barring columnar: March 2013

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Iran's support for Syria still appears strong - but is it hedging its bets?

Even as it continues to provide military support to the Syrian regime, staunch ally Iran is making preparations for life after President Assad.?

By Scott Peterson,?Staff writer / March 28, 2013

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, welcomes Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, for their meeting, in Tehran, Iran, March 2.

Mahdi Marizad, Fars News Agency/AP

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When the Arab League handed Syria?s long-vacant seat to the Syrian opposition on March 26 and endorsed military aid for anti-regime rebels, the first and loudest complaints came from Iran.?

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Despite a two-year rebellion that has seen 70,000 deaths and 1 million refugees, Iran has not veered from its staunch support for Syria?s embattled President Bashar al-Assad, whose?regime it considers a critical piece of its anti-US, anti-Israel "axis of resistance."

The Arab League's decision set a ?dangerous precedent? that would only ?add to the problems,? warned Iran?s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. It would even ?bring an end to the [Arab League?s] role in the region,? asserted his deputy, Hossein Amir?Abdollahian.

The Iranian complaints are the diplomatic side of an on-the-battlefield proxy war in Syria, with both sides reportedly receiving a surge of weapons from outside powers in recent months.?Iranian military and financial support for Mr. Assad has been stepped up with near-weekly flights?(and Russia still continues normal sales to its ally). Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, meanwhile, have ferried fresh weaponry to the rebels, with CIA support.

United Nations envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi says the Syrian conflict is becoming a ?playground for competing regional forces.?

As the mish-mash of rebel forces capture more ground, more regime military bases and hardware, and key civilian targets, few analysts predict that Assad?s regime will survive in its current form, or that Syria?s longstanding ruler will be alive when it is over. Even Iran, despite its unbending public support for Assad, appears?to be preparing for a post-Assad world.

"Iran so far was successful; without Iran's money and strategic help, Assad would have fallen much earlier," says Mehdi Khalaji, an Iran specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "But in terms of policy, they have a Plan B?. So even if Assad falls, to some extent Iran would be able to protect its interests."

'Plan B'?

That plan may hinge on a pro-regime militia Iran helped to create called Jaysh al-Shabi. The militia could protect Syria's Alawites ? the Shiite Muslim offshoot to which Assad and much of his regime belong ? if they are relegated to only a portion of the country?in northwest Syria, along the coast to the border with Lebanon.?

It's possible that no side will gain a decisive advantage and, with all sides backed by powerful international friends, the country will break along sectarian and ethnic fault lines, with Alawite and Kurdish sections, and a larger Sunni portion.?

Since its 1979 Islamic revolution,?Iran has used Syria as a conduit for weapons, cash, and support for the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah,?and later?Hamas and Islamic Jihad,?all of which form a frontline against Israel. If Assad falls, Iran could lose that channel.?

Iran?s Revolutionary Guard commander has been quoted as saying that the?Jaysh al-Shabi, a mix of Shiite and Alawite groups, is modeled after Iran?s ideological Basij militia,?a large volunteer force that has been used to quell street unrest. Senior US officials, who added Jaysh al-Shabi to its list of sanctioned groups last December,?have described it as ?an Iran-Hezbollah joint venture.?

?In terms of propaganda, no, I think the Iranians in the near future would not admit this possibility [of Assad falling],? says Mr. Khalaji.

But Iran's Plan B with the pro-regime militia means that even if Assad is removed, as long as an Alawite enclave continues to exist in Syria, Iran may still manage to maintain direct links with militant groups. "By helping them, [Iran would] make sure that some part of Syria can be used as a bridge to reach Lebanon and the Palestinian territories," adds Khalaji."

Gulf, West come together

At the Arab League meeting in Doha, Qatar, countering any Iranian support for the Assad regime may have been behind the readiness to recognize the anti-government coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

?We demand ? all forms of support from our friends and brothers, including our full right for self-defense,? said Syrian opposition chief Moaz al-Khatib after taking Syria's seat at the Arab League meeting.?

That has reportedly?been happening already. The airlifting of military aid?by?Arab governments and Turkey to Syrian rebels?with CIA help??expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year,? The New York Times reported on March 24. According to the Times, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar ??Sunni Muslim nations wary of Iranian influence in the region ? have carried out?160 military-style cargo flights?bringing weaponry to Turkey and Jordan, from which the weapons are smuggled into Syria.?

?The intensity and frequency of these [weapons] flights are suggestive of a well-planned and coordinated clandestine military logistics operation,? Hugh Griffiths of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute told the Times.?

Not enough

Likewise, Iran has ?significantly stepped up? military support for Assad, according to a mid-March report by Reuters.?

The Iranian effort ?suggests the Syrian war is entering a new phase in which Iran may be trying to end the battlefield stalemate by redoubling its commitment to Assad? and giving the regime a ?crucial lifeline,? Reuters reported, citing Western diplomats and a Western intelligence report from last September.

The intelligence report described shipments, primarily through Iraqi airspace, ranging from communications gear and drone parts to ?advanced strategic weapons? such as shore-to-sea missiles and ballistic missiles.

