PICTURE Ashforth goes nuts for Prostate Cancer - Horse Racing ...

It was something of an oddity, even for central London, but dressed in a boiler-suit and heavy boots while wielding a sledgehammer to smash walnuts, the Racing Post's David Ashforth was happy to make a spectacle of himself for a good cause on Friday.

Bypassers may have been a little bemused at the sight of Ashforth going about his business while standing in a shop window for an hour near Holborn tube, but his efforts raised ?380 for Prostate Cancer UK's Sledgehammer Fund.

The event was streamed live on the charity's website as Ashforth attacked a nut - the size of of a man's prostate - every time someone donated ?5.

He said:?"It gave myself and people from the charity the chance to get the message across about prostate cancer and the work they're doing. There's still a lot of ignorance about the disease, and the charity is doing a great job in raising the profile of prostate cancer and money to support both research and people who have the disease."

You can support the cause at prostatecanceruk.org.

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Source: http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/picture-ashforth-goes-nuts-for-prostate-cancer/1192898/

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Ask Hanna Rosin Anything

Hi. I?m Hanna Rosin, a writer for the Atlantic and an editor at Slate. I wrote The End of Men because I hate men. I really do. Of course I'm just saying that so that the angry commenters out there won't have to! (Who am I kidding, they're going to say it anyway.) I host Slate?s DoubleX Gabfest with Allison Benedikt and Noreen Malone. We?re doing a live show in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13 with Slate?s Dear Prudence columnist Emily Yoffe. Please come so my husband (Slate editor David Plotz) doesn?t always get to brag about how many more people come to his show.

I?ve expressed my hatred of breastfeeding Nazis, my love of boxing, and my bafflement at arduinos. I have lots of opinions, but I?m not all that ideological, and my favorite stories I?ve written are the ones with the least bombast. I also wrote a book about Patrick Henry College, a school full of evangelical Christians trained to rule the world (including one former Miss America). I have never been chosen as Miss America or even Miss Delaware.

Please join me on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 1 p.m. EST on Reddit, where I will be happy to answer questions about either half of our species; David?s feelings about my book; my sons? feelings about my book; DoubleX; my current favorite show, Nashville; breastfeeding; or anything else. Except arduinos.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=fe64686423b69c935afe486bab71c44e

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Property Taxes and the Achievement Gap - MN2020 Hindsight

By Bryan Martin, Undergraduate Research Fellow, January 25, 2013 at 7:30 am

Over the past 10 years, Minnesota has followed the increasing nationwide trend in using property taxes to finance schools. In 2003, state aid provided 75% of school revenue, now state aid provides 66% of school revenue. Steep cuts and local property taxes make up a majority of the lost revenue, increasing from 12% of total school revenue to 20%.

This trend puts enormous pressure on property poor districts to keep up with wealthier areas of the state, which tend to be rural communities and many of the first-ring suburbs. Levying a percentage on the value of a $350,000 home yields a much larger return than $125,000 property, making it hard for property poor districts to overcome state cuts.

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Source: Minnesota Department of Education

Several studies confirm that family income also correlates with student achievement, so these wealthier districts are already at an advantage.? Minnesota's achievement gap puts us in the bottom half of states, and increasing a funding gap isn?t going to help. Money does matter in education.

Minnesota must recommit to a more equitable education and community investment policy, which go hand-in-hand when it comes to closing an achievement gap. We had been served well by a system where the state used its vast taxing authority?sales, income, property?to raise revenue in a progressive manner, then equitably invested in community assets statewide. Minnesota should move forward together?no one community would be left too far behind, and no one community should advance too much farther ahead, according to the theory.

Instead, a decade of "no-new-tax" state policy has hampered our ability to make good on that promise to collect revenue progressively and make statewide investments. It's produced budget deficit after budget deficit. In turn, lawmakers balanced about a decade of state budget gaps by shorting schools and cutting revenue sharing with local communities.??

The burden fell to property taxpayers and you're familiar with the results. Governor Dayton's fiscal overhaul takes a step forward toward recommitting Minnesota to the promise of shared prosperity.

His proposals direct more state money to schools, which includes free all-day kindergarten funding for districts choosing to offer it. All-day kindergarten has documented and reported benefits for children, and could go far in helping get students susceptible to the achievement gap ready for 1st grade. (Watch our Early Start for Future Success video on what students learn in kindergarten.)?

Furthermore, he's easing overall pressure on local property taxpayers in two ways: increasing state revenue sharing with local governments and offering $500 property tax rebates.

Property taxes will still be part of the funding mix, and for the short-term a big part of the school funding mix. But in the future, the goal is to shift education opportunity away from a community's willingness or ability to pass a school levy or property wealth and back to fair and equatable funding for a world class education regardless of zip code.?

Posted in Education | Related Topics: "No New Taxes"? Education Funding? Property Tax?

Source: http://www.mn2020hindsight.org/view/property-taxes-and-the-achievement-gap

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Azeri police restore order after breaking up protest

BAKU (Reuters) - Azeri police used tear gas and water cannon on Thursday to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding the resignation of a regional leader, after cars were torched and a hotel set ablaze in a night of rioting.

