Deal on Nuke Between US-Russia, OK

 Nearly a year after President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered negotiators to work on a new treaty to reduce their nuclear arsenals, the two countries say they are finally close to completing a deal.
A deal — a small but important step toward Obama's goal of a nuclear arms-free world — could build momentum and trust toward resolving other key nuclear issues. They range from how to pressure Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions to reducing the number of tactical nuclear weapons that are so unpopular in Europe. It could also set a positive tone for a key conference on nuclear non-proliferation this spring.
On another level, it could bolster Obama's credibility overseas, which has been battered by the disappointing Copenhagen climate change conference, ongoing economic miseries, faltering Middle East peace efforts and growing skepticism about last year's Prague speech in which he promised to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
"It's important to show the Prague speech was not just rhetoric," Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for non-proliferation at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Associated Press.
An agreement would end a drought in disarmament accords between the United States and Russia, which were a hallmark of the Cold War years and were negotiated even during the worst periods of tension between them. It officially would reconfirm Moscow's nuclear superpower status, which remains an essential element of its national identity and prestige.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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Wealthiest Nations Reminded By Thier Debt

 The International Monetary Fund warned the world's wealthiest nations Sunday to watch their surging levels of government debt, saying it could drag down the growth needed to ensure continued economic recovery.
The economic crisis is leaving "deep scars in fiscal balances, particularly in the advanced economies," John Lipsky, the IMF's No 2. official, told the China Development Forum in Beijing. He said that countries that have been going into debt to stimulate their economies should now prepare for belt-tightening steps next year.
"Policymakers should be making it clear to their citizens why a return to prudent policies is a necessary condition for sustained economic health," said Lipsky, who is the fund's deputy managing director, according to remarks prepared for the conference.
The IMF projects that gross general government debt in the G-7 advanced economies, except Germany and Canada, will rise from an average of about 75 percent of GDP at the end of 2007 to about 110 percent of GDP at end of 2014, Lipsky said.
This year, the average debt-to-GDP ratio in the wealthiest countries is projected to reach levels that prevailed in 1950 in the aftermath of World War II, Lipsky said. The ballooning of government debt also comes amid rising health and pension spending, he said.
"Addressing this fiscal challenge is a key near-term priority, as concerns about fiscal sustainability could undermine confidence in the economic recovery," Lipsky said, adding that in the medium term, large public debt could lead to higher interest rates and slower growth.
Countries should aggressively pursue reforms that will boost growth, such as the liberalization of goods and labor markets and the elimination of tax distortions, he said, though such moves on their own will be insufficient without direct measures to reduce spending.
They should also strengthen fiscal institutions in ways that could include improving tax collection and reinforcing fiscal responsibility legislation, while pursuing entitlement reforms, such as increasing the retirement age, to help in restoring finances, he said.
For the United States, Lipsky said a higher public savings rate will be required to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability.
"An increase in public saving would augment an expected rise in household saving to boost national saving and reduce the current account deficit," he said.
America's national debt — now $12.5 trillion — has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past decade, to the point where it threatens to swamp overall economic output. Roughly half of it is owned by global investors, with China holding the largest stake.
Japan's debt is proportionately even bigger — about twice its GDP — but the impact is cushioned by the fact that most is held by Japanese households.
In Europe and Japan, where there is already a high tax burden on labor, Lipsky said measures should focus on improving the targeting of social benefits and on reducing exemptions on indirect taxes.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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Whistler Blower Wants 1.5 Billion Reward

