Posts filed under ‘Time’
What Every Tax Return Preparer Needs to Know about Applying for a PTIN for 2011
New regulations require all paid tax return preparers to apply for a Preparer Tax Identification Number — even those who already have one — before preparing any federal tax returns in 2011.
The PTIN requirement is one of the first provisions being implemented in a new oversight program to help regulate the tax preparation industry. Beginning January 1, 2011, anyone paid to prepare all or substantially all of any federal tax return or claim for refund must have a PTIN. The requirement applies to all paid tax return preparers, including those who are enrolled agents, certified public accountants and attorneys.
Tax return preparers can register immediately using a new PTIN sign-up system available through www.IRS.gov/taxpros. Tax return preparers who received their PTINs prior to Sept. 28, 2010, must register using the new sign-up system. Preparers will need to create an account, complete the PTIN application and pay a $64.25 fee. To apply for a PTIN online, follow these four easy steps:
Create Your Account — Create an account by providing your name, email address and security question information. The system will then email your temporary password, which you will change when you go back to enter your information in the PTIN application.
Apply for Your PTIN — Complete the online application by providing certain information from your previous year’s tax return, professional credentials, and more.
Pay Your Fee — the application will transfer you to our partner bank where you will make your payment by credit card or direct debit.
Get Your PTIN — after the bank confirms your payment, your PTIN is provided online. If you already have a PTIN, you will retain the same number in most cases. You will also receive a welcome letter providing additional guidance.
It only takes about 15 minutes to sign up online and receive your PTIN. If you opt to use the paper application, Form W-12, IRS Paid Preparer Tax Identification Number Application, it will take 4-6 weeks to process.
For more information, visit IRS.gov.
Ethiopia defeat Madagascar 1-0
By Getachew Teklu |
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Ethiopia secured a surprise 1-0 away win over Madagascar in Group B of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Sunday. The win puts them level on three points with Nigeria and Guinea who play later on Sunday in Conakry. Ethiopia lost their opening game at home when they were beaten 4-1 by Addis Ababa last month. The win revives Ethiopia’s hopes of qualifying for the tournament to be held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Nigeria will host Ethiopia in Abuja in their next game in March next year while Guinea will travel to face Madagascar. |
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Major new energy issues are about to transform
Major new energy issues are about to transform still further the strategic balance of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, with foreseeable consequences for the global energy market over the coming decade. Soon-to-be-evident new wealth in the Red Sea/Horn of Africa region will transform the intensity of conflict there, which in turn will affect not only the region, but the world’s most important trading route: the Red Sea/Suez sea line of communication (SLOC). Read more: http://oilprice.com/Geo-Politics/Africa/Energy-and-Security-Issues-in-the-Red-Sea-Transforming-as-the-Age-of-Gas-Begins-in-Earnest.html
Ethiopian birr devalued, IMF welcomes move.
One US dollar =16.35 Eth Birr
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The Ethiopian birr was devalued by 16.7 percent on Wednesday, according to exchange rates published on the central bank’s website, a move welcomed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The birr was quoted by the National Bank of Ethiopia at a weighted average of 16.3514 against the dollar compared with 13.6284 on Tuesday. A central bank official confirmed the new rate but was not authorised to make further comment.
“The IMF welcomes this move given it will help bolster Ethiopia’s competitiveness,” IMF representative in Ethiopia, Sukhwinder Singh, told Reuters. “It will need to be supported by appropriate monetary policy.”
Last month, the government unveiled an ambitious five-year economic plan which targets average annual economic growth of 14.9 percent over the period and aims to end the Horn of Africa nation’s dependence on food aid.
Ethiopia is Africa’s biggest coffee exporter and the world’s fourth largest exporter of sesame. It is also one of Africa’s biggest potential markets — with a population of 80 million — and most of its people have no telephones or bank accounts.
The devaluation is the Horn of Africa nation’s fourth since January 2009. Devaluations can spur economic growth and reduce current account deficits to the extent they boost exports and discourage imports, although they carry the risk of importing inflation.
