Modi'st salary

Narendra Modi's salary less than govt peon's! - The Times of India: "In his affidavit, Modi has stated that in 2011-2012 he earned an annual income of Rs 1,50,630 with Rs 12,553 as his monthly salary.

This is just a fifth part of the monthly salary of ministers, which is around Rs 66,000. An MLA receives around Rs 56,000 per month plus housing and other facilities. Ministers get additional travel and dearness allowance along with facilities like a bungalow, servants etc."

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Flying high- KFC style

Japan Airlines to serve KFC on select flights - Travel on NBCNews.com: "NEW YORK -- They're calling the flights "Air Kentucky Fried Chicken."

Japan Airlines says it's serving food from the fast-food chicken chain on international flights from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28. The meals will be served to fliers in premium economy and economy from Narita Airport near Tokyo to Boston, Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris and San Diego."

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Continuous pain Continues

The Hindu : Home Page News Features: "Tank bund continuous to be unsafe for pedestrians

Tank Bund remains one of the most dangerous spots for the pedestrians in the city. Without facilities like Foot-over-Bridges (FoB) or dedicated pedestrian crossing points, Tank Bund is turning into a virtual death trap for "

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Obama: kneeling before the airlines

Obama shields US airlines from EU carbon fees - Travel on NBCNews.com: "WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama signed a bill on Tuesday shielding U.S. airlines from paying for each ton of carbon their planes emit flying into and out of Europe, despite a recent move by Europe to suspend its proposed measure for one year.

The carbon fee bill was the first piece of legislation debated on the House floor after Congress returned from recess on November 13, and had been cleared by the Senate in September in a rare unanimous vote.

It directs the U.S. transportation secretary to shield U.S. airlines from Europe's carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) if he or she deems it necessary.

Lawyers have said the bill is unusual because it would prevent U.S. companies from complying with the laws of another country."

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Dunkin' Donuts coffee claim, 'best in America,' denied - chicagotribune.com

Dunkin' Donuts coffee claim, 'best in America,' denied - chicagotribune.com: "Dunkin' Donuts claims to have the "best coffee in America," but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office disagrees.

Dunkin' Donuts' petition to trademark the phrase "best coffee in America" has been rejected by the agency.

The Massachusetts-based coffee chain's slogan was not "distinctive enough to qualify for protection" and is "merely laudatory and descriptive," the agency ruled recently, according to the Boston Globe."

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A fly-weight problem, in a heavyweight competition

Airlines get tougher with overweight passengers - chicagotribune.com: "As Americans travel this holiday season, with planes crowded and space tight, they may encounter a growing problem: oversized passengers who can't fit comfortably in a 17-inch-wide economy-class airplane seat.

More than 30 percent of U.S. adults are categorized as obese, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards. And airlines have a variety of policies to deal with "passengers of size.""

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Waste and Wasted Coastline

Coastwatch seeks condom and nappy levy - The Irish Times - Wed, Nov 28, 2012: The plastic bag levy should be extended to condoms, sanitary pads, babies’ nappies, balloons, single-use cigarette lighters and other potential litter that’s harmful to wildlife, according to Coastwatch Ireland."

Director Karin Dubsky issued the call yesterday after presenting the results of this year’s Coastwatch survey by more than 400 volunteers to Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan. It covered a representative sample of 3 per cent of the coastline.

Across all coastal counties, Coastwatch volunteers found more than 18,000 drinks containers – an average of 45 for each 500m of shoreline. Plastic bottles were the most common, followed by aluminium cans, glass bottles and paper cartons.

To encourage reuse and recycling, Ms Dubsky called for a “deposit-on-return” regime for all drinks containers to “save resources, reduce carbon emissions, drastically reduce litter and create green jobs”.

Although sanitary waste has halved over the past 14 years, what remains is put down to a lack of sewage treatment as well as “courting spots”, localised pollution of streams and nappies buried by parents in sand subsequently dug out by the wind and sea.

But the survey showed that “large waste” items are way down, with dumped household refuse recorded on only 5 per cent of the shoreline – compared to 25 per cent in the first Coastwatch survey 25 years ago – and dead farm animals were not mentioned once.

