Government Issues and Politics

News about government issues and politics in UK.

US exempts Japan and EU nations from Iran oil sanctions

Posted in Feature , Political Issues | Monday, March 19, 2012|By John

The US government will not impose sanctions on Japan and 10 European Union nations that have reduced their oil imports from Iran.

Ordered by Congress in December, the sanctions aim to punish countries that continue to buy oil from Iran.

China, India and South Korea, major buyers of Iranian oil, were not exempt.

Iran faces international pressure to address concerns over its nuclear enrichment programme.

'Not easy'

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who announced the exemptions in a statement, said Japan and the EU nations had taken actions that were "not easy".

"They had to rethink their energy needs at a critical time for the world economy and quickly begin to find alternatives to Iranian oil which many had been reliant on for their energy needs."

The European countries that have been exempt are France, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK.

Under a US law that came into effect in 31 December, countries have until 28 June to show they have significantly reduced the amount of crude oil they purchase from Iran or face being cut off from the US financial system.

The European Union has also increased its sanctions on Iran, banning new oil contracts and phasing out existing ones from 1 July.

Shrinking markets

The move by the US administration means Japan, which is the second biggest importer or Iranian oil after China, may continue buying some oil from Iran without exposing its banks to penalties.

The law says the United States must cut off the US bank account of any foreign financial institution that completes petroluem-related transactions with Iran's central bank, unless its country is exempt.

Japan is estimated to have cut down its purchases from Iran by 15%-22% in the second half of last year, and is promising to do more.

"We have told the US side that the trend of decrease would accelerate and Iranian crude imports will be reduced substantially from now on," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said.

Analysts said this could put pressure on South Korea, India, China, Turkey and South Africa and other major buyers of Iranian oil to also reduce their imports in line with the US law.

Ms Clinton said the US was making progress in "shrinking Iran's oil export markets and isolating its central bank from the world financial system".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17454814

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Condoleezza Rice on Education: American Dream on Verge of Collapse

Posted in Feature , Political Issues | |By John

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2012 Budget: Tax allowances set to rise further

Posted in Feature , Political Issues | Wednesday, March 14, 2012|By John

George Osborne is set to announce a significant further increase in personal tax allowances in Wednesday's Budget, the BBC understands.

The threshold at which anyone pays income tax is set to increase to £9,205, benefiting millions of people.

The chancellor is also expected to announce a cut in the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p, but not for a year.

These measures are set to be paid for by ending tax reliefs and loopholes for the wealthy and raising property taxes.

Mr Osborne will unveil his third Budget in the House of Commons at 1230 GMT.

It is expected to include a tax cut for millions of taxpayers in the form of a further increase in personal tax allowances to more than £9,000.

The BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson said this could leave the average taxpayer £305 a year better off.

Ministers lifted the tax threshold by £1,000 to £7,475 in April 2011, meaning the first £7,475 of people's income is not liable for tax.

A further £630 increase to £8,105 was due next month and while the coalition has pledged to ultimately raise the threshold to £10,000 by 2015, the Lib Dems have been pushing for "further and faster" action on what is regarded as a flagship policy.

'Radical'

Speaking on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he wanted the Budget to relieve the tax burden on those on low and average incomes, many of whom were "feeling the pinch and struggling to make ends meet".

The commitment to meet the £10,000 target was "the most radical tax policy in British politics for many years", he said.

Mr Osborne has also said he wants to do more to help "working people".

But it is unclear how any further increase will be paid for, when it will come into force, and whether it will apply to all taxpayers or only those paying the basic 20% rate.

Economists have said raising the threshold would cost billions, although it could be partly paid for by reducing higher rate tax allowances. Those not paying tax at all will not benefit.

Other tax changes in the Budget could see the 50p top rate of tax reduced to 45p.

The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said he expected the announcement but he understood that it would not be implemented for a year.

The 50p rate, levied on incomes above £150,000, was introduced in April 2010.

It has been criticised by the business community and many Conservative MPs who say it deters enterprise and investment but some Lib Dems want it to be retained. The chancellor is expected to base any decision on the findings of a review by HM Revenue and Customs review into how much the 50p tax raised last year.

Tax avoidance

A range of measures is also expected to clamp down on tax avoidance, estimated to cost the Treasury about £5bn a year.

Mr Osborne has said the practice of people avoiding stamp duty by buying property through offshore companies is "unacceptable" and will be dealt with "aggressively".

The Lib Dems have floated the idea of a "tycoon tax" in which the wealthiest people pay a minimum rate of tax on all their earnings by capping allowances and reliefs open to them.