?None of this will be decisive; Assad will lose,? says Kenneth Katzman, an analyst for the Congressional Research Service in Washington. ?You?re not going to change the outcome unless you are shipping big-ticket items, which I don?t think anybody is.?

Assad?s military stores are slowly being eroded: Helicopters and planes have been shot down, and many tanks have been taken out?and some captured by rebels and turned against government forces.?

The Iranians "can?t do much more, because to do more would risk getting things captured and exposed," says Mr. Katzman.??To some extent the [Iranian] mentality is the same as Assad?s mentality: Just be tough, show as much strength as possible, and you?re going to be able to?power through it. I think they?ve?overestimated their ability to save Assad.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/VsdYlkY-mfg/Iran-s-support-for-Syria-still-appears-strong-but-is-it-hedging-its-bets

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Cyprus bailout plan puts eurocrisis back on the front page

The plan to levy a tax on Cypriot deposit holders is sending a chill around the continent, particularly in nations like Spain and Italy that already have troubled banks.

By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / March 19, 2013

A man walks by graffiti, reading 'troika out' in Greek, in the old city of Nicosia, Cyprus, today. The Cypriot bailout plan, which was backed by the so-called 'troika' of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank, has been met with fury in Cyprus and has sent jitters across financial markets.

Petros Karadjias/AP

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The tiny divided sun-dappled Mediterranean island of Cyprus rarely rides above the radar in European thinking ? but is now suddenly raising a five-alarm panic in the European Union, just as financial crisis talk there was starting to abate.

Skip to next paragraph Robert Marquand

Staff writer

Over the past three decades, Robert Marquand has reported on a wide variety of subjects for?The Christian Science Monitor, including American education reform,?the wars in the Balkans, the Supreme Court, South Asian politics, and the oft-cited "rise of China." In the past 15 years he has served as the Monitor's bureau chief in Paris, Beijing, and New Delhi.?

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Obama causes Israel to make humiliating apology to Turkey?s anti-Israel prime minister (Powerlineblog)

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Friday, March 22, 2013

AP Photos: Addiction lurks behind Myanmar conflict

MYITKYINA, Myanmar (AP) ? Freshly dumped hypodermic syringes litter alleys, cemeteries and shaded corners in Myitkyina, the provincial capital of Kachin state, on Myanmar's northern border with China.

Myitkyina is known for having one of the highest concentrations of drug addicts in the world. The Kachin Baptist Convention, an evangelical group with more than 300 churches in the state, says nearly 80 percent of ethnic Kachin youth are addicts. Their drug of choice is heroin.

Opium is grown here, and heroin is cheap and easy to find. Help in overcoming addiction, however, is rare.

The men who come to the Kachin Baptist Convention's rehabilitation camp, one of the few places addicts can seek help, hope to find healing in God. They warm their hands around bowls of rice in the morning chill. Then they gather to sing gospel songs, their faces lit with tears as the sun rises. Just 31 of the 49 men who came to the camp ? the first the convention has ever set up ? managed to finish the three-month program in February.

The government also runs a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kachin state, but some here say officials have done far too little, and even accuse them of turning a blind eye to drug abuse to decimate young people who might otherwise become rebels.

Fighting broke out in 2011 between the Kachin Independence Army, which has long been struggling for greater self-rule, and government forces. It has continued despite the announcement of a ceasefire in January.

"They want to destroy the Kachin youth, especially because there is a revolution going on and they don't want the youth to join it," says Gryung Heang, the pastor of the camp church.

Officials dismiss such views. "This is an extremist separatist idea," says police Col. Myint Thein, who oversees a drug abuse control unit. "It is just a false accusation."

Inside the rough wood and corrugated metal sheds of the rehabilitation camp, it is plain that getting off drugs is a deeply personal process, not a political one.

Shrouded in mist, 30-year-old Nlan Shawang walks into the light. He clenches his fists, his eyes squeezed shut with emotion. "I feel sad and happy," he says. "Sad because I didn't know God for so long. Happy because now I see him."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-photos-addiction-lurks-behind-myanmar-conflict-010849886.html

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NKorea suspected in cyberattack despite China link

A South Korean computer researcher looks at a computer monitor as he checks the shutdown computer servers of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) at Evidence Acquisition Lab of Cyber Terror Response Center at National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 21, 2013. A Chinese Internet address was the source of a cyberattack on one company hit in a massive network shutdown that affected 32,000 computers at six banks and media companies in South Korea, initial findings indicated Thursday. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A man walks past next to a sign of Cyber Terror Response Center at National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 21, 2013. A Chinese Internet address was the source of a cyberattack on one company hit in a massive network shutdown that affected 32,000 computers at six banks and media companies in South Korea, initial findings indicated Thursday. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Two South Korean computer researchers look at the computer monitors as they check the shutdown computer servers of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) at Cyber Terror Response Center at National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 21, 2013. A Chinese Internet address was the source of a cyberattack on one company hit in a massive network shutdown that affected 32,000 computers at six banks and media companies in South Korea, initial findings indicated Thursday. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Customers use the automated teller machine at a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 21, 2013. Investigators have traced a coordinated cyberattack that paralyzed tens of thousands of computers at six South Korean banks and media companies to a Chinese Internet Protocol address, authorities in Seoul said Thursday. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Customers use the automated teller machine at a branch of Nonghyup Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 21, 2013. Investigators have traced a coordinated cyberattack that paralyzed tens of thousands of computers at six South Korean banks and media companies to a Chinese Internet Protocol address, authorities in Seoul said Thursday. Nonghyup Bank was one of the six targets. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Investigators have traced a coordinated cyberattack that paralyzed tens of thousands of computers at six South Korean banks and media companies to a Chinese Internet Protocol address, but it was not yet clear who orchestrated the attack, authorities in Seoul said Thursday.

The discovery did not erase suspicions that North Korea was to blame. IP addresses are unique to each computer connected to the Internet, but they can easily be manipulated by hackers operating anywhere in the world. The investigation into Wednesday's attack could take weeks.

By Thursday, only one of the six targets, Shinhan Bank, was back online and operating regularly. It could be next week before the other companies have fully recovered.

North Korea has threatened Seoul and Washington in recent days over U.N. sanctions imposed for its Feb. 12 nuclear test, and over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills. It also threatened revenge after blaming Seoul and Washington for an Internet shutdown that disrupted its own network last week.

North Korea "will never remain a passive onlooker to the enemies' cyberattacks," state media said last week in a commentary. "The U.S. and its allies should be held wholly accountable for the ensuing consequences."

Wednesday's cyberattack did not affect South Korea's government, military or infrastructure, and there were no initial reports that customers' bank records were compromised. But it disabled scores of cash machines across the country, disrupting commerce in this tech-savvy, Internet-dependent country, and renewed questions about South Korea's Internet security and vulnerability to hackers.

The attack disabled some 32,000 computers at broadcasters YTN, MBC and KBS, as well as three banks. Many of the computers were still down Thursday, but the broadcasters said their programming was never affected, and all ATMs were back online except for those at 16 branches belonging to Nonghyup Bank.

The attack may also have extended to the United States. The website of the U.S.-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea also was hacked, with reports on satellite imagery of North Korean prison camps and policy recommendations to the U.S. government deleted from the site, according to executive director Greg Scarlatoiu.

The initial findings from South Korean investigators were based on results from an investigation into one target, Nonghyup Bank. The investigation is continuing into the shutdown at the five other firms.

A malicious code that spread through the Nonghyup server was traced to an IP address in China, said Cho Kyeong-sik, a spokesman for the state-run Korea Communications Commission. Regulators said all six attacks appeared to come from "a single organization."

The Chinese IP address identified by the South Korean communications regulator belongs to an Internet services company, Beijing Teletron Telecom Engineering Co., according to the website tracking and verification service Whois. A woman who answered the telephone number listed on Beijing Teletron's website denied the company was involved in Wednesday's cyber-hack. She refused to identify herself or provide further information.

Beijing Teletron operates fiber-optic networks and provides Internet services. It is the seventh-largest host of IP addresses in China. A subsidiary of the Shanghai-listed Dr. Peng Telecom and Media Group, Beijing Teletron's clients include government agencies and state media: the Foreign Ministry, the State Council Information Office and People's Daily, the Communist Party's flagship newspaper.

Wednesday's cyberattack does not fit the mold of previous attacks blamed on China. Chinese hacking, either from Beijing's cyber-warfare command or freelance hackers, tends to be aimed at collecting intelligence and intellectual property ? not simply at disrupting commerce.

China is home to a sizable North Korean community, both North Koreans working in the neighboring nation and Chinese citizens of ethnic ancestry who consider North Korea their motherland.

If the attack was in fact carried out by North Korea, it may be a warning to South Korea that Pyongyang is capable of breaching its computer networks with relative ease. Seoul's National Intelligence Services believes Pyongyang was behind six cyberattacks between 2009 and 2012.

South Korean investigators say they have no proof that North Korea was behind the attack. However, the outage took place as Pyongyang warned Seoul against holding joint military drills with the U.S. that it considers rehearsals for an invasion.

North Korea also has threatened retaliation for U.N. sanctions imposed for the nuclear test and for its launch of a long-range rocket in December. Pyongyang blames Seoul and Washington for leading the push to punish the North.

On Thursday, in a vein of typical bellicose rhetoric, North Korea's military threatened to attack American naval bases in Japan and an air base in Guam, where nuclear-capable B-52 bombers took off earlier this week to join the drills in South Korea.

The Korean Peninsula has remained in a technical state of war, divided by a heavily militarized border, since the foes signed a truce in 1953. Over the past decade, the two Koreas have engaged in deadly naval skirmishes in Yellow Sea waters that both countries claim. And, increasingly, their warfare has extended into cyberspace.

In 2011, computer security software maker McAfee Inc. said North Korea or its sympathizers likely were responsible for a cyberattack against South Korean government and banking websites that year. The analysis also said North Korea appeared to be linked to a massive computer-based attack in 2009 that brought down U.S. government Internet sites. Pyongyang denied involvement.

Previous hacking attacks on commercial ventures have compromised the personal data of millions of customers. Past malware attacks also disabled access to government websites and destroyed files on personal computers.