‘DEPRECIATION LIKELY TO CONTINUE’
“I think it’s related to the new five-year plan and a strategy of export promotion and import substitution,” Tewodros Mekonnen, an economist with local think tank, the Ethiopian Economic Association, told Reuters.
Obviously there’s a risk it could cause inflation. It will probably also boost foreign direct investment and remittances.”
Inflation in Ethiopia hit a high of 64.2 percent in July 2008.
After that peak, the government halted state borrowing and increased bank reserves to drive down the rate.
The country’s central bank also instructed private banks to restrict borrowing.
The inflation rate slowed to 5.7 percent in July.
“Years of high inflation have eroded the country’s export competitiveness, and the government has continually favoured sharp currency depreciations to counteract this,” Joseph Lake, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told Reuters.
“Though inflation has eased in recent months, this pattern of currency depreciation is likely to continue. Low levels of foreign exchange reserves, and twin fiscal and current-account deficits will continue to put pressure on the currency,” Lake said.
The country — one of the world’s biggest recipients of foreign aid — is keen to attract foreign investment in agriculture and mineral exploration.
Ethiopia has operated a managed floating exchange rate regime since 1992.
It’s never too late….To Plant a Tree
By Patrick Lindsay
Think of it putting something back into the earth.
Most of the time we take from it.
Help redress the balance.
Plant a new life. Nurture it.
Take pleasure in watching it grow.
After you plant one, you’ll want to plant more.
Nurture them.
Encourage others to do the same.
“Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her”
William Wordsworth
What Is the Ethiopian Bible?
Many Christians are under the impression there is a singular bible that is available to all and is undisputed as the true word of God. Both of these are false assumptions. Not only has the Bible yet to be translated into some 2,393 languages, but also the actual content of the bible varies as well. One of the best examples of this is the Ethiopian bible
The Oldest Christian Nation
- Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, and many scientist believe it to be where humans first appeared on Earth. Ethiopia is also the oldest Christian nation dating back to the time of the Apostle Phillip. In Acts 8:27-39 we are told of a royal official from Ethiopia who wanted to learn about Christ. The teachings of Christ were taken back to Ethiopia and spread quickly. Some time in the 300s the Ethiopian Emperor Ezana was baptised. As a result, Ethiopia has a strong Christian heritage.
- Modern day Ethiopia is a nation of more than 83 million people who are almost evenly divided between Christian and Muslim. The 1.1 million square kilometers of Ethiopia are completely land locked, which is somewhat representative of its past. Ethiopia was a strong Christian nation, which was cut off from Europe by the armies of Islam. Forgotten by the West, Ethiopia was left to develop on its own in a hostile environment. As a portion of this development, the Ethiopian church developed the Ethiopian bible.
- The King James bible contains 39 books in the old testament. The Ethiopian bible contains a total of 51 books. The only book
of the old testament found in the King James bible, which is not in the Ethiopian bible is the book of Lamentations. There are however 13 books in the Ethiopian bible which are not to be found in the King James bible. It is not surprising the Ethiopian bible contains almost the entire old testament from the King James bible, since Ethiopia had a very strong Jewish presence. The books of the old testament which appear in the Ethiopian bible but not the King James are:Jubilee
Enoch
2 Ezra
Ezra Sutuel
Tobit
Judith
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
3 Maccabees
Tegsats
Book of Joshua the son of Sirac
The book of Josephas the son of Bengorion - The Ethiopian new testament contains the same 27 books of the new testament from Matthew through the book of Revelation. Unlike the King James bible, however, the Ethiopian bible continues past Revelations with an additional eight books. These books include;
Sirate Tsion (the book of order)
Tizaz (the book of Herald)
Abtilis
The 1st book of Dominos
The 2nd book of Dominos
The book of Clement
Didascalia - While many of the books found in the old testament of the Ethiopian bible are absent in the King James version, there are some interesting facts surrounding these books. One such example are the books of Enoch and Jubilee which are ancient Jewish texts. While they do not appear in the old testament of the King James bible, they are quoted in the King James new testament. Ethiopian scripture is based on some of the most ancient transcripts and records in existence, which gives the Ethiopian bible a broader content than any other version of the bible, and some feel a truer and more complete telling of the word of God.
