine said its Health, Safety and Environment Department (HSE) has trained personnel for emergency response such as fire-fighting, rescue operations at heights, rescue from confined space, rescue using ropes, advanced fire-fighting and fire safety management.

They also have trained paramedics and occupational doctors and nurses to render immediate first aid and medical treatment. Some of the existing HSE personnel are also ex-SCDF employees who were paramedics and fire fighters.

Separately in a Facebook post, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong commended the actions of engineer Nur'rahmahdiah Salim, who was on the oil rig at Jurong shipyard when it tilted over.

Mr Lee said the the 22-year-old had stayed behind to make sure her colleagues had evacuated safely before leaving the rig herself.

She was taken to hospital for chest pains and breathing difficulties.

"I am glad that she is back home and OK now...Well done Nur'rahmahdiah," said Mr Lee.

The accident on Monday saw 89 workers injured.

- CNA/de

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Sukhbir Badal asks DCs to intensify drive against illegal hoardings

JALANDHAR: Punjab deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, has said that he has issued directions to all Deputy Commissioners and District Authorities to intensify drive against illegal hoardings in the cities. Even as hundreds of hoardings of the ruling party leaders, carrying pictures of CM Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal, latter said that any violation of Municipal bylaws would not be tolerated.

Talking to media persons at village Kahna Dhesian, where he attended a function organized by Sant Surinder Singh Babla, Sukhbir said that state Government was of firm view that it was the responsibility of district administration to ensure latest outdoor advertisement policy passed by the State Cabinet was implemented in true spirit and they should ensure that no illegal hoarding was allowed in any city.

He said that to give more teeth to the law against illegal hoardings the Cabinet would soon approve a bill providing for criminal proceedings against persons responsible for erection of illegal hoardings.

He said that according to the new advertisement policy, electronic billboards would dot all the cities and illegal hoardings defacing the planned look of city would not be allowed.

Asked that Kabaddi teams were not undergoing dope test in the knock out round, Sukhbir Badal said that dope test report of Indian Team (Men) had already been received and no dope positive player would be allowed to play in the tournament. He said that his aim was to take Kabaddi to Olympic level and before that he was proposing an exhibition match of circle kabaddi in ensuing Commonwealth Games.

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