---

The most significant changes in yesterday's Budget were in the provision of social housing.

Private sector groups will be allowed to replace Housing New Zealand as providers of social housing.

Their tenants will receive the same taxpayer subsidies as state housing tenants, who pay no more than 25 per cent of their incomes in rent.

The Government will pay the rest of the rent to the private providers, who will also be helped to buy houses for their portfolios.

The Government has agreed to develop a warrant of fitness scheme to require rental housing to be warm, dry and safe.

Dr Wills welcomed the warrant of fitness scheme but urged the Government to extend it to private rentals.

"Given that two-thirds of children in poverty living in rented housing are in private rental homes, I look forward to hearing Government's plans to improve the standard of private rental accommodation," he said.

Housing Minister Nick Smith said he was starting with Housing NZ because the Government "needs to get its own house in order" first.

"It is also intended that the Housing WoF will then be extended to other social housing providers," he said.

"The WoF may be further extended to other rental property where the Government is providing a housing subsidy."

The scheme will complement insulation subsidies which have helped to insulate 215,000 homes since 2009.

The Budget extends that scheme past its current expiry in September, but with funding cut from $70 million to $33 million a year for the next two years and $27.5 million in the last year until the scheme expires in June 2016.

---

---

The Government is still on track to have a surplus by June 2015 - but it is still forecast to be a small one, $75 million. Net debt by then would be about $70 billion. Mr English described his set of books as "a remarkable turnaround", going from a record deficit of $18.39 billion three budgets ago to a forecast $75 million surplus in the next one.

---

---

"On our bus tours the local Tea Party groups were all screaming about it. It was so pronounced around the country that it was obvious that the tea party groups were being targeted. Not unlike any bureaucracy, the first reaction is to deny everything even when they don't know the facts," Russo told ABC News, saying he is "glad they finally acknowledged what was obvious to everyone else."

"We appreciate that the IRS acknowledged and apologized, but the real question is, how do we make sure that this never happens again? All Americans, regardless of their philosophical beliefs, should be treated equally under the laws of the land," said Jackie Bodnar, spokeswoman for the tax-exempt tea-party group FreedomWorks.

"The fact that Americans were targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs is unconscionable. The committee will aggressively follow up on the IG report and hold responsible officials accountable for this political retaliation," Issa said in a statement.
"The IRS cannot target or intimidate any individual or organization based on their political beliefs. The House will investigate this matter," Cantor said.

---

---

"This timeline reveals at least two extremely unethical actions by the IRS. One, as early as 2010, they targeted groups for political purposes. Two, they willfully and knowingly lied to Congress for years despite being aware that Congress was investigating this practice," Boustany said

---

---

...29 percent of Americans think that an armed revolution in order to protect liberties might be necessary in the next few years, with another five percent unsure. However, these beliefs are conditional on party. Just 18 percent of Democrats think an armed revolution may be necessary, as opposed to 44 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of independents.

---

---

Detroit may run out of cash next month and must cut long-term debt and retiree obligations...the cost of US$9.4-billion in bond, pension and other long-term liabilities is sapping the ability to provide public safety and transportation...Detroit’s long-term obligations are at least US$15.7-billion, including unfunded pension and retirement benefits. The general fund this fiscal year, with revenue of about US$1.1-billion, will pay about US$461-million for debt and health costs...All the city’s revenue couldn’t pay off its debt in 20 years...

---

---

Professor Stephen Hawking is backing the academic boycott of Israel by pulling out of a conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem as a protest at Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
Hawking, 71, the world-renowned theoretical physicist and former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, had accepted an invitation to headline the fifth annual president's conference, Facing Tomorrow, in June, which features major international personalities, attracts thousands of participants and this year will celebrate Peres's 90th birthday.
Hawking is in very poor health, but last week he wrote a brief letter to the Israeli president to say he had changed his mind. He has not announced his decision publicly, but a statement published by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine with Hawking's approval described it as "his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there".
Hawking's decision marks another victory in the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions targeting Israeli academic institutions.

---