Nizami Alekperov, Ismailli regional governor, has defied the protesters' demands but complaints about wages, unemployment and oppressive government in the oil-producer may send a worrying signal to President Ilham Aliyev in an election year.

Reuters television footage showed at least one building on fire and the burning carcasses of vehicles set ablaze by up to 3,000 rioters on Wednesday night in the town of Ismailli, 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Baku.

Witnesses said hundreds of protesters surrounded the governor's residence on Thursday, shaking their fists and chanting "Resignation! Resignation!"

"We are tired of unemployment, poverty and an atmosphere of fear," one protester, who declined to be identified, told the Azeri Turan news agency.

Turan quoted witnesses as saying the protests ended only after tear gas and water cannon were used.

Police, who brought in reinforcements to deal with the demonstration, said some of their number and some protesters were injured.

Residents of Ismailli have complained for years about corruption, an overbearing local government, and an increasing divide between rich and poor.

Young Azeri opposition activists spread a message via Facebook on Thursday calling for a Baku protest in support of Ismailli residents on Friday.

Police usually move in swiftly to quash protests which are rare outside of Baku, capital of the U.S. ally nation located on the Caspian Sea between Russia and Iran.

BRAWL SPIRALS

The former Soviet republic supplies oil and gas to Europe and serves as a transit hub for U.S. troops based in Afghanistan - a role its critics say limits Western powers' willingness to sanction Azerbaijan for human rights abuses.

The Ismailli riot started as a brawl involving a local hotel owner who crashed his car, and rapidly spiraled into a riot involving up to 3,000 people, according to a Reuters witness and Turan.

The rioters mobbed the driver's hotel, setting fire to it and torching cars in the courtyard, before moving to the home of Alekperov's son, where a car and two motorcycles were set ablaze.

Speaking to journalists, Alekperov said he would not step down.

"I won't resign on the demands of five or 10 people ... It's inadmissible to make a political conflict out of a car accident and a quarrel between two people," Alekperov told reporters.

(Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Thomas Grove and Sophie Hares)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/azeri-police-restore-order-breaking-protest-175409430.html

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Businesses want corporate income tax at below 23 percent ...

Vietnam Tax Consultancy Association related stories

VietNamNet Bridge ? A lot of business associations have proposed to set up the corporate income tax rate at lower than 23 percent, the threshold suggested in the draft tax law.

Sharper decreases, sooner validity wanted

The Ministry of Finance has finished the drafting of the Corporate Income Tax law, planning to slash the popular corporate income tax from 25 percent currently to 23 percent. Small and medium enterprises would be able to enjoy a lower tax rate of 20 percent.

The small and medium enterprises mean the ones with less than 200 workers and the annual revenue of VND20 billion.

According to the Vietnam Tax Consultancy Association, it would be more reasonable to apply the normal tax rate at 22 percent, or one percent lower than the suggested rate.

Over the last nine years, the corporate income tax rates have been adjusted several times. The 2003 Corporate Income Tax law, which took valid on January 1, 2004, decided the four percent tax rate decrease from 32 percent to 28 percent.

The 2008 law, applied since January 1, 2009, decided the three percent decrease, from 28 percent to 25 percent. And the Ministry of Finance this time plans a 9.2 percent decrease from 25 percent to 23 percent, before the tax rate would be lowered to 20 percent by 2020.

The tax consultancy association, while believing that the 20 percent tax rate by 2020 is suitable to the tax policy renovation process, still believes that the corporate income tax should be lowered by one more percent for the immediate time to encourage businesses to expand their investment and scale up production.

The plan by the finance ministry to offer preferential tax rate of 20 percent to small and medium enterprises has been applauded by business associations. However, they still argue about what ?small and medium enterprises? mean.

The Gia Lai provincial business association has proposed to loosen the requirements on enterprises to be recognized as small and medium businesses. These should be the enterprises using less than 300 full time workers and the annual revenue of no more than VND100 billion.

Not only wanting sharper tax rate decreases, businesses believe that the new tax rates should be taken valid sooner than initially planned, on July 1, 2013, instead of January 1, 2014.

No limitations on ad and marketing expenses?

The Ministry of Finance seems to please businesses when deciding to raise the ceiling expenses on marketing and advertisements from 10 percent to 15 percent of total expenses. This means that enterprises must not spend more than 15 percent of their total expenses on advertisements.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), which represents the business circle, has insisted that no limitation on businesses? spending should be set up. In principle, they should be given the right to decide how much to spend and on what they spend their money.

VCCI has found out from its survey that Vietnam is one of very few countries which set limitations on the expenses on ads and marketing. This makes businesses? actual expenses higher by 42-80 percent.

VCCI has also pointed out that in fact, most businesses spend more than they allowed on ads and marketing, especially newly set up businesses, which need to spend money to build up their brands. Meanwhile, businesses in different business fields and with different scales would have different advertisement plans with different budgets.