“Long lines or heaps of abandoned shellfish farm trestles were noted in at least five locations – Dundalk Bay, Bannow Bay, Dungarvan harbour, Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle. This is a just a sample of a larger aquaculture waste problem around our shores.”

Several mobile phones were found during the latest survey, “something not yet invented when Coastwatch started in 1987”, while nearly half of all waste tyres were concentrated in Bannow Bay, Co Wexford, where they are used to catch peeler crabs.

Nitrate levels 

Just over half of all tested streams flowing into the coastal zone had nitrate levels below detection – “a very encouraging result not achieved since 1993”, said Ms Dubsky.

The highest nitrate pollution levels were found in the Rush area of north Co Dublin.

“Observations on oil, tar and oiled birds show one of the biggest differences to survey results in the 1980s,” she noted. “In the first survey in 1987, 8.7 per cent of the survey units were reported to be polluted with oil. On this occasion, we had 0.5 per cent.”

Volunteers discovered rare habitats and species, including fresh patches of Zostera marina seagrass in tidal channels of Tramore’s backstrand in Co Waterford. But they also found some serious habitat damage, notably from a quarry on Lough Foyle.

Ms Dubsky said the survey had been done on a shoestring budget, with everyone involved working for free.

The biting cost of Obesity

Report criticises €1.1bn taxpayer burden due to obesity epidemic - The Irish Times - Wed, Nov 28, 2012: The obesity epidemic is costing the State over €1.1 billion in direct health costs and indirect costs such as absenteeism, according to a major new study to be published today.

The direct cost of treating people who are obese and overweight is almost €400 million annually, the report – to be launched by Minister for Health James Reilly – says. This is equivalent to the current overspend in Dr Reilly’s department. Indirect costs, in the form of illnesses, absenteeism and premature deaths, account for the remaining €700 million cost.

The report, commissioned by State-funded health promotion group Safefood, is critical of the fact that the taxpayer rather than the food industry pays these costs.

“The food sector is tightly regulated in terms of food safety, but not in terms of health,” said Ivan Perry of University College Cork, one of the principal authors of the study.

This is the first time researchers have put a price tag on the cost of obesity.

The report says the cost of dealing with obesity and weight issues in Northern Ireland is almost €500 million.

Dealing with the problem accounts for 2.8 per cent of total health spending, about the same as in many other developed economies, but short of the 5-6 per cent of health spending recorded in the US.

“When you look at today’s children, of whom one-quarter are obese or overweight, we’re projecting significant increases in rates over the next 20 to 30 years,” said Prof Perry.

Figures conservative 

He said the figures in the report were conservative, as they didn’t account for mental health costs and made conservative assumptions about the number of years of life lost due to weight-related problems.

In the light of the report findings, he said, it was clear there was much greater value for money to be had from infrastructural projects, such as the introduction of cycling routes or measures to promote walking, than had previously been thought.

Prof Perry said the report showed food choices weren’t just an issue between food producers and consumers, because the costs affected all taxpayers. “There’s a huge emphasis on personal choice in relation to what you eat, yet this report shows there are wider societal costs,” he said.

The report revisits the recommendations made by a previous government’s national taskforce on obesity, dating back to 2004.

Diesel <>Petrol

Why not levy 25% green tax on diesel cars, Supreme Court asks - The Times of India: "Justifying harsher levy for diesel cars, Salve said in his application, "The market share of diesel cars is more than 50% of sales. This is because of the growing differential between petrol and diesel. The emission norms for diesel cars legally allow higher limits for NOx and particulate matters as compared to petrol cars."

The former solicitor general, while advocating imposition of 25% of cost of all new diesel cars as green tax, suggested levy of an environmental compensation charge on existing personal vehicles -- ranging from 2% (petrol) to 4% (diesel) of the vehicle's cost every year.

For old cars, the levy would be collected annually by the insurance companies along with the premium amount, he suggested, and said the insurance companies must ensure that the vehicle had valid pollution under control certificate at the time of annual renewal of policy.

If Salve's suggestions are to be implemented, then a person purchasing a diesel car costing Rs 6 lakh would pay a green tax of Rs 1.5 lakh. If the cost of an SUV is Rs 16 lakh, then the buyer would have to pay Rs 4 lakh extra."

