Australia to tax worst polluters

Australia to tax worst polluters

sydney

Australia will force its 500 worst polluters to pay $25 for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit, with the government promising to compensate households hit with higher power bills under a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions unveiled Sunday.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard sought to reassure wary Australians that the deeply unpopular carbon tax will only cause a minority of households to pay more and insisted it is critical to helping the country lower its massive carbon emissions.

Australia is one of the world’s worst greenhouse- gas polluters, due to its heavy reliance on coal for electricity.

Eurozone set for a busy summer

brussels

The eurozone’s hope that it could enjoy a summer lull in its crisis has vanished as quickly as it appeared.

Last week, it seemed all sides would get a time out. Greece had avoided a default on its huge debts.

Banks had agreed to roll over their holdings in Greek bonds, and finance ministers signaled that a second bailout would be agreed — though not before the autumn.

But while few observers believed that Europe’s crippling debt crisis had been resolved, the good mood was shattered after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s warned that the banks’ plan to contribute to a new Greek rescue package would likely cause a default.

China’s trade growth slowed more in June

beijing

China’s import growth decelerated further in June as the world’s second-largest economy cooled, widening its trade surplus to $22.2 billion, data released Sunday showed.

Import growth fell to 19.3 percent, down sharply from May’s 28.4 percent. Exports set a record of $161.9 billion but growth eased to 17.9 percent from May’s 19.4 percent amid Europe’s debt crisis and a sluggish U.S. expansion.

China’s demand for factory machinery, iron ore and other imports has eased as Beijing tightens controls to cool an overheated economy.

That could hamper a global recovery because the United States, Europe and other economies were counting on relatively robust Chinese growth to drive demand.

US gas prices down a penny in 2 weeks

camarillo, calif.

The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has dropped about a penny in the past two weeks.

That’s according to the Lundberg Survey of fuel prices, released Sunday, which puts the price of a gallon of regular at $3.62.

Midgrade costs an average of $3.76 a gallon and premium was at $3.98.

Diesel was up about a nickel, to $3.95 a gallon.

Of the cities surveyed, Phoenix had the nation’s lowest average price for gas at $3.30. Chicago had the highest at $4.03.

Vindicator wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .62, 22.49 —.10

Avalon Holdings,2.6301—.06

Clear Channel, .63 58.52 .51

Cortland Bancorp, 7.20.05

Farmers Nat., .12, 4.90 —.03

First Energy, 2.20, 44.64—.02

FirstMerit Corp., .64,16.885 —.23

First Niles Financial, .32,7.17.00

First Place Fin., 1.29—.01

FNB Corp., .48,10.39—.22

General Motors,31.58—.22

General Electric, .60,18.99—.31

Motors Liquidation, .0422.00

Huntington Bank, .04, 6.53—.21

JP Morgan Chase, 1.00,40.74—.58

Key Corp, .12,8.26—.12

LaFarge, 14.62 —.30

Macy’s, .40, 30.42—.04

Parker Hannifin, 1.48, 89.27—.85

PNC, 1.40,59.83—.76

RTI Intl. Metals,37.89—.57

Simon Prop. Grp.,3.20,121.17—.41

Stoneridge 15.33 .03

United Community Fin. 1.33.03

Selected prices at 4 p.m. Friday. Provided by Stifel Nicolaus. Not to be construed as an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.