Last year, North Korea threatened to attack several South Korean news outlets, including KBC and MBC, for reports critical of Pyongyang's activities.

In recent days, North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea ? a government agency that often targets South Koreans in its push to draw attention to reunification ? warned Seoul's "reptile media" that the North was prepared to conduct a "sophisticated strike" if its negative coverage continued.

"If it plays out that this was a state-sponsored attack, that's pretty bald-faced and definitely an escalation in the tensions between the two countries," said James Barnett, former chief of public safety and homeland security for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

An ominous question is which other businesses, in South Korea or elsewhere, may also be in the sights of the attacker, said Barnett, who heads the cybersecurity practice at Washington law firm Venable.

"This needs to be a wake-up call," he said. "This can happen anywhere."

Timothy Junio, a cybersecurity fellow at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation, said South Korea has worked to protect itself.

"Part of why this wasn't more consequential is probably because South Korea took the first major incident seriously and deployed a bunch of organizational and technical innovations to reduce response time during future North Korea attacks," he said.

South Korea also created a National Cybersecurity Center and Cyber Command modeled after the U.S. Cyber Command. Junio said South Korea's anti-virus firms also play a large role in stopping hacking attacks.

___

Associated Press writers Youkyung Lee and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, Matthew Pennington in Washington, Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Martha Mendoza in San Jose, California, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-21-SKorea-Computer%20Crash/id-7112b9da4b3b4fda90c242fc0c9fc9f8

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Obama to Israel: Reverse 'undertow of isolation

JERUSALEM (AP) ? President Barack Obama is calling on Israel to reverse what he says is an "undertow of isolation."

In a speech Thursday in Jerusalem to scores of university students, Obama says peace in the Middle East is necessary because it is the only true path to security. He says the only way for Israel to endure and thrive in the region as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine.

Given the frustration of the international community, the president says Israel "must reverse an undertow of isolation" to aid the process.

Obama is on his first visit to the close U.S. ally Israel as president. He spoke after a trip to the West Bank, where he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS').

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-21-Obama-Isolation/id-d1f1530b3df2462ea06465013dd9b751

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Eating too much salt led to 2.3 million heart-related deaths worldwide in 2010

Mar. 21, 2013 ? ating too much salt contributed to 2.3 million deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other heart-related diseases throughout the world in 2010, representing 15 percent of all deaths due to these causes, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions.

The researchers analyzed 247 surveys of adult sodium intake, stratified by age, gender, region and country between 1990 and 2010 as part of the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases Study, an international collaborative study by 488 scientists from 303 institutions in 50 countries around the world.

Next, they determined how the amount of sodium people were consuming was affecting their risk of cardiovascular disease, by performing a meta-analysis of 107 randomized, prospective trials that measured how sodium affects blood pressure, and a meta-analysis of how these differences in blood pressure relate to the risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared with consuming no more than 1,000 mg per day of sodium, which the researchers defined as an optimal amount of sodium for adults. Cardiovascular disease includes all diseases of the heart and blood vessels, including stroke.

Nearly 1 million of these deaths -- 40 percent of the total -- were premature, occurring in people 69 years of age and younger. Sixty percent of the deaths occurred in men and 40 percent were in women. Heart attacks caused 42 percent of the deaths and strokes 41 percent. The remainder resulted from other types of cardiovascular disease. Eighty-four percent of these deaths due to eating too much sodium were in low and middle-income countries, rather than high-income countries.

"National and global public health measures, such as comprehensive sodium reduction programs, could potentially save millions of lives," said Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.P.H., lead author of the study and co-director of the Program in Cardiovascular Epidemiology and associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Among the 30 largest countries in the world, those with the highest death rates (per million adults) due to over consuming sodium were:

Ukraine -- 2,109
Russia -- 1,803
Egypt -- 836

Among all countries, the three countries with the lowest death rates (per million adults) due to over consuming sodium were:

Qatar -- 73
Kenya -- 78
United Arab Emirates -- 134

The U.S. ranked 19th out of the 30 largest countries, with 429 deaths per million adults due to eating too much sodium (representing 1 in 10 US deaths due to these causes).

The American Heart Association recommends limiting sodium in your diet to no more than 1,500 mg a day, and has tips on how to reduce the amount of sodium in your diet, as well as information on six commonly consumed foods that are high in sodium.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Heart Association, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Canada business tax cuts under fire by small business, NDP as ...

OTTAWA ? It?s a $60-billion venture for the federal Conservative government.

That?s the estimated amount of tax relief Prime Minister Stephen Harper?s government has offered up to businesses in Canada since taking power in 2006 ? reducing the country?s corporate tax rates to some of the lowest in the world.

The government maintains the widespread corporate tax relief has been an answer for the sluggish Canadian economy ? spurring investment and job creation, while putting tax dollars back into the pockets of business owners, taxpayers and shareholders.

But with a federal budget coming soon, the $60-billion in business tax breaks are also sparking questions and criticism for a government trying to rein in a deficit estimated at $26-billion and balance the books within two years.

?They?ve reduced (corporate) taxes but there has been really not adequate major investment in capital expenditures or job creation,? argues NDP finance critic Peggy Nash.

