Luxembourg stunned by amount of leaked tax deals |
- Luxembourg stunned by amount of leaked tax deals
- Mancini returns as Inter Milan coach after Mazzarri sacking
- Rooney is an England ‘great’, says Hodgson
- US study shows fastfood chains targeting black kids
- US Marshals track fugitives using fake cell towers (VIDEO)
- Next Media Video: US Marshals use planes with fake cell towers to scan citizens’ phones
| Luxembourg stunned by amount of leaked tax deals Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:32 PM PST
The publication of a "tsunami" of more than 500 so-called tax rulings executed by the government between 2002 and 2010 "totally astonished" Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna, he told journalists at a briefing yesterday in Luxembourg. "This was an attack on our country like it has never seen before," Gramegna said at the briefing with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. "Not for one second did I know that documents would be leaked and that as a government we would have to answer for what happened in the past." More than 340 companies have transferred profits to Luxembourg using complicated tax arrangements, according to leaked documents published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on Nov. 5. The report, which reviewed almost 28,000 pages of confidential tax deals and identifies companies such as PepsiCo Inc, Ikea Group and FedEx Corp, said some corporations effectively lowered their tax bill to less than one per cent of profit. Bettel, who took over from Juncker as Luxembourg prime minister last year, said his country is "in the process of disappearing from gray and black lists and enormous efforts are being put into working on the image." 'Finger-pointing' "It's not a coincidence that until now, no high-ranking foreign politician has spoken out against the Grand Duchy," said Bettel. "Finger-pointing against one another is in my view not the right approach." Juncker, who was Luxembourg's prime minister for almost 19 years and took over as commission president on Nov. 1, yesterday ended almost a week of silence since the publication of the documents about tax arrangements done while he led the country. He had no involvement as finance or prime minister, Juncker said at a press conference in Brussels. "There is nothing in my past indicating that my ambition was to organise tax evasion," Juncker said. While he was not the "architect" of the Luxembourg tax model, he is "politically responsible for what happened in each and every corner of that country," Juncker said. Back in his days as Luxembourg's prime and finance minister, Juncker said in a speech to his nation's parliament in 2005 that his government planned to make Luxembourg the main address for e-technology, with names such as Amazon.com Inc. already being flagships "for the policy that is being driven by the finance minister and by others." 'Promising contacts' "Promising contacts are also happening with other international players," said Juncker in the 2005 speech. "This promising activity takes place, even if not exclusively, in a favourable tax environment that we have created here in Luxembourg." Luxembourg, with a population of just under 550,000, is among countries being probed by the European Commission for tax deals that may have violated the 28-nation bloc's state-aid rules. Firms named so far include Amazon and Fiat Finance & Trade in Luxembourg, Starbucks Corp in the Netherlands and Apple Inc in Ireland. New EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a former economy minister of Denmark, said last week that while "tax rulings as such" are a common practice, they may be illegal if authorities "accept that a tax base of a specific company is calculated in a favourable way." Taxation system Luxembourg in April filed two challenges at the EU General Court against the commission's requests for information on tax rulings and on the country's taxation system for income from intellectual property. The ICIJ project was reported by news organisations including the Guardian, Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Le Monde. Amid a global push to fight tax evasion and tax fraud, Luxembourg last year decided to abandon its long practice of offering bank secrecy and switch to a system of automatic exchange of tax information from Jan. 1, 2015. — Bloomberg  |
| Mancini returns as Inter Milan coach after Mazzarri sacking Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:30 PM PST
Walter Mazzarri was earlier sacked after a string of poor results left Inter ninth in the table, 12 points behind leaders Juventus. "Welcome back to our new coach, together we will return Inter to being one of the top clubs in Europe," club president Erick Thohir said in a club statement. Former successful Napoli coach Mazzarri, who took over from Andrea Stramaccioni at Inter in May 2013, had come under immense pressure of late and the club's new Indonesian owners have decided to act. Bringing back a crowd favourite in Mancini will help the hierarchy curry favour with supporters uninspired by last year's takeover, especially given the 49-year-old's first match in charge will be the Milan derby on November 23. Mancini, who left Turkish side Galatasaray at the end of last season, had a hugely successful spell in charge of Inter from 2004 to 2008, winning three league titles and two Italian Cups before moving to Manchester City. He won the FA Cup and Premier League with the English club. Mancini will be presented today with media reports saying he has signed a deal until 2017. He surprisingly quit Inter in March 2008 after a Champions League defeat by Liverpool. He changed his mind but then-president Massimo Moratti had already decided to install Jose Mourinho as the new coach for the next season. The Portuguese went on to win an unprecedented Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia treble in 2010 but when he quit for Real Madrid, Inter went into a downward spiral. Fans will hope Mancini can do what he did last time when he won the club's first trophy in seven years before dominating Serie A during Juventus's demotion for match-fixing. — Reuters |