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A Supreme Court that asks the right "green" questions

Why not levy 25% green tax on diesel cars, Supreme Court asks - The Times of India: "NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Centre's response to a radical plea for collection of 25% of the cost of a diesel car or SUV sold in the National Capital Region as green tax at the time of its purchase to deter people from buying more polluting personal vehicles and help fight the growing levels of pollution in Delhi.

The court also sought the Union government's response to another suggestion - imposition of an annual levy of 2% of cost of existing petrol cars and 4% of diesel cars to persuade people to rely more on public transport rather than buying cars.

Amicus curiae and senior advocate Harish Salve, who has been assisting the forest bench of the Supreme Court for nearly a decade, lamented that the benefits of switching the entire public transport system in Delhi to CNG was lost as more and more diesel cars were added every year because of the price differential between petrol and diesel."

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2018? 2020? Either way, the pain decade...

BBC News - UK 'could face austerity until 2018': "The chancellor may have to extend the squeeze on public spending until 2018 if the recent deterioration in growth prospects and tax receipts turns out to be permanent, a think tank has said.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said George Osborne may have to find another £11bn from tax rises or spending cuts if the economy does not pick up.

This is on top of £8bn of cuts already mooted in the Budget."

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Meaning of Thanksgiving

Black Friday sales online top $1 billion for first time: comScore - chicagotribune.com: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Black Friday retail sales online this year topped $1 billion for the first time ever as more consumers used the Internet do their early holiday shopping, comScore Inc said on Sunday.

Online sales jumped 26 percent on Black Friday to $1.04 billion from sales of $816 million on the corresponding day last year, according to comScore data.

Amazon.com was the most-visited retail website on Black Friday, and it also posted the highest year-over-year visitor growth rate among the top five retailers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc's website was second, followed by sites run by Best Buy Co., Target Corp. and Apple Inc, comScore noted."

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Irish origin?

The real value of 'foreign' retailers - The Irish Times - Mon, Nov 26, 2012: "Buying Irish:  What confuses you?

Cheese. Some stores even put a green, white and orange flag on it and then you check the label and there’ll be a UK stamp. It drives me nuts because I’d like to support the euro economy and it’s a misuse of the national flag.– John H Cummins

Old Time “Irish” Marmalade? Made in UK. There’s a certain mystery around many Jacob Fruitfield products. – Colin Jephson

Waterford Crystal? Much of it is made in Central Europe. – Eugenia Phelan

I once bought a box with Irish writing on it My Irish teacher told me the words meant “Made In Japan”. – Damien McAnespy"

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The Sari of one's job

Sari makes a comeback in placement interviews at IIM-Ahmedabad - The Times of India: "AHMEDABAD: The sari is back on the campus of India's premier management school. Women students at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) may go the whole nine yards during placement interviews this year.

The Indian ethnic wear has been recognised as a formal wear for business interviews held on the campus after a long hiatus, thanks to the efforts of the institute's first woman cultural representative in 52 years — Priyanshi Mathur.

The sari disappeared from placement interviews some years ago as more women students started wearing business suits, considering the convenience factor. They also wanted to present a more global image. Mathur asked the placement committee to recognise sari as formalwear and got the nod. "

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Eurozone challenges

BBC News - Eurozone output contracts again, PMI survey says: "Business activity in the eurozone continued to contract in November, a survey suggests.

The Markit eurozone Purchasing Managers' Output Index was little changed from October, up to 45.8 from 45.7. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.

A sharper rate of decline in the services sector was offset by an easing of the contraction among manufacturers.

The survey also warned of a 0.5% drop in GDP in the fourth quarter.

Official figures released earlier this month showed that the eurozone economy contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter, between July and September."

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Cost of an Education

Students stage mass protest in London | Education | guardian.co.uk: "Around 10,000 demonstrators are expected to take part in a mass protest in London on Wednesday to express anger at the financial and other burdens facing students.

A poll timed to coincide with the demonstration over education funding and youth unemployment revealed that most parents with children under 18 would not vote for an MP who broke a pledge against increasing university tuition fees.

The event organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) is the first organised student protest in London since a wave of demonstrations in 2010 triggered by the government's plans to increase tuition fees, which led to a number of arrests and injuries as well as complaints of "kettling" outside parliament.