Other tax changes affecting the wealthiest in society could see a big rise in stamp duty levied on purchases of properties worth more than £2m.

The chancellor will also use Wednesday's speech to update MPs on the latest forecasts for the UK's struggling economy.

In November, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility revised down the rate at which UK economy is expected to grow in 2012 to 0.7%.

The economy contracted in the final three months of 2011 and Labour have called for the chancellor to focus on tackling rising unemployment amid fears of a double-dip recession.

The opposition want a cut in the headline rate of VAT and a one-off bank bonus tax to help get the young unemployed into work and to build more affordable homes.

"We want a Budget for jobs and families which is fair," said shadow chancellor Ed Balls.

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17450719

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Scientists Warn of Ethical Battle Concerning Military Mind Control

Posted in Feature , News and Media | |By John

Advances in neuroscience are closer than ever to becoming a reality, but scientists are warning the military - along with their peers - that with great power comes great responsibility

By JASON KOEBLER

March 20, 2012 RSS Feed Print

A future of brain-controlled tanks, automated attack drones and mind-reading interrogation techniques may arrive sooner than later, but advances in neuroscience that will usher in a new era of combat come with tough ethical implications for both the military and scientists responsible for the technology, according to one of the country's leading bioethicists.

"Everybody agrees that conflict will be changed as new technologies are coming on," says Jonathan Moreno, author of Mind Wars: Brain Science and the Military in the 21st Century. "But nobody knows where that technology is going."

[See pictures of Navy SEALs]

Moreno warns in an essay published in the science journal PLoS Biology Tuesday that the military's interest in neuroscience advancements "generates a tension in its relationship with science."

"The goals of national security and the goals of science may conflict. The latter employs rigorous standards of validation in the expansion of knowledge, while the former depends on the most promising deployable solutions for the defense of the nation," he writes.

Much of neuroscience focuses on returning function to people with traumatic brain injuries, he says. Just as Albert Einstein didn't know his special theory of relativity could one day be used to create a nuclear weapon, neuroscience research intended to heal could soon be used to harm.

"Neuroscientists may not consider how their work contributes to warfare," he adds.

Moreno says there is a fine line between using neuroscience devices to allow an injured person to regain baseline functions and enhancing someone's body to perform better than their natural body ever could.

"Where one draws that line is not obvious, and how one decides to cross that line is not easy. People will say 'Why would we want to deny warfighters these advantages?'" he says.

[Mind Control, Biometrics Could Change the World]

Moreno isn't the only one thinking about this. The Brookings Institution's Peter Singer writes in his book, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, that "'the Pentagon's real-world record with things like the aboveground testing of atomic bombs, Agent Orange, and Gulf War syndrome certainly doesn't inspire the greatest confidence among the first generation of soldiers involved [in brain enhancement research.]"

The military, scientists and ethicists are increasingly wondering how neuroscience technology changes the battlefield. The staggering possibilities are further along than many think. There is already development on automated drones that are programmed to make their own decisions about who to kill within the rules of war. Other ideas that are closer-than-you-think to becoming a military reality: Tanks controlled from half a world away, memory erasures that could prevent PTSD, and "brain fingerprinting" that could be used to extract secrets from enemies.Moreno foretold some of these developments when he first published Mind Wars in 2006, but not without trepidation.

"I was afraid I'd be dismissed as a paranoid schizophrenic when I first published the book," he says. But then a funny thing happened—the Department of Defense and other military groups began holding panels on neurotechnology to determine how and when it should be used. I was surprised how quickly the policy questions moved forward. Questions like: 'Can we use autonomous attack drones?' 'Must there be a human being in the vehicle?' 'How much of a payload can it have?'. There are real questions coming up in the international legal community."

All of those questions will have to be answered sooner than later, Moreno says, along with a host of others. Should soldiers have the right to refuse "experimental" brain implants? Will the military want to use some of this technology before science deems it safe?

"There's a tremendous tension about this," he says. "There's a great feeling of responsibility that we push this stuff out so we're ahead of our adversaries."

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/03/20/scientists-warn-of-ethical-battle-concerning-military-mind-control

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Teenage fiction and iPads now in official UK shopping basket

Posted in Feature , News and Media | Tuesday, March 13, 2012|By John

Tablet computers and teenage fiction such as the Twilight books have been added to the basket of goods and services that is used to calculate UK inflation. Casserole dishes, step ladders and charges for developing film have dropped out.