?We haven?t got much bang for the buck.?

We haven?t got much bang for the buck

The federal government points to the creation of more than 900,000 net new jobs since the end of the recession in July 2009 as evidence its tax policies are promoting economic growth.

However, small businesses across Canada are still feeling the tax pinch and hoping for some additional relief, or at least that their situation doesn?t worsen.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents approximately 109,000 small business owners, wants the federal government to consider lowering the small business tax rate, which is currently 11%.

The general corporate tax rate has been reduced from about 22% (including a now-eliminated surtax) to 15% over the past six years, but the small business rate has only dropped one percentage point in that time.

?There is a little bit of a growing degree of impatience for the government to get back to some broader tax measures for smaller firms,? says CFIB president Dan Kelly.

?What we?re hearing from members is that they are anxious for the federal government to, once we pull out of deficit, to look at some tax reductions to the small business rate itself.?

The Finance Department estimates the cost of a one-percentage-point reduction in the general corporate income tax rate would be roughly $1.8-billion in 2013 (based on most recent fiscal projections).

Reducing the small business rate by one percentage point would cost the government approximately $700-million in revenue.

The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, meanwhile, estimates that increasing the general corporate income tax rate by one point would generate an extra $1.3-billion annually for federal coffers, and boosting the small business rate by one point would produce $770-million more.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was unavailable for an interview.

But generally, the government argues that lower tax rates increase domestic economic activity, attract investment to Canada and result in less tax evasion, ultimately broadening the tax base and reducing the amount of lost revenue that goes with lowering tax rates.

Repeated studies, including from the 34-country Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, have argued that corporate income taxes are the most harmful for growth for many reasons, including because they discourage investment in capital and productivity.

However, the OECD has also warned that lowering the corporate tax rate substantially below the top personal income tax rate ? such as in Canada ? can ?jeopardize the integrity of the tax system as high-income individuals will attempt to shelter their savings within corporations.?

The extent to which governments increase or decrease corporate taxes can jeopardize their political success, too, not just their revenue stream.

For the 2012-13 budget year ending in March, the federal government expects to collect nearly $164-billion in income tax, with approximately $33-billion of that total from corporate income tax revenues.

However, the federal government?s corporate income tax share of revenues has slowly decreased since the Conservatives came to power ? albeit amid an economic downturn and continued sluggishness ? while the share of revenue from personal income tax has increased.

The key political and policy question is: do Canadian companies pay their fair share in corporate income tax?

Data from the OECD indicate that Canada?s taxes on corporate income are competitive and also comparable to other countries.

In 2010 (the most recent data available), taxes on corporate income in Canada were 3.3% of GDP, slightly above the OECD average of 2.9%.

That same year, taxes on corporate income in Canada amounted to 10.7% of total taxation, compared to the OECD average of 8.6%.

A recent global tax study from PwC, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation found Canada?s business tax rates are among the lowest in the world. Canada is the best country among G8 nations in which to pay business taxes and ranked eighth among 185 economies in the study. The United States ranked 69th.

For smaller firms, the Conservative government pegged the small business tax rate at 11% and increased the income limit for the small business rate to $500,000 from $300,000.

But businesses are also urging the Tory government not to proceed with any enrichment to the Canada Pension Plan, something now being reconsidered by Ottawa and the provinces.

Boosting CPP benefits would require increasing premiums paid by Canadians, with employers and workers each paying half of the contributions.

Business owners say any additional CPP contributions would effectively amount to a new payroll tax, something the CFIB says is ?the most harmful form of taxation for small business.?

While small business owners welcome the federal hiring credit to partially offset unwelcome increases in employment insurance premiums, the CFIB says the government has muddied the tax system with too many tax credits.

Canadians and business owners would be better off with simple broad-based tax relief that features lower rates and fewer credits, says Kelly, the CFIB president.

?Governments, not just the federal government, have been a little credit happy. The reason they offer them is that they?re low cost, they?re ?announceable,?? Kelly says.

The NDP has assailed the government for offering multibillion-dollar tax cuts to large corporations, including specialty tax credits or subsidies for the oil and gas sector (some of which are being phased out).

The official Opposition, in its 2011 election platform, called for the corporate tax rate to be increased to 19.5% ? where it was five years ago ? from the current 15%, a move it said would generate an extra $9-billion or so annually in revenue.

At the same time, the NDP is also calling for tax relief for smaller firms, promising to reduce the small business tax rate to nine per cent from the current 11%, in hopes of spurring the economy.

?This ongoing, multiyear sluggishness in our economy is starting to really concern people,? says the NDP?s Nash.

Yet, the Conservatives are facing mounting calls from the business sector to retool corporate tax rates and other rules facing Canadian companies.

Chambers of commerce across the country ? along with the House of Commons finance committee ? want the government to review tax provisions (including on capital gains) for estate and succession planning.

The current tax rules, in many cases, can make it more financially beneficial to transfer a family-owned business to a third party instead of a loved one.

Also, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says the tax system over-relies on income and profit taxes, which it says are ?the most economically damaging forms of taxation.?

It recommends shifting the tax mix toward consumption-based taxes such as the GST or HST to help stimulate productivity and economic growth.

