Latest World News:
Occupied Jerusalem, Palestine -- The Israeli occupation
forces murdered two Palestinians and wounded three in violence along
the Gaza border, a Gaza health official said
Palestinian witnesses reported hearing two explosions from the border area
in the central Gaza Strip, after which Israeli helicopters hovered over the
fence and fired at targets inside Gaza.
According to the IDF, Israeli troops spotted four militants planting explosive
devices along the fence, a gun battle ensued, an Israeli soldier was wounded,
and four Palestinians were killed with an airstrike, the military said. The
troops called in an airstrike that successfully targeted the armed men, the
military said. According to Palestinians, the four civilians were crossing
to find jobs inside neighboring towns.
Medical crews evacuated the bodies of two Palestinian men from the border
area, according to Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of Gaza's Health Ministry.
Three other militants were wounded, Hassanain said, two in the initial clash
and a third in a subsequent Israeli missile strike.
No Palestinian group immediately claimed the dead and wounded militants as
its members. But Hamas, the Islamic group that has ruled the territory since
2007, sent a text message to reporters saying the group's fighters fired
18 mortar shells at the Israeli troops in the vicinity of the clash.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive in late December in an attempt to halt
years of rocket fire at Israeli towns and cripple Hamas. But rocket fire
and sporadic fighting persisted along the border even after Israel ended
the offensive Jan. 18.
Rocket fire has dropped off in recent weeks, and the border had been relatively
quiet until Tuesday.
Palestinians in Gaza fired three Qassam rockets at the Western Negev Tuesday.
No injuries or damage were reported.
Israel, since its occupation of Palestine in 1948,
has committed daily crimes against the Palestinians. Illegal settlements
were established illegally depriving the Palestinians from their homes and
lands. Palestinian groups are waging a war of Independence from European
Zionists who occupied Palestine since 1948.
Baghdad, Iraq -- As the death toll of U.S. personnel killed in Iraq approaches
the 4,500 mark, two more U.S. servicemembers were killed on Monday. At least
4316 died as a result of hostile action, and about 31285 servicemembers
were wounded while on duty, according to the U.S. military.
For the latest on the number of soldiers killed, check
the U.S. Dept of Defense website at the following link,
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf.
The number of U.S. soldiers and personnel killed or
wounded in Iraq has been disputed by many U.S. informed sources and military
Generals. According to them, the real number is much higher than the number
reported by the U.S. DOD.
According to two independent and reliable U.S. studies,
over 680 thousands Iraqi civilians, military personnel and militias have
been killed since the invasion in 2003.
The death reported from other countries are as follow: two Australians, one
Azerbaijani, 179 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch,
two Estonians, one Fijian, five Georgians, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one
Kazakh, one Korean, three Latvians, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran,
four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians.
Some of these countries have already withdrew their forces from Iraq.
Beirut, Lebanon -- Hezbollah's leader has accused Israel of being
behind a report by a German magazine that falsely implicated his group
in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Syeed Hassan Nasrallah says the report in the weekly Der Spiegel was aimed
at fomenting strife between Lebanon's Sunnis and Shiites.
Hezbollah has dismissed Saturday's report as based on fabrications.
After Hariri's killing, many blamed Syria, which had long dominated Lebanese
affairs. Syria denied it had a role. The Der Spiegel report quoted sources
close to the international tribunal investigating the killing as saying that
Hezbollah carried it out, not Syria.
Russia, Syria, Lebanon and other countries came to the defend of Hezbollah
and claimed the report is based on Israeli propaganda in order to discredit
the Lebanese Resistance in reference to Hezbollah. The Lebanese group Hezbollah
fought Israel in South Lebanon and had forced its forces out of the
country, which was occupied for over 22 years. Hezbollah enjoys a wide popular
support in Lebanon and the Arab and Muslim worlds.
Hezbollah claims Israeli Security services ordered the killing of the late
prime minister Rafik Hariri. Israel did not deny its involvement. In recent
weeks, Lebanon arrested several Israeli spies throughout the country,
and the interrogation of the collaborators is leading to the
theory that Israel was behind the assassination of Hariri.
