Airbursts trigger dust avalanches on Mars

THE surface of Mars may be cold and desolate, but it is not unchanging. New images show that avalanches of dust scour dozens of Martian sites each year.

Without the abundant water and plate tectonics that keep Earth's surface in motion, the surface of Mars is much slower to change. But in one way it is more active. While Earth's atmosphere shields us from asteroids smaller than 30 metres across, which burn up or shatter too high above the ground to have much effect on us, Mars's atmosphere is just 1 per cent the density of Earth's. Even rocks less than a metre across make it to the ground and gouge out craters.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots about 20 new craters between 1 and 50 metres across on Mars each year - scars that were not present in earlier images. Now closer scrutiny of these images has found thousands of small avalanches near 16 of the craters.

The avalanches appear as dark streaks on the hilly terrain that surrounds the craters (a similar but more dramatic avalanche is shown in the image). They show up only in areas where there is a lot of light-coloured dust on the ground. To form, it seems the surface's dust coating was shaken loose and slid downhill, revealing the darker rocks beneath, says a team led by Kaylan Burleigh of the University of Arizona in Tucson (Icarus, DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2011.10.026).

The team carried out computer simulations that showed that, surprisingly, the avalanches do not seem to be caused by meteorites hitting the ground, but by the shock wave generated by a rock's passage through the atmosphere. This spreads across an area about a million times larger than the craters. "It was astonishing that a relatively small impact could affect a large area," says team member Jay Melosh of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

In one case, a cluster of 20-metre-wide craters is surrounded by thousands of dust avalanches in an area 4 kilometres square. The many small avalanches give the whole area a darker hue, like a giant black eye around the craters - except for a narrow light zone shaped like a curved dagger.

That light zone is telling. As a rock tears through the atmosphere at supersonic speed it generates a shock wave, before triggering a second blast when it hits the ground. The team's simulations show that the second shock interferes with the first, reinforcing it in some places and cancelling it out in others. Where it is cancelled out, a narrow curved strip of relatively undisturbed ground is left behind - just like the light zone seen around the crater cluster, says Melosh.

The Martian surface may be the best place in the solar system for recording the effects of these shock waves, since fewer impactors are blocked by its atmosphere than on Earth, says Mark Boslough of Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

But they do occasionally cause devastation closer to home. The atmospheric shock wave from a 30 to 50-metre asteroid or comet levelled 2000 square kilometres of forest in Siberia in 1908Movie Camera. Studying shock waves on Mars might help us predict their effects on Earth, says Boslough.

Fault lines hint at tectonic activity

Avalanches aren't the only sign that Mars is alive (see main story). Two fresh fault lines suggest that its landscape may be tectonically active, and could explain how methane gets into the planet's atmosphere.

Mars is usually regarded as a geological relic, but Mauro Spagnuolo of the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina and colleagues have found what appear to be recent faults in a region known as Aureum Chaos. In Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images, they saw large cracks near the base of two plateaus. One slices through a landslide deposit thought to be 1.9 million years old, meaning it must be younger than that (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.09.052).

The fault could have produced quakes as powerful as magnitude 5, the team estimates. This could mean the Martian surface still shakes occasionally. "Two million years ago is to Mars what two weeks ago is to you or I," says Jeff Andrews-Hanna of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, who was not involved in the study. "If Mars has been tectonically active in the last 2 million years, it is active now." If so, the faults could act as conduits for methane to escape from the Martian interior.

While that does not tell us how the methane was produced, such fissures could be good places to look for extraterrestrial life. "We know that on Earth faults are planes of weakness where all kind of fluids circulate," says Spagnuolo. So faults on Mars may provide water, warmth and shelter from the harsh conditions on the planet's surface.

Michael Reilly

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Clinton to get first top-level peek at Myanmar in 50 years

Ian Williams/NBC News

Hillary Clinton will be visiting Shwedagon Pagoda which at 2,500 years old is said to be the world's oldest pagoda.

By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent

YANGON, Myanmar ? U Nine Nine has spent 17 of the past 21 years behind bars as a political prisoner, and on the face of it, he would seem to have little reason to be upbeat about Myanmar's recent reforms.

"Time will tell," he told me. "But I'm cautiously optimistic. It is difficult for them to turn back now [from the recent changes]. The next few weeks will be crucial."

After 49 years of totalitarian rule, Myanmar?s military junta is beginning to loosen up.

Just last November, in what was widely condemned as a rigged election, Myanmar's ruling generals exchanged their uniforms for civilian suits. There was little hope for change.???

Yet beginning in October of this year, the government has introduced a series of dizzying changes: The new government led by a former general, Thein Sein, has eased censorship, released political prisoners, introduced a limited right to strike and protest, and started a dialogue with the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that has convinced her not only of their good intensions, but also to run for what she had dismissed as a rubber-stamp parliament.?

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is flying in here Wednesday to judge the "Burma Spring" for herself ? she is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the country in more than 50 years.


Political party back in action
The recent developments are cause for excitement at Nine Nine?s office. He runs an assistance program for political prisoners and is also in charge of the Yangon division of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi, which has just decided to contest elections again.

Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest, is now planning to stand in an election before the end of the year.

I met Nine Nine at the bustling office of the NLD, which is close to Yangon's famous Shwedagon Pagoda. He told me that by his calculations around 290 political prisoners have so far been released, but close to 500 remain in jail.

Ian Williams / NBC News

Cleanin up at the Shwedagon pagoda ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Myanmar.

There's a real buzz at the NLD office, but they are quick to remind you that they won the last freely contested election, in 1990, by a landslide, only to have the result annulled by the generals. That heralded the beginning of Nine Nine's first stint in prison.

Yet something is stirring in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma.

?Hillary repairs?
Myanmar authorities have thrown the door open to international journalists to cover Clinton?s trip. It's the first time that I have been issued an official visa in 10 years, and while they didn't quite roll out the red carpet, our welcome has been warm.

My guide pointed to the hasty road repairs on the drive in from the airport. "Hillary repairs," he called them. And later, on a visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda, I came across a group of giggling young women scrubbing the floor. "Hillary Clinton is coming," they said.

Along one of the city's many dilapidated streets, I came across a stall heaving with photographs of Suu Kyi and her father, the independence hero Aung San. That would have been a dangerous act of defiance and almost unheard of just a few weeks ago, but no longer. It was clearly still a novelty, though, and I watched as passersby stopped and pointed out the signs to friends.?

An elderly monk stopped me in the street and handed me an old currency note, no longer in circulation, but sporting a picture of Aung San. "For you. A real hero," he told me, before moving off into the crowd. A monk-led uprising four years ago was crushed by the generals.

Local newspapers, which have been carrying prominent stories about Suu Kyi ? again unheard of until very recently ? were carrying upbeat features Tuesday about the desire for closer relations with the U.S. (and by implication, a little loosening of their dependence on China, which goes down well in Washington these days).??

