Halloween at the White House

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Medicare premiums to rise less than expected: How much?

(CBS/AP) Seniors expecting big Medicare hikes can breathe a sigh of relief: Premiums will rise by only $3.50 at most.

"Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare is providing better benefits at lower cost," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She reassured seniors that they have nothing to fear from the health care law, and said called keeping premiums in check "pretty remarkable."

The 2012 Part B premium for outpatient care will be $99.90 per month - about $7 less than projected as recently as May. The extra cash that most seniors will pay works out to about 10 percent of the average Social Security cost-of-living increase that's coming their way.

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Solar Energy's Potential Is Hottest In The Planet's Coldest Regions

A new study identified the Himalaya Mountains, the Andes, and even Antarctica as among the world's most promising solar power landscapes, at least in theory. The (flatter) regions around Mt Everest, say, could generate power for China's great industrial endeavors. At the polar regions, where temperatures might dip more than 50 degrees below freezing but sunlight shines 24 hours per day for half the year, solar technology could also be effective. Solar and wind power has already been a major power source for Antarctic research bases outfitted with many megawatts of renewable energy capacity (although what works for the U.S. McMurdo station in Antarctica may not much sense in other inhospitable conditions).

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Tesla - electric cars revenge

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