Ethiopia Stands Alone
The Old Testament
New Testament
Canon of the Ethiopian Church
Thank you! World Bank lends Ethiopia $180mn for energy infrastructure
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit of $180 million to support energy infrastructure, Ethiopian Television reports here Friday.
This loan aims to support Ethiopia’s efforts to provide adequate and cost effective electricity supply and rapidly scale up electricity coverage and access for all citizens.
Ethiopia is currently undertaking billions of dollars worth of investments on hydro-electric plants, which will help the country to also supply power to neighbouring countries like Djibouti, Kenya and Sudan.
Ethiopia is currently generating around 2,000 megawatt of power for its local consumption.
“The additional financing aims at scaling-up certain components of the Energy Access Project which seeks to expand access to electricity and improve the quality and adequacy of power supply ; improve energy end-use efficiency, developing renewable energy resources ; and strengthen institutional capacity,” the World Bank said.
Africa ‘witnessing birth of a new ocean’
BBC News Science reporter
Africa is witnessing the birth of a new ocean, according to scientists at the Royal Society.
Geologists working in the remote Afar region of Ethiopia say the ocean will eventually split the African continent in two, though it will take about 10 million years.
Lead researcher Tim Wright who is presenting the research at the Royal Society’s Summer Exhibition, described the events as “truly incredible”.
Used to understanding changes in the planet on timescales of millions of years, the international team of scientists including Dr Wright have seen amazing changes in Afar in the past five years, where the continent is cracking open, quite literally underneath their feet.
Hot, molten rock from deep within the Earth is trickling to the surface and creating the split.
Underground eruptions are still continuing and, ultimately, the horn of Africa will fall away and a new ocean will form.
‘A smaller Africa’
Dr James Hammond, a seismologist from the University of Bristol – who has been working in Afar – says that parts of the region are below sea level and the ocean is only cut off by about a 20-metre block of land in Eritrea.
“Eventually this will drift apart,” he told the BBC World Service. “The sea will flood in and will start to create this new ocean.
“It will pull apart, sink down deeper and deeper and eventually… parts of southern Ethiopia, Somalia will drift off, create a new island, and we’ll have a smaller Africa and a very big island that floats out into the Indian Ocean.”
The researchers say that they are extremely lucky to be able to witness the birth of this ocean as the process is normally hidden beneath the seas.
The team hope to conduct experiments in the area that will help understand how the surface of the Earth is shaped.
They believe that the information they glean from observing the shaping of the Earth will help scientists better understand natural hazards such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Source BBC
The Evolutionary Road
The Middle Awash area of Ethiopia is the most persistently occupied place on Earth. Members of our lineage have lived, died, and been buried there for almost six million years. Now their bones are eroding out of the ground. Step by step they record how a primitive, small-brained primate evolved to conquer a planet. Where better to learn how we became human?
In the Afar desert of Ethiopia, there are a lot of ways to die. There is disease, of course. One can also perish from wild animal attack, snakebite, falling off a cliff, or in a shoot-out between one of the Afar clans and the Issa people across the Awash River to the east.