The latest changes, announced by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday morning, reflect the nation's changing buying habits. The ONS said tablet computers such as iPads had been added as they represent a "significant and growing market". Fiction was previously covered by children's and adult books, but with the growing popularity of many titles aimed specifically at teenagers, they have also been added to the basket on their own.

Bundled communication packages comprising telephone, internet and television are also included for the first time. Cans of stout, such as Guinness, have been added to widen the coverage of beers in the basket, along with pineapples, hot oat cereals and takeaway chicken and chips.

In addition, vehicle excise duty, television licence fees and trade union subscriptions, which are currently only used to calculate the retail prices index, will also be used in the consumer prices index.

However, the popularity of digital cameras means that charges for developing and printing colour film have been removed from the inflation basket. Glass ovenware casserole dishes and step ladders are also out.

In some cases new items are direct replacements for similar products that leave the basket. For example, walking and hiking boots have replaced outdoor adventure boosts, and a bag of foam sweets has replaced a bag of boiled or jellied sweets.

The ONS is increasingly collecting prices from large supermarkets as they venture into new areas such as toys, umbrellas and handbags.

Technology products and services have regularly been added to the inflation basket in recent years. Twelve months ago, the ONS added smart phones and apps. The list can shed light on changing spending patterns; in 2010, lip gloss and fish fingers were added, as the basket got a 1980s twist.

source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/13/teenage-fiction-ipads-inflation-basket

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David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, were welcomed on their arrival in Washington

Posted in Feature , News and Media | |By John

David Cameron has said the public "want an endgame" to the war in Afghanistan as he prepares to hold talks with Barack Obama about the conflict.

The leaders are expected to agree that Afghan forces should take over a lead combat role by mid-2013 - earlier than planned - but the US President has said there will be no "rush for the exits".

Mr Cameron said the country "won't be a perfect democracy" by then, but people want troops to come home.

He is in the US for a three-day visit.

Mr Cameron made his first official visit to the US as prime minister in July 2010. The latest meeting comes ahead of Nato and G8 summits.

'Very long time'

Afghanistan is expected to dominate discussions between the PM and President Obama, although other topics including Syria and Iran are also likely to be on the agenda.

The visit comes at a tense time for Afghanistan after an American soldier shot dead 16 Afghan civilians. As an Afghan government delegation visited the site in Kandahar on Tuesday, they came under attack from militants.

Speaking as he arrived in Washington, Mr Cameron told journalists: "I think people want an endgame. They want to know that our troops are going to come home, they have been there a very long time.

"What I define as doing the job is leaving Afghanistan looking after its own security, not being a haven for terror, without the involvement of foreign troops.

"That should be our goal. So that the British public, our troops and the Afghan government, frankly, know there's an end to this.

"This is what we defined in 2010 through the National Security Council."

But he added: "I accept it won't be a perfect democracy. There will be huge development problems."

British and US combat troops are expected to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Basketball game

Downing Street would not confirm a detailed timetable for the handover of combat duties to Afghan troops, but the BBC understands an agreement will be made to hand over the lead combat role the previous year.

Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha were greeted at Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, by a guard of honour and a military band.

The prime minister later met the president at the White House before the two men travelled to Ohio - a crucial swing state in this year's presidential election - to watch a university basketball game.

They made the trip on Air Force One, with Mr Cameron becoming the first foreign leader to be welcomed onto the presidential plane by President Obama.

And the atmosphere was relaxed as the leaders, wearing casual clothes, were applauded when taking their seats at the University of Dayton Arena and chatted to student spectators around them.

Mr Cameron tucked into a hotdog as basketball fanatic Mr Obama apparently pointed out aspects of play, with the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils defeating the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 23-19.

Ahead of his arrival, the prime minister had said the so-called "special relationship" between the US and UK was "increasingly strong, based on common interests and common values".

'Deeply rational'

"I'm very glad I do get on so well with Barack Obama," he said. "We shouldn't have to take its temperature all the time.

"Sometimes we can over-analyse how many phone calls and how many meetings, but I don't look at it like that.

"Obama's approach is deeply rational and reasonable, and also very strong."

Meanwhile, Mrs Cameron joined First Lady Michelle Obama on an engagement at Washington's American University, where they will meet children who have been taking part in a mini-Olympics event.

They also spent time with pupils from Elizabeth Garrett school in north London, who first met Mrs Obama during her trip to the UK in 2009 and have been invited over by her for a return visit.

During the event, Mrs Obama announced that she will lead the presidential delegation to the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17359948

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CBI attacks Vince Cable's plan to give investors control of executive pay

Posted in Feature , Political Issues | Monday, March 12, 2012|By John

Vince Cable will be warned on Wednesday that he risks turning shareholders into "micro-managers" when he launches a consultation on handing investors extra powers to clamp down on executive pay.

The business secretary is being urged by the CBI, the employers' body, not to press on with his plans to give shareholders a "binding" vote on remuneration as he prepares to endorse a report calling for the creation of a much stronger UK equivalent of Germany's Mittelstand, the small and medium-sized business sector.

Before the formal launch of the consultation on executive pay, John Cridland, the director general of the CBI, said: "Shareholders already have the power to influence company pay strategy. They do this through the advisory vote, but if this is not taken into account they have the power to remove the chair of the remuneration committee, or ultimately the board.

"Binding votes do not strengthen the role of shareholders as responsible owners, but instead blur the distinction between shareholders and executives. They risk turning shareholders into micro-managers who are expected to second-guess executive decisions at every turn, hampering the effective day-to-day management of the business," Cridland added.

The precise details of the consultation will be announced on Wednesday, but when Cable unveiled his proposals in January he said he wanted the existing advisory vote to remain but for two legally binding votes to be introduced on pay deals for the coming year and on any pay deals that represent more than a year's salary.

The consultation is being launched as the Ownership Commission, set up by the Labour government in 2010, calls for an overhaul of the British economy to give a bigger role to mutuals, co-operatives, private companies and employee-owned firms to promote more "responsible capitalism". It calls for the creation of a stronger Mittelstand, which in Germany is supported by a network of regional and national institutions, planning bodies and research organisations that encourage a long-term approach to business. The report, whose authors include Sir Roger Carr, chairman of the CBI, and Lady Sylvia Jay, vice-chairman of L'Oréal in the UK and Ireland, says Britain could do far more to encourage "plurality of corporate ownership, better stewardship of companies, as well as promoting greater engagement between employees and shareholders".

It says the UK should expand the number of small and medium-sized companies through tax incentives and the creation of new national and local institutions "to support SMEs with more generous flows of credit and equity, innovative new technology and skilled workers". Measures should be adopted to make it easier for mutuals to raise external capital, while employee-owned companies "shouldn't be taxed inappropriately".

The report has received backing from a wide range of politicians, businessmen and academics. Prof Ajay Bhalla, of Cass Business School, said: "Germany's SME sector is bigger than ours, better supported by government and is the force behind the country's export boom."

Bhalla said research by Cass showed that in recessions, employee-owned and family-owned firms were more likely to invest and hire workers, and less likely to retrench than large public companies that had to answer to shareholders' short-term demands. "This demonstrates that a more balanced [corporate] ownership profile would make the economy more resilient," he said. It would also allow investors and savers more avenues in which to invest, and give consumers more choice.

Will Hutton, chairman of the commission, said: "Our report is a nail in the coffin for capitalism's dark side; if our measures are adopted it would create a capitalism that delivers more effectively to citizens, savers and employees. Only 2% of our companies are co-operatives; only 2% are employee-owned, we're simply not at the races when compared to Germany."

The commission also proposes that companies should set out their approach to employee and investor engagement in their annual reports and that employee ownership should be actively encouraged from employee share ownership schemes to fully-fledged employee owned companies.

Hutton added: "The financial crisis and the protracted problems in its wake has opened up the debate about how well our economy is owned, run and managed.Good ownership is indissolubly linked to good capitalism."

Another of the Ccommission's report's authors, Charlie Mayfield, the boss of staff-owned John Lewis, said: "I welcome the call for government to promote a greater plurality of ownership and I see employee-owned businesses playing a key role within that agenda."

source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/14/cbi-attacks-cable-proposal-executive-pay

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Other Recent Articles

US exempts Japan and EU nations from Iran oil sanctions

Condoleezza Rice on Education: American Dream on Verge of Collapse

2012 Budget: Tax allowances set to rise further

Scientists Warn of Ethical Battle Concerning Military Mind Control

Teenage fiction and iPads now in official UK shopping basket

David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, were welcomed on their arrival in Washington

CBI attacks Vince Cable's plan to give investors control of executive pay

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Other Recent Articles

US exempts Japan and EU nations from Iran oil sanctions

Condoleezza Rice on Education: American Dream on Verge of Collapse

2012 Budget: Tax allowances set to rise further

Scientists Warn of Ethical Battle Concerning Military Mind Control

Teenage fiction and iPads now in official UK shopping basket

David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, were welcomed on their arrival in Washington

CBI attacks Vince Cable's plan to give investors control of executive pay

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