2013 Confucius Institute Scholarship for International Students in ...

Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban (hereinafter referred to as Hanban) launches the ?Confucius Institute Scholarship? for international students, scholars and Chinese language teachers. The category of scholarship of 2013 includes scholarship for students of Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages MTCSOL), Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + MTCSOL, Scholarship for One-Academic-Year Students, and Scholarship for One-Semester Students in Chinese universities (hereinafter referred to as ?host institutes?) or study in such majors as Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese History and Chinese Philosophy. The application deadline varies from one host institute to other.?

About Scholarship:?In order to support the development of Confucius Institutes, facilitate Chinese language promotion and Chinese cultural transmission in the world, cultivate qualified Chinese language teachers and talented students of Chinese language, Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban (hereinafter referred to as Hanban) launches the ?Confucius Institute Scholarship? program to provide financial aid for students, scholars and Chinese language teachers worldwide to proceed to a Master?s degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL) in Chinese universities (hereinafter referred to as ?host institutes?), or study in such majors as Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese History and Chinese Philosophy.

The category of scholarship of 2013 includes Scholarship for Students of Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL), Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + MTCSOL, Scholarship for One-Academic-Year Students, and Scholarship for One-Semester Students. Applicants shall be non-Chinese citizens in good health, aged between 16 and 35 (Chinese language teachers in post shall be aged below 45).?

Study:?The scholarship is offered for pursuing Master?s degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL) in Chinese universities (hereinafter referred to as ?host institutes?), or study in such majors as Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese History and Chinese Philosophy.?

Course Level:?The category of scholarship of 2013 includes Scholarship for Students of?Master?s Degree?in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL), Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + MTCSOL, Scholarship for One-Academic-Year Students, and Scholarship for One-Semester Students.

Scholarship By:?Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban (hereinafter referred to as Hanban)

Location:?China?

Eligibility:?Scholarship for Students of MTCSOL:

-The scholarship is provided to outstanding students of Confucius Institutes (Classrooms), overseas local Chinese language teachers, outstanding performers on HSK exams, winners of the ?Chinese Bridge? Chinese Proficiency Competitions for Foreign College Students and for Foreign High School Students, and outstanding graduates of Chinese language across the world for taking the MTCSOL degree.

-Applicants are required to have bachelor degrees or its equivalent with a score of at least 180 on the HSK (level 5) and a score of at least 50 on the HSKK (intermediate level), and make a written commitment stating that he/she will be engaged in Chinese language teaching for at least 5 years after graduation. Applicants with specific teaching posts arranged will be given admission priority (certification by the institution he/she will teach for is required). Hanban will provide support for outstanding graduates to return to their countries to teach.?

Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + MTCSOL:

-The scholarship is provided to Confucius Institute students from Africa and Latin America regions who would like to engage in the Chinese language teaching.

- Applicants shall sign agreements with the Confucius Institute or institutes to which they will be providing teaching services.

-Applicants are required to have bachelor degrees or its equivalent with a score of at least 180 on the HSK (level 3) and a score of at least 60 on the HSKK (primary level). Those who pass the first-academic-year assessment and score at least 180 on the HSK (level 5) can continue to study in China for the Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages. Hanban will provide support for graduates returning to their countries to teach Chinese language by recruiting them as local teachers and providing wage subsidies, etc.?

Scholarship for One-Academic Year Students:

-The scholarship is provided to outstanding students of Confucius Institutes (Classrooms), winners of the ?Chinese Bridge? Chinese Proficiency Competitions for Foreign College Students and for Foreign High School Students, overseas local Chinese language teachers, outstanding graduates of Chinese language across the world, and outstanding performers on the HSK, or those who intend to become Chinese teachers.

-Applicants should achieve a score of at least 180 on the HSK (level 3) and at least 60 on the HSKK (primary level), or complete their study at a Confucius Institute for over 120 hours.

Scholarship for One-Semester Students:

-The scholarship is provided to outstanding students of Confucius Institutes (Classrooms), winners of the ?Chinese Bridge? Chinese Proficiency Competitions for Foreign College Students and for Foreign High School Students, overseas local Chinese language teachers, outstanding graduates of Chinese language across the world, and outstanding performers on the HSK.

-Applicants should achieve a score of at least 120 on the HSK (level 2) and at least 40 on the HSKK (elementary level), or complete their study at a Confucius Institute for over 60 hours.?