Real change?
There certainly does seem to be hope here, but many remain wary. Can one of the world's most thuggish regimes really change its stripes so quickly?

Clinton will meet with President Thein Sein on Thursday and will likely push for faster democratic change. She'll meet Suu Kyi on Friday to gauge more fully how Myanmar's pro-democracy leader judges the reforms, and whether an easing of international sanctions might be merited.

Among the former political prisoners released so far is Zarganar, Myanmar's most famous comedian, who got into hot water for poking fun at the generals. He was jailed for criticizing their response to Cyclone Nargis, a 2008 disaster that left 135,000 people dead or missing.?

On his release from prison he reportedly cracked another joke at the expense of the president. This time he got away with it, and is expected to be among those briefing Clinton on Friday about the intensions of the former generals, not known for humor or compassion, but who just might have decided that change and dialogue is the only way forward for impoverished Myanmar.

Source: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/29/9097871-clinton-to-get-first-top-level-peek-at-myanmar-in-over-50-years

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Sony Bravia XBR-55HX929

After spending some time with Sony's LED-backlit Bravia XBR-55HX929 ($2,899.99 list) it's easy to see why XBR series HDTVs are the company's flagship product line. With its attractive, minimal design, incredibly dark blacks and vibrant colors, the 55HX929 is one of the most visually stunning HDTVs we've seen. This 55-inch set is also 3D ready, comes with built-in Wi-Fi, and offers a generous selection of Web apps. Its flaws are few and relatively minor: At $2,899.99 (direct) it's not cheap, and you'll have to shell out even more for 3D glasses. You also get some minor dark-screen blooming, but you'll have to look closely to see it. Overall, though, the 55HX929 is tough to beat on features, design, and performance, so it earns our Editors' Choice award.

Design and Features
The 55HX929 radiates elegance. The 54.6-inch panel and black bezels are covered by a single sheet of tinted Corning Gorilla glass, which is known for its pleasing aesthetics and durability. The all-black cabinet is just 1.5 inches thick but for some reason Sony stuck a raised RS-232 remote control port off on the back of the TV. It's fairly small but it juts out about ?-inch and looks out of place, as if it were an afterthought. The rectangular glossy black stand provides effortless swivel maneuverability and does an adequate job of supporting the 58-pound cabinet.

A pair of HDMI ports, two USB ports, a headphone jack, a VGA (PC) input, and two audio jacks (optical-out and PC-in) are conveniently positioned on the left side of the cabinet where they are easy to reach. Another pair of HDMI ports share space on the rear of the cabinet with a set of component A/V inputs, a cable/antenna jack, a LAN port, and the aforementioned RS-232 box. ?Wi-Fi is integrated and does not require a dongle. Over on the right are Power, Channel, Volume, and Input buttons. There's also a Home button that launches a menu bar which contains icons for sub-menus including settings, favorites, input select, media player (for USB drives with photos, music, and video), TV channels, and Web apps.

At 9.8 inches the remote is larger than most but there's a reason: Sony populates it with 53 buttons and a four-way rocker panel, which makes things a bit crowded. In fact, I accidentally pressed the wrong buttons several times while calibrating the set. It's nice to have dedicated Netflix, Qriosity, Widget, and 3D mode buttons, but Sony could do a better job of spreading them out on this oversized remote. On the upside, the buttons are illuminated with cool blue backlighting and are very easy to identify in the dark.

Amazon Video On Demand, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and CinemaNow! get top billing in the online-streaming offerings that come with the 55HX929. Additionally, there are loads of lifestyle, sports, and entertainment services including Crackle (movie and TV), Daily Motion, XOS Sports, NHL Vault, Billabong Sports, Pandora, Slacker, and YouTube. Sony's Digital Concert Series channel offers concert footage of acts such as ThirdEye Blind, Chickenfoot, and Creed, and you can also sign up for Sony Entertainment Network's Qriosity, a fee-based on-demand service offering an extensive catalog of video and music.

You get a nice array of picture settings with this set. Among the basics are Brightness, Picture (contrast), Backlight, Color, Sharpness, Hue, and Color Temperature. You can also enable noise reduction to smooth out artifacts and engage the CineMotion and Motionflow options to help smooth out film-based content and reduce motion blur. I was unable to detect any motion blur whatsoever on the 240Hz panel and suggest leaving the MotionFlow option disabled.? There are more than a dozen Picture presets available including several variations of Cinema, Photo, Game, and Animation modes, as well as Standard and Custom modes.

Advanced settings let you enable black correction, set gamma, enable/disable the Dynamic LED Control (local dimming), and turn on edge enhancement. Here you can also enable the Advanced Contrast Enhancer, which automatically adjusts the contrast and backlighting in relation to overall screen brightness, and switch on the Auto Light Limiter to help reduce glare in overly bright scenes. I found that the picture was much more stable when these two functions were turned off.

The Intelligent Presence Sensor is a cool feature that uses a small built-in camera-based sensor to detect user motion for power saving and safety reasons. If the sensor does not detect the presence of a viewer the picture will darken or turn off completely to conserve power (depending on your settings).? The sensor can also be used to enable a distance alert for children; if a child gets within three feet of the screen, the picture will turn off and send a warning message and an audible alert. Finally, you can use the sensor to detect your position in relation to center screen and adjust speaker output to provide a well-balanced audio experience.

Performance
The set uses a full array of LED backlighting with local dimming technology to deliver an unbelievably sharp and highly detailed picture. After a basic darkroom calibration using images from the DisplayMate Multimedia Edition diagnostic suite, the 55HX929 produced an impressive contrast ratio of 22,819:1 as measured by the Konica-Minolta Chroma Meter. Its black level measurement of 0.01 cd/m2 goes toe to toe with even the best plasma screens and the Editors' Choice LED set, the Sharp Aquos LC-70LE735U ($4,799.99, 4 stars). Moreover, its red and green color levels were right in line with CIE 1976 Chromaticity standards, and blues were only off by a hair. As a result, color quality was excellent and skin tones were natural. The dark blacks gave colors some pop while providing very good shadow detail in my test clips from the BBC's Planet Earth on Blu-ray. The picture was crisp and free of artifacts and background noise, and off angle viewing produced no noticeable color shifting. Not surprisingly, it aced the HQV Blu-ray and standard definition tests for noise reduction, film processing, and jaggies.?

I did detect some blooming on the DisplayMate dark screen tests, but that's a fairly common byproduct of local dimming technology. The good news is that the blooming was not at all noticeable while watching Blu-ray movies or while streaming Web content and will likely only be evident (if at all) at the end of a picture while the credits are rolling against a black background. Even then you'll have to look closely to notice the slight glow behind the text.

