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Thursday, October 27, 2011 – Daily News 5A WORLD BRIEFING Flat tax makes a comeback WASHINGTON (AP) — The flat tax is making a comeback among Republi- can presidential candidates. But it faces tough opposition in Congress because it tends to favor the rich at the expense of other taxpayers, renewing an old debate about ''trickle-down eco- nomics.'' Most of the top GOP contenders — Mitt Rom- ney's an exception — offer a variation of the tax plan in which everyone pays the same rate. Businessman Herman Cain has his 9-9-9 proposal, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled a 20 percent flat tax on income this week. Even Romney foresees a flatter tax system in the future, though he favors something closer to the current setup in the short term. The idea of a flat tax has long been championed by conservative politicians as being simple and fair. Pub- lisher Steve Forbes made it a centerpiece of his Republi- can presidential campaigns in 1996 and 2000. Forbes has endorsed Perry, calling his economic plan ''the most exciting plan since (Ronald) Reagan's.'' ''American families deserve a system that is low, flat and fair,'' Perry wrote in his tax plan. ''They should be able to file their taxes on a postcard instead of a mas- sive novel-length docu- ment.'' Conservative economists argue a flat tax would pro- mote long-term economic growth by lowering taxes on the people who save and invest the greatest share of their income: the wealthy. Clinton: US reaching out to Iranians WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administra- tion is setting up an Internet- based embassy to reach out to Iranians hoping to broad- en their understanding of the United States, while at the same time studying new sanctions to raise the pres- sure on Iran's government over its disputed nuclear program and alleged ties to terrorism. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in interviews Wednesday with Persian-language media that the U.S. wanted to affirm its friendship to the Iranian people even at a time of ris- ing tensions with the regime in Tehran. As part of that effort, she said a ''virtual embassy in Tehran'' will be online by the end of the year, helping Iranians wishing to travel or study in the United States. ''We're trying to reach out to the Iranian people,'' Clinton said. ''We've tried to reach out to the government, just not very successfully.'' Clinton stressed that the U.S. was committed to its two-track approach of engagement and sanctions toward the Iranian govern- ment. But she said the out- reach was being directed to ordinary Iranians who've suffered as a result of their government's ''reckless'' conduct regarding its urani- um enrichment activities, fomenting of unrest in neighboring countries and its role in the alleged terror plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Washington. The U.S. hasn't had an embassy in Iran since break- ing off diplomatic relations shortly after the 1979 Islam- ic Revolution. Iran, likewise, has no embassy in Washing- ton, but Clinton said Presi- dent Barack Obama has tried to entreat Tehran into negotiations. Taking a new name landing Muslims in NYPD's files NEW YORK (AP) — For generations, immigrants have shed their ancestral identities and taken new, Americanized names as they found their place in the melting pot. For Muslims in New York, that rite of assim- ilation is now seen by police as a possible red flag in the hunt for terrorists. The New York Police Department monitors every- one in the city who changes his or her name, according to interviews and internal police documents obtained by The Associated Press. For those whose names sound Arabic or might be from Muslim countries, police run comprehensive background checks that include reviewing travel records, criminal histories, business licenses and immi- gration documents. All this is recorded in police databases for supervi- sors, who review the names and select a handful of peo- ple for police to visit. The program was con- ceived as a tripwire for police in the difficult hunt for homegrown terrorists, where there are no widely agreed upon warning signs. Like other NYPD intelli- gence programs created in the past decade, this one involved monitoring behav- ior protected by the First Amendment. Since August, an Associ- ated Press investigation has revealed a vast NYPD intel- ligence-collecting effort tar- geting Muslims following the terror attacks of Septem- ber 2001. Police have con- ducted surveillance of entire Muslim neighborhoods, chronicling daily life includ- ing where people eat, pray and get their hair cut. Police infiltrated dozens of mosques and Muslim stu- dent groups and investigated hundreds more. Perry says he has 'no doubt' Obama is an American WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presiden- tial candidate Rick Perry said Wednesday that he has ''no doubt'' that Pres- ident Barack Obama is an American citizen, staking out a definitive position on the matter after spending The North State's premier supplier of stoves STOVE JUNCTION The Over 25 years of experience NOW OPEN! 