Scholarship Open for:?The international students (non-Chinese citizens) can apply?

Duration:?Scholarship for Students of MTCSOL: The scholarship winner shall begin the study in autumn 2013, and the grant will cover two academic years. Scholarship for One-Academic Year Students:? the grant term is one academic year. Scholarship for One-Semester Students: The time of entrance is autumn 2013 or spring 2014 and the grant term is one semester.?

Value:?Scholarship winners are exempt from registration fees, tuition, fees for basic learning materials, accommodation fees on campus, and are provided with a one-off resettlement subsidy, monthly allowance, outpatient medical service and comprehensive insurance for foreign students studying in China. Monthly allowances are at the following rates (CNY Yuan per month):

a. CNY 1,400 for One-Academic-Year Students and One-Semester Students.

b. CNY 1,700 for Master?s Degree Students.

The one-off resettlement subsidy is CNY 1,500 for students who will study in China for one academic year or more; CNY 1,000 will be provided to all students who studies in China for one semester; the one-off resettlement subsidy will not be provided to those who have studied in China for more than half a year before being enrolled.?

Recruitment Procedures:

-From the issue date of the Procedures, applicants should log on to the Confucius Institute Scholarship website at http://cis.chinese.cn. set up an individual account, read information and introduction of host institutes and majors, complete and submit the Confucius Institute Scholarship Application Form online.

-Confucius Institutes (independently set-up Confucius Classrooms), overseas Chinese test centers, educational and cultural offices (sections) of Chinese embassies (consulates), host institutes and institutions of higher education in those countries with no Confucius Institutes are entrusted by Hanban as the recommending institutions. The recommending institutions shall exam the qualification and application materials of applicants, and submit the list of recommended applicants to Hanban by April 25th, 2013.

- Host institutes are responsible for reviewing the qualification of applicants and submitting the proposed enrollment name list of qualified candidates to Hanban by May 25th, 2013.

- Hanban will organize an expert panel to make the final selection, and publish the name list of successful applicants on the Scholarship website by June 15th, 2013. Hanban will also inform the host institutes and the recommending institutions, which will inform the applicants.

- The host institutes will post ?Admission Notice?, ?Enrollment Instructions?, ?Visa Application Form for Foreigners to Study in China? (JW202 Form) and other related materials to successful applicants through their recommending institutions by July 1st, 2013.

Notification:?Hanban will organize an expert panel to make the final selection, and publish the name list of successful applicants on the Scholarship website by June 15th, 2013. Hanban will also inform the host institutes and the recommending institutions, which will inform the applicants.?

Apply:?Applicants must log onto the Scholarship website, fill out the ?Confucius Institute Scholarship Application Form?, and attach the electronic files of the following materials:

- Photocopy of Passport Photo Page

- Photocopy of HSK and HSKK Result Report

- Notarized highest education diplomas attained or proof of study

- Reference Letter and Letter of Commitment. Students attending Chinese language programs of universities in countries with no Confucius Institutes established shall attach a reference letter signed and issued by the university President. The Master?s Degree Scholarship applicants are required to submit reference letters provided by two professors or associate professors (in Chinese or English). A written commitment stating that the applicant will be engaged in Chinese language teaching for at least 5 years after graduation (written in Chinese and sign with signature).

- Applications under the age of 18 shall submit relevant legal documents of entrusted legal guardians in China.

- Winners of the finals of the ?Chinese Bridge? Chinese Proficiency Competitions for Foreign College Students and for Foreign High School Students in China shall submit the scholarship certificate. Winners of preliminary rounds of the ?Chinese Bridge? Proficiency Competitions in their countries shall provide award proof and reference letter provided by the organizers.

- Chinese language teachers shall submit certificate of employment and recommendation letters provided by institutes they work for.

- Those applying for the Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages are required to provide the agreement signed with the Confucius Institute or the institute which they will be working for.

- Other materials required by host institutes.?

Deadline:?The scholarship winners shall register at the host institutes before the deadline set by the institutes. Scholarships will not be kept for those who do not register on time without reasonable cause.?