But life is fragile all over Africa. What is special here is the occasional durability of the deceased’s remains. The Afar Basin sits smack atop a widening rip in the Earth’s crust. Over time, volcanoes, earthquakes, and the slow accumulation of sediments have conspired to bury bones and then, much later, disgorge them to the surface as fossils. The process is ongoing. In August 2008 a young boy was taken by a crocodile in Yardi Lake, in an area of the Afar known as the Middle Awash. Three months later, Tim White, a paleoanthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley, stood at the lakeshore near where the child had died. Blanketed by lake sediments, he said, the boy’s bones had a decent chance of becoming fossils someday too. “People have been dying out here for millions of years,” said White. “Occasionally we get lucky and find what’s left .” Read full story at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/middle-awash/shreeve-text
Source: National Geographic
Ethiopia: The story of Birtukan Mideksa, an Ethiopian prisoner of conscience
By Zainab Salbi, The Huffington Post
Today I would like to tell you the story of Birtukan Mideksa, an Ethiopian prisoner of conscience who is facing life imprisonment for speaking out against an oppressive government. Birtukan is an opposition leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (formerly Coalition for Unity and Democracy) party and is advocating for democracy and rule of law in Ethiopia. After years of civil unrest and war with Eritrea, Ethiopia is still struggling to overcome oppression and establish political freedom. The parliamentary elections in 2005 spurred violent protests, which led to the arbitrary arrest and detainment of hundreds of opposition leaders, journalists, human rights advocates and civilians. Birtukan was one of those arrested in 2005, and she received a life imprisonment sentence. Then, in 2007, Birtukan received a pardon and was released from prison, only to be put back into prison once more in 2008 for discussing the details of her prior arrest. Her original sentence of life imprisonment has since been reinstated.
Much of Birtukan’s time in prison has been spent in solitary confinement. The only people allowed to visit Birtukan are her mother and her four-year-old daughter. Before her arrest, Birtukan was the main provider for her family, who is now suffering not only emotionally but also financially from Birtukan’s imprisonment. She is not allowed to meet with any legal representation and the government refuses to listen to her needs. There are even reports that she is being denied medical treatment, despite numerous requests for a physician. The Red Cross and other humanitarian officials are being denied access to the prison, and the exact treatment of Birtukan is unknown.
When addressing the U.S. Congress in 2007, Birtukan stated that “only through dialogue and negotiation will stability and peace be guaranteed” in Ethiopia. In the context of the rampant human rights violations and other oppressive government actions, advocates for peace and freedom are desperately needed in Ethiopia. And yet, women like Birtukan are still being denied the opportunity to negotiate this peace.
Birtukan’s story represents the struggle women across the world are facing to have a political voice and to stand up for human rights. Take Jameela, a Palestinian woman from Gaza, who was imprisoned in Israel for 2 years when she was 18 years old for smuggling letters for the PLO. She was tortured. She was hanged from her hands for long periods, put in solitary confinement for about 6 months, and had drops of water dripping on her forehead for hours at a time. When she was finally released from prison, her entire community wanted to abandon her because they assumed she had been sexually abused in prison and thus had her honor taken away. Only her father and her future husband stood by her side. She is now living in a half-destroyed one-room house with her entire family.
Or take Mona, a young activist from Iraq, who was continually raped by a captain during the war so that he would not kill her brothers. This captain started a habit of visiting her daily at her family home. There, he would take her to a bedroom in her house, close the door behind him (her brothers, mother and sisters are still in the living room), and rape her. He would then leave her home. “Day after day, week after week, month after month he did that and not once did my brothers or mother said anything. As a matter of fact, when I would refuse to go with him, they would scold me and urge me to go to him so he wouldn’t get upset. In the beginning, this whole ordeal was to save my brothers from prison.” Mona is now activist dedicated to rescuing prostituted girls and women who, no different from her, ended up in a path not because of their desires but because they were saving loved ones as she saved her brothers.
According to the UN, 90% of modern war casualties are civilians, 75% of which are women and children. That reality only addresses the death tolls created by war. Statistics have yet to capture the price women pay for wars often just for living in it and trying to survive it. On top of political and military pressure, women are often faced with another layer of community and traditional demands. Then there are the women, like Birtukan, Jameela and Mona, who are trying to take a stand against these wars and who end up facing extreme oppression and human rights violations imposed by governments and military groups.
The bravery of these women despite all odds is inspirational. Women everywhere are paying a personal price for their political reality. It is these women, and the millions of women survivors of conflict who are striving every day to carry on in the midst of astronomical challenges, who are pushing us forward in the global women’s movement. It is these women who are standing up for peace and equality, finding their voices and speaking truth in the face of oppression and fear. These women deserve to have their voices heard.
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