As debate continues over whether the federal government?s $60-billion in tax breaks for businesses have been prudent and effective, some argue average taxpayers will be stuck with the bill either way.
Ian Lee, a former banker and now assistant professor at Carleton University?s Sprott School of Business in Ottawa, says the taxes paid by corporations eventually trickle down through the company and onto consumers.

Higher corporate taxes make it more difficult for firms to hire employees and offer wage increases, and also lead to consumers simply paying more for products, he argues.

?Corporations, ultimately, eventually don?t pay the taxes. They pass them on through the prices of the goods and services,? Lee says.

?There?s only one taxpayer in Canada and there?s only one consumer. All bills, all costs, all taxes, all expenditures are ultimately borne by us citizens because we are the end consumers.?

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/13/not-much-bang-for-the-buck-harpers-60b-corporate-tax-cuts-under-fire/

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Small Business Lending Demand Continues To ... - Franchising.com

Direct Capital's Monthly Small Business Lending Index shows improvement for the second straight month.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire (PRWEB) March 12, 2013 - Small business lending demand continued to be very strong in February, according to the Monthly Small Business Lending Index released by Direct Capital, a leading provider of equipment leasing, business loans and working capital.

The index showed that small business lending demand across the United States in February was up considerably over February 2012. January?s index showed lending demand was also up year over year.

The news should be encouraging to small businesses, which are only feeling slightly more confident than they did a month ago, according to a recent survey from the NFIB. The survey found that business confidence increased to 88.9% in February, a modest increase over the 88.0% reported in January.

?It?s great to see that the strong level of demand we witnessed in January was not a false-positive,? said Stephen Lankler, Senior Vice President at Direct Capital. ?There?s a lot of mixed-messages regarding the state of small businesses right now, but all indications from our data are very encouraging.?

About Direct Capital

Established in 1993, Direct Capital (http://www.directcapital.com) provides financing for small- to mid-ticket equipment, franchise remodels and technology purchases, working capital, and business loans. The company is headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H. and operates offices in New York, California, and Georgia. You can follow Direct Capital on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DirectCapital or subscribe to its PointBlank blog at http://blog.directcapital.com/.

Contact:

Dave Choate
dchoate@directcapital.com
603-766-9360

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Source: http://www.franchising.com/news/20130312_small_business_lending_demand_continues_to_outpace.html

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GOP Budget Establishes Contrast With Democrats (WSJ)

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

What Were They Thinking? Celebs' Worst Fashion Moments

Even the most stylish celebrities have had their fail moments on the red carpet over the years. From Justin Timberlake and his floral pants to Sandra Bullock and her biker boots, there has been quite the learning curve. Let's take a look back at some of the worst moments in celebrity fashion and how they have evolved to where they are today.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrity-fashion-flashback/1-a-526703?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrity-fashion-flashback-526703

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Here's how you'll really use your tax refund

By Allison Linn, TODAY

If you?re like a lot of Americans, chances are you?re hoping you?ll get a tax refund this year.

What?s more, you may?be planning to take that money and do something frugal with it, like put it in a savings account or pay down debt.

Here?s the good news: Most people who say they plan to use most of their tax refund to bulk up savings or pay down debt?keep the vow.

But here?s the catch: They also tend to spend at least some of that money on something like a nice dinner out or a new pair of boots, whether they realize it or not.

?There?s still a significant spending (boost) among this group,? said Jonathan Parker, a professor of consumer finance at Northwestern University?s Kellogg?School of Management who has done research on how people spend government payouts such as tax refunds and stimulus checks.

It appears a lot of taxpayers?plan to use their refunds to improve their personal finances.

A TD Ameritrade survey released last month found that 47 percent of those expecting to get a refund plan to? bulk up their savings account with it, while 44 percent plan to use the money to pay?debt.

About 28 plan to spend at least some on necessities and 15 percent plan to splurge on something discretionary. Respondents were allowed to pick more than one answer.

Using bank data and other sources, Parker has found that when people get money back from Uncle Sam, on average they tend to immediately spend a little bit more than usual.

?You often find a spike in spending right when it arrives ? like, within a week of arrival ? that?s sort of small,? he said.

The sudden jump in their bank balance may prompt some people to?pay that bill that?s been nagging them, or it may make them feel like it?s OK to splurge on something small, like a date night.

After that, he said there?s sort of a delayed response. But over time, people who got money back do tend to spend slightly more?overall, he said.

The people who say they are going to save most of their tax refund or rebate - or mostly use it to pay down debt - do use some of the money toward those goals, he said. But they also tend to spend more of it than they might think they did.

As for the people who said they planned to spend their tax refund? Parker said they mostly do what they planned.

?They were kind of right. They spent the whole thing,? he said.

When people get a bigger tax refund, there is often a bump in spending in August, he noted, suggesting that people are using the money toward a nicer summer vacation.?Others who get a big chunk of money back from Uncle Sam, such as a check for over $1,000, may end up using it as a down payment on an even bigger purchase, like a car.

Even though people who think they are saving most of their refund or using it to pay down debt tend to spend some of it, Parker thinks the system of getting a refund can help some people budget.