Further Information:?http://cis.chinese.cn/article/2013-02/25/content_485405.htm

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Source: http://educationinlouisiana.org/2013/04/04/2013-confucius-institute-scholarship-for-international-students-in-china/

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Light tsunami in a superconductor

Public release date: 3-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr. Christine Bohnet
c.bohnet@hzdr.de
49-351-260-2450
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

In their latest experiment, Prof. Andrea Cavalleri from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter at the Hamburg-based Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) and Dr. Michael Gensch from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) investigated together with other colleagues from the HZDR, the United Kingdom, and Japan if and how superconductivity can be systematically controlled. The objective of their research is to improve the usability of superconducting materials for such new technologies as, for example, the processing of information. For this purpose, and for a better understanding of the underlying phenomena, it is essential to increase the critical temperature critical temperature means that materials below this value are superconducting. Today, most superconductors only function at very low temperatures.

Typically, modern high temperature superconductors are solids which consist of a stack of thin layers, similar to the pages in a book. These layers are conductive and transport electricity. However, no electricity can flow from layer to layer at room temperature since those electrons which are responsible for the current flow can only move freely in the respective layer. If, however, such a layer stack is cooled to the right temperature, then superconductivity occurs along all directions. But there is one difference: While the electrons flow inside a layer without any resistance, these electrons can now also move from layer to layer by "tunneling" through the insulating areas located between these layers. Dr. Gensch explains: "Already the geometry suggests that the mechanisms of superconductivity are different inside and between the layers. We were interested in how the electrons transport this property vertically from layer to layer and/or whether we would be able to control this transport without disrupting the superconductivity in the horizontal layers."

For their experiments, the researchers used one of the HZDR's two free electron lasers (FELBE) which generates laser flashes of a specific, freely adjustable wavelength between the infrared and the microwave range. If such a short terahertz flash penetrates the material layers of the superconductor at the right frequency, then it deactivates the superconductivity very selectively and locally by directly changing the tunneling properties of the electrons found between the superconducting layers. More precisely, the light generates a pair of normal-conducting vortex currents which rotate in opposite directions. These vortices then move through the superconductor with the light. A so-called soliton wave is formed. What's so special about these waves: They always retain their shape irrespective of any faults in the superconductor. This resembles the behavior of such known soliton waves as, for example, tsunamis; the shape of which is also not influenced by any ground dislocations or irregularities.

The vortices moving through the superconductor also alter the optical properties of the material it becomes slightly transparent. While not for visible light, this is the case for wavelengths in the terahertz regime. The laser flashes last only for a few picoseconds, i.e. the billionth part of a second, so the scientists are able to observe all processes such as the emergence of the vortices and their soliton movement directly along this very fast time scale. The team headed by Prof. Cavalleri had successfully achieved something similar already once before. But back then, the scientists had only been able to quickly and consecutively switch the entire superconductivity off and on again between the layers. For the first time ever, the experiment in Dresden successfully managed to switch off the superconductivity very precisely and, above all, also locally and to stabilize this state almost ten times longer than has been the case before.

In particular, the physicists expect a number of new applications from these light generated vortices inside superconductors. Since they move through the crystal just like a tsunami irrespective of any faults or irregularities, these vortices are perfectly suited to store and transport information inside them. Information is transported within DNA like soliton waves. The experiment, which furnished proof and demonstrated that the vortices can be controlled by laser light, has the physicists in Prof. Cavalleri's team already dreaming about new opportunities for information processing in superconductors.

Superconductors under Constant Bombardment

For a number of years now, intense pulses in the invisible terahertz range (0.1 THz 10 THz) have been sparking enormous interest among scientists who investigate such so-called complex materials as high temperature superconductors. This is due to the specific properties of this long-wave radiation which has wavelengths between 0.03 and three millimeters. The energy per light particle is so low that the radiation doesn't really interact anymore directly with the electrons in a material, but instead, for example, with the atomic lattice. Sufficiently strong sources have been available for this purpose only for a couple of years now. The strongest terahertz pulses are generated by devices which are powered by electron accelerators.

The HZDR is specialized in a particularly important type of source for material sciences at the Center for High-Performance Radiation Sources called ELBE. While other devices have to take a break after a small series of ultrashort laser flashes, the ELBE sources are able to maintain a constant bombardment. It is actually this continuous sequence of pulses which permits the accuracy that researchers like Dr. Gensch and their guest researchers, such as Prof. Cavalleri, need for their analyses. In order to cover the entire spectral range down to 0.1 terahertz and three millimeter wavelengths, respectively, with even more intense pulses in the future, the HZDR is establishing a new, superradiant terahertz source called TELBE under the supervision of Dr. Gensch. Superradiance means here that extremely intense light is produced in a novel avalanche-like, short process without needing any mirrors as resonators unlike, for example, free electron lasers. This allows generating even higher terahertz fields at much more flexible repetition rates. Over the next three years, the new TELBE facility will be put into operation and commissioned with the assistance of selected pilot users. The researchers hope to utilize TELBE to unravel new phenomena in the field of materials research as well as life sciences.

