Voinovich: Raise fuel tax to create jobs

August 7, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

An Ohio U.S. senator known for bucking the Republican party line is recommending an increase in the federal fuel tax as a way to help balance the federal budget and put Americans back to work.

In a letter to a panel considering changes in federal tax policy, retiring Sen. George Voinovich says the gas tax hasn’t been raised in 17 years. In 1993, the federal government raised the rate by 4.3 cents, to 18.4 cents a gallon.

Voinovich says the tax’s purchasing power has dwindled to the point where billions must now be transferred each year from the general budget to the Highway Trust Fund to keep needed projects adequately funded. In his letter, Voinovich advocates the tax hike as part of an overall simplification of the federal tax code.

Pizza vouchers

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad

Forget canned goods. The government of Trinidad is feeding flood victims with pizza.

Officials on Friday began distributing 10,000 vouchers for the national chain Mario’s Pizzeria to poor communities hit by flooding this week.

Together with private-sector donations, the government is funding the $84,000 cost of buying the ingredients and boxes. Mario’s will also foot part of the bill.

Talking to Taliban

LONDON

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said Friday he’s willing to consider reopening negotiations with the Taliban in his country — a statement that came amid a flurry of criticism that some elements within Pakistan remain sympathetic to the extremist movement.

Zardari told The Associated Press that his country never closed the door to talks with the Taliban.

Last year, the Pakistani government struck a deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley that gave them effective control over the region. The militants violated the agreement and moved into another region, prompting an all out offensive by the Pakistani army.

UAE: Oil tanker hit by explosives

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates said Friday that a Japanese oil tanker was hit by an explosives-laden dinghy in the Persian Gulf in what would be the first attack in the strategic waterway where millions of barrels of oil are transported each day.

The report — which came days after an al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility for attacking the vessel — raised fears about the vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for many petroleum exporting countries.

It was the latest in what has been a series of conflicting accounts of what happened to the M. Star supertanker, which was damaged as it entered the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for about 40 percent of oil shipped by tankers worldwide.

8 foreigners among 10 bodies found

KABUL

The bodies of 10 people, including eight foreigners, were recovered Friday in a remote area of Badakhshan province in northern Afghanistan, police said.

Provincial police chief Gen. Agha Noor Kemtuz said the victims, who had been shot, were found next to three bullet-riddled four-wheeled drive vehicles in Kuran Wa Munjan district. He said two Afghan men were found dead along with eight others — three women and five men — whose nationalities were not known.

It was unclear what the group was doing in the forested area away from main routes through the province.

Kemtuz speculated that robbery could have been a motive in the killings.

“We couldn’t find any passports or anything,” he said. “Nothing was left behind.”

Associated Press