US Coast Guard rescue three people and dog from life raft after radio beacon directs ships to location amid poor visibility A British sailor said that he had "prepared to die" after his boat sank hundreds of miles off the coast of Bermuda. Two others who were rescued from a life raft along with a dog after his sailboat sank in a storm hundreds of miles off the coast of Bermuda has said that...
Britain's overseas territories accused of being tax havens are progressing quickly towards G20 goals on fiscal transparency Britain's overseas territories are not often in the international political limelight but when world leaders meet in Pittsburgh for the G20 meeting, places as diverse as the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, Anguilla and Gibraltar will almost certainly be...
They destroyed the livelihood of millions with their greed but feel no shame. Now they're even less trusted than journalists - and that's saying something Despite the hard times we are living through, journalists can at least take comfort from one thing: we have risen just a little in public esteem. For as long as I can remember, we shared with estate agents the shame of being in the least trusted...
Wealthy savers to benefit from HMRC deal with Liechtenstein Wealthy savers who use offshore bank accounts could dodge thousands of pounds in unpaid tax despite missing a tax amnesty deadline if they shift their money to Liechtenstein, according to a firm of accountants . PKF said rich savers who failed to meet Monday's deadline could still declare their offshore accounts to the tax authorities and...
A 12.5% corporate tax is supposedly critical to keeping multinationals in Ireland - yet Google pays 20% there Google Ireland's 2009 accounts in full (pdf) WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell revealed on Thursday that he was probably going to return the firm's tax base to the UK , three years after it moved to Dublin in an apparent bid to profit from Ireland's controversial low corporate tax rate....
t risk downsizing bloated civil service Although Malaysia faces a possible credit rating downgrade prime minister Najib Razak will take care not to upset the country's majority ethnic group – Malays – by downsizing the civil service when he presents the annual budget this month. Malays dominate the civil service, which has jobs for life and cheap access to loans. Its wage bill accounts for a third...
s maximum sustained winds were near 80 mph (130 kph) and the US National Hurricane Center said it could gain more strength before a weakening trend likely starts, with the storm still far from land. It was centered about 340 miles (550 kilometers) west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands and was moving north at 9 mph (15 kph). In Bermuda, meanwhile, Gabrielle caused several power outages overnight,...
Humberto becomes first Atlantic hurricane of the 2013 season after strengthening north-west of Cape Verde islands Tropical storm Humberto has strengthened to a category 1 hurricane far out in the Atlantic, becoming the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Humberto's maximum sustained winds early on Wednesday were almost 75mph (120kph). The US National Hurricane Centre said the hurricane could gain...
We only buried a shell of a person,' says wife as inquest hears man's brain and kidney have never been found The organs of a British man who died in Bermuda were removed without the consent or knowledge of his family - and have never been found, an inquest heard on Tuesday. Norman Palmer, 57, died in a hospital on the island after suffering respiratory problems. When his body was repatriated to his...
s history, found dead in Bermuda The largest ever donor to Oxford University and "extraordinary intellect" Dr James Martin has died, the university has confirmed. The body of 79-year-old British-born Martin was found by a kayaker on Monday floating off the coast of Agar's Island in Bermuda where he lived, according to local reports. A police spokesman told the Bermuda Sun officers were investigating...
s trying to crack down on tax havens is a bad joke. Consider this from a recent white paper on the future of Britain's overseas territories : the UK's parliament has "unlimited power to legislate for all its overseas territories and crown dependencies". The unvarnished truth is clear. If David Cameron wanted to, he could force Bermuda to fall into line and simultaneously put Britain...
s G8 agenda to close down cross-border tax evasion dealt blow by Bermuda prime minister Craig Cannonier David Cameron's G8 agenda to close down cross-border tax evasion is under threat after the premier of Bermuda, a UK overseas territory, said he would not sign up this weekend to a multilateral agreement on the sharing of tax information. Campaign groups called on Cameron to use his constitutional...
get our own houses in order' before G8 summit in June, where he claims tax avoidance will be a priority David Cameron has written to the leaders of Britain's offshore tax havens stressing the need to "get our own houses in order" as he pushes for international action to tackle avoidance schemes. In a message to 10 crown dependencies and British overseas territories Cameron said he backed their right...
s 100 biggest public companies are running more than 8,000 subsidiaries or joint ventures in onshore and offshore tax havens, according to research published on Monday, raising fresh concerns about the full extent of corporate tax avoidance. The figures, published by the charity ActionAid, show that only two of the companies listed on the UK's FTSE 100 have no subsidiaries in tax havens – while companies...
s strategy on global tax transparency. In a statement, the Treasury said that Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands have agreed to much greater levels of transparency of bank accounts held in those jurisdictions, following on from a similar agreement signed by the Cayman Islands. They have agreed to automatically share information bilaterally with...
safety is the priority in these situations, but we apologise to everyone on board for the inconvenience this has caused them." Investigators are understood to be looking into reports that smoke was seen coming from a passenger...
s European base in Dublin and complex arrangements whereby its earnings, royalties and profits are shuttled between Ireland, Bermuda and the Netherlands. The US Internal Revenue Service has given those arrangements its blessing, but they are coming under ever-greater scrutiny in Europe. Tax authorities in Britain and France are already looking into Google's affairs and those of other big internet players....
mysterious navigation system off course The fascinating question of how homing pigeons navigate so successfully has been raised again by the failure of 219 birds to get safely back to Scotland after a mass release at the weekend. Only 13 of the original release at Thirsk on the plain of York on Saturday returned to Galashiels, causing a fresh crop of headlines about the supposed 'Bermuda Triangle...
Police say George Fergusson, new governor of Bermuda, left blind in left eye after attack in Hammersmith graveyard A senior British diplomat mugged while walking through a cemetery has lost the sight of one eye, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has confirmed. George Fergusson, the newly appointed governor of Bermuda was set upon in Hammersmith cemetery, west London, on Friday night. After the attack,...
s wife spotted it first. She was learning about the slave life of Mary Prince, and the triumphs that led to Prince being one of the very first black women to publish a book in England – a shocking depiction of that life – when she noticed a connection. One of the most cruel slavers was called Ingham. Weren't your slaver ancestors called Ingham, she asked her husband? Some would have laughed it off,...