###

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 3-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr. Christine Bohnet
c.bohnet@hzdr.de
49-351-260-2450
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

In their latest experiment, Prof. Andrea Cavalleri from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter at the Hamburg-based Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) and Dr. Michael Gensch from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) investigated together with other colleagues from the HZDR, the United Kingdom, and Japan if and how superconductivity can be systematically controlled. The objective of their research is to improve the usability of superconducting materials for such new technologies as, for example, the processing of information. For this purpose, and for a better understanding of the underlying phenomena, it is essential to increase the critical temperature critical temperature means that materials below this value are superconducting. Today, most superconductors only function at very low temperatures.

Typically, modern high temperature superconductors are solids which consist of a stack of thin layers, similar to the pages in a book. These layers are conductive and transport electricity. However, no electricity can flow from layer to layer at room temperature since those electrons which are responsible for the current flow can only move freely in the respective layer. If, however, such a layer stack is cooled to the right temperature, then superconductivity occurs along all directions. But there is one difference: While the electrons flow inside a layer without any resistance, these electrons can now also move from layer to layer by "tunneling" through the insulating areas located between these layers. Dr. Gensch explains: "Already the geometry suggests that the mechanisms of superconductivity are different inside and between the layers. We were interested in how the electrons transport this property vertically from layer to layer and/or whether we would be able to control this transport without disrupting the superconductivity in the horizontal layers."

For their experiments, the researchers used one of the HZDR's two free electron lasers (FELBE) which generates laser flashes of a specific, freely adjustable wavelength between the infrared and the microwave range. If such a short terahertz flash penetrates the material layers of the superconductor at the right frequency, then it deactivates the superconductivity very selectively and locally by directly changing the tunneling properties of the electrons found between the superconducting layers. More precisely, the light generates a pair of normal-conducting vortex currents which rotate in opposite directions. These vortices then move through the superconductor with the light. A so-called soliton wave is formed. What's so special about these waves: They always retain their shape irrespective of any faults in the superconductor. This resembles the behavior of such known soliton waves as, for example, tsunamis; the shape of which is also not influenced by any ground dislocations or irregularities.

The vortices moving through the superconductor also alter the optical properties of the material it becomes slightly transparent. While not for visible light, this is the case for wavelengths in the terahertz regime. The laser flashes last only for a few picoseconds, i.e. the billionth part of a second, so the scientists are able to observe all processes such as the emergence of the vortices and their soliton movement directly along this very fast time scale. The team headed by Prof. Cavalleri had successfully achieved something similar already once before. But back then, the scientists had only been able to quickly and consecutively switch the entire superconductivity off and on again between the layers. For the first time ever, the experiment in Dresden successfully managed to switch off the superconductivity very precisely and, above all, also locally and to stabilize this state almost ten times longer than has been the case before.

In particular, the physicists expect a number of new applications from these light generated vortices inside superconductors. Since they move through the crystal just like a tsunami irrespective of any faults or irregularities, these vortices are perfectly suited to store and transport information inside them. Information is transported within DNA like soliton waves. The experiment, which furnished proof and demonstrated that the vortices can be controlled by laser light, has the physicists in Prof. Cavalleri's team already dreaming about new opportunities for information processing in superconductors.

Superconductors under Constant Bombardment

For a number of years now, intense pulses in the invisible terahertz range (0.1 THz 10 THz) have been sparking enormous interest among scientists who investigate such so-called complex materials as high temperature superconductors. This is due to the specific properties of this long-wave radiation which has wavelengths between 0.03 and three millimeters. The energy per light particle is so low that the radiation doesn't really interact anymore directly with the electrons in a material, but instead, for example, with the atomic lattice. Sufficiently strong sources have been available for this purpose only for a couple of years now. The strongest terahertz pulses are generated by devices which are powered by electron accelerators.