And in order to shift public opinion, it is alleged that teh Israeli
Mossad planted the report blaming Hezbollah in Der Spigel. The Christian
leader Michel Aoun on Monday alleged that the Der Spigel magazine is
Zionist found and supported.
Isfahan, Iran -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country could
be proud of two major nuclear accomplishments. The first is "the packaging
of fuel and making the fuel ready to be put inside the reactor" at Iran's
only nuclear plant to produce power, Ahmadinejad said, speaking on his nation's
National Nuclear Technology Day.
He said the second is the testing of two new types of centrifuges whose capacity
is "several times greater" than existing capacity. Centrifuges are used to
enrich uranium.
Ahmadinejad's comments were broadcast nationally from the city of Isfahan,
about 100 miles south of the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in central
Iran.
The United States, some European nations and Israel contend Iran's nuclear
development is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
Iran denies that charge, saying its its nuclear program is solely for peaceful
purposes.
Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, who heads Iran's nuclear program, said in Isfahan
that 7,000 centrifuges have been installed at Natanz, and the goal is to
produce 50,000.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled both skepticism about the
latest Iranian claims, and a willingness to push forward with U.S. intentions
to speak directly to Iran.
In a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency, Ahmadinejad said
Iran was "ready to cooperate" toward nuclear disarmament as long as those
efforts did not create obstacles.
In February, the Institute for Science and International Security released
a report that concluded Iran does not have a nuclear weapon but does have
enough low-enriched uranium for a single nuclear weapon.
But an official at the IAEA cautioned about drawing such conclusions. The
U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Iran's stock of low-enriched uranium would
have to be turned into highly enriched uranium to be weapons-grade material.
The official said Iran has not done so, and the agency's monitors and
surveillance equipment at the Natanz facility would be able to detect any
such activity.
On Monday, the semi-official Mehr News Agency quoted minister of power Parviz
Fattah saying he hoped the nuclear power plant will produce electricity for
use as early as this summer.
Editor's Note: Israel is the only regime in the region allegedly to have
nuclear weapon, over 200 war heads. The IAEA has turned a blind eye to the
Israeli arsenal and concentrates on Iran, go figure.
Occupied Jerusalem -- Catholic bishops in the Holy Land expressed outrage
over what they called "repulsive attacks" on Jesus Christ and the Virgin
Mary after an Israeli TV program spoofed them.
"We, the members of the Assembly of the Catholic Bishops in the Holy Land
deplore and condemn with utter dismay the repulsive attacks on our lord Jesus
Christ and on his mother, the blessed Virgin Mary, carried out on Channel
10 of the Israeli television," a statement by the bishops said.
The Lebanese Resistance group, Hizbullah said it was "deeply concerned with
the insults against the blessed Virgin Mary and one of our great prophets
Jesus Christ."
"Hizbullah puts this heinous offense in the hands of all defenders of human
rights and freedom of belief," it said. "Zionists should put an end to their
racism and their ridicule of religious symbols."
Olmert, the alleged war criminal of Israel, condemned the show for insulting
Jesus and the Virgin Mary and the Christian faith.
United Nations, New York -- In a dramatic break from previous policy, the
United States will join direct talks between U.N. and European powers and
Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, the State Department announced Wednesday.
The Obama administration has asked the European Union's international policy
chief, Javier Solana, to invite Iran to new talks with the permanent members
of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, State Department spokesman Robert
Wood said.
"If Iran accepts, we hope this will be an occasion to seriously engage Iran
of how to break the logjam of recent years and work in a cooperative manner
to resolve the outstanding international concerns about its nuclear program,"
Wood said.
Iran so far has refused Security Council demands to halt its production of
enriched uranium, which it has said will be used to fuel nuclear power plants.