In a survey by the NUS covering almost 500 parents, more than three out of five would not vote for an MP who broke a pre-election pledge to vote against increasing tuition fees while almost half believed they should resign."

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The Bright side of Coffee

Coffee helps you see the bright side - The Body Odd: "For some people, it’s somewhere between the third or fourth cup of coffee when they begin feeling human. While people commonly guzzle a cup of joe to perk up, it turns out caffeine can do more than simply wake people. Researchers found that caffeine helps the brain process positive words faster.
Caffeine indirectly boosts dopamine transmission—a neurotransmitter that aids in reward-based learning—and Lars Kuchinke, a junior professor at Germany's Ruhr University, suspected this might lead to better acumen with word recognition by enhancing activity in the brain’s left hemisphere, which controls language. Researchers already know that people who consume normal levels of caffeine perform better at basic cognitive tasks. "

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Oprah- more iPad on the Surface than one might think

Oprah plugs Surface tablet -- from her iPad - CNN.com: "The media mogul and former talk-shown queen has been gushing for weeks about Microsoft's new Surface tablet, which she compared to a Mercedes and named one of her "Favorite Things" of 2012.
On Sunday, she went a step further, sending a Twitter message to her 14.8 million followers saying "love that SURFACE!" and adding that she'd already bought 12 of the devices for Christmas gifts.
There's only one problem. Winfrey -- or whoever manages her Twitter account -- sent the tweet from an iPad.
The people of the Internet, who never miss the opportunity to poke fun at an online gaffe, took notice."

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Akshardham temple using solar technology for cooking its daily quota of 4,000 meals a day - The Economic Times

Akshardham temple using solar technology for cooking its daily quota of 4,000 meals a day - The Economic Times: "NEW DELHI: The Akshardham temple in the capital has switched from piped natural gas to solar technology for cooking its daily quota of close to 4,000 meals every day.

The solar concentrator, named ARUN®100, produces steam which powers the cooking process. "It works on the principle of a parabola. It uses an ingenious, two-dimensional, fresnelized mirror arrangement scheme to get the parabola effect. The system automatically tracks the sun from rise to set on both the east-west and north-south axes with an accuracy of more than 99.5% intercepting maximum sunlight," Abhishek Bhatewara, director of the company which set up the project, said"

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Thinking about pooverty

No amount of moralising will alleviate the hardship caused by Tory austerity | Polly Toynbee | Comment is free | The Guardian: "Dishonesty about poverty, its causes, effects and cures, infects almost everything Duncan Smith says, as he pours an unction of moralising over the hardship he causes. His words are as misleading about the past and the present as they are about the future effects of his policies. He can't quite remove the goalposts of the old relative measurement – 60% of median income – so instead, he erects other ones to confuse. If what he claims for his own policies is less than the truth, his critique of the Labour years is pure fabrication.

"We must learn the lessons of the previous decade," he says, when "despite best intentions and an unprecedented level of spending" Labour failed to cut child poverty by half. "The 'poverty plus a pound' approach failed because the root causes of poverty were left unchecked, and not enough was done to break the cycle of disadvantage.""

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Multinationals and taxes: art of transfer pricing

Vince Cable calls for tax crackdown | Politics | The Guardian: "Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Cable cast doubt on the claim made by the coffee chain Starbucks that it had only made an annual profit once in15 years of operating in the UK. "I don't know whether they are [making a profit] or not," Cable said. "But you would need some pretty intensive investigation by [HM Revenue & Customs] to establish what exactly is going on, whether their transfer prices and their royalties are being fiddled or not."

Starbucks gave evidence to the Commons public accounts committee last Monday alongside Amazon and Google in a session in which MPs expressed anger at the way all three multinationals had managed to minimise their tax payments within the UK. Cable said this was "completely unacceptable" at a time when the country was in the grip of austerity.

"We want to make this an attractive place [to multinational companies] but while they're here, if they make profits, then they should pay tax on their profits," he said. "There's nothing more galling to small and medium-sized companies that they're paying their profit tax to the British government, and we find these people dodging it.""