The HZDR is specialized in a particularly important type of source for material sciences at the Center for High-Performance Radiation Sources called ELBE. While other devices have to take a break after a small series of ultrashort laser flashes, the ELBE sources are able to maintain a constant bombardment. It is actually this continuous sequence of pulses which permits the accuracy that researchers like Dr. Gensch and their guest researchers, such as Prof. Cavalleri, need for their analyses. In order to cover the entire spectral range down to 0.1 terahertz and three millimeter wavelengths, respectively, with even more intense pulses in the future, the HZDR is establishing a new, superradiant terahertz source called TELBE under the supervision of Dr. Gensch. Superradiance means here that extremely intense light is produced in a novel avalanche-like, short process without needing any mirrors as resonators unlike, for example, free electron lasers. This allows generating even higher terahertz fields at much more flexible repetition rates. Over the next three years, the new TELBE facility will be put into operation and commissioned with the assistance of selected pilot users. The researchers hope to utilize TELBE to unravel new phenomena in the field of materials research as well as life sciences.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/haog-lti040313.php

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Immigration reform and the 2016 Republican primary season (Powerlineblog)

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Hong Kong court rejects Filipino maids' plea for residency

Domestic workers in Hong Kong have long been treated a notch below other foreign workers, and are told that admission into the country can never be for the purposes of settlement.

By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / March 25, 2013

Sringatin, a member of a domestic workers union, cries outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong Monday, March 25, 2013. Hong Kong's top court ruled against two Filipino domestic helpers seeking permanent residency Monday, the final decision in a case that affects tens of thousands of other foreign maids in the southern Chinese financial hub.

Kin Cheung/AP

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Hong Kong?s top court announced that foreigners can enter the city as maids and domestic helpers, but cannot expect to settle there as permanent residents.

Skip to next paragraph Robert Marquand

Staff writer

Over the past three decades, Robert Marquand has reported on a wide variety of subjects for?The Christian Science Monitor, including American education reform,?the wars in the Balkans, the Supreme Court, South Asian politics, and the oft-cited "rise of China." In the past 15 years he has served as the Monitor's bureau chief in Paris, Beijing, and New Delhi.?

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The verdict deals a blow to a huge contingent of Filipino maids and nannies ? estimated at some 300,000 females, usually unmarried and under 35 ? who make up a diaspora in Hong Kong. The domestic workers are increasingly seen as an indispensable part of the fast-paced city's social fabric, helping keep the Chinese family working and orderly in a highly competitive environment.

Yet sadly for the maids, today?s ruling reverses a lower court verdict that would have allowed the women?to seek residency.?Had it been upheld, the ruling would have been a breakthrough for the rights of domestic workers, who often complain of overwork, second-class status, and occasionally, abuse.

The system for foreign workers in Hong Kong is stratified. As CNN notes today:

While other foreign workers can apply for permanent residency after spending seven consecutive years in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, domestic helpers are excluded from the law.

Justice Ma wrote in his ruling that foreign domestic helpers are "told from the outset that admission is not for the purposes of settlement."

The ruling was greeted with disappointment by campaigners.

"It's very unfortunate and it's sad but in a way it will make us stronger as it highlights the social exclusion that foreign domestic workers face in Hong Kong," said Cynthia Tellez, General Manager of the?United Filipinos in Hong Kong.

In recent years the ubiquitous Filipino maid has become a staple part of Hong Kong culture. They are known for hard work, dignity, and efficiency. Collectively, they have built a kind of mini-civic society: They have their own postal system, often police themselves, have a variety of support groups, and even run ballots and campaigns for elections back home.

Most middle- and upper-echelon Hong Kong families hire a maid, and apartments usually include a tiny space as the maid?s quarters or abode.

For many years on Sundays, usually their only day off, Filipino nannies peacefully and colorfully gathered in central Hong Kong, along the main boulevard, past the city hall and the old Admiralty building, putting down blankets or chairs and pulling out lunch baskets, stretching out two-or three deep on a sidewalk in a line that often is a half-mile long.

Yet the right of maids to assemble has been under attack, and their overall legal status has been shrinking, as the city contemplates the costs (said to be $3 billion or more) of offering them the kinds of equal access that would involve education and other social services.

The South China Morning Post writes:

The judgment ends the right of abode saga started by a judicial review sought by Evangeline Vallejos Banao, a mother of five, who has worked in Hong Kong since 1986. She had argued that an immigration provision barring domestic workers from permanent residency was unconstitutional.

Mark Daly, a lawyer for Vallejos, said his client was ?speechless but calmly resigned and said ?no problem.?

