Google in goo over taxes

Google faces £24m British tax bill over staff share scheme routed through Ireland - Technology Industry News | Market & Trends | The Irish Times - Mon, Jan 06, 2014: "Google is expected to be hit with a British tax bill of at least £24 million (€29 million) after a review by revenue officials of a staff share scheme that was routed through its Irish operations.
A recent rule change by HMRC, the British revenue commissioners, could similarly affect Facebook and Apple, who also have their European headquarters in Ireland.
Google has made a provision for the expected tax bill in the accounts of its UK operation, which have been under scrutiny by British tax officials since 2010, according to a report in yesterday’s Sunday Times.
The internet giant, which employs close to 3,000 staff in Dublin, awards shares in the company to its 2,000 UK staff each year. Google paid £51 million to staff under the scheme in 2011 and £50 million in 2012."

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Trash talk heats up - The Hindu

Trash talk heats up - The Hindu: "Reclaim Our Beaches, a non-profit student initiative has been looking at waste management issues for a long time. In 2010, the group conducted a Spatial Mapping of Chennai’s beaches along with Transparent Chennai, where they mapped how much trash different parts of Elliot’s Beach received at different points of time. To help with locations for trash bins, they also had a heat map containing a point density algorithm to show the most concentrations of trash. In 2012, they released ‘The Adyar River Estuary Waste Audit Report’ and found that the estuary contained 663 unique products belonging to 11 different categories like food and drink, household etc. About 85 per cent of these products were packaged in plastic or silver foil. “Beach clean-ups are a superficial way to deal with waste management,” says Siddharth Hande, co-founder, ROB. “This is a much larger problem because there is garbage not just because of littering but because a lot of the garbage is not eco-friendly. This is not just about waste but about what it has and where it is coming from.”"

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The vast gap between the Discovery CEO and the Bangladesh worker

Discovery CEO Stands to Make $110 Million in 2014 Pay - Bloomberg: "Discovery Communications Inc. (DISCA) Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav stands to make more than $110 million in compensation in 2014, the first year of a new contract that keeps him at the cable-network giant through 2019.

Including salary of $3 million, $6.6 million in potential bonuses and more than 1 million performance-based restricted stock units, Zaslav’s compensation would reach about $110.1 million this year, based on the value of the shares at today’s close. "


Bangladesh’s Poor Left Struggling as Power Fight Risks Gains - Bloomberg: "Standing on a dusty road in Bangladesh’s capital, Tanjila Begum weighed her options for getting to work at a garment factory as a planned political rally to scrap a Jan. 5 election kept buses off the streets.

For a moment, she considered walking 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) to avoid taking a rickshaw for 40 takas ($0.51), four times more than a bus ride and about 20 percent her average daily wage. In the end, Begum shelled out the cash, as she risked being docked a day’s pay if she arrived late.

“People like me suffer the most from this political unrest,” she said from her home in Rampura, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Dhaka, recalling her ordeal on Dec. 29. “I cannot stay home. I need food, and for that, I need money.”"

THings are heating up, as far as global temperature is concerned

Global temperatures to rise at least 4°C by 2100 | Science Recorder: "According to a December 31 news release from the University of New South Wales, scientists estimate that by 2100, global average temperatures will rise at least 4 degrees Celsius if carbon dioxide emissions are not scaled back.  Additionally, researchers say that the continued increase in global average temperatures will result in an additional 4 degrees Celsius by 2200. "

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