hey

happy thursday

Environment Canada forecasts another 15 cm will fall in the Toronto area, just days after the city was slammed by a heavy snowstorm.

The snow is expected to begin at approximately 1 a.m. on Saturday, according to the national weather agency. Between 5 and 10 cm of snow can be expected to fall on Saturday, and a similar amount is predicted for Sunday.

Flurries will continue through to Monday afternoon, with approximately 15 cm falling over the three-day period.

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Intuit Inc, the developer of tax-preparation software TurboTax, halted e-filing of state tax returns after it noticed attempts to use stolen identity information to file fraudulent state tax returns and claim refunds.

"We've identified specific patterns of behavior where fraud is more likely to occur," Chief Executive Brad Smith said in a statement. "We're working with the states to share that information and remedy the situation quickly."

Intuit said fraudulent activity was not due to a security breach of its systems and that the information used to file fraudulent returns was obtained from outside sources.

The company turned off the e-filing of state tax returns on Thursday and said it will restart it after working with state governments.

The move does not affect the filing of federal income tax returns, and is limited to those states that require residents to file returns, the company said.

Customers who have already submitted their state tax returns using the software will have their returns filed "as soon as possible," the company said.

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

SYDNEY, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Australia faces a A$17 billion ($13.3 billion) exodus of investment from its windfarm industry because of a political deadlock, threatening to deal the country a major economic blow and kill hopes of meeting a self-imposed clean energy target.

Some 44 Australian windfarm projects, about half overseas-funded, have been shelved since a new conservative government said it wanted to cut state support for the industry a year ago, with investors and operators saying they are considering either downscaling or leaving the country altogether if it succeeds.

Even Australian windfarm companies such as Infigen and Pacific Hydro have effectively shelved their Australian operations, with Infigen saying it plans to pour all its financial muscle into the more amenable U.S. market.

"It's a difficult time at the moment, and the policy uncertainty is the main cause of it," said Shaq Mohajerani, an Australian spokesman for wind farm company Union Fenosa, owned by Spanish energy giant Gas Natural.

"We're still considering all options on how to proceed. The parent company will provide us with the strategy."

A Gas Natural spokesperson said the firm had an "attractive backlog" in Australia but "we are waiting for the whole development of the new framework for renewable energy and hope our presence ... in the country can be maintained".

Wind power in Australia is not the only renewable energy sector to be affected by uncertainty over government subsidies or actual cuts. In Europe, Germany has scaled back support for solar power over the past few years, leading to a flood of insolvency filings by solar firms and a shrunken market.

Italy's plans to cut subsidies for solar power firms have prompted an investor exodus. Retroactive solar subsidy cuts have also happened in Spain, Greece, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic over the past couple of years, putting off new investors as governments try to rein in energy costs and cut debt.

Windfarms are Australia's No. 2 renewable energy source, behind hydropower but ahead of solar, providing a quarter of the country's clean energy and 4 percent of its total energy demand. But while households can collect rebates for installing their own rooftop solar panels, windfarms rely on "certificates", or tradeable securities handed out by the government, to offset costs.

That support hit a roadblock a year ago when new conservative prime minister Tony Abbott ordered a review of the country's target for clean energy use by 2020, which ultimately recommended slashing it by a third, in line with falling overall energy demand. A lower target would mean a lower certificate price.

The centre-left Labor opposition, whose support the government needs to lower the target, refused to budge on the higher target it set when in power in 2009, resulting in an impasse that has effectively seen the industry grind to a halt.

A spokeswoman for U.S.-owned GE Australia & New Zealand, which has stakes in several renewable energy projects, said further investment "will only occur once investor confidence in the policy environment is restored. For this to happen, bipartisan support regarding the future of the renewable energy target is essential."

The Australian arm of Spanish infrastructure group Acciona , the world's largest renewable energy firm, has frozen about A$750 million of windfarm projects because of the stalemate, said local managing director Andrew Thomson.

"When you're a subsidiary (of a global business), you're competing for capital, you're competing for your budget allocation next year," he said.

"If the parent company can't see that there's a stable environment it becomes really difficult to get traction. For us at the moment it's a really difficult sell."

If the renewable energy target is cut, "it's the type of jolt to industry that basically would create such an upheaval that you would have a mass exodus", said Alex Hewitt, managing director of Bulgarian-Polish-U.S.-backed windfarm operator CWP Renewables, which has A$1.5 billion of projects on ice.

"I can't say whether we'd completely exit the country, but you would be looking at such a level of reduction in the level of investment into people in the company that it would be very significant," Hewitt said. ($1 = 1.2793 Australian dollars)

good morninggggggggggggg

Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith died Saturday night.

UNC announced the passing Sunday morning.

Smith was 83 years old.

"Coach Dean Smith passed away peacefully ... at his home in Chapel Hill, and surrounded by his wife and five children," the Smith family said in a released statement. "We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as arrangements are made available to the public. Thank you."

NBC anchorman Brian Williams says he's temporarily stepping away from his nightly newscast amid questions about his credibility. In a message sent to NBC News staff and released by NBC on Saturday, Williams says it has "become painfully apparent" to him that his actions have made him too much a part of the news. Williams recently apologised for falsely saying on the air that he was in a helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while reporting from Iraq in 2003.

UNITED Republican Party (URP) Leader Vishnu Bandhu said farmers will be far better off, if greater attention is given by the authorities to secure markets for their produce in advance.Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle in a recent interview, Bandhu, who recently resuscitated the URP, and will be contesting the May 11 elections, said farmers are the people who feed the nation and no effort should be spared to ensure that they earn for their livelihood.
He noted that a URP Government will place extensive focus on agriculture in leading the fight against hunger and poverty.
Election campaigning is not new to Bandhu, as the URP had contested the 1992 elections, which saw the removal of the People’s National Congress (PNC) Government from office.
Apart from securing ready markets for farmers, the President of the United Federation for Art and Culture said more focus needs to be placed on youth development.
According to him, many youths trained in various professions do not see themselves being able to live a comfortable life in Guyana, and for this reason, they have chosen to migrate.
He said a URP Government will look into this problem, and will utilise the services of both local and overseas experts to address this shortcoming.
Young people, he said, must stay and serve their country and must have well- paid jobs. Bandhu, also known as “John,” said the URP will establish learning centres throughout the country in poor and depressed communities, providing skills training to empower and dissuade young people from involvement in crime.
He told the Guyana Chronicle that many young people do not have jobs and are on the streets, pointing out that apart from giving grants to establish and grow small businesses to provide employment and reduce the unemployment rate, emphasis will also be placed on sport to keep youths meaningfully occupied, and to ensure a healthy population.
In keeping with developments of the 21 century, he also said strong attention will be placed on science and technology, with the University of Guyana (UG) leading the charge, and functioning as a national think tank.
The URP is also promising to develop a green economy and manufacturing sector; provide duty-free machinery and fuel for agricultural purposes; reduce the size of Government; reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT); encourage more foreign investment and secure foreign markets for manufactured products and make more lands available for agriculture and diversified industrial development.
Bandhu, who has also engaged in extensive community work, had contested the Best/Klien Pouderoyen Local Government Elections in 1994–the last time such elections were held in Guyana– when he won a seat.
The President of the Guyana Central Arya Samaj embraces the quote from former US President John Kennedy, who had said: “Ask not what your country can do for you… but what you can do for your country.”