Vallejos won a High Court ruling in 2011 granting her the right to request permanent residency status, denied to the city?s 300,000 foreign maids until then. The decision however was overturned later on a government appeal.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/AXPsqnhYOmQ/Hong-Kong-court-rejects-Filipino-maids-plea-for-residency

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Osborne tries to limit welfare overhaul fallout

By Andrew Osborn

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor George Osborne tried to limit political fallout from the biggest overhaul of Britain's welfare state in decades on Tuesday, saying the country could no longer afford a system he said was "broken".

In a rare political speech, given to supermarket workers in Sittingbourne in Kent, Osborne sought to justify changes including a cap on welfare benefits that church leaders and the Labour opposition have called callous and to defend his policies which have brought slower-than-expected economic recovery.

Osborne knows changes to a 200 billion pound-per-year system that swallows more than a third of his budget is fraught with risk for the ruling Conservative party ahead of local elections next month and a 2015 general election.

Critics accuse his party of governing in the interests of the rich and it is the less well off who will bear the brunt of changes, even though the welfare budget is being restructured and its growth curbed rather than being cut in nominal terms.

The changes are part of a drive to get Britain's large public sector deficit down in a year when the economy is only forecast to expand by 0.6 percent, but Osborne said they were also meant to restore fairness.

"For too long, we've had a system where people who did the right thing - who get up in the morning and work hard - felt penalised for it, while people who did the wrong thing got rewarded for it," he told Morrisons supermarket workers.

"The system became so complicated, and benefits so generous, that people found they were better off on the dole (on unemployment benefits) than they were in work."

Some of the new rules start to bite this week, while others will take effect later this year.

REFORM

The welfare budget includes pensions and tax credits as well as unemployment, sickness, housing, local tax and child support benefits. Such benefits have traditionally risen in line with inflation but will rise by just 1 percent between 2014 and 2016.

Other measures include an overall cap on welfare benefits, less help for people to pay their local council tax, and lower rental assistance to households deemed to have more rooms than they need. The government describes this as ending a "spare bedroom subsidy," the opposition as imposing a "bedroom tax".

Osborne said criticism from church leaders and Labour was "ill-informed rubbish", saying it was not the end of the welfare state, the product of a post-World War Two Labour government.

He said nine out of ten households would be better off due to a decision to raise the amount of money you earn before you pay tax and defended a move to cut the top rate of tax.

Labour have called the measure "a tax cut for millionaires" but Osborne said the outgoing higher tax rate had brought in less not more money and had discouraged people from investing.

The Conservatives - who rule in coalition with the Lib Dems - have had image problems in the past with Theresa May, now interior minister or home secretary, once saying people viewed them as "the nasty party".

Portrayed by Labour as a bunch of millionaires who are out of touch with ordinary people, the fact many senior Conservatives including Prime Minister David Cameron come from privileged backgrounds has made it harder for them to counter that charge. They trail Labour in polls by 10 percentage points.

But cuts to welfare may prove popular with parts of the electorate. According to a survey by pollsters ComRes in November, 64 percent of respondents said the benefit system was not working well or was failing and 40 percent thought at least half of claimants were "scroungers".

Ed Balls, Labour's finance spokesman, said most families would be worse off as a result of Conservative policies.

"Figures from the independent IFS show that the average family will be 891 pounds worse off this year because of tax and benefit changes since 2010," he said in a statement.

People in east London spoken to by Reuters were negative about the changes and said they feared for the future.

"It's a bad policy. What do they expect people to do?," said Almas Ali, 38, who said he and his wife couldn't work because they had to care for their disabled daughter.

"You will find a lot of people on benefits who are going to suffer big time."

(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/osborne-tries-limit-welfare-overhaul-fallout-160919657--business.html

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Stockton bankruptcy decision only the beginning

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? For the people of Stockton, a federal judge's anticipated decision Monday on the city's bankruptcy petition will affect their day-to-day lives for decades to come.

But the Chapter 9 bankruptcy case also is being closely watched nationally for the potential precedent-setting implications: whether federal bankruptcy law trumps the California law that says debts to the state pension fund must be honored.

After a three-day trial last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein is to decide whether Stockton becomes the most populous city in the nation to enter bankruptcy, despite the objection of creditors who argued the city failed to pursue all other avenues for straightening out its financial affairs.

