Published: 16 June 2013

Tax evasion and banking secrecy, hot topics and top targets because of the financial crises and austerity, could be the focus of strong statements at the G8 meeting this week.

The British government, organising the meeting in Northern Ireland, has promised big developments on the basis of substantial progress recently in clamping down on evasion and bursting bank secrecy.

But many observers from civic bodies are pessimistic and say that the summit on Monday and Tuesday will amount to a lost opportunity despite the public outrage over recent brazen cases at a time of tax rises and budget cuts.

The tightening up of tax systems across borders, and opening up information on how businesses do their accounting across borders, are two of the burning issues for Britain which is currently chairing the G8 (Group of Eight) leading countries.

The G8 comprises the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Britain, Italy and Russia.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has prepared the way for the summit of heads and state and government by stating the "ambition" that the meeting at Lough Erne will "knock down the walls of banking secrecy" with "concrete measures".

French President Francois Hollande, badly bruised by a recent scandal involving an admission by his budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, also responsible for fighting tax evasion, that he had hidden money abroad, has said: "Tax havens must be eradicated in Europe and throughout the world."

The climate has turned strongly in favour of tough action: pressure on these two fronts, which seemed to have eased after progress in 2009, is again at a high pitch.

First, a new law in the United States, called Fatca, obliges all banks to provide US authorities with all information they hold concerning all assets owned by US taxpayers.

Meanwhile, revelations by journalists, known as "Offshore Leaks", have further strengthened the perception that no bank account can be considered secret and that hidden funds are liable to exposure.

The consequence of this is that the gates of some strongholds of banking secrecy, such as Switzerland, are beginning to give way.

The European Union, in which some countries have arrangements considered favourable to those seeking to dissimulate funds, seems to be overcoming internal divisions and trying to catch up with the United States, even though Austria and Luxembourg still show some reticence.

The G8 leaders are expected to make strong statements calling for a "truly global system of multinational information exchange", according to a draft final statement. But concrete measures appear unlikely.

Cameron has opened a second front to combat strategies by multinational companies to avoid paying tax via transfer pricing and other techniques to generate costs in high-tax countries and profits in low-tax countries or tax havens.

ublic opinion in several countries, already inflamed by stories of tax evasion and tax avoidance at a time of austerity, has been roused further by revelations in the United States and Europe that international brands such as Starbucks, Google, Amazon and Apple, pay little tax in countries where they have high-volume business.

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Published: 16 June 2013

A wave of car bombs in several cities south of Baghdad on Sunday killed at least 14 people, officials said, as Iraq grapples with a surge in violence that has sparked fears of all-out sectarian war.

The blasts went off during morning rush hour in Kut and Aziziyah, both in Wasit province bordering the capital, while vehicles rigged with explosives were also detonated in the southern cities of Nasiriyah and Basra.

At least 14 people were killed and 44 wounded in the attacks, security and medical officials said.

The deadliest attacks struck in Kut and Aziziyah.

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Published: 12 June 2013

Greece's public TV and radio channels were off the air Wednesday after a shock decision by the government to shut down the state broadcaster's operations with immediate effect, a move affecting nearly 2,700 jobs.

Thousands rushed to the broadcaster's main headquarters in a northern Athens suburb shortly after the announcement Tuesday to show their support.

"ERT is a case of an exceptional lack of transparency and incredible extravagance. This ends now," government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said at a news conference.

His announcement comes after months of work stoppages by ERT employees in opposition to plans to restructure the broadcaster as demanded by debt-laden Greece's troika of international creditors.

Nearly 500 people also gathered outside the organisation's Thessaloniki branch in northern Greece as news editors union Poesy called on private broadcasters to hold an immediate work stoppage in solidarity.

Kedikoglou said the organisation will reopen at a later stage under a new format and with considerably fewer employees.

As screens around the country went black, the corridors of the broadcaster's headquarters were filled with stunned employees, who seemed at a loss, an AFP journalist reported.

"This is a total shock," ERT journalist Pantelis Gonos told AFP.

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Published: 05 June 2013

The European Commission on Wednesday gave Latvia a green light to join the 17-nation eurozone in January, saying the country met the conditions to join the single currency and had successfully overcome its 2008-2009 crisis.

"The Commission concludes that Latvia is ready to adopt the euro in 2014," said a report from the EU executive commending the country's economic management over the last few years.

The report will be handed to the European Parliament and to finance ministers from the 17 nations sharing the currency, who in July will formally hand down a decision on Latvia becoming the 18th member of the euro area.

The Commission said "Latvia has achieved a high degree of sustainable economic convergence with the euro area and proposes that the Council decide on Latvia's adoption of the euro as from 1 January 2014."

The EU said Riga satisfied the economic conditions to join -- in terms of price stability and sound public finances -- and that its national legislation was compatible with the rules of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

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