Friday, May 12, 2006

Peter Costello’s budget announcement has led to rejoicing for small businesses, but the lack of joy for those pushing for radical corporate taxation reform has led to many businesses asking “what about us?”

Personal taxation and small business have been the big winners after this year’s federal budget. Although dampened by the twin economic threats of rising interest rates and petrol prices, there should be a reasonable amount of real income savings for both low and high income earners, with those receiving Medicare, or a superannuation benefit, privy to an even lower level of taxation (0% for those on super benefits).

Small business also has benefited from the Howard government’s 11th annual budget, with them receiving a higher level of reducing depreciation, leading to a higher level of deductions in the years following the uptake of new technology or other capital. They are also privy to a AU$435 million dollar tax cut to compensate for their changing accounting requirements under the government’s new AIFRS reporting standards, as well as increasing the uptake of both the small business tax relief scheme and CGT (Capital Gains tax) Concessions.

The budget was not a complete loss for big business however, as superannuation laws have been tweaked to streamline contribution and payment rules previously impeding those with multitudes of staff.

But this is not enough, says Big 4 accounting firm Ernst & Young. In their newly published paper “Taxation of Investment in Australia: the need for ongoing reform”. In it they lead the charge for a greater streamlining and organization of the corporate tax system in Australia, submitting that it will lead to reductions in “disincentives to work save and invest in Australia [as well as improving] the international competitiveness of Australian businesses.” This follows from a recent report brought out by Mr. Costello himself about the need for tax reform in Australia.

A budget night Mr. Costello was notably coy about any future reform of corporate tax in Australia. He alluded to the report by his ministers but kept from outlining the government’s plan precisely.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Norwegian national assembly voted Wednesday to change the existing marriage and adoption laws. After debating for several hours, the vote resulted in a 84 to 41 majority in favour of the new law which allows homosexual couples to marry and adopt children.

For the past several weeks, there have been extensive debate over the change, with both sides staging demonstrations in most of the larger cities in Norway. The last time Norway changed the laws regarding marriage was in 1993, when gay and lesbian people were allowed to form partnership unions with similar rights as marriages. The existing law attracted criticism in the last few years for discriminating against homosexuals, as they were denied marriage, adoption, and the use of assisted reproductive technology.

The new law, as proposed, allows marriages between homosexuals, granting them the same rights to religious services in connection with their marriage, as well as the right to adopt children with the same requirements being applied as to heterosexuals. The new law also allows lesbian couples to use assisted reproductive technology.

The new law does not require The Church of Norway to marry gays or lesbians, but it allows ministers to perform this service if the national church council permits it.

Another part of the new proposal, which would have concealed the identity of sperm donors, failed to gain a majority during the vote. Citing the right for children to know their biological parents as more important, a majority of the representatives voted against this part of the proposal.

Friday, April 3, 2009

The G20 Summit held in London, England concluded Thursday with an injection into the economy of US$5 trillion by the end of 2010.

Global trade would be supported by $250 billion (169.5 billion pounds). “We are going to act decisively to kickstart international trade. We will ensure availability of at least $250 billion over the next two years,” said Gordon Brown Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The International Monetary Fund IMF will have access to $750bn in resources of which $250bn will support special drawing rights.

Developing countries received $100bn which will be dispensed via Multilateral development banks. Towards this end, the IMF will sell off gold reserves.

China will support the IMF fund by $40bn, the European Union by $100bn, and Japan by $100bn.

There will be increased regulation on banking and credit ratings agencies. There was a commitment to clamp down on hedge funds, tax havens and toxic assets. To restore consumer confidence in the financial sector, a new Financial Stability Board will be initiated internationally. There would be new policies implemented to control pay and bonuses paid to the heads of banks and corporations.

The G20 leaders were adverse to protectionism and rallied to support international trade and investment.

The Leaders’ statement said, “We reaffirm the commitment made in Washington: to refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions, or implementing World Trade Organization (WTO) inconsistent measures to stimulate exports.”

Eoin O’Malley, senior adviser on international trade at BusinessEurope, said “The measure also needs to be part of wider package to avoid protectionism and conclude the Doha round which will stimulate trade growth. The key point now is to move forward with Doha. The key now is implementation. G20 governments must act quickly to provide this finance to companies that need it urgently.”

Monday, August 11, 2008

Buffalo, New York —The Buffalo Fire Department and Police were called to a hazmat situation at Canisius College on Main Street after security reported that a one gallon glass container containing chloroform broke, spilling about a pint onto the floor of the college’s science building.

According to communications by firefighters, who arrived at around 8:20 a.m. (eastern time), the glass container spilled on the third floor in room 318. As a precaution the building was evacuated and East Delevan road between Main Street and Jefferson Avenues was closed to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic while crews worked to clean up the spill.

At about 9:15 hazmat crews entered the room and began to clean up the chemical “using kitty litter” and fans to air out the room. They then sealed the material in a five gallon container. At 9:23 a.m. firefighters stated that they no longer detected the chemical in the air and began to pack up their gear.

Officials for the college assessed the situation and decided to keep the building closed for the day. “At 8:22am this morning the Public Safety Department and Buffalo Fire Department responded to a report of a chemical spill on the third floor of the Health Science Center. As the building is cleaned, the Health Science Building will remain closed today and reopen tomorrow morning,” a college official said to Wikinews, adding they could not confirm the firefighter reports.