The 55HX929 handles 3D very well. Sharks 3D on Blu-ray was impressive. It gave a great sense of the depth of the ocean with little crosstalk. Images didn't pop as much as with other HDTVs, like the LG Infinia 47LW5600 ($1,699.99, 4.5 stars) and the Sharp Aquos LC-70LE735U, but the 3D effect was solid and artifacts were minimal. The effect worked fairly well off-axis, but when you get too close to the screen the pictures start to separate.? Glasses are not included in the box so you'll have to come up with another $69 for one pair, or $139 for a two pack.

Power consumption was good but not great; the 55HX929 used 125 watts of power while viewing a Blu-ray movie in Standard mode. By way of comparison the same-size LG 55LW9800 ($3,799.99, 3 stars) averaged 89 watts, while the 55-inch Toshiba 55TL515U ($1,999.99, 3.5 stars) used 148 watts.

Sony's XBR-55HX929 may cost a bit more than other 55-inch LCD HDTVs but that's money well spent. Not only does this gorgeous set utilize the latest LED backlighting technology but it's loaded with Web apps and gives you Wi-Fi, 3D, and some neat child safety and power-saving features. You'd be hard pressed to find a set that delivers a picture with this level of detail, color accuracy, and clarity, which is why the Bravia XBR-55HX929 earns our Editors' Choice.

More HDTV reviews:

??? Sony Bravia XBR-55HX929
??? Mitsubishi WD-73840
??? Panasonic TC-L42D30
??? Samsung LN46D550
??? JVC JLC47BC3000
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/5hUxfRTtMdQ/0,2817,2394900,00.asp

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Will Energy Storage Play a Big Role in the Electric Grid?

beacon-flywheelsELECTRIC STORAGE: These flywheels (pictured) store electricity and help regulate the grid, but did not make enough money to prevent the bankruptcy of their owner, Beacon Power. Image: Courtesy of Beacon Power

More than 200 tops spin in vessels half-buried in the dirt outside Stephentown, N.Y., a town near the Massachusetts state line. Inside the vessel a vacuum permits each top to rotate as many as 16,000 times per minute, despite the fact that each weighs more than one metric ton, thanks to its steel and carbon-fiber composition. Such fast spinning in a vacuum (to reduce friction) allows each top to store some 25 kilowatt-hours of electricity. When the grid's frequency gets out of whack?that is, if the 60-times-per-second current should reverse its flow?all the magnetically-levitated tops speed up, slow down or flip direction to ensure the grid stays in tune.

All told, Beacon Power's flywheels could provide 20 megawatts-worth of such frequency regulation as well as short-term energy storage for the state grid. The only problem is that Beacon's owner went bankrupt in the process of putting the "alternating" into alternating current?after taking a loan for $39.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Our company has been operating at a loss," Beacon Power CEO Bill Capp said November 1 in prepared statement?[pdf] explaining the bankruptcy. "Our goal in taking this action is to minimize job loss and to continue to find ways to apply our innovative technology in the frequency regulation and energy storage markets."

The good news is that the flywheels are still making money?not enough to keep Beacon in business but enough to potentially pay back the American taxpayer. The flywheels also represent a growing trend in electricity grids worldwide?storage. Sodium sulfur batteries have been used to store electricity from Japan's grid since 2002 and to back up Xcel Energy's wind farms in Minnesota since 2008. Molten salts help a power plant in Sicily store the sun's heat to turn into electricity at night and on cloudy days. Even water pumped uphill at various sites across the U.S. and air compressed into an underground cavern in Alabama, among other places, store electrical energy when it is cheap and give it back when it is expensive. Such storage is considered vital to help intermittent renewable resources, such as the wind and sun, play a bigger role in U.S.?and global?energy supply, but it may be that Beacon's flywheels are simply too expensive to compete with the other technologies on offer.

"Flywheels don't typically hold as much energy as batteries," notes Haresh Kamath, strategic program manager at the Electric Power Research Institute's Technology Innovation Program?an industry-funded research group. "But they last a very long time and that makes them attractive in some applications, especially where the system is cycled very often?that is, where it is discharged and charged repeatedly across a short time period."

A new analysis published November 17 in Science by Kamath and colleagues found that batteries are rapidly becoming cheaper and allow for storing electricity generated when it is not in demand (for instance, during the strong winds that blow late at night when lights are off and factories typically shut down) and using it when it is (daytime peaks). Such storage would greatly extend the potential use of renewables for power but also reduce the necessary investment in the grid itself. In the past it has been cheaper to build a new power plant and lay more cable to connect it to the grid than to install a large battery system. "The initial cost of batteries today is prohibitively high in most cases," Kamath explains. And "the life of batteries is relatively short: Batteries last just a few years but most grid components last for decades."

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=2b690fc523c60ff8f6df9b9cc3e16737

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Small Business Saturday: A Guide for Shoppers and Stores

Round two of Small Business Saturday ? another post-Thanksgiving national shopping day launched in 2010 ? is taking shape as consumers and businesses prepare for the Nov. 26 event.

Small Business Saturday?s goal is to to steer shoppers toward local independently owned businesses during the holiday season instead of bigger stores on Black Friday or online on Cyber Monday.

This year, the campaign is getting a more support from social media sites such as Facebook, Foursquare and Google. American Express cardholders, for example, can sync their Foursquare accounts to their cards to receive a $25 credit after spending $25 or more on Small Business Saturday. At this time a year ago, the event?s Facebook Page had fewer than 1 million Likes. Now, the page has 2.3 million Likes.

Below are some tips for shoppers and stores on how to get involved in the movement.


What Is Small Business Saturday?


American Express and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg created the annual day-long initiative last year to boost sales for struggling small business. ?One purchase is all it takes,? say people in the above video. ?So pick your favorite local business and join the movement.?

Statistics from American Express OPEN show the inaugural event had some impact: Forty-one elected officials declared Nov. 27, 2010, Small Business Saturday, and people sent 30,000 tweets using the hashtags #SmallBusinessSaturday and #SmallBizSaturday.

?Last year, we saw a 28 percent rise in sales volumes for our small business merchants versus the same day in 2009,? said Mary Ann Fitzmaurice Reilly, SVP at American Express OPEN.

The list of supporters for 2011 continues to grow as more cities, states, advocacy groups, public officials and corporate partners jump on board.


How to Participate as a Consumer


Small Business Saturday has grown through press coverage and word-of-mouth marketing offline and online. You can contribute to the latter on the campaign?s Facebook Page or on Twitter by using the hashtags #SmallBusinessSaturday and #SmallBizSaturday.

As an incentive, you can get $25 back on Small Business Saturday. You have two ways this year to receive the $25 credit for spending $25 or more at a small business:

  • Register your American Express Card here.
  • Sync your Foursquare account to your American Express Card here.

FedEx this year also gave away 40,000 $25 gift cards, which have all already been claimed.


How Small Businesses Can Prepare


Like last year, American Express gave $100 in free Facebook advertising to 10,000 business owners. And although those have all been claimed, many more tools are available for your business to prepare for Nov. 26.

Facebook:

Google:

  • My Business Story: Create custom videos using YouTube?s editing tool to entice your customers.

YourBuzz:

  • Take charge of engagement: YourBuzz is a tool that allows users to read and respond to customer reviews and online mentions in one location. For Small Business Saturday, YourBuzz is offering $200 in free advertising credits on LinkedIn Ads ($100 for 6,500 business owners) and Facebook ($100 for 10,000, which is all used up).

Go Social:

  • Coupon-less offers: Provide mobile-based deals to your American Express card-wielding customers.

FedEx:

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/11/22/small-business-saturday-november-26-guide/

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The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200 [Always Up To Date Guide]

The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200 A few months back we took you to night school and walked you through building your own computer from scratch. What we didn't do at the time is give you a suggest parts list for that new computer. In this post?which we'll update regularly as prices and components change?we'll walk you through the parts and hardware we'll need for the best of two different system builds: a mid-range PC for those on a budget, and an enthusiast's system for gamers and media professionals.

While some consider the desktop a dead platform, there are still plenty of us who use them as much as or in addition to laptops or tablets, love to play PC games, or just enjoy getting our hands dirty and building our own systems from scratch. Before we go any further, we should point out that these PC builds are designed to optimize your all-around computing experience, with special emphasis on PC gaming. What components give you the best bang for your buck depend heavily on what you're planning to do with the system: your parts may be different if you're building an HTPC on the same budget, or a super-speedy file server for your home network.

We've talked about our own experiences building a system and why it's important already. If you're ready to set out on the task of building your own computer, here are the components you'll need to build the best system you can get for your money.

Photo by Roxanne Ready.

Update - November 2011: The holiday shopping season has started and prices are beginning to come down across the board on PC components. Some manufacturers have already phased out their spring and summer products, and other prices are dropping because new versions are on the way. A few components in our previous $600/$1200 builds have been discontinued, most notably the case and the RAM for our $1200 enthusiast PC, and the version of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 that we suggested earlier. We've updated those components.

Also, sadly, the biggest change we've had to make in our builds is to downgrade the hard drives to stay in line with our budgets. The tragic flooding in Thailand means that hard drive prices are through the roof, and a 1TB drive that was $89.99 in September is $219 and out of stock today. Keep this overall price hike and drive shortage in mind if you're building a PC now, and consider SSDs in your new build?you may be able to find a bargain there.

The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200

Build Versus Buy

The old debate over whether you should build your own system or buy a pre-built one is an old, long-standing argument that will never be easily washed away. However, there are some benefits to building your own system that can't be weighed in terms of dollars and cents. You may be happier with your own hand-built system, or you may be able to score bargains and rebates that lead to a more powerful computer stuffed with higher quality components than a manufacturer would use.

Building your own PC also gives you complete and full control over that system's components and extendability. Unlike buying an OEM PC, assembling your own gives you the ability to make decisions about when and how you'll upgrade that system in the long run as opposed to simply taking what the manufacturer sells you. For example, you can buy into a new motherboard chipset early and wait to spend money on the next generation of graphics card later, giving yourself a timely upgrade when the moment-or your budget-is right.

Photo by Adam Snyder.

Ultimately, while it may be easier to just pull out a credit card and buy whatever's on sale from your preferred OEM, there's something about assembling the components of a system that you've selected for your needs, powering it up, installing your favorite OS, and using it every day that's' incredibly rewarding.

The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200

Choosing The Right Parts

There was a time when building a PC was all about buying the most expensive and most powerful components you could on the budget you had. While some of that is still true, even budget components can be remarkably powerful, and if all you're planning on doing with your system is word processing, surfing the web, and some light entertainment like streaming video or listening to music, almost any system build will work for you.

You don't need to spend a grand on high-end gaming components if you're putting together a system for your friend who doesn't know or care what graphics card is going into the box. At the same time, that doesn't mean they're doomed to a computer full of sub-standard components. We explained a few months ago that you should carefully assess your need before rushing off to start pricing out components, and that advice is still true today.

Ultimately, there's no reason for you to rush out and buy the most expensive components you can afford unless you're an enthusiast and want the most top-of-the-line system you can afford. Here we'll detail two separate builds, a high-end system for enthusiasts and power-hungry users, and a mid-range build that will cost about half as much but still pack a punch.

Photo by Edmund Tse.


The Sub-$600 Budget System

Long gone are the days where you should immediately budget at least a grand for a decent self-built system. Unless you absolutely have to have a top of the line PC, this budget system will serve you well for most everyday tasks, some gaming, streaming movies and music from the web, and even those bigger projects like organizing the family photos or editing home movies.

The parts

This parts list assumes that you'll need the basic components: a case, a motherboard, processor, memory, storage, graphics card of some type, power supply, and an optical drive. We're going to assume you have a perfectly good USB keyboard, mouse, and display you can repurpose for use with your new system. Before you blindly buy what we're about to suggest, take a moment and look at our Lifehacker Night School article on choosing PC components, where we discuss some of the things you should think about before buying your components. For example, our $600 PC here is made with bang-for-the-buck in mind, not necessarily silent operation or tons of expansion bays. Remember to consider what you'll use the system for before buying.

Here are the parts for our mid-range PC, complete with prices:

  • The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200The case: Antec One Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower - $49.99

    The Antec One Hundred is a tried and true mid-sized case that, with luck and care, will last you for more than just one system build. It's large enough to accommodate all but the largest components, and roomy enough to you're your hands around inside without too much of a squeeze. Front-side audio and USB ports are a nice bonus in this budget case.

  • The power supply:Antec NEO ECO 520W Power Supply - $54.99

    Most PC builders, especially starting off, tend to completely overestimate how much power their components will actually need. At the same time, you don't want to buy a power supply too weak for the components in your build, or buy one from a flaky manufacturer or a no-name brand. Stick with trusted vendors on this one, and spend a little more if you have to. This 520-watt power supply from Antec should be more than enough for our components, and Antec is a trusted name. Pay attention to warranties and return policies as well, but try to make sure you're getting the right amount of juice for the system you're building. There are some great calculators on the web that will help you determine how big your power supply should really be, like the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator.

  • The motherboard: ASUS P8H61-M LGA 1155 Micro-ATX Intel Motherboard - $67.99

    This ASUS motherboard is actually used in a number of corporate desktops, has an easy to configure BIOS, and most importantly is rock-solid. The board sports 6 USB ports, 4 SATA ports, gigabit Ethernet, and on-board sound, so we won't need to pick up a separate sound card. It doesn't have integrated video, so you'll definitely need the video card we'll discuss later. If you're willing to spend a little more, consider this MSI motherboard for $84.99, which is more expensive (and would put us over budget,) but packs on-board video, (so you could ditch video card below and save some more money,) but more importantly has USB 3.0, which is a huge benefit.

  • The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200The CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1Ghz Quad Core Processor - $189.99

    Yes, we're going Intel with the budget system. No, there's no reason you couldn't sub this out for an AMD processor if you wanted to (in fact, we discussed it at length, and the first version of this build actually carried a AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz Quad Core Processor ($119.99) under the hood) save some more money or stand with a brand allegiance. We're going to ignore those allegiances here and focus on the facts: while the AMD processor offers impressive bang for the buck, the Intel Core i5 is a solid processor that fits in our budget and can be found under the hood of desktops much more expensive than this one from commercial OEMs. The i5 will serve you well.

  • The memory: G Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333 RAM - $24.99

    One of the most important things about buying memory is to make sure you get RAM that's compatible with your build, and that's from a reputable memory manufacturer. Granted, we're spending a little more than we could if we went off-brand-this certainly isn't bargain basement RAM-but G. Skill is well known and makes high quality desktop memory. Our board is dual-channel, so we want to make sure we take advantage of it, and 4GB of RAM is enough for our budget, everyday PC.

  • The storage: Seagate Pipeline 500GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive - $79.99

    Hard drives are so large and affordable (with the caveat of the flooding in Thailand, noted above) at this point that you have plenty of leeway here as well. 1TB is large, and the price is right, so there's no reason to skimp on the storage unless you really want to, or don't plan on using this much space. Also, hard drive manufacturers are another hot topic of debate: there's no reason you couldn't ditch Samsung for this similarly priced Seagate or this Western Digital for the same price if you prefer a different brand. The point is that you want a drive that'll give you the space you want, is a good, fast drive from a reputable manufacturer, comes with a warranty, and doesn't break your budget.

  • The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200The graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6750/Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 - $105.99/$109.99

    We're offering up two suggestions here to try and stave off the AMD/ATI versus Nvidia battle. Like so many other components, it's easy to get caught up in which brand you prefer, but both of these cards pack enough power for everyday tasks and some casual gaming that they're decent entries to the field. Don't expect to fire up the latest titles with the settings turned up here, but if you have a couple of older titles you can't give up, or if you don't really play PC games at all, these will be just fine.

  • The optical drive: ASUS 24x CD/DVD Burner - $20.99

    There isn't too much to worry about when selecting an optical drive: just get something that works for your need (for example, this ASUS assumes you won't be watching Blu-Ray videos on your PC. If you are, you may want to look at a Blu-Ray drive, like this ASUS Blu-ray drive, which will cost you a bit more but allow you to watch those Blu-ray discs on your system) and select a well-reviewed drive from a reputable manufacturer. If you have an optical drive from a previous build, even better.

  • The total: $598.92

If you have a bit more to spend?
We know that $600 is pushing the limit of "mid-range" for a lot of people, but we wanted to make sure we got quality components into the build that offered a solid all-around build. That doesn't mean there isn't room to improve it, or cut it down a bit if it's too much. You could get below $500 by swapping in a cheaper processor (like the AMD noted above,) or opting for a smaller hard drive. But if you have a little more to spend, you can get some big boosts for not much more money.

The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200 We spent a good clip of money on our processor and motherboard to make sure we had room to expand if we wanted to. If you have a few more dollars to spend, you could probably get away with a beefier graphics card than the ones we opted for above. For example, this AMD Radeon HD 6850 is a serious step up from the 6750 in our build, and it's only about $55 more. If you're an NVidia fan, consider GeForce GTX 460, which is the same price. You'll see these cards again later, promise.

Of course, if you have more money to spend and you want a processor uplift, you could consider swapping out the motherboard for the pricier one above, or even for a full ATX board, and the processor for beefier model like the Core i5-2500, but keep in mind how that will effect other parts of the build, especially the memory.


The Sub-$1200 Enthusiast's PC

Now that we've covered a system that can be purchased and assembled on a decent budget, now it's time to go crazy. First, we're not targeting our upper limit here, we just want to give you an idea of some of the high-end components that would make a good enthusiast's build. If you're a fan of PC gaming, have to play the latest releases as soon as they're out, watch HD video, do video editing or spend a lot of time streaming video from the web in HD, or just want the beefiest box you can afford, this build is for you.

The parts

As with the $600 PC above, we're going to assume you have the basics, like a keyboard, mouse, and display. In this case though, we're going for the big, pretty, and powerful, as opposed to trying to keep the budget down. We won't necessarily aim directly for our high-end, but we will slap in some pricier components that we know would make a noticeable difference in your computing experience if you had them in your system.

Again, remember to consider your use case before buying ? the people who'll really love this build will be PC gamers, media professionals, and enthusiasts who want to futureproof themselves or just prefer the top of the line.

  • The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200The case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $54.99

    The last iteration of the enthusiast PC had a Cooler Master CM690 II for its chassis, but the CM690 II is getting difficult to come by, so it's time to update it with a newer model. We looked high and low, and decided that the Antec Three Hundred case comes highly recommended, well rated, and offers the space and the look that we're looking for. The Antec Three Hundred is sleek, black, lightweight steel, and has 9 expansion bays and 7 PCI slots on the rear. It has top, rear, and optional front and side case fans to keep your system cool, and a front-side I/O panel for power, USB, and audio. You won't get a power supply with the case, but the Three Hundred is a robust case that will stand the test of time. Warning though: there are some very pretty cases on the market ? buy one that has the features and look that you want. If you're willing, you can spend close to $200 on a beauty like the Silverstone Raven RV02, or alternatively save the cash and repurpose an old case from a previous build.

  • The power supply: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 v2 750W Power Supply - $129.99

    Corsair makes good power supplies, and 750-watts of juice should be enough to power even the most demanding components. This power supply is quiet, comes with a +12V rail for the graphics card we're about to slap into this system, and offers enthusiast-level power output at a solid price. There are more expensive power supplies out there-especially modular ones, which we sorely wish that Corsair would make in more wattages-but this one gets the job done without being overkill.

  • The motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel ATX Motherboard - $149.99

    It's pricey, but this board packs the ports and features. It has tools for overclockers (although not as many as its more expensive cousin, and supports Intel's latest Core processors. The board also has built-in support for Crossfire (AMD) and SLI (NVidia) for high-end gaming with multiple graphics cards, sports 2 USB 3.0 and 8 USB 2.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, supports on-board RAID, has 8 SATA ports (4 at 6Gb/s and 4 at 3Gb/s) and packs built-in audio and video. It's definitely a high-end board for a system builder who needs the features or isn't concerned about the budget.

  • The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200The CPU: Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4Ghz Quad Core Processor - $299.99

    Intel's Core processors are the market leaders for a reason. They pack incredible power at decent power consumption, and while AMD is definitely a great bang-for-your-buck option, at the high end Intel processors simply blow them away, and there's little that isn't blown away by the Core i7-2600. Let's be clear - you may not see all of the benefit to Intel's top-of-the-line processor in your everyday tasks, but it wouldn't be an enthusiast's PC without one. There's very little that you'll wind up doing that will take advantage of the Core i7's increased firepower over the Core i5 2500k, unless you're doing video conversion or playing the latest high-end games. If you're a little gunshy at spending this much on a processor, step down to the Intel Core i5-2500 for $99 less.

  • The memory: G Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600 RAM - $29.99

    Let's be clear, 4GB of RAM is probably sufficient for most systems. If you want to spend more cash (maybe you're the type to spring for the i7 above) you can pick up the same G.Skill memory in an 8GB kit for $37.99 (update: as long as the pricing stays like this, there's no reason not to spend the money to upgrade - and it won't break our budget to do so!) At the same time though, you're only really going to feel the benefit of the extra memory in a few applications, and even though you have the extra memory, there's no guarantee that your general computing experience will be any better. Buy with caution, and keep in mind what you're going to be doing with the system.

  • The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200The storage: Intel 320 Series 80GB SATA II MLC SSD - $139.99 + Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive - $119.99

    Now we're ready to spend some money. We've said several times that a Solid State Drive (SSD) is one of the best upgrades you can buy for your computer, but if you're building one from scratch with absolute performance in mind, consider buying an SSD for your OS and applications, and a traditional hard drive for files and data. Still not sold? Let us help: we can assure you SSDs are worth the money. The only trick is picking one that's large enough for your OS and applications. We went with 80GB here, but you can go up to 120GB or even 256GB if you need the extra space. They're pricey though, so make sure you get the best one for your cash.

    Photo by TAKA@P.P.R.S.

  • The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200The graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6950 - $239.99 /NVidia GeForce 560 Ti - $234.99

    These two cards, aside from being some of the best on the market at the moment, are both good bang-for-your-buck gaming graphics cards according to Anandtech's 2011 GPU Benchmark tests. If you're a PC gamer and you love turning up all of the settings on your games, or you have to play all of the latest releases as soon as they're out, pick your brand allegiance (or better yet, check how each of these two cards performs when benchmarked in your favorite games) and go with one of these. If you need even more power and have the money to buy it, consider the AMD Radeon HD 6970 ($349.99) or the NVidia GeForce GTX 570 ($339.99) for some gorgeous-but-wallet-busting graphical goodness.

  • The optical drive: ASUS 24x CD/DVD Burner - $20.99

    Surprised? We meant it when we said in the budget section that the optical drive that you buy doesn't really matter. Again, if you're planning to watch Blu-ray video on your enthusiast PC, you'll want to spring for the appropriate drive, but if you're not, we can't find a better optical drive and disc burner for the money. Hey, just because there are more expensive ones out there doesn't mean they're better. Just because you're on an enthusiast's budget doesn't mean you have to throw your money away.

  • The total: $1185.91

If you're on a budget?
Sometimes building an enthusiast's PC is more difficult than building a budget one because you have room in the budget to buy high-end components, but you don't want to go overboard or make decisions that waste your money. We hope this sub $1200 build walks the line between spending good money on components that matter without spending too much on the ones that don't.

If this is too much though, some of the biggest money sinks here are clearly the video card and the processor. While you could bump down to the Intel Core i5-2400 and save about $30, the real savings is in choosing a less powerful and high-end video card, especially since you can upgrade a video card more easily than a processor. Consider the AMD Radeon HD 6870 ($179.99) or the NVidia GeForce GTX 460 ($159.99) if you want a video card that's beefy enough to play the latest titles but you don't want to break the bank.

The Best PCs You Can Build for $600 and $1200

A Note About Your Operating System

You're undoubtedly noticing that we haven't included the cost of an OS license in this roundup. The reason for that is because we don't want to assume what operating system you'll install on your build. If you want to go Linux, then your cost is basically nothing. If you'd rather install Microsoft Windows-and we assume most of you would-you can pick up any flavor of Windows 7 you like at an array of different prices depending on the version you want and where you get it.

Newegg has OEM versions of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit for $99.99, which is likely what most of you would buy. At the same time, you can probably score a cheaper copy with an educational discount if you have one, or through an employee purchase program if your workplace has a enterprise licensing agreement with Microsoft. Look around for sales and you'll find a deal on Windows if that's what you want to install.

Additional Reading

Don't take our word for these builds. We're sure you have your own opinions on what should have made it in and what should have been excluded. We also stuck with Newegg for pricing and component information, which you certainly don't have to do-especially if you can find the same components you want elsewhere for less (or better ones for the same price!)

One reference that-at least for now-is constantly updated and invaluable for determining exactly how enthusiast you're being when it comes to the components you're buying and how much you should be spending on them is the Logical Increments PC Buying Guide. It's a big help, and can serve as a good sanity check if your build is getting out of hand.

Also, make sure to read up on your most critical components before you buy. Anandtech's GPU benchmarks and the Tom's Hardware forums are invaluable when looking for benchmarks and opinions on some of the components you may buy before you add them to your cart. The Reddit Build-A-PC board is also a great place to ask for opinions and guidance if you're having issues or just want the thoughts of people who have been where you are now.


We'll come back to this system builder's guide regularly to make sure it's updated with current pricing information and the best components for each of our builds. Remember though, take our builds as guidelines for your own research and your own PC-building project.

Today's $600 mid-range PC will be tomorrow's $350 bargain basement system after the next CPU industry uplift, and today's $1200 enthusiast's PC will be tomorrow's lame duck when AMD and NVidia introduce their next wave of high-end graphics cards, so buy with that in mind, and come back often to see what's at the top of the heap.

All of that said, what would go in your preferred build? Do you think our $600 PC should have been an Intel system? Should we have made some tradeoffs on the $1200 PC? Have your say in the comments below.


You can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow him on Twitter or Google+.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/L077NTho56c/the-best-pcs-you-can-build-for-600-and-1200

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Patti LaBelle Sued for Allegedly Attacking a Mom & Baby

Parents, beware: If you like to give your kids a little freedom to roam, just make sure they don't do it around Patti LaBelle. The 67-year-old Grammy-winning R&B singer is being sued for allegedly throwing a bottle of water on Roseanna Monk and her 18-month-old daughter Genevieve -- and then taking a swing at the mother, the New York Daily News reports.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/patti-labelle-sued-allegedly-attacking-mother-her-baby/1-a-402901?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Apatti-labelle-sued-allegedly-attacking-mother-her-baby-402901

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Suzanne Braun Levine: We Still Undress In The Dark, But The Sex Is Great!

Whether we like it or not, being 50 or 60 means that we aren't in Kansas any more -- body wise. There is no way that the belt we wore in our thirties will fit, even if the hip-huggers we also wore at the time still do.

Many of us have had body image problems all our lives. Most of us have body image problems now that our bodies are changing. Some of it is due to growing up in a culture where our only role models were thin and doll-like fashion models and celebrities. There is some consolation in the certitude that those same models and celebrities are sagging now too. And it should be instructive to purveyors of that air-brushed image (in women's magazines, no less!), that when the subject of aging celebrities comes up, countless women still express gratitude to Jamie Lee Curtis for baring the truth about her midlife midriff in More magazine - almost ten years ago!

The old saw about changing what you can and accepting what you can't certainly applies here. Personal reinvention is an important theme of what I call Second Adulthood. As we reconsider our expectations in every aspect of our lives - from relationships to life goals - we need to revisit the standards we set for our bodies. My trainer tells me that she has noticed that when her clients turn fifty or when they go through menopause, or become grandparents, they get serious about being healthy. "I'm into 'fit' now as opposed to fat,'" one woman told me. "I may not look as glamorous, but I can put my suitcase up on the rack on the airplane." Her body image is beginning to conform to her own internal ideal rather than someone else's. I often laugh at myself because even when I was thin on the outside, I was nothing but flab on the inside; now it's the reverse.

I recently came upon a photograph of myself back then in my first "two-piece" bathing suit. Hey, I thought, she looks pretty good. That thought lasted about two seconds, until I remembered that when that picture was taken, I saw myself as fat and bulky. Then I realized that I feel the same way today. Fat and bulky. Plus wrinkled and saggy. What a waste, I thought, not feeling good about my body back then. And just as much of a waste feeling ashamed of it now. As one woman said to me after having the same then-and-now photo revelation, "We'd better start appreciating ourselves now or we will look back in a few years and wish we looked as good then as we do now."

There is a delicious and unanticipated consequence of this new self-confidence. In the course of researching my forthcoming book How We Love Now: Sex and the New Intimacy in Second Adulthood, I heard story after story of Great Sex! Women I interviewed were astonished at the freedom that came from listening to their bodies as opposed to scrutinizing them in the mirror. Throwing caution to the wind, they find new realms of pleasure and new sources of self discovery in those gravity-challenged bodies. It's amazing, they report, how uninhibited they can be, even when a new relationship progresses to the sex part. "All the things you worry about when you haven't dated as long as I hadn't dated--about sexual intimacy, about being attractive--none of that happened," one woman told me. "Your body just kind of takes over."

Which is not to say that women like me will become confident enough to flaunt our corporeal selves. Most of us still prefer to undress in the dark. There is a scene in the movie It's Complicated
that takes place the morning after the Meryl Streep character has just slept with her ex, played by Alec Baldwin. He waddles off into the bathroom looking...his age, while she gets up smiling and starts wrapping herself in the sheet. He is confused. "But we were naked last night, what are you doing this for?" And she replies, "We were lying down then" That line embodies (get it?) the kind of good-natured acceptance of how her body looks with gratitude for how it works that I, for one, aspire to.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-braun-levine/we-still-undress-in-the-d_b_1091649.html

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Obama caps summit diplomacy in Hawaiian home state

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, left, talks with U.S. President Barack Obama following the first plenary session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, left, talks with U.S. President Barack Obama following the first plenary session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit leaders plenary session in Kapolei, Hawaii on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit leaders plenary session in Kapolei, Hawaii on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, middle, shakes hands with Russia President is Dmitry Medvedev as U.S. President Barack Obama looks on as they take part in a plenary session at the 2011 APEC Summit in Kapolei, Hawaii on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. Asia-Pacific leaders held their annual summit Sunday, having claimed progress on a U.S.-backed free trade bloc that received praise from American businesses and labor, but drew a less enthusiastic response from China and Russia. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the leaders plenary session during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Kapolei, Hawaii on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(AP) ? President Barack Obama on Sunday tied the hopes of a faster American economic recovery to the booming Pacific Rim region, saying "we're not going to be able to put our folks back to work" unless the Asia-Pacific region is successful as an engine for the world.

"We consider it a top priority," Obama said of the region where his administration is pouring in time and political capital to expand exports and business ties.

The president spoke as he dove into a day of summit diplomacy, proudly using his home state of Hawaii as the American foothold to the Pacific. He gathered with leaders of 20 other nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, whose nations span from Chile to China and account for roughly half the world's trade and economic output.

In the midst of a hard re-election bid, Obama kept his message on jobs, even as he privately lobbied for help on containing the Iranian nuclear threat.

He was to cap the summit with a solo news conference in which topics on and off his scripted agenda were likely to emerge.

Born in Hawaii, Obama reveled in having the world stage on his home turf, while back east the Republicans seeking to oust him from the White House assailed his foreign policy record.

Obama used his moment to signal to business executives and Asian leaders that the United States has shifted from a post-9/11 war focus to re-engagement all across the Pacific.

"We represent close to 3 billion people, from different continents and cultures," Obama told his APEC partners on Saturday, ahead of some luau entertainment. "Our citizens have sent us here with a common task: to bring our economies closer together, to cooperate, to create jobs and prosperity that our people deserve so that they can provide for their families."

The president is on a 9-day venture away from Washington's daily political gridlock. He will visit Australia and Indonesia before returning to the White House on Nov. 20.

On Saturday, largely a day of sideline meetings here, Obama prodded the skeptical leaders of Russia and China for support in dialing back Iran's nuclear ambitions, but without winning endorsement from either man. Neither Russian President Dmitry Medvedev nor Chinese President Hu Jintao publicly echoed Obama's push for solidarity over Iran.

Obama did announce the broad outlines of an agreement to create a transpacific trade zone encompassing the United States and eight other nations before going into meetings with Hu and Medvedev where he raised a new report from the U.N. atomic agency. The report asserted in the strongest terms to date that Iran is conducting secret work to develop nuclear arms.

Russia and China remain a roadblock to the United States in its push to tighten international sanctions on Iran. Both are veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council and have shown no sign the new report will change their stand.

Alongside Medvedev, Obama said the two "reaffirmed our intention to work to shape a common response" on Iran.

Shortly after, Obama joined Hu, in a run of back-to-back diplomacy with the heads of two countries that have complicated and at times divisive relations with the United States, occasional partners in joint international endeavors, but also frequent rivals or adversaries on more difficult issues, especially those with strategic implications.

Obama said that he and the Chinese leader want to ensure that Iran abides by "international rules and norms."

Obama's comments were broad enough to portray a united front without yielding any clear indication of progress.

Medvedev, for his part, was largely silent on Iran during his remarks, merely acknowledging that the subject was discussed. Hu did not mention Iran at all.

White House aides insisted later that Russia and China remain unified with the United States and other allies in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and that Obama, Hu and Medvedev had agreed to work on the next steps. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the new allegations about Iran's programs demand an international response.

"I think the Russians and the Chinese understand that," he said. "We're going to be working with them to formulate that response."

As the president held forth on the world stage, Republicans vying to compete against Obama for the presidency unleashed withering criticism in a debate in South Carolina. It was a rare moment in which foreign policy garnered attention in a campaign dominated by the flagging U.S. economy.

"If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. And if you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon," said Romney, a former Massachusetts governor.