?It?s a little bit like a helpful commitment to save,? he said.

Still, some taxpayers do complain about a tax system that can act like a forced savings plan ? or surprise people with an unexpected bill.

Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody?s Analytics, said that?an ideal tax system would help people?better predict their taxes through the year, so they didn?t end up at with a big payment or refund come April 15.

But given all the other complications of the nation?s tax code, he said it?s far from his top concern.

?I?m not sure I?d worry about that at this point,? he said.

If you get a tax refund this year, how do you plan to use it?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/03/11/17239509-save-or-spend-heres-how-youll-really-use-your-tax-refund?lite

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Palo Alto CA Residential Lots and Land For Sale 3/11/2013

Palo Alto residential lots are scarce as general inventory of homes in the area are leading Silicon Valley?s housing market recovery. Very few single family lots have come on the market, driving many who would like to build a custom home in Palo Alto to resort to buying tear-downs and rebuilding. If you?re looking for a home site to build on in Palo Alto ? tear-down or an empty lot ? we can help.

Here are Palo Alto residential lots and land for sale as of March 11, 2013. Click on the property?s Address to view detailed information and photos.

Lot sizes are approximate and use of the land is subject to local government regulation and approval.

Contact Us for help buying and selling Silicon Valley real estate

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John A. Souerbry & Associates Tel (650) 815-6182 (DRE 01370983)

Source: http://www.trulia.com/blog/johnsouerbry/2013/03/palo_alto_ca_residential_lots_and_land_for_sale_3_11_2013

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Report: Blast injures several people in south Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? An Iranian semi-official news agency is reporting that an explosion has injured several people in a port in the south of the country.

The late Saturday report by ILNA did not specify the cause of the blast. It says it also damaged several cars and shattered windows of nearby buildings including a hotel in Imam Khomeini port, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southwest of Tehran.

The port, one of Iran's major import and export terminals, is located in oil-rich Khuzestan province, the scene of occasional protests in recent years by members of Iran's Arabic-speaking minority seeking more rights.

Iran in the past has blamed explosions in the province on saboteurs tied to Arab and Western intelligence agencies.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-blast-injures-several-people-south-iran-115630530.html

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Monday, March 11, 2013

University of Miami geologists to address the mystery of an evolution gap in reef corals

Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
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Contact: Annette Gallagher
a.gallagher1@umiami.edu
305-284-1121
University of Miami

National Science Foundation funds UM project to study the evolution of corals along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic

One of the greatest mysteries of modern coral reefs is how they evolved from ancient corals. A critical knowledge gap has long existed in the record of coral evolution. This evolutionary gap occurs during a period of dramatic fluctuations in sea level and changes in the Earth's climate between 1 and 2 million years ago. During this period many "old" corals went extinct, and the modern reef corals emerged. To fill this key temporal gap and understand the evolutionary and ecological transition to modern Caribbean reefs, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a University of Miami (UM) project to study corals along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic. It is one of the few areas that contain a record of coral reefs from this period of climatic change.

"Our preliminary fieldwork has indicated that the Dominican Republic contains rocks that bridge this critical reef evolution gap," said James Klaus, lead investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, at the UM College of Arts and Sciences. "The Dominican Republic is a valuable site because it was submerged for a long period of time, and has now been uplifted to make the coral-rich deposits accessible."

The NSF grant is $250,000 for two years. During that time, the team will work to pinpoint the evolutionary transition from the now extinct coral Stylophora, to modern reefs dominated by the genus Acropora (staghorn and elkhorn corals) and evaluate how reef ecosystems respond to climate change.

"These corals work in concert to construct the reef edifice, and just below the living surface form the underlying limestone rock," says co-investigator Ali Pourmand, assistant professor in the Division of Marine Geology & Geophysics, at the UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. "To geologists and paleontologists, these limestones represent just the latest growth, and what lies beneath may provide clues to both the past and future of coral reefs."

Fundamental to the study is the ability to tell the ages of the corals. To help with this age assessment, the team will utilize a recently established geochemical laboratory that couples a laser sampling device and mass spectrometer to produce high-precision age dates of the corals.

"Being able to tell time in these rocks is our biggest challenge," says Donald McNeill, co-investigator of the project and senior scientist in the Division of Marine Geology and Geophysics, at the Rosenstiel School. "We need to put the evolutionary changes in a time context to link them with sea level and climate changes that were happening both locally and globally."

The research team will develop an integrated model of coral reef development for the critical time gap that includes the controlling factors of climate change, sea level, tectonics, and the maximum growth rate of dominant reef builders. The findings will provide a valuable record of tropical climates and the growth of coral reefs.

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About the University of Miami

The University of Miami's mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of our diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world. http://www.miami.edu.

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University of Miami geologists to address the mystery of an evolution gap in reef corals

Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
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Contact: Annette Gallagher
a.gallagher1@umiami.edu
305-284-1121
University of Miami

National Science Foundation funds UM project to study the evolution of corals along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic

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About the University of Miami

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uom-uom031113.php

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Climate Change: Even Worse Than We Feared

Back in 1999 Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann released the climate change movement's most potent symbol: The "hockey stick," a line graph of global temperature over the last 1,500 years that shows an unmistakable, massive uptick in the twentieth century when humans began to dump large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It's among the most compelling bits of proof out there that human beings are behind global warming, and as such has become a target on Mann's back for climate denialists looking to draw a bead on scientists.?

