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BRINGING HARMONY TO ALL THE COMMUNITIES
Volume 12 Issue 304 Rabi ul Thani 2, 1433 AH / February 24 2012 - $1
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Syrian violence rages amid truce talks
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B.C. plans to balance in 2013 by selling assets, raising corporate taxes The B.C. Liberal government on Tuesday charted its return to balanced budgets, tabling a document that promised to privatize its two liquor distribution warehouses, increase MSP premiums
mitment to the people of British Columbia to return to balanced budgets by 2013-14,” Finance Minister Kevin Falcon told the legislature as he tabled B.C.’s latest budget. “We will honour that commitment.”Falcon said government will run a $968-million deficit for the coming 2012-13 fiscal year, but plans to return to balance by 2013-14 — the year it is legally obligated to do so. To do this, Falcon said his government will cancel this April’s planned drop in the small business corporate income tax rate, holding it at 2.5 per cent instead of cutting it to zero. Falcon said he also plans to raise about $700 million by selling some of the more than 100 government properties and assets identified as surplus, including its two liquor distribution warehouses. If the fiscal situation worsens, Falcon added, the government will increase the general corporate income tax rate on April 1, 2014 to 11 per cent from 10 per cent. The move to increase taxes is a significant departure for the
and some business taxes, and impose a strict three-year spending freeze across most areas of government.“We made a com-
Special Fares for Pakistan by Gulf Air Line
Continued on pg 6
Syrian government forces have continued bombarding the city of Homs, ignoring calls from the International Committee of Red Cross for a two-hour daily truce to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians trapped by the unremitting violence. Syrian activists said at least 63 people had been killed across the country on Tuesday as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad used heavy tanks to attack opposition strongholds in Homs and raided the northern mountainous town of Jabal al-Zawiya in pursuit of army defectors. The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group, said more than 100 were killed on Tuesday, but the report could not immediately be confirmed. The casualty figures could not be independently verified as foreign media faces stiff restrictions within Syria. Activists said the government had been bolstering its forces outside Homs, apparently to storm the city after 18 straight days of siege. “Government troops have been unable to advance because of stiff resistance from defectors inside,’’ an activist in Homs told the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity, because of fears of government reprisal. Residents and activists say the government’s stepped up attacks on Baba Amr recently have left the district without enough food, water, medicine and electricity. ‘Humanitarian crisis’ “They bombed all the water tanks on the roofs of buildings. There’s no water. Some people have gone without bread for days,’’ said Shaker, a Homs resident, who estimated the shells fell at a rate of about 10 per minute at some points in the siege. More than 200 people were wounded, he said, adding that children were among the dead.One Homs resident told AP that many people injured by the attacks are unable or too scared to go to the hospital for treatment because the government has taken control over medical facilities. He also said that some of those wounded are bleeding to death at home. “My cousin is a doctor and he said they’ve given up on treating serious wounds. The numbers are too many to cope with especially with so little supplies,” the resident said. Activists also said troops had opened fire overnight to disperse a demonstration in the capital Damascus. Protesters during the night also blocked the roads leading to Baramkeh Square in the centre of the capital, according to Mohammed Shami, a spokesman for activists in Damascus province.He said demonstrators used “burning materials” to shut the roads, triggering a security alert that saw “heavily armed forces” deployed in the area in few minutes. The demonstrators were acting as part of a “campaign of civil disobedience in Damascus in support of Homs and afflicted Syrian cities,” Shami said in a statement.