The United States has accused Tehran of concealing efforts to develop a nuclear
bomb, and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency said it has failed to resolve
questions about the aim of Iranian program. Watch how U.S. policy on Iran
is changing »
The former Bush administration had insisted that Iran first stop its nuclear
program before any talks with the United States or its allies could go forward.
Wednesday's announcement is the latest step in the Obama administration's
efforts to engage the Islamic republic diplomatically after nearly three
decades without formal ties.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, briefly addressing the administration's
decision Wednesday, told reporters that "pursuing very careful engagement
on a range of issues that affect our interests and the interests of the world
with Iran makes sense."
Algiers -- The 72, pro-West, Algerian President Bouteflika is expected
to win the Algerian presidency for the third term in the an going election.
However political opponents -- from left-wing parties to Islamists -- claim
the election is a charade with fraudulent methods likely to be used to steer
Bouteflika to victory.
According to Reuters.com, the five other presidential candidates present
no real challenge, and several opposition figures not taking part have urged
their supporters either to put blank voting slips in the ballot box or stay
at home.
Algerian lawmakers, most of them loyal to the incumbent president, cleared
the way for him to stand for re-election last year by abolishing constitutional
term limits. Critics said that would allow him to serve as president-for-life.
California Taxpayers Should Review Their Withholding to Avoid Tax Bills Next
April .
Sacramento, CA -- The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) today advised taxpayers to
plan ahead for changes to the state’s personal income tax rates and exemption
credits for the 2009 calendar year.
A new tax law raises California’s personal income tax rates by .25 percent,
(AB X3 3 Ch. 18 2009). The law also reduces the dependent exemption credit
to the same amount of the personal exemption credit—a $210 difference
per dependent using 2008 amounts. Some taxpayers may need to increase their
wage withholding now to avoid owing taxes next April.
The Employment Development Department (EDD) made new withholding tables available
to employers in April, but taxpayers may be under withheld at least from
January through April 2009.
The new percentage tax rates will be 1.25, 2.25, 4.25, 6.25, 8.2, 9.55 and
10.55 for California’s income brackets. The Alternative Minimum Tax rate
changes from 7 to 7.25 percent.
The new withholding tables factor in the changes for the tax rate increase
only, so taxpayers claiming dependent exemption credits may still need to
modify their wage withholding on Form DE 4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance
Certificate, to make any needed changes to the number of allowances they
claim. (For example, the prior DE 4 instructed employees claiming dependents
to multiply each dependent by three. The new form instructs employees to
multiply dependents by one. This means a married employee with two children
may have previously claimed eight allowances. They may now want to change
to four.)
Taxpayers who make quarterly estimated tax payments may want to increase
their quarterly payments, but they will not receive an underpayment of estimated
tax penalty resulting from these changes for the first year. (For example,
based on the 2008 tax tables, a couple filing jointly with two dependents
and taxable income of $100,000 can expect to pay approximately $670 more
next year. The increased tax from the rate increase is $250 and the change
to the dependent exemption credit added $420 to the tax liability.)
The 2009 tax brackets, filing requirement thresholds, the standard deduction,
and certain credits will be adjusted for inflation based on the California
Consumer Price Index (CCPI). FTB typically releases the indexed amounts in
late summer. Interested taxpayers should check FTB’s website at ftb.ca.gov
for updates.
The below table shows the calculation of the above referenced example.
Married Filing Jointly With Two Dependents Example—Based on the 2008
Tax Tables
| Without the new tax rates/dependent
exemption credit |
|
With the new tax rates/dependent
exemption credit |
| Taxable Income $100,000 |
|
Taxable Income $100,000 |
| Tax $4,689 |
|
Tax $4,689 |
|
|
Taxable Income $100,000
Increase in Tax Rate X 0.0025
Increase Tax $250
Tax $4,689
Increase Tax $250
Total $4,939 |
| Exemptions Amount (816) |
|
Exemptions Amount (396) |
| Total Tax $3,873 |
|
Total Tax $4,543 |
Source: AP, Reuters, and Other News Bureaus
Contributed to this News Brief. |