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Party line voting

Republicans Can’t Claim Mandate as Democrats Top House Vote - Bloomberg: "“It confirms that the trend toward increased party-line voting observed over the past couple of decades continues,” said Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at the University of California at San Diego. “The party coalitions are increasingly ideologically coherent and differentiated from one another, producing higher party loyalty and less ticket-splitting.”
The 435 House elections produced the anomalous result of Republicans winning more seats and Democrats winning more votes.
Democrats led Republicans by 56 million to 55 million votes nationally, according to unofficial tallies from the Associated Press. It’s the first time since 1996 that one party won more House seats while winning fewer votes, according to data compiled by the House Clerk’s office. The outcome is the product in part of Republican-dominated redrawing of House seat boundaries after the 2010 census and of population shifts."

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Coburn- asking the tough questions

Alleging Republican 'blind eye' on defense spending, GOP senator proposes cuts - NBC Politics: "In the fiscal year which ended Sept. 30, defense outlays amounted to $651 billion, 18 percent of total federal spending, which was a decline of about 3 percent from the prior fiscal year.
One target of Coburn’s proposed cuts is personnel. He said there were too many admirals and other high-ranking officers for the size of the military. “We almost now have an admiral for every ship in the Navy,” he told reporters.
Despite much dire talk about the impeding spending cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act – which is part of the “fiscal cliff” at year’s end – there have been “no real cuts yet to the Pentagon,” Coburn said."

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No need to debunk this- bunking doesn't make the grade

Osmania University debars 30, 000 students from writing exams - The Times of India: "HYDERABAD: A staggering 30,000 students have been barred from sitting in the annual undergraduate examination under Osmania University in a massive crackdown to improve extremely poor attendance across colleges in the city and send a strong message to students bunking classes, authorities said on Thursday.

About 70,000 students out of 1 lakh registered students are now sitting for the examinations which began last week and will continue till the end of November, senior officials said.

"As per strict instructions of Osmania University (OU) about 30,000 students were detained due to lack of attendance from across all under graduate colleges which are affiliated to the university," G Biskshmaiah, Controller of Examination at OU, told TOI.

"The university cannot be lenient with candidates who have just about 20% attendance," he added."

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Starbucks to Nirvana via Teavana

Starbucks to acquire Teavana for $620 mln in cash - MarketWatch: ""We believe the tea category is ripe for reinvention and rapid growth. The Teavana acquisition now positions us to disrupt and lead, just as we did with espresso starting three decades ago," said Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz.

Starbucks said that it sees a significant opportunity in the growing $40 billion global tea market, and plans to open Teavana stores in markets throughout North America and around the world.

The company intends to grow and extend Teavana's 300 mall-based stores, and add locations in high-profile neighborhoods.

The deal comes as Starbucks has been branching out from its core coffee business. Earlier this year, the company said it planned to open its first standalone Tazo Tea Store in Seattle. A few months earlier, Starbucks opened its first fresh juice store, also in Seattle, through its acquisition of Evolution Fresh.

Teavana was founded in 1997 and went public in July 2011. The company specializes in selling loose-leaf teas, teapots and other tea-related products. It sells its wares out of small boutique-style stores that employ "teaologists" to sell to consumers in high-traffic locations such as malls."

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Hastert = Public office + private gain

Hastert uses government office for private business - chicagotribune.com: "Former U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has conducted private business ventures through a little-known government office that has cost taxpayers about $1.8 million, a Tribune investigation has found.

Former House speakers are allowed to maintain a government-financed office for up to five years to wrap up matters relating to their tenure. They are not permitted to use the office for financial gain.

But the Tribune found that a secretary in the ex-speaker’s government office used email to coordinate some of his private business meetings and travel, and conducted research on one proposed venture. A suburban Chicago businessman who was involved in the business ventures with Hastert said he met with Hastert at least three times in the government office to discuss the projects."

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Common sense conclusions, but not for tax cut zealots

Chris Christie Reverses Stand on Tax Hikes After Storm - NYTimes.com: "“No one’s ever happy with higher taxes, but the fact is, what annoys people more than anything else is waste,” he said. “As long as they know that the money’s being spent in a way that’s helping to bring their town back to life, I think people will understand it’s got to be done.”

It was a striking endorsement of the role of higher taxes and the federal government in helping the recovery, particularly coming from a governor who has often been held up as a leader in the movement to rein in both.