Pham Huyen

Corporate Income Tax related stories

Source: http://talkvietnam.com/2013/01/businesses-want-corporate-income-tax-at-below-23-percent/

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Gregory Matthew Bruni Arrested For Naked, Violent, Defecating, Masturbating Rampage

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/gregory-matthew-bruni-arrested-for-naked-violent-defecating-mast/

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S&P closes above 1,500 for 1st time since 2007

Trader Peter Tuchman, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Peter Tuchman, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Michael Zicchinolfi, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Passing another milestone on the nation's long journey back from the Great Recession, the Standard and Poor's 500 index closed above 1,500 for the first time in more than five years Friday after a wave of good earnings reports.

It took scores of incremental gains, several stalled rallies and a few sickening falls, but the widely watched S&P, one of the broadest measures of the American stock market, finished at 1,502.96, up 8.14 points. The index had not closed above 1,500 since December 2007, the start of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.

The news came on top of other hopeful signs that the economy is slowly recovering. Housing is rebounding. Companies are hiring again, albeit slowly, and their earnings, a big driver of stock prices, are at record levels.

"The bottom line is that corporate America is doing exceptionally well," said Joe Tanious, a global market strategist at JPMorgan.

The breakthrough happened on an eighth straight daily gain for stocks, itself a remarkable performance. That is the longest winning streak since November 2004.

Stocks have surged this month, with the S&P advancing 5.4 percent. It jumped at the start of the year when lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff." Signs that Europe has avoided financial collapse also helped.

Stocks fell sharply during the Great Recession. By March 2009, the S&P was 57 percent below its October 2007 peak, a harrowing plunge that scarred a generation of small investors and, some Wall Street experts believe, will keep them away from stocks for years to come.

Since that fall, the market has climbed sharply, though it has endured several big declines. In May 2010, a trading glitch set off a so-called flash crash that sent stocks plummeting. And in August 2011, stocks gyrated like a roller coaster for several days as fears mounted that the U.S. would default on its debts.

On Friday, stocks were helped by earnings from two big companies. Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products maker, rose $2.83 to $73.25 after reporting that its quarterly income more than doubled. P&G also raised its profit forecast for its full fiscal year. Starbucks climbed $2.24 to $56.81 after reporting a 13 percent increase in profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 13,895.98, up 70.65 points. The Dow is up 6 percent on the year.

The Nasdaq composite gained 19.33 points to 3,149.71.

The Dow is now just 268 points below its record high of 14,165, reached on Oct. 9, 2007, two month before the recession began. The Dow has more than doubled since its recession low of 6,547 on March 9, 2009.

The S&P 500 is 62 points shy of its record of 1,565, reached on the same day the Dow hit its peak. The S&P has also more than doubled from its low of 676, which happened on the same day the Dow bottomed out in 2009.

JPMorgan's Tanious expects stocks to go even higher. He says corporate earnings should grow at about 5 percent over the next year or two, and stock valuations will rise. Currently, the S&P 500 is trading at an average price-to-earnings ratio of 14, below an average of 15.1 for the last decade, according to FactSet data.

On Friday, Apple continued to decline, allowing Exxon Mobil to once again surpass the electronics giant as the world's most valuable publicly traded company. Apple fell 2.4 percent to $439.88, following a 12 percent drop on Thursday, the biggest one-day percentage decline for the company since 2008, after Apple forecast slower sales. The stock is now 37 percent below the record high of $702.10 it reached Sept. 19.

Apple first surpassed Exxon in market value in the summer of 2011, grabbing a title Exxon had held since 2005. The two traded places through that fall, until Apple surpassed Exxon in early 2012.

Not everyone on Wall Street thought the S&P milestone was worth celebrating. Some noted the stock market is more a reflection of how traders feel than a reflection of underlying fundamentals.

"It's not a landmark that we really follow or that we really care about," said Derrick Irwin, portfolio manager for Wells Fargo Advantage Funds. "Focusing on the benchmarks can end up shooting you in the foot, as we've seen."

Some of the rise may also be due to investing stock market momentum. A rule of thumb is that when a stock price or an overall index gets tantalizingly close to a milestone, as the S&P has been for days now, it's almost certain to cross that milestone, at least temporarily.

"Sure, it's a good thing," said Christian Bertelsen, chief investment officer of Global Financial Private Capital in Sarasota, Fla. "But I wouldn't read too much into it."

Still, Deutsche Bank analysts raised their year-end target for the index to 1,600 from 1,575.

Companies will be able to maintain their earnings even if lawmakers in Washington decide to implement wide-ranging spending cuts to narrow the budget deficit, the analysts said in a note sent to clients late Thursday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, climbed 11 basis points to 1.95 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves.

? Halliburton gained $1.91 to $39.72 after posting a loss that was smaller than analysts had expected. The oilfield-services company said fourth-quarter profits declined 26 percent to $669 million on increasing pricing pressure in the North American market and one-time charges from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Wall Street had expected worse.

? Hasbro fell $1.14 to $37.31 after the toy maker said its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of poor demand over the holidays. The company plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce and consolidate facilities to cut expenses.

? Green Mountain Coffee Roasters rose $2.53 to $46.31 after an analyst noted that sales of a competing coffee brewer introduced by Starbucks were getting off to a weak start.

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AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-25-Wall%20Street/id-679aaf00b9074b199b332f1723a1fb06

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