Firefighters believe the container containing the chemical was knocked over while someone working with maintenance was cleaning the floors.

There are no reports of injuries, but WKBW reports that the maintenance worker was taken to Sister’s of Saint Mercy’s hospital not far from the college for observation.

Chloroform is a common solvent used in chemistry laboratories. Minimal exposure can cause dizziness, headaches and fainting while prolonged exposure can cause liver and kidney damage. It is considered a hazardous material and environmentally unsafe. Banned as a consumer product since 1976 in the U.S., it was previously used in toothpaste, cough medicines and pharmaceuticals.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

A winning British EuroMillions lottery ticket worth £113,019,926 (US$180,413,709, €129,421,204) has been claimed. The prize value breaks the previous record for the largest amount of money won in a lottery in the United Kingdom. According to BBC News Online, it is also believed that this is the largest lottery prize ever given to a solitary ticket holder in the country. The winner(s) is/are currently remaining unidentified.

A spokesperson for the Camelot Group, the operator of the lottery in the United Kingdom, proclaimed: “There is one British winner and it’s the biggest jackpot win ever. This is fantastic news — we’re absolutely delighted to have such a massive UK win. It is the biggest lottery jackpot prize ever paid out to an individual in this country. We have plenty of champagne on ice and are looking forward to welcoming the lucky ticketholder to the National Lottery millionaires’ club.”

From 1845 – 1915 BST (1745 – 1815 UTC), some Internet lottery sales were unable to be counted due to technical problems with several banks and the system of Camelot, according to a spokeswoman for the Camelot Group. She said that the situation had been “completely out of our hands”.

The results of the lottery draw were 46, 35, 39, 30 and 09, with the two lucky stars being revealed to be 06 and 08. The total amount of this particular win was slightly less than the largest ever win in the EuroMillions draw of £113,229,891 (US$180,735,283, €129,652,278). That jackpot was claimed by a solitary recipient in Spain in May 2009.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Microsoft‘s subscription-based MSN Explorer Internet browser left many of its users frozen out beginning on Friday of last week. Launching the application brought the user to a window stating that the software encountered a problem and had to be closed.

The Internet Explorer browser software bundled with the Windows operating system remains operable, along with other non-MSN software. Subscribers to MSN are still able to retrieve e-mail by accessing their Hotmail account. Telephone support wait times to resolve the connectivity problem with the browser exceeded 45 minutes on Sunday evening. Beginning on Saturday, callers were prompted that wait times were “unusually long due to high call volume”.

A query to on-line chat with technical support to resolve the issue was met with, “I sincerely apologize for the length of time that it took you to get to us. We have been swamped with sessions and I am just glad that you finally got me to help you out.”

The silent and automatic upgrade to the 9.5 version of MSN Explorer, from verson 9.0, is experiencing difficulties on some machines. Users can log on to support using their account at membercenter.msn.com, click the Support button on the left column of the page, and then select under Subscribed Services / Sign In the link “MSN Internet Access”. On-line chat, e-mail, and phone support is available there. Hint: on-line chat is probably the fastest support option.

The existing MSN Explorer software will need to be removed, some Windows registry folders may need to be removed, and the software completely re-downloaded and re-installed.

Dial-up accounts can expect the download to be 93 minutes, for broadband, 9 minutes.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pakistani officials have said that at least 100 people were killed and over 200 injured after a car bomb exploded in a marketplace in the city of Peshawar on Wednesday. The attack was the deadliest in the country in this year.

Initially, large fires were reported to be burning around the marketplace, which was crowded with people. The flames spread easily because there were many stores in the area selling flammable fabrics. Police said the blast was heard throughout most of the city, and the explosion reportedly left a hole in the ground up to ten feet wide.

The Associated Press reported that many of the victims are women.

“There was a huge blast. There was smoke and dust everywhere. I saw people dying and screaming on the road,” said an eyewitness, Mohammad Siddique, to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

Several buildings collapsed as a result of the detonation, and rescue workers searched through the rubble looking for survivors beneath the debris.

Muzamil Hussain, a member of local medical staff, described his experiences to the Associated Press: “There were a lot of wounded people. We tried to help them but there were no ambulances so we took the victims on rickshaws and other vehicles. There were no police. The police and government didn’t help us, the police even opened fire on us.”

“Bodies are scattered and badly burned because of the fire caused by the explosion. The explosion took place in a very crowded market,” Mohammed Naeem, a spokesman for a local ambulance service, said.

Some people expressed anger that the bombings managed to be carried out in broad daylight in a crowded area. “What kind of security alert is this? It was an explosives-packed car. Look at the mosque, it ceases to exist anymore. For God’s sake, do something,” said a local middle-aged shopkeeper, as quoted by the CNN news agency.

A state of emergency at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where many of the wounded people were hospitalised, was called soon after the explosion. Hospital officials appealed to the public and to other medical centres for blood donations.

The bomb attack happened just hours after Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, flew to the nation to discuss peace with Pakistan’s military commanders and political figures. Clinton will be in Islamabad for three days.

Clinton condemned the attack. “These attacks on innocent people are cowardly. They are not courageous. If the people behind these attacks were so sure of their beliefs, let them join the political process,” she said.

The bombing also comes just days after Pakistani military forces captured the town of Kotkai, the hometown of Taliban Chief Hakimullah Mehsud, and one of his top officers, Qari Hussain.