A whistle-blower from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is seeking a P1.5-billion reward if the bureau wins its case against Pilipinas Shell over alleged unpaid excise taxes worth P7.3 billion, official documents showed.
Geronimo Pinar, who has been a BOC informer for years, is apparently also the whistle-blower in a previous tax case involving Chevron, another oil firm.
Sources said Pinar is a retired military man. There are no details on what he did after serving the military.
Pinar’s name just cropped up when he informed the BOC of Chevron’s alleged tax liabilities.
It was learned that Pinar was reportedly instrumental in compelling Chevron to pay the BOC almost P1 billion.
Based on documents, Pinar filed his claim with Batangas Customs Collector Juan Tan on Jan. 21, 2009.
Then on Jan. 30, 2009, Tan issued a demand letter to Shell to pay up, echoing Pinar’s allegations that Shell’s “unleaded gasoline (catalytic cracked gasoline)” was covered by excise taxes.
Shell contested the assessment and said excise taxes apply only to finished products for local consumption.
It said its imports are raw materials that could not be used directly as fuel because they do not comply with the Clean Air Act and still need to be processed.
Also, if used as fuel, they could cause engine trouble, including knocking (katok) and fuel line corrosion, eventually resulting in a dangerous fuel leakage, Shell said.
Shell said it had to blend its CCG imports to come up with finished products such as premium unleaded gasoline.
At a House hearing, Tan admitted he based his decision to collect only upon looking at Shell’s import invoices that mentioned “unleaded gasoline (catalytic cracked gasoline).”
He said he did not bother to ask for laboratory or technical tests to find out if the imports are indeed raw materials or finished products, which he said was the task of customs examiners.
In 2003, the energy department, following tests, concluded that CCG was indeed a raw material that needed further processing to meet legal standards. This was the basis of Shell’s payment of taxes through the years until Tan stepped in.
He also insisted that Shell should pay the excise taxes for those years. Shell is contesting this, arguing it paid in good faith under a valid government regulation and that Tan’s stand is tantamount to a retroactive application of rules, which is not allowed under the law.
Shell had said the term “unleaded gasoline” is a generic name used globally that refers to various kinds of raw materials. This is why it qualified in parentheses the kind of raw material it was bringing in as “unleaded gasoline (catalytic cracked gasoline).”
Pending resolution whether the imports are raw materials or not, Shell is paying the same excise tax twice, upon importation and upon removal from the refinery of the finished products, resulting in double taxation.


David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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Alice is Definitly in Wonderland

 Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" retained the box office lead for the third week running, pulling in $34.5 million for the weekend, industry figures showed Sunday.
Starring Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska, the live-action, 3-D version of Lewis Carroll's children's classic, has earned $265.7 million since its release, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations reported.
The surprise of the weekend was "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," 20th Century Fox's newly released live action adaptation of the Jeff Kinney cartoon novels, which came in second in the box office with $21.8 million.
That put it ahead of "Bounty Hunter," a comedy starring Jennifer Anniston and Gerard Butler, and the science fiction morality tale "Repo Men," which came in third and fourth at $21 million and $6.1 million respectively in their first week in theaters.
"She's Out of My League," in which a stunning woman and a dorky guy fall in love, slipped to fifth place from third last week, earning $6 million.
"Green Zone," an Iraq war film, took in $5.9 million, dropping to sixth place from second.
Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island" was in seventh place in its fifth week in theaters. It made $4.7 million.
"Avatar," the top grossing movie of all time, added another $4 million to the pile, bringing its North American box office total to $736.9 million. On its 14th week in theaters, it was the eighth top earner.
Behind it in ninth place was the interracial romantic comedy "Our Family Wedding," which earned $3.8 million, and in tenth romantic drama "Remember Me" at $1.5 million.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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China to restore emails

Authorities in China's Xinjiang have restored access to email services and 32 Internet sites that were blocked after ethnic unrest broke out in the region in July, state media reported Sunday.
Restrictions on the number of text messages a mobile phone user could send have also been lifted, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Authorities in the Xinjiang will restore communication services "step by step," Xinhua said, citing a spokesperson for the local government.
Internet and email services were cut following the outbreak of clashes between ethnic Han Chinese and mainly Muslim Uighurs, in which almost 200 people died and 1,600 were wounded.
The authorities accused Uighur organizers of using the Internet and mobile phones to orchestrate the unrest.
Twenty-six people were sentenced to death for their part in the rioting, which lasted several days after breaking out in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. Some have already been executed.


David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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