But Mr. Christie, wearing a suit and tie rather than the fleece jacket seen in his TV appearances the last two weeks, disagreed that the storm had brought on a change of heart. Unlike Mitt Romney, he said, he had never questioned the need for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “Emergency response is always something that I’ve thought was an appropriate governmental function,” he said."

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Amazon-ian tax avoidance- what's the effect of all the 'ethics' teachings in the University?

France claims Amazon owes $252m in tax - The Irish Times - Wed, Nov 14, 2012: "FRANCE HAS made a $252 million tax claim against internet retailer Amazon, signalling a widening crackdown by Paris on multinational companies that channel profits through low-tax countries.

Amazon said the French authorities had made the claim for back taxes, interest and penalties in relation to “the allocation of income between foreign jurisdictions” between 2006 and 2010. It intends to fight the claim.

The move against Amazon comes amid growing scrutiny in France and Britain of multinationals that funnel revenue from their operations in both countries through low-tax regimes. France’s tax office is investigating the relationship between Google’s French subsidiary and its European headquarters in Dublin, while executives from Google, Amazon and the coffee chain Starbucks came under intense pressure from MPs in London on Monday."

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Google- searching for ways to escape moral obligations, and legal obligations

BBC News - Starbucks, Google and Amazon grilled over tax avoidance: "ax haven
Like Amazon, Google also operates its European business out of a favourable tax jurisdiction - in its case the Republic of Ireland - according to Matt Brittin, who runs company's northern European businesses.
He openly admitted that the choice of Ireland was due to its favourable 12.5% corporation tax rate.
He also confirmed that the rights to the company's non-US intellectual property rights were owned in the tax haven of Bermuda, saying that the company had a duty to shareholders to minimise its costs.
He further freely accepted that until recently, the Ireland company was paying a fee to a separate Dutch company within Google, purely for the purpose of reducing its taxes.
Like the other executives, Mr Brittin insisted that nothing his employer did was illegal, prompting the committee chair, Ms Hodge, to say: "We're not accusing you of being illegal, we're accusing you of being immoral."
Google's UK unit paid just £6m to the Treasury in 2011 on UK turnover of £395m, according to the Telegraph."

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Reason to boycott Starbucks, Google and Amazon

BBC News - Starbucks, Google and Amazon grilled over tax avoidance: "Executives from some of the world's most-recognised firms are being grilled by MPs on the issue of tax avoidance.

The head of Google UK and top managers from Starbucks and Amazon face probing by the Public Accounts Committee.

Starbucks admitted the Dutch government had granted a special tax deal on its European headquarters, which receives royalty payments from its UK business.

Amazon and Google also confirmed they used favourable European tax jurisdictions for their UK businesses.

Amazon's sales are handled out of Luxembourg, while Google's advertising space is sold by a team in the Republic of Ireland, the executives confirmed.

Margaret Hodge, who chairs the parliamentary committee, told the BBC that she thought it was right for customers to boycott the three companies."

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EU grounded by India and China

BBC News - EU suspends extension of plane emissions trading rules: "The European Union has postponed a planned extension of rules that require airlines to pay for their carbon emissions to include flights to and from non-EU destinations.

The rules had been unpopular with the US, China and India among others.

Climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said she had proposed "stopping the clock for one year".

She said the suspension was due to progress being made in negotiations on a global emissions deal."

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Perfect Resume for a Fox News Analyst position

Woman fired after Obama Facebook post: 'I'm not racist' - latimes.com: "A Turlock, Calif., woman fired from her job after using a racial slur to describe President Obama on Facebook and writing "maybe he will get assassinated" said she is not a racist.

"I'm not racist and I'm not crazy. just simply stating my opinion.!!!" Denise Helms wrote on Facebook.

The controversy started Tuesday night. The Facebook statement by Helms, 22, posted immediately after Obama's reelection, went viral and prompted an investigation by the Secret Service about whether it was a true threat.

"I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," Helms told FOX40 Sacramento in an interview outside her workplace at the Turlock Cold Stone Creamery. "The assassination part is kind of harsh. I'm not saying I'd go do that or anything like that, by any means, but if it was to happen I don't think I'd care one bit."

As Helms' post continued to go viral on Facebook and Twitter, the national ice cream chain began to respond to people who expressed outrage over Helms' post."

