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Thomas Penny / Bloomberg Google Inc. denied it reached a “sweetheart deal” with British tax authorities as a dispute continued over the 130 million-pound ($185 million) settlement, which was called a victory by the UK Treasury and dismissed as “derisory” by opposition lawmakers. UK Business Secretary SajidJavid separately said the agreement “wasn’t a glorious moment” and he shares “the sense ...

The Hague / AFP Over 10,000 unaccompanied migrant children have disappeared in Europe, the EU police agency Europol said on Sunday, fearing many have been whisked away into sex trafficking rings or the slave trade. Europol’s press office confirmed the figures that were published in British newspaper The Observer, adding that the numbers were for the last 18-24 months. The ...

Khan Yunis / AFP Azza Al Najjar struggles in vain to keep her two-year-old warm by wrapping him in blankets in her prefabricated metal home as a winter storm lashes the Gaza Strip. “The cold increases the suffering of people here,” the 24-year-old mother says. “My son has breathing problems and with the weather his condition has worsened.” The family ...

Damascus / AFP At least 45 people were killed and 110 wounded on Sunday in three bomb blasts near the revered Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab outside the Syrian capital Damascus, state media said. State news agency SANA said the first blast was caused by a car bomb that detonated at a bus station near the shrine. It said two ...

Geneva / AFP The Syrian peace talks, which got off to a start of sorts this weekend, are meant to be a uniquely Syrian affair. But in reality there is a host of outside interests also at the table, in spirit at least. What began as a popular revolt against the authoritarian rule of President Bashar Al Assad in March ...

Woodrow Wilson, who enjoyed moralizing about the mundane, called paying taxes a “glorious privilege.” In 1865, when there was a Civil War income tax, one taxpayer shared this sensibility, sort of. Mark Twain said that his tax bill of $36.82 (including a $3.12 fine for filing late) made him feel “important” because the government was paying attention to him. Today, ...

“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” As China appears set to acquire the Greek port of Piraeus, this timeless adage seems to be making its way from the Balkan peninsula to the gates of Beijing. Barely a week has passed since Athens accepted COSCO’s €370 million offer to acquire 67 percent of the Piraeus Port Authority that a new dispute that ...

US real gross domestic product grew at a 0.7 percent annualised pace in the fourth quarter of 2015, the government announced. Now, forget that number. It is the “advance estimate,” and the Bureau of Economic Analysis will revise it again and again over the coming months and years. These revisions tend to be especially big at points where the economy ...

As the market volatility and economic uncertainty persists, the UAE Cabinet held a retreat on post-oil phase. The meeting discussed ways to diversify the country’s economy while ensuring sustainability. Sustainable economic diversification is vital for economic prosperity. Any development that is not sustainable will not bring about long-term growth. Resources and expertise will have to be used in an innovative ...

Kuala Lumpur / EMIRATES BUSINESS Islamic finance is complementary to and a major enabler of making responsible investing more ubiquitous across emerging markets – and Asia is leading the way – but integrated reporting and governance remains gap for many investors. To attract long-term capital, many companies in Asia are becoming more aware of how investors integrate Environmental, Social & ...