| Rooney is an England ‘great’, says Hodgson Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:16 PM PST
The Manchester United striker is set to win his 100th cap against Slovenia in a Euro 2016 qualifier today, adding his name to an elite group of eight other players who have made a century of England appearances. Yet the milestone has been accompanied by debate in British media about whether the forward, who has frequently struggled to produce his best form in major tournaments, can be bracketed among England's best. "It is very difficult to summarise in just a few words what makes someone such a great England player that they can amass 100 caps," Hodgson told a news conference yesterday. "It is ability but also mental strength and the ability to pick yourself up sometimes when you come under scrutiny and, secondly, an enormous passion to play for your country. "They take the criticism and the scrutiny, they show the mental strength to come back stronger than ever. "Any player that has played 100 times for England deserves the label 'great'," he added. Great honour Rooney began his international career in 2003 and now sits six goals off Bobby Charlton's all-time England scoring record of 49 goals. Yet after failing to score in a major tournament between Euro 2004 and a 1-0 win over Ukraine in Euro 2012, he developed a reputation for flattering to deceive on the big occasions. Sitting alongside his manager, the striker said he has had to take the rough with the smooth, but still hoped to make an impact on the international stage. "There have been some good and bad moments," he said. "It is something I have really enjoyed. It is always a great honour to play for England and something I want to continue doing for many more years. "The goal is to win trophies but to join the group of players who have won 100 caps is something I'm very proud of. "I think I can achieve plenty more," he added. "It is just about trying to do what I can to help get the team the points on the day. If records come as well, then great. I hope I can do it (beat the England scoring record) but it is not something that is on my mind at the moment." England are top of Group E with a maximum nine points. — Reuters |
| US study shows fastfood chains targeting black kids Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:11 PM PST
Researchers at Arizona State University and University of Illinois at Chicago looked at 6,716 fast-food outlets nationwide to check the extent of indoor and outdoor marketing aimed at youngsters. Marketing towards children ranged from free toys to ads featuring sports celebrities and cartoon characters, as well as play areas and promotions for kids' birthday parties. "Majority black communities, rural areas and middle-income communities are disproportionately exposed (to child-directed marketing) and specifically to indoor displays of kids' meal toys, a popular strategy among chain restaurants," the study said. "In light of these findings, it is important to urge the fast-food industry to limit children's exposure to marketing that promotes consumption of unhealthy food choices." The enduring popularity of fast food is widely seen as contributing to an obesity crisis in the United States, where one in three adults are considered obese, according to the Centres for Disease Control. In February, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported a 43 per cent fall in obesity rates among children aged two to five — raising hopes that obesity might be on the wane. — AFP |
| US Marshals track fugitives using fake cell towers (VIDEO) Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:02 PM PST WASHINGTON, Nov 15 ― On Thursday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported the US Marshals Service was using small, fixed-wing Cessnas equipped with so-called "dirtboxes"— receivers that act like cellphone towers — to gather data from citizens' phones below, to aid in tracking fugitives. Sources say the USMS operated these planes from five major airports in the US "covering most of the US population." The devices on the planes can capture unique identifying information from "tens of thousands" of cellphones on the ground. Using that information, federal authorities can pinpoint a cell phone user's location from "within three meters or within a specific room in a building,". The surveillance tactic plays on a basic vulnerability of cell phones in that they're designed to connect to the closest available signal, regardless of how trustworthy it is. While the USMS insists they were going after fugitives and used the technology only under an official warrant, the catch-all devices can store thousands of other phone owner's information at a time. The more densely populated the target area is, the more data the boxes collect, and it's unclear what steps are in place to safeguard innocent people's information. ― Reuters |
| Next Media Video: US Marshals use planes with fake cell towers to scan citizens’ phones Posted: 14 Nov 2014 05:00 PM PST Duration: 00:49, Published 15 Nov 2014 On Thursday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported the US Marshals Service was using small, fixed-wing Cessnas equipped with so-called "dirtboxes"— receivers that act like cellphone towers — to gather data from citizens' phones below, to aid in tracking fugitives. ― Reuters |
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