Million, Billion, Trillion: Confusions With Numbers

A matter of wide spread confusion it is.
A billion is
109 = 1 000 000 000 in the American system and
1012 = 1 000 000 000 000 in the European system. For 109,
Europeans say "thousand million" or "milliard."
When using "billion" and "trillion" internationally it is necessary to clarify which meaning is intended.
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Note: In this document, 109 means '10 raised to 9' and 1012 means '10 raised to 12'. Unable to find a way to superscribe 9 and 12, I have played with font sizes. Excuse the script error. And if anybody knows how to do this job decently on the blogger, please tell me.
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Some have begun the safe practice of combo using "milliard/billion" to designate 109 (1 000 000 000). Science prefers to use SI prefixes to avoid this confusion. Thus 109 watts is a gigawatt and 1012 joules is a terajoule. Such terms cannot be mistaken.
Due to American money power and volume business that system has gained more popularity even in Europe, especially Britain.
I read somewhere that the Times of London style guide defines "billion" as "one thousand million, not a million million."
Read more on
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/large.html and
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=billion