Vodafone plans war with India over new taxes April 17, 2012 VODAFONE yesterday threatened the Indian government with international arbitration, warning that it will not go down without a fight over the country’s proposed retrospective tax. The telecoms giant served the Indian government with a Notice of Dispute via Vodafone’s Dutch subsidiary, which has a bilateral investment treaty with India. Vodafone said that India’s retrospective tax [...]
While the candidates play at Prince Charming their ugly sisters fling mud May 23, 2012 IN A Magnificent Catastrophe, Edward J. Larson documents America’s first truly competitive presidential election campaign, a most brutal affair in 1800 between President John Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson. It had it all, the vicious anonymous attacks, accusations of unpatriotic behaviour, and smears about religious faith. How things have changed. Two years ago, the [...]
Obama’s conversion to gay marriage will only help him if it’s principled May 16, 2012 NEWSWEEK’S latest cover proclaims “The First Gay President,” with a picture of President Barack Obama wearing a rainbow halo. Obama’s support for gay marriage is a first for a sitting president, a fact his allies in the press have lauded for the past week. David Cameron, who’s championed marriage without receiving similar plaudits, could only [...]
Churchill Mining seeks $2bn in coal dispute with Indonesians April 12, 2012 CHURCHILL Mining is heading to an international court of arbitration in May to fight for $2bn (£1.25bn) compensation in a dispute over an Indonesian mine that has one of the world’s biggest undeveloped coal reserves. Last week, Indonesia’s supreme court moved to reject an appeal by Churchill Mining which has been fighting Indonesia’s Nusantara Group [...]
Vedanta hit by a slowdown in iron ore output April 10, 2012 MINER Vedanta yesterday posted a drop in full-year iron ore output, hit by a ban on mining in a southern Indian state where it has major operations. The FTSE 100 listed company said its iron ore production over the year to the end of March fell to 13.8m tonnes compared with 18.8m a year ago, [...]
Solicitor loses appeal over retirement age April 25, 2012 EMPLOYERS can force the retirement of older staff if they are able to prove it is in the interests of the wider workforce, according to a landmark Supreme Court ruling yesterday. Five judges rejected an appeal by Leslie Seldon, a former partner at a Kent law firm, who had claimed he suffered age discrimination when [...]
Essar receives demand for $1.2bn in tax case January 31, 2012 INDIAN energy firm Essar Energy was yesterday landed with a bill for $1.235bn (£759m) in sales tax it owes to its government. The firm received a demand notice from the tax authorities following a decision by the Supreme Court of India over the repayment of deferred sales tax by its subsidiary Essar Oil. The company [...]
News Corp cash in spotlight February 15, 2012 CASH payments totalling six figures are suspected to have reached the pockets of public officials, in light of evidence which suggests ten of thousands of pounds were spent each year by News Corp journalists in the UK to keep police officers and other civil servants on retainers. “This is not about sources or expenses,” a [...]
Ruling to waive Vodafone’s tax bill is appealed February 20, 2012 VODAFONE’s Indian tax case has reared its head from the coffin it was laid in last month as the country’s income tax department has lodged an appeal against the waiver of a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) tax bill. India’s Supreme Court ruled last month that Vodafone was not required to pay tax on its $11bn acquisition in [...]
The jury’s out on whether Obama’s health bill is too bitter a pill to swallow March 28, 2012 THIS week, two years after President Barack Obama signed his US health reforms, known as Obamacare, into law, the central tenet of the legislation, whether the federal government can compel uninsured individuals to purchase private health insurance, came before the Supreme Court. The administration claims that the so-called “individual mandate” is legal under terms of [...]