Latest News Clips 2013.01.17

                

1.      Japan’s Abe Unveils 10.3 Trillion Yen Fiscal Boost to Growth

The Bloomberg    Jan 10, 2013

The Japanese government will spend 10.3 trillion yen ($116 billion) to drive a recovery from a recession, in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s first major policy initiative to end deflation and boost growth.

Around 3.8 trillion will be for disaster prevention and reconstruction, with 3.1 trillion yen directed to stimulating private investment and other measures, according to a statement released today by the Cabinet Office. The package will increase gross domestic product by about 2 percentage points and create about 600,000 jobs, according to the statement.

A fiscal boost may help Abe maintain support for his Liberal Democratic Party before upper house elections in July as the yen weakens and stocks rally. The extra spending may heighten concerns that the government’s commitment to fiscal reform is slipping, adding to the risk that a public debt at more than twice the size of the economy may trigger a surge in bond yields.

“Abe will probably give the economy more shots in the arm and turn a blind eye to fiscal discipline until the elections,” said Hiroaki Muto, a senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “There’s a risk that long-term bond yields will rise unless the government takes measures to restore fiscal health.”

The government will compile a 13.1 trillion yen extra budget to help pay for the stimulus, according to the statement. The Ministry of Finance told bond investors during meetings yesterday that the extra spending will require additional bond issuance to the market.

2.      Customized mass production using 3D

DW    2012.12.26

Until now, products printed using 3D have mostly been prototypes. But the technology can also be applied to serial production, and is set to revolutionize industry, the nature of production, and consumption.

New components - T-girders and mechanical casings - sit in a heap of powder. The Voxeljet company is printing them using a 3D machine. On the other side of the powder mound, a slider moves back and forth. It's fitted with an extrusion head, like that of an ink-jet printer, which shoots an adhesive into the powder. This is the way components are manufactured using 3D technology: layer by layer.

The technology for printing components in 3D form has already been available for several years. Until now, it has mainly been used for manufacturing rare or expensive prototypes for the research and development departments of major companies. But the technology has advanced enough to be put to use elsewhere, and is now increasingly being used in serial production. The big advantage of this technique is that each component can still be different, even as part of a series.

The sky's the limit

All sorts of objects can be printed directly using 3D technology. The most common process involves selective laser melting (SLM), which works in a similar way to the adhesive process described above. First a laser beam fuses the contours of the object into an extremely thin layer of plastic and metal powder. Then the machine pushes fresh powder over it, and the laser melts on another layer. Layer for layer, a new component is created.

3.      Switzerland initials pact on US tax evasion law

The US Internal Revenue Service expects to collect $8 billion dollars in the next 10 years through Fatca (swissinfo)

swissinfo.ch  Dec 4, 2012

The Swiss government has initialed an agreement with the United States which helps American authorities crack down on wealthy citizens evading taxes in their home country.

The pact, which was agreed upon in Washington and must still be officially signed, approved by parliament and allowed to proceed by the Swiss people, aims to simplify the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), according to a statement by the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF).

The text of the agreement will be made public once the treaty is officially signed.

US lawmakers adopted Fatca in March 2010 to clamp down on US citizens hiding their assets overseas. It requires foreign financial institutions to agree to notify US authorities of accounts held by US citizens. Fatca is due to be phased in from 2014. The US is the only industrialised country which requires its citizens living abroad to pay taxes.

According to the pact, Americans holding accounts with Swiss financial institutions will be reported to the US tax authorities either with their consent or through administrative cooperation, SIF said in its release.

If the account holder does not consent, information is not exchanged automatically, but only on the basis of the administrative assistance provisions in the double taxation treaty, the secretariat explained. The Swiss-US tax treaty is still under negotiation.

Under Fatca, financial institutions must hold back 30 per cent of all funds paid into undeclared accounts from the US for American tax authorities.

The agreement reached in Washington on Monday excludes institutions providing social security, private pensions and indemnity and property insurance from Fatca, according to SIF.

Institutional costs associated with identifying US clients will be “reasonable” under the initialed pact.

Institutions which refuse or fail to comply with Fatca will face bills for the taxes due, a penalty of 40 per cent of the amount in question as well as heightened scrutiny by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Fatca is expected to raise $8 billion (SFr7.4 billion) in extra tax revenue over the next ten years.

swissinfo.ch and agencies

5.  Flu reaches epidemic level in U.S., says CDC

      Reuter,  Jan 11 2013

 

(Reuters) - Influenza has officially reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with 7.3 percent of deaths last week caused by pneumonia and the flu, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.

The early start and fast spread of flu this season - especially after 2011-2012's very mild outbreak - has overwhelmed doctors' offices and hospitals, forcing some patients to wait through the night to be seen in emergency departments.

Nine of the 10 U.S. regions had "elevated" flu activity last week, confirming that seasonal flu has spread across the country and reached high levels several weeks before the usual late January or February, CDC reported.

Only one region - the Southwest and California - had "normal" flu activity last week.

Tens of thousands of Americans die every year from flu, even in non-epidemic years. The threshold for an epidemic is that it causes more than 7.2 percent of deaths, but as yet there is no definitive count of the total caused by flu this year.

In Boston, flu cases are 10 times higher than they were last year, causing Mayor Thomas Menino to declare a public health emergency on Wednesday.

In Illinois, 24 hospitals struggling to cope with the flood of flu cases had to turn away people arriving in the emergency department, while in Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley Hospital outside Allentown has set up a tent for people who arrive with less-severe flu.

A total of 20 children have now died from this season's flu, up two from the previous week, the CDC said. That compares to 34 during the full 2011-2012 flu season and 282 during the severe 2009-2010 season.

The outbreak has led to attempts at prevention that go beyond the standard advice of getting vaccinated, avoiding contact with sick people and frequently washing hands with soap.