Mainstream News

Amazon’s billion-dollar tax shield

"By setting up in Luxembourg, and channelling sales through its units there, the world's biggest online retailer could minimise corporate taxes. It was a move with big financial consequences. Amazon's Luxembourg arrangements have deprived European governments of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax that it might otherwise have owed, as reported in European newspapers. But a Reuters examination of accounts filed by 25 Amazon units in six countries shows how they also allowed the company to avoid paying more tax in the United States, where the company is based." Continue reading →

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Google Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion

"Google Inc. (GOOG) avoided about $2 billion in worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting $9.8 billion in revenues into a Bermuda shell company, almost double the total from three years before, filings show. By legally funneling profits from overseas subsidiaries into Bermuda, which doesn’t have a corporate income tax, Google cut its overall tax rate almost in half. The amount moved to Bermuda is equivalent to about 80 percent of Google’s total pretax profit in 2011. Governments in France, the U.K., Italy and Australia are probing Google’s tax avoidance as they seek to boost revenue during economic doldrums." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion

Canada to privatize its medical marijuana industry, ban personal growing

"Canada’s Conservative government will soon stop producing and distributing medical marijuana, leaving it up to the private sector in a policy change that angered critics on Monday. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Ottawa would no longer produce and distribute marijuana for medical purposes. Instead, companies will be licenced to grow and sell the product at market rates. Patients with a prescription from a doctor starting in March 2013 will be allowed to purchase a variety of strains of marijuana from licensed producers, who will set prices. Also individuals will no longer be permitted to grow marijuana in their homes for their own personal use." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCanada to privatize its medical marijuana industry, ban personal growing

Russia to vote on banning U.S. adoptions

"The Russian parliament will vote this week on a bill banning adoption of Russian children by Americans, in retaliation to the Magnitsky Act passed by the United States last week, lawmakers said Monday. Ahead of the key second reading scheduled for Wednesday, lawmakers added to the text of the bill new clauses banning adoptions of Russian children by US nationals, according to opposition lawmaker Dmitry Gudkov, who posted a copy of the amended bill online. The amended bill would also order the closure of US adoption agencies in Russia." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussia to vote on banning U.S. adoptions

Mexico to create new national police force to fight drug cartels

"Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the creation of a national police force to crack down on crime and battle the country’s powerful drug cartels. The force — a gendarmerie based on the model of Spain’s Guardia Civil — would be 10,000 strong. Currently Mexico has a patchwork of city and state police, along with some national police. Pena Nieto also said he was allocating $8.8 billion for social programs aimed at preventing crime. Pena Nieto, 46, is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the party that ran Mexico for 71 years ending in 2000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMexico to create new national police force to fight drug cartels

Health Insurers Will Be Charged 3.5% to Use Federal Obamacare Exchanges

"The Obama administration said Friday that it would charge insurance companies for the privilege of selling health insurance to millions of Americans in new online markets run by the federal government. The cost of these 'user fees' can be passed on to consumers. The proposed fees could add 3.5 percent to premiums for private health plans sold in insurance exchanges operated by the federal government. Indeed, it now appears that federal officials could be running the exchanges — alone or in partnership with local officials — in more than half the states." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHealth Insurers Will Be Charged 3.5% to Use Federal Obamacare Exchanges

Bloomberg: Smart Money Is on Geithner to Replace Bernanke

"Geithner was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2003 to 2009, the critical years leading up to and including the financial crisis. He has never worked on Wall Street. By design, the New York Fed has traditionally been the most powerful of the Federal Reserve banks, because of its proximity to the powerful Wall Street banks that it regulates. And Geithner played a major role, along with Bernanke and then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in the bailouts of Bear Stearns Cos., Merrill Lynch, American International Group Inc. (AIG) and in the decision to allow Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to go bankrupt." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBloomberg: Smart Money Is on Geithner to Replace Bernanke

Japan’s Shinzo Abe prepares to print money for the whole world

"Mr Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won a landslide victory on Sunday, securing a two-thirds 'super-majority' in the Diet with allies that can override senate vetoes. Mr Abe said he would 'set a policy accord' with the Bank of Japan for a mandatory inflation target of 2pc, backed by 'unlimited' monetary stimulus. 'It's very rare for monetary policy to be the focus of an election. We campaigned on the need to beat deflation, and our argument has won strong support. I hope the Bank of Japan accepts the results and takes an appropriate decision,' he said. He has already threatened to change the Bank of Japan’s governing law if it refuses to comply." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan’s Shinzo Abe prepares to print money for the whole world

Study: Wind blew deadly gas to U.S. troops in Gulf War

"U.S. bombings of Iraqi munitions factories in January 1991 released a plume of sarin gas that traveled more than 300 miles to affect American troops in Saudi Arabia, although military officials claimed at the time that chemical alarms triggered by the gas were false. The Jan. 18, 1991, bombings of the munitions plants in Nasiriyah and Khamisiya blew a plume of sarin gas high above a layer of cold, still air and into a swift wind stream that carried the gas to Saudi Arabia. The gas plumes, the researchers said, can be blamed for symptoms of Gulf War illness, the mysterious ailment that has affected more than 250,000 veterans of the war." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudy: Wind blew deadly gas to U.S. troops in Gulf War

IRS looking at Lindsay Lohan’s cash appearance payments

"The night she was arrested outside Club Avenue, Lohan was reportedly searching for her sister’s purse because it contained $10,000 in cash. On Monday, it was revealed that the troubled actress had all of her bank accounts seized by the IRS because she owed in excess of $200,000. And while Lohan remains in serious trouble with the state of California, given that last week charges were filed against her for lying to police the same day she was arrested on assault charges in New York City, we’re told her IRS problems could ultimately prove to be Lohan's undoing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS looking at Lindsay Lohan’s cash appearance payments