Now it's gotten a makeover: A study published in Science reconstructs global temperatures further back than ever before -- a full 11,300 years. The new analysis finds that the only problem with Mann's hockey stick was that its handle was about 9,000 years too short.

To be clear, the study finds that temperatures in about a fifth of this historical period were higher than they are today. But the key, said lead author Shaun Marcott of Oregon State University, is that temperatures are shooting through the roof faster than we've ever seen.

"What we found is that temperatures increased in the last hundred years as much as they had cooled in the last six or seven thousand," he said. "In other words, the rate of change is much greater than anything we've seen in the whole Holocene," referring to the current geologic time period, which began around 11,500 years ago.?

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Previous historic climate reconstructions typically extended no further back than 2,000 years, roughly as far back as you can go by examining climate indicators from tree rings, as Mann did. To dig even deeper, Marcott's team looked at objects collected from more than 70 sites worldwide, primarily fossilized ocean shells that have been unearthed by oceanographers. Existing research has shown that certain chemical tracers in the shells link directly to temperature at the time they were created; by studying oxygen isotopes in the fossilized plankton shown below, for example, scientists can deduce that it formed its shell at a time when Greenland was fully without ice. Marcott's task was to compile enough such samples to represent the whole planet over his chosen timeframe.

"There's been a lot of work that's gone into the calibrations, so we can be dead certain [the shells] are recording the temperature we think they're recording," he said.

Today's study should help debunk the common climate change denial argument that recent warming is simply part of a long-term natural trend. Indeed, Marcott says, the earth should be nearing the bottom of a several-thousand year cool-off (the end-point of the rainbow arc in (B) above), if natural factors like solar variability were the sole driving factors. Instead, temperatures are rising rapidly.

Mann himself, who literally wrote the book on attacks on climate scientists, said in an email to Climate Desk that he was "certain that professional climate change deniers will attack the study and the authors, in an effort to discredit this important work," especially given the close ties between the two scientists' research. "It will therefore be looked at as a threat to vested interests who continue to deny that human-changed climate change is a reality."

Marcott admitted he was apprehensive about charging into the fully-mobilized troll army, but said he was grateful scientists like Mann had "gone through hell" before him to build a support network for harassed climate scientists.?

"When Michael came along there was a lot more skepticism about global warming, but the public has come a long way," he said. "I'm curious to see how the skeptics are going to take this paper."

This piece is by Tim McDonnell of?The Climate Desk.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/climate-change-even-worse-feared-102535265--politics.html

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Warrant: Agent provided ex-UNC players cash

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? Investigators in North Carolina say a Georgia-based sports agent violated sports agent laws by sending cash payments to former Tar Heels football players.

In search warrants unsealed Monday, investigators with the Secretary of State's office say Terry Watson of the Watson Sports Agency sent $2,000 cash in 2010 to Marvin Austin, who was dismissed from the team that year for receiving improper benefits. They also say Watson had contact with players before registering with the state.

The office launched its probe in 2010 shortly after the start of an NCAA investigation at the school. The law prohibits agents from offering gifts before a contract is signed and can lead to criminal or civil penalties.

North Carolina is one of 42 states with laws regulating sports agents.

When she launched that investigation, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall said the focus was not on athletes or schools ? but on the agents and anyone giving athletes items of value. The state's Uniform Athletes Agents Act requires agents to register with Marshall's office and is designed to shield athletes from sports agents who would offer gifts to entice them to sign representation contracts.

It is a Class I felony to violate the law, meaning a maximum prison sentence of 15 months, and violations also could carry civil penalties of up to $25,000. Prosecution of the law is left to district attorneys in the locations where violations are alleged to have occurred.

Jim Woodall, the district attorney in Orange County, confirmed he has met with the Secretary of State's investigators but declined to comment on specifics of the case because it is an ongoing investigation. He said if a decision to prosecute is made, it will "more than likely" be in his county because that is where the University of North Carolina is located.

Watson didn't immediately return a call from The Associated Press to his Marietta, Ga.-based office.

According to the search warrants, investigator A.H. Jones said Austin told him in an interview that "Terry Watson was a guy who gave me money" and the probe led him to an associate of Watson's named Patrick Jones.

The investigator said Patrick Jones admitted Watson had asked him to send packages to athletes he was recruiting to persuade them to sign with him because it was the only way Watson's agency could compete with bigger agencies, that packages containing cash was sent to athletes at other unnamed schools and that Watson contacted athletes almost five months before registering with the state.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-11-FBC-North-Carolina-Agents-Probe/id-a1eb020abb9c42b7b15a160381d22ab8

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

'Plan B'?

Gulf, West come together

Not enough

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Direct Capital's Monthly Small Business Lending Index shows improvement for the second straight month.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Monday, March 11, 2013

National Science Foundation funds UM project to study the evolution of corals along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic

National Science Foundation funds UM project to study the evolution of corals along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic