A European Union official threatened to sanction Panama and other nations if they don’t cooperate fully to fight money laundering and tax evasion, after a leak of data showed the small country remains a key destination for people who want to hide money.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he and his wife Samantha owned shares in an offshore trust set up by his late father, before selling them for £30,000 in 2010. The PM has faced questions over Blairmore Holdings, an offshore company set up by his late father, Ian, and finally on Thursday he old ITV News he had paid all UK taxes due on the profits he made from the sale of the shares and said the firm had not been set up to avoid tax.
Uruguay Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa is scheduled to begin this Friday in Brussels what is believed to be the last round of talks with the European Union to reach a wide ranging cooperation and trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.
The Irish Farmers' Association has described an European Union offer to allow limited access to the EU market for Mercosur beef producers as “unfair”. The offer, which includes beef producers in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, is about to be presented to European Union member states for discussion, ahead of a proposed formal exchange of offers as part of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations in May.
The FAO Food Price Index for March rose by 1.0% compared to February, as soaring sugar prices and continued increase in palm oil quotations more than offset plunging dairy product prices. The Index averaged 151.0 points in March, its highest level in 2016, but still some 12.0% below its level of a year earlier.
World cereal production in 2016 is set to amount to 2 521 million tons, just 0.2% off last year's large output and the third-highest global performance on record, according to FAO's first forecast for the new season, released on Thursday. Large inventory levels and relatively sluggish global demand mean that market conditions for staple food grains appear stable for at least another season, the agency's latest Cereal Supply and Demand Brief predicts.
A UK member of Parliament has come out strongly in support of the British Overseas Territories praising their economic success and the right of their peoples to govern and decide their own future. MP Andrew Rosindell, Chairman of the BOT and Crown Dependencies all party Parliamentary groups described suggestions from some senior figures in Westminster calling for 'direct rule' over BOT's as unnecessary and unjust, based on a complete misunderstanding of the situation.
Uruguay's Juan Pedro Damiani has resigned from FIFA's ethics committee after the Panama Papers showed his law firm acted as an intermediary for a disgraced FIFA official.We can confirm that Mr. Damiani resigned from his position as member of the adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee of FIFA, panel spokesman Marc Tenbuecken reported. The news was advanced by the Uruguayan media.
FIFA's Gianni Infantino says he is “dismayed” that his integrity is being doubted after he was revealed to have signed off a TV rights contract with two businessmen who were later indicted in the U.S. for bribery in FIFA’s corruption scandal.
French shipyard STX has secured an order for up to four more ships from MSC Cruises, in a 3.6 billion-Euro (US$4.1 billion) deal announced on Wednesday. MSC Cruises, part of privately owned shipping group MSC, has in recent years been the main customer for STX France, which is based at the Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire.