Archive for July 6th, 2009
Probe ID’s offshore trusts
(Irish Times): Ireland’s Revenue Commissioners’ special inquiry into trusts has already identified 200 trusts and offshore structures that it intends to examine closely. The structures were identified through the examination of banking and other financial information relating to clearing accounts held here by foreign banks, and received as a result of High Court orders. The Revenue said the identified structures are located in Guernsey, Jersey, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Cyprus, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands.
Creationism question ‘misleading’
(BBC): An exam board has scrapped a GCSE biology question about creationism after admitting it could be misleading. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance paper asked pupils how the Bible’s theory of creation seeks to explain the origins of life. AQA stressed that pupils taking its biology GCSE were not required to study creationism as a scientific theory. But it admitted that describing it as a "theory" could be misleading, and said it would review the wording of papers. The review was prompted by a complaint from teachers and a university lecturer.
US, Russia agree nuclear cuts
(BBC): US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have reached an outline agreement to cut back their nations’ stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The "joint understanding" signed in Moscow would see reductions of deployed nuclear warheads to below 1,700 each within seven years of a new treaty. The accord would replace the 1991 Start I treaty, which expires in December. Mr Obama said the two countries were both "committed to leaving behind the suspicion and the rivalry of the past".
Warring judges create chaos in the Cayman Islands
(The Guardian): As a cruise destination, it’s one of the most glamorous around. The Cayman Islands are a byword for Caribbean luxury, and one of the City of London’s favourite tax havens. Yet the British territory, only 20 miles long, is currently embroiled in a scandal that could have come straight from the pages of a comic novel. All the island’s judges have, at some point, been arrested, suspended, or mired in controversy. The police chief has been sacked, and one of Scotland Yard’s most senior officers – John Yates – has flown out to try to sort out the mess. He couldn’t.
The Guardian is one of the UK’s leading quality newspapers, with more than 1.2 million well educated daily readers, according to the most recent National Readership Survey. Guardian readers take a total of 2.6 million holidays per year and spend on average just under £1,000 each time. The NRS reveals that they are 135% more likely than the average adult to earn £40,000 or more and have, on average, £40,000 worth of savings and investments. UK survey’s also reveal more than seven in ten Guardian readers don’t read any other quality daily newspaper.
Honduran army foils Zelaya’s bid to return
(The Guardian): Honduras was in turmoil last night as President Manuel Zelaya attempted to return and topple coup leaders who ousted him, prompting deadly clashes between his supporters and security forces. The president flew from Washington towards home in a high-stakes effort to reclaim power, sparking dramatic scenes at the airport in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, where soldiers and police squared off against thousands of demonstrators. After the interim government refused Zelaya permission to land and parked military vehicles on the runway, he was forced to divert the plane to the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, where it later landed.