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China Price - too high for sustainability

State Academic Says China Has Paid ‘Huge’ Environmental Price - Bloomberg: "China has paid a “huge” environmental price for development, Zhou Ji, president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at a briefing today.
The world’s second-biggest economy can’t rely further on resource exploitation for development, Zhou said at a briefing in Beijing held as part of the 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress.
Zhou also said China needs to improve the quality of education offered in the country. Education in China is currently weak in promoting innovation, Zhou said."

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Sleeping at the oversight switch?

UK and Germany agree crackdown on tax loopholes for multinationals | Business | The Guardian: "George Osborne, the chancellor, has joined forces with the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, to announce an international crackdown on tax avoidance by multinational companies.

The intervention comes came as the business secretary, Vince Cable, weighed into the Starbucks tax affair by berating corporate behemoths for "taking from the British economy and putting very little back". According to a Reuters report last month, Starbucks has not paid tax in the UK for three years.

Cable told the Guardian: "At times of hardship, when tens of thousands of British companies are paying their basic tax, to discover that leading multinationals are getting away with it is not acceptable.""

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Big government, or Obese kids?

BBC News - School meal rules should apply to academies - parents: "Parents want meals in academies and free schools to be bound by the same nutrition standards as those in local authority schools, a report suggests.

Some 92% of parents polled also said they wanted an independent body to ensure the standards were met.

Academies and free schools in England are not bound by government regulations on school food.

Jamie Oliver, who campaigns for better school meals, urged the government "to do something positive with the data"."

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Big government, or Obese kids?

BBC News - School meal rules should apply to academies - parents: "Parents want meals in academies and free schools to be bound by the same nutrition standards as those in local authority schools, a report suggests.

Some 92% of parents polled also said they wanted an independent body to ensure the standards were met.

Academies and free schools in England are not bound by government regulations on school food.

Jamie Oliver, who campaigns for better school meals, urged the government "to do something positive with the data"."

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Apple, Amazon, Google and Coffeebucks: the myth of "high corporate tax rates"

Apple paid less than 2% tax on overseas profit last year | Technology | guardian.co.uk: "Apple paid less than 2% tax on profit made outside the United States last year.

The iPhone and iPad maker paid $713m (£445m) in overseas corporation tax on foreign profits of $36.87bn (£23bn) in the year to the end of September. That translates as a tax rate of 1.9%, compared to a headline corporation tax rate of 35% in the US and 24% in the UK.

The details were revealed in Apple's 10K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Apple has not broken any laws by arranging its tax payments this way, but it is likely to reignite debate about the astonishingly small amount of tax US multinationals pay in the UK.

Google, Amazon and Starbucks will be hauled before the Commons public accounts committee on Monday to explain why they pay so little tax to the exchequer.

Analysis by the Guardian found that Google, Amazon, Starbucks and Facebook have paid just £30m in tax over the past four years despite generating more than £3.1bn in sales."

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Dr. Merkel- setting expectations

Euro debt crisis will last at least 5 years: German Chancellor Angela Merkel - The Economic Times: "Merkel says the continent is on the right path to overcome the crisis but ``whoever thinks this can be fixed in one or two years is wrong.''

Two years ago some heavily indebted European countries were dragged into the turmoil that first gripped global financial markets in 2007.

Greece in particular has been struggling with the austerity conditions imposed on it by countries such as Germany.

But Merkel told a regional meeting of her Christian Democratic Party on Saturday that the time had come for ``a bit of strictness.''

Otherwise, she says, Europe won't be able to attract international investment.
"

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A Bloomin' clear call to action on Climate change

Bloomberg backs Obama on climate - The Irish Times - Thu, Nov 01, 2012: "In a powerful passage, Mr Bloomberg wrote on his website: “I believe Mitt Romney is a good and decent man, and he would bring valuable business experience to the Oval Office.

"He understands that America was built on the promise of equal opportunity, not equal results. In the past he has also taken sensible positions on immigration, illegal guns, abortion rights and healthcare. But he has reversed course on all of them, and is even running against the healthcare model he signed into law in Massachusetts.

“The devastation that hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the northeast - in lost lives, lost homes and lost business - brought the stakes of next Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief.

"Our climate is changing. And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be - given this week’s devastation - should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.”"

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