If it receives bankruptcy protection, the city begins a months-long process of negotiations over debt repayment that some say could end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

"This case is worthy because of the conflict between the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the state statutes governing CalPERS and the importance of the issue being decided," said attorney Karol Denniston, a municipal restructuring expert who monitored the trial.

The $900 million Stockton owes to the California Public Employees' Retirement System to cover pension promises is its biggest debt ?as is the case with many struggling cities across California. So far Stockton has kept up with pension payments while it has reneged on other debts, maintaining that it needs a strong pension plan to retain its pared-down workforce.

The creditors who challenged Stockton's bankruptcy petition are the bond insurers who guaranteed $165 million in loans the city secured in 2007 to pay its contributions to CalPERS. That debt got out of hand as property tax values plummeted during the recession, and money to pay the pension obligation fell short.

Attorneys for the creditors argued that it was unfair for them to be paid 17-cents on the dollar for the loans while the retirement fund negotiated in flush times remains untouched.

Legal observers expect the creditors aggressively to challenge Stockton's repayment plan in the next phase of the process.

"That's where it will be precedent-setting. Does bankruptcy code apply to CalPERS or not? If bankruptcy code trumps state law, then that's huge and it has huge implications in terms of what happens next for other municipalities across California," said Denniston.

The city of nearly 300,000 has become emblematic of both government excess and of the financial calamity that resulted when the nation's housing bubble burst. Its salaries, benefits and borrowing were based on anticipated long-term developer fees and increasing property tax revenue. But those were lost in a flurry of foreclosures beginning in the mid-2000s and a loss of 70 percent of the city's tax base.

By 2009 Stockton had accumulated nearly $1 billion in debt on civic improvements, money owed to pay pension contributions and the most generous health care benefit in the state ? coverage for life for all retirees plus a dependent, no matter how long they had worked for the city.

Since cities can't be liquidated, Stockton has attempted to restructure some debt by renegotiating labor contracts and cutting the health benefit for retirees, but creditors argued that by ignoring bond debt they haven't created a plan that shares the pain equitably, as required under bankruptcy code.

Attorney Guy Neal, who represents creditors, spent a good deal of his trial time showing that for years Stockton had granted bloated labor contracts and benefits, and then allowed employees to boost their retirement benefits further by cashing out vacation time and sick leave in their last year of employment, thus raising their benchmark annual salary for retirement benefit purposes.

He argued that employees who shared in the wealth during good times should have to equally share the pain now, including cuts to CalPERS.

"The city simply wants to wipe out its debt but hold onto the benefits that the proceeds of that debt provided," Neal argued.

Stockton's City Manager Bob Deis testified that CalPERS is a trustee for city employees, not a creditor.

Judge Klein indicated at several points during the trial that the CalPERS attorney monitoring the case would have his time to speak during the repayment phase of the trial, an indication that the pension obligation could be a part of discussions.

"I know that issue is downstream, if we wind up going downstream," Klein said during closing arguments.

The state pension plan manages $255 billion in assets today but was underfunded by $87 billion in 2011, the last time calculations were made. CalPERS is in the process of setting new rates to close the liability, said spokeswoman Amy Norris, which could further strain cities in financial peril such as San Bernardino, San Jose Compton, Fairfield, Watsonville, Atwater and at least two dozen other cities.

"Just about everybody has an unfunded liability," said Norris.

Attorneys watching the case expect that this first-ever Chapter 9 bankruptcy case questioning state pension obligations will be appealed to decide whether the 10th Amendment giving rights to states is more powerful than federal bankruptcy code. Even Klein, who was inclined at first to approve bankruptcy without a trial, said he was going forward with the hearing to create an appellate record.

"You might have the court not approve the plan because the bondholders keep raising objections until CalPERS is impaired in some way. That will be cutting edge. That's where this case will get interesting," said bankruptcy attorney Michael Sweet.

____

Reach Tracie Cone at www.twitter.com/TConeAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-01-US-Stockton-Bankruptcy/id-0907459d07be44448fe2a551cdc20194

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SEC Says Reed Hastings-Style Announcements On Facebook And Twitter Are Okay, If Investors Told To Look There

Following an investigation sparked by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings' announcement that Netflix subscribers had passed the 1 billion hours viewed milestone, the SEC today announced that in specific circumstances, it can be okay to announce key company information and stats on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. The one caveat they stipulate is that investors must be primed to watch those channels by companies if information is being released there first.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_-34OnP2MeM/

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