Iran has insisted its nuclear work is in the peaceful pursuit of energy and research, not weaponry.

More broadly, Obama is seeking while in Hawaii to position the United States as a key player among economies that already account for 44 percent of world trade, a figure the administration believes will grow.

For businesses, Obama said, "this is where the action's going to be."

On the Pacific trade pact, Obama said details must still be worked out, but said the goal was to complete the deal by next year.

The eight countries joining the U.S. in the zone would be Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Obama also spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda about Japan's interest in joining the trade bloc.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-13-US-Obama/id-b1253a42675549b8b89df9efebb0ec95

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Europe could be in worst hour since WW2: Merkel (Reuters)

LEIPZIG, Germany (Reuters) ? German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Europe could be living through its toughest hour since World War Two as new leaders in Italy and Greece rushed to form governments and limit the damage from the euro zone debt crisis.

A rally on financial markets sparked by the appointment of respected European technocrats in Rome and Athens soon stalled. Analysts warned that daunting obstacles could hinder the decisive action needed to revive their ailing economies.

Italy had to pay a euro-lifetime record yield of 6.3 percent to sell five-year bonds with investors wary of buying its debt until prime minister-designate Mario Monti can undertake profound economic reforms.

In a first sign of trouble for new Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, the leader of the main conservative party rejected any toughening of austerity and refused to sign a letter sought by European authorities pledging support for a new 130 billion euro bailout.

Merkel put the situation facing the euro zone into stark relief in an attempt to rally her conservative party behind the government at a congress in Leipzig.

"Europe is in one of its toughest, perhaps the toughest hour since World War Two," she told her Christian Democrats (CDU), saying she feared Europe would fail if the euro failed and vowing to do anything to stop this from happening.

In a one-hour address, Merkel called for closer European political union but offered no new ideas for resolving a crisis that has forced bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, raising fears about the survival of the 17-state currency zone.

European Union governments have until a summit on December 9 to come up with the outlines of a bolder and more convincing strategy, with some form of massive, visible financial backing.

Prospects are uncertain as the German government, the Bundesbank and hardliners in the European Central Bank have blocked key policy options. These include issuing common euro zone bonds, mutualising the euro zone's debt stock, letting the ECB create money to fight the crisis, or having it act as lender of last resort, directly or via the euro zone rescue fund.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Reuters that Germany wanted Europe to push through changes to the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of 2012 that set the foundation for a common fiscal policy in the bloc.

He conceded some non-euro states might oppose that but said they should not prevent the 17 euro zone countries going ahead.

"The most important thing is quick agreement on the structures for a fiscal union," he said.

HIGH DRAMA IN ROME

In weekend drama, Italy's president asked Monti, a former European commissioner, to form a government to reverse a disastrous collapse of market confidence in an economy whose debt burden is too big for the euro bloc to bail out.

Italians sang, danced and drank champagne in the streets to celebrate the resignation of scandal-plagued billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, and an impromptu orchestra near the presidential palace played the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah.

The ECB has been buying troubled euro zone governments' bonds episodically to try to stabilize markets. But figures released on Monday showed it halved its weekly bond buy at the height of the Italian government crisis last week, suggesting it was no longer willing to help Berlusconi.

After a tumultuous week, when Italy's borrowing costs rose to the kind of levels that saw Ireland and Greece forced to seek international bailouts, initial market reaction was positive on Monday, with both stocks and bond markets lifted.

But in a sign of the fragile state of confidence, the trend was reversed after the Italian bond auction, and the release of figures showing industrial production slumped by 2 percent in the euro zone in September, raising the specter of recession.

Monti held talks with political parties on Monday before separate meetings with trade unions and employers on Tuesday, as he moves to appoint what is expected to be a relatively small cabinet made up of experts from outside parliament.

He went to work after a frenetic weekend in which Italy's parliament approved a package of economic reforms agreed with European leaders, clearing the way for Berlusconi to resign.

"Monti spoke about a significant program with many sacrifices," Francesco Nucara, a lawmaker from one of the myriad tiny parliamentary groups involved in the talks, said after meeting the prime minister-designate.

Monti told a news conference that political parties must understand the depth of the crisis, and that he aimed to serve until scheduled elections in 2013, not just until reforms had been pushed through.

"NO SILVER BULLET"

Global equity markets and the euro slid on doubts the incoming Italian and Greek leaders would take the tough steps needed to resolve the debt crisis.

Mark McCormick, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York, called the national unity governments in Italy and Greece "the necessary policy response to avert a meltdown", but said they were "unlikely to be a silver bullet".

While Italy's problems and the long-drawn-out departure of Berlusconi have pushed the collapse of the much smaller Greek economy backstage, IMF and European leaders will keep Papademos under pressure to implement radical reforms.

Papademos succeeded George Papandreou, whose proposal to hold a referendum on the bailout terms prompted EU leaders to raise the threat of a Greek exit from the currency bloc.

The new premier, who oversaw Greece's entry to the euro zone in 2002, must win a confidence vote on Wednesday before meeting euro zone finance ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

He told parliament at the start of the confidence debate that the policies needed to secure an international bailout had aggravated the recession, but added that Greece had no choice but to remain within the euro zone.

Reforms -- including widening the tax base and fighting rampant tax evasion -- could mitigate the problem, he said.

The Herculean task he faces was illustrated when New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said he would not vote for new austerity measures. Spending cuts and tax rises agreed with foreign lenders should be changed in favor of economic growth.

"I agree with the goals to cut government spending ... to reduce debt, to erase the deficit, to make structural changes. I do not agree with whatever stunts growth," he told party MPs.

Inspectors for Greece's international lenders, known as the troika, were due to meet Papademos's administration after the confidence vote, but uncertainty grew whether they would come.

DISRUPTIVE DEMONSTRATIONS

Most Greeks hailed Papademos's appointment, but thousands of people angry at more than a year of austerity are expected to rally on Thursday, the anniversary of a 1973 student uprising that helped to bring down a 1967-1974 military junta.

That could complicate talks between the troika and the new cabinet, as the demonstration is expected to shut down central Athens and could be the biggest rally in months of protests that have at times turned violent.

Carlos Martin Ruiz de Gordejuela, spokesman for the European Commission's mission in Greece, said the troika team "may come at the end of the week but nothing is fixed".

Monday's euro zone industrial production figures pointed to a sharp contraction toward the end of the year and the risk of a double-dip recession.

The slide in output at euro zone factories was the biggest since February 2009 -- when the economy was reeling from the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

"It clearly doesn't bode well for the future," said Francois Cabau, an economist at Barclays Capital. "If we don't see some resolution of the euro zone sovereign debt crisis, business confidence could go even lower."

(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella and James Mackenzie in Rome, Ben Harding and Harry Papachristou in Athens, Eva Kuehnen in Frankfurt, Alexandra Hudson in Berlin and Robin Emmott in Brussels, writing by Peter Millership and Jon Boyle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111114/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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