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Some Republicans pri- vately worry that his com- ments about Obama's birth certificate may have endeared him to the party's conservative wing that questions the legiti- macy of Obama's presi- dency but also may have started to marginalize the Texas governor from the larger electorate. That could put the general elec- tion at risk should Perry win the GOP nomination. His comments certain- ly irked several GOP luminaries, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who in recent days have urged Republican presi- dential candidates to stop raising the issue. Others, like Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and cam- paign rival Jon Huntsman say it's bad for the GOP. ''If we take our eye off the ball called debt, if we take our eye off the ball called our position in the world — continue going with you know, two wars simultaneously — of course we can lose it,'' Utah's former governor said, speaking on ABC news' political webcast ''Top Line'' on Wednes- day. ''And if we kind of begin wasting time on the nonsensical and the silly issues like birtherism.'' Prosecutor says woman shot neighbor to keep him from talking FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — A woman forced a 20-year-old neighbor to write a diary framing her ex-husband in a murder- for-hire scheme and then killed him because she didn't think he could keep his role a secret, a prose- cutor said Wednesday at her first-degree murder trial. Prosecutor Douglas Hammerand told jurors in an opening statement that Tracey Richter invited Dustin Wehde to her home on Dec. 13, 2001 and forced him to create a diary claiming he had been hired by her first husband, John Pitman, to kill her and her 11-year- old son Bert. Hammerand said the writing was interrupted mid-sentence when a friend who was planning to spend the night came to a side door, and Richter had Wehde leave out the front. But Richter can- ENGLAND'S BOOKKEEPING SERVICES Check Book Balance Email acownteen@yahoo.com Call or Text 530 739-9413 Financial Statements Payroll Sales Tax celed on the friend, saying she had to pick up her son from basketball practice, when in reality she planned to set up what looked like a burglary and home invasion involving Pitman, Hammerand. The prosecutor said as part of the plan, Richter had Wehde, a loner who had spent time hanging out with her husband, back later that night and shot him nine times from two guns. Three shots that went through the back of Wehde's head would have been instantly fatal, he said. Richter, 45, of Omaha, is charged with first- degree murder in the shooting at her former home in Early, a small town 100 miles northwest of Des Moines. She claims she acted in self- defense and was hailed as a hero after the shooting by some gun rights advo- cates and TV personality Montel Williams, who applauded her story on national television. Winehouse died with lethal amount of alcohol in her blood LONDON (AP) — Amy Winehouse drank herself to death. That was the ruling of a coroner's inquest into the death of the Grammy-win- ning soul singer, who died with empty vodka bottles in her room and lethal amounts of alcohol in her blood — more than five times the British drunk driving limit. Coroner Suzanne Green- away gave a verdict of ''death by misadventure,'' saying Wednesday the singer suffered accidental alcohol poisoning when she resumed drinking after weeks of abstinence. Scientists search DNA for hints NEW YORK (AP) — George Eberhardt turned 107 last month, and scien- tists would love to know how he and other older folks like him made it that far. So he's going to hand over some of his DNA. He's one of 100 centenari- ans taking part in a project announced Wednesday that will examine some of the oldest citizens with one of the newest scientific tools: whole-genome sequencing, the decipher- ing of a person's complete collection of DNA. Scientists think DNA from very old healthy peo- ple could offer clues to how they lived so long. And that could one day lead to medicines to help the rest of us stay disease- free longer. By the time you reach, say, 105, ''it's very hard to get there without some genetic advantages,'' says Dr. Thomas Perls, a geri- atrics expert at Boston University. Perls is helping find centenarians for the Archon Genomics X Prize competition. The X Prize Foundation, best known for a spaceflight competi- tion, is offering $10 mil- lion in prize money to researchers who decipher the complete DNA code from 100 people older than 100. The contest will be judged on accuracy, com- pleteness and the speed and cost of sequencing. 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