Kuwait to table corporate tax bill in 2 years - finance minister

LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Kuwait expects to table a bill to harmonise corporate tax rates between local and foreign firms in around two years' time, offering incentives to key sectors like telecoms and IT, the country's finance minister said on Monday.
Kuwait said in April it was studying proposals to introduce the same levy for domestic firms, which generally pay little or no tax on income, and foreign companies, whose commercial activities are taxed with a rate of 55 percent in the highest bracket. 

"We are looking at many, many scenarios ... but we are definitely looking at matching them," Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in London. 

"We need to draft legislation ... in 24 months we should have a law that can go to parliament." 

Saleh expected the rate for international firms to fall and the levy on local companies to rise, though he declined to indicate a level. He added the government was also looking at introducing tax breaks for companies operating in key sectors like IT, telecommunications and petrochemicals. 

"There will also (be) incentives, incentives to encourage corporates to focus on certain sectors that are needed for our economy," he said. 

Introducing a new corporate tax will be politically sensitive in Kuwait, which has seen pressure on its state finances because of the plunge in oil prices. Officials say they want to diversify revenue sources beyond oil. 

Saleh reiterated there were no plans to introduce income tax for individuals. 

citation : taken from zawya - https://goo.gl/4jAxyZ

ARE YOU LOSING SLEEP OVER YOUR SMARTPHONE?

START YOUR BUSINESS - VENTURE ART

Friday, May 29, 2015

Dubai: While convenient, keeping your mobile phone at arm’s length when one is sleeping has proven to affect quality of sleep, and even health.

Research conducted by several universities and doctors has shown that radiation emitted from mobile phones, especially 3G and 4G-enabled smart phones, delays and disrupts sleep.

Dr Saeed Taghizadeh, specialist neurologist at Prime Hospital, pointed out that electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile phones also interferes with the body’s ability to heal.

He referred to research led by by Professor Bengt Arnetz, a Swedish professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which found that using a handset right before bed prolongs the amount of time it takes for people to reach a deep state of sleep.

“Anything that disrupts the quality of our sleep impacts our attentiveness and irritability in the short and long term.”

While productive sleep helps our bodies recover form the stresses of the day, the affects of being exposed to cell phone radiation through out the night is more likely to be evident in children and adolescents.

Dr Taghizadeh explained that sleeping beside a phone is especially bad for children and teenagers who typically need more sleep than adults.

“It can cause mood and personality changes such as [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] ADHD-like symptoms and depression.”

Dr Fatima Nazir, general practitioner at Gardens Speciality Clinic, told Gulf News that experts are concerned about the effects of the radiation, as some research suggests that sleeping with your mobile by your bedside can cause dizziness and headaches, and can even trigger insomnia and other sleeping disorders.

“At the very least it makes us hyper vigilant so our sleep is more likely to be disturbed and we don’t get enough of the restorative sleep we need,” said Dr Nazir.

What happens when you sleep?

The hormone cortisol that signals us to wake up, and the hormone melatonin, which makes us sleepy are controlled by the light-sensitive cells in the brain.

“Light stimulates cells in the retina, the area at the back of the eye that transmits messages to the brain, and the light-sensitive cells inform the body what time it is,” explained Dr Fatima. When sleeping beside a mobile phone or tablet, the blue light emitted from the device has a stimulating effect. The cells in the retina are most sensitive to blue light because of a pigment called melanopsin, which is why reading on a phone or a tablet before bed is more likely to keep a person awake than reading a book using a bedside light.

“For this reason, experts advise a ban on screen time two to three hours before bed,” said Dr Fatima.

With smart phones replacing most traditional devices such as alarm clocks and flash lights, sleeping with your phone in the next room can be a big inconvenience.

However, it can be the solution for a good night’s sleep.

Citation - Taken from ZAWYA : https://goo.gl/NLJrcO

The changing face of Financial Order

Hong Kong named world's top financial hub - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English:

'via Blog this'

It is not surprising for me to see Hong Kong as worlds top financial hub. This indicates two things. The first thing is world order is changing. The old power house are now old horses impaired with many diseases, they can not win a race. Betting on such horses are use less.
USA has its own financial mess to manage. It has lived on others money for long time. China, Japan along with other countries invested in USA debt and finance the luxuries of life. This luxury financing has created two problems. The first is USA asset bubble, USA spent money on which they can not afford, this luxurious spending is hounding USA and others. I do not see any solution to this problem in foreseeable future. The solution is cleaning the toxic from the system, which no one wants. There is no alternative, cleaning the system from crooks, which is impossible. When there is no will to implement solution, the only alternative left is slow and painful death of US economy.

The second problem is the financing of surplus economy to USA has deprived the needy, underdeveloped and least developed and developing economies of this money. Which may have used to grow these economies. This financing has increased poverty in world. When it will be stopped then definitely a new economic order will emerge.

These least developed, under developed and developing economies will get surplus money to grow and reduce poverty. The change in direction of money flow will change everything. More employment is created and will get better healthcare.

The Asia with its population, China and India along with their neighbors and east Asian economies will see a major shift in near future.

Indonesia, Malaysia along with Saudi Arabia will play a major role in global financial markets.Singapore which is already a major financial hub for east asia, Mumbai, Dubai, Qatar are other financial hubs which are in contest to change the landscape of world order.

It may take some time but the process has started and soon it will pick up. With China coming with its own Sovereign Wealth Fund of USD 300 billion, along with SWF of Malaysia, UAE, Qatar, Singapore, Kuwait and other OPEC countries will see a major change.

Let us make this change a positive, to reduce poverty, and improve justice and equality in this world.