Starbucks says it may pay more taxes in the UK

11 hrs.

Reuters

LONDON - Coffee chain Starbucks said it was considering changes to its UK tax practices, which allowed it to make billions in revenue while paying little in income taxes, following criticism from lawmakers, tax campaigners and the media.

A Reuters examination of Starbucks accounts published in October showed the company had reported 13 years of losses at its UK unit, even as it told investors the operation was profitable and among the best performing of its overseas markets.

The chain's UK unit paid no corporation tax - a tax on a company's income - in the last three years for which figures are available and has only paid 8.6 million pounds income tax since 1998, despite racking up 3 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) of sales.

The revelations led to calls for a boycott of the store and protests at its branches, and the company's Chief Financial Officer Troy Alstead was called to give evidence to a parliamentary committee.

Starbucks repeated on Sunday that it had always complied with British tax laws and blamed its low tax payments on a tough operating environment in the UK.

However, a spokeswoman added in an emailed statement that the public mood had caused the company to reconsider its tax arrangements, which include intercompany royalty and interest payments that reduce the UK unit's taxable profit.

"We have listened to feedback from our customers and employees, and understand that to maintain and further build public trust we need to do more," she said.

"As part of this we are looking at our tax approach in the UK. The company has been in discussions with HMRC for some time and is also in talks with The Treasury," she added.

The company, the largest coffee chain in the world, with a market value of $39 billion, said it would release more details later this week.

The Public Accounts Committee, which grilled Alstead and managers from Google and Amazon over their tax planning, is due to release its report on corporate taxation in the UK on Monday.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/starbucks-says-it-may-pay-more-takes-uk-1C7376579

litter marinol flight attendant pau gasol trade michael madsen spring forward day light savings

Wyoming cops: Man killed dad's girlfriend, then dad

By NBC News staff and wire reports

A community college instructor killed Friday in Casper, Wyo., was the father of the attacker, who earlier killed his father's girlfriend, authorities said Saturday. The attacker, identified as Christopher Krumm of Vernon, Conn., later killed himself.

Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh told reporters that Krumm, 25, first stabbed 42-year-old Heidi Arnold about two miles southwest of Casper College on Friday morning.

Krumm then went to the college and shot his father, 56-year-old computer science instructor James Krumm, in the head with a bow-and-arrow in front of students before stabbing himself with a large knife.

---

Walsh said the younger Krumm smuggled the weapons into the classroom under a blanket.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/01/15600220-wyoming-killings-man-stabbed-dads-girlfriend-then-shot-arrow-at-dad-in-class-cops-say?lite

alex o loughlin the godfather cape breton bowling green marysville tornados dr. seuss

Boehner 'flabbergasted' at White House 'fiscal cliff' plan

President Obama and his White House team appear to have drawn a line in the sand in talks with House Republicans on the "fiscal cliff."

Tax rates on the wealthy are going up, the only question is how much?

"Those rates are going to have to go up," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner flatly stated on ABC's "This Week." "There's no responsible way we can govern this country at a time of enormous threat, and risk, and challenge ... with those low rates in place for future generations."

But the president's plan, which Geithner delivered last week, has left the two sides far apart.

In recounting his response today on "Fox News Sunday," House Speaker John Boehner said: "I was flabbergasted. I looked at him and said, 'You can't be serious.'

"The president's idea of negotiation is: Roll over and do what I ask," Boehner added.

The president has never asked for so much additional tax revenue. He wants another $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years, including returning the tax rate on income above $250,000 a year to 39.6 percent.

Boehner is offering half that, $800 billion.

In exchange, the president suggests $600 billion in cuts to Medicare and other programs. House Republicans say that is not enough, but they have not publicly listed what they would cut.

Geithner said the ball is now in the Republicans' court, and the White House is seemingly content to sit and wait for Republicans to come around.

"They have to come to us and tell us what they think they need. What we can't do is to keep guessing," he said.

The president is also calling for more stimulus spending totaling $200 billion for unemployment benefits, training, and infrastructure projects.

"All of this stimulus spending would literally be more than the spending cuts that he was willing to put on the table," Boehner said.

Boehner also voiced some derision over the president's proposal to strip Congress of power over the country's debt level, and whether it should be raised.

"Congress is not going to give up this power," he said. "It's the only way to leverage the political process to produce more change than what it would if left alone."

The so-called fiscal cliff, a mixture of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, is triggered on Jan. 1 if Congress and the White House do not come up with a deficit-cutting deal first.

The tax increases would cost the average family between $2,000 and $2,400 a year, which, coupled with the $500 billion in spending cuts, will most likely put the country back into recession, economists say.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boehner-faces-line-sand-fiscal-cliff-talks-002614266.html

girl with the dragon tattoo ohio state basketball collateral dick cheney heart umf peter frampton elite eight

West Point chapel hosts its first same-sex wedding

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) ? Cadet Chapel, the landmark Gothic church that is a center for spiritual life at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, hosted its first same-sex wedding Saturday.

Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in an afternoon ceremony, attended by about 250 guests and conducted by a senior Army chaplain.

The two have been together for 17 years. They had a civil commitment ceremony that didn't carry any legal force in 1999 and had long hoped to formally tie the knot. The way was cleared last year, when New York legalized same-sex marriage and President Barack Obama lifted the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the military.

The brides both live in New Jersey and would have preferred to have the wedding there, but the state doesn't allow gay marriage.

"We just couldn't wait any longer," Fulton told The Associated Press in a phone interview Saturday.

Cadet Chapel was a more-than-adequate second choice, she said.

"It has a tremendous history, and it is beautiful. That's where I first heard and said the cadet prayer," Fulton said, referring to the invocation that says, "Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole can be won."

The ceremony was the second same-sex wedding at West Point. Last weekend, two of Fulton's friends, a young lieutenant and her partner, were married in another campus landmark, the small Old Cadet Chapel in West Point's cemetery.

Fulton has campaigned against the ban on gays in the military as a member of two groups representing gay and lesbian servicemen and servicewomen. She graduated from West Point in 1980, a member of the first class to include women.

She served with the Army Signal Corps in Germany and rose to the rank of captain, but left the service in 1986 partly because she wanted to be open about her sexual orientation. Obama appointed her last year to the U.S. Military Academy's Board of Visitors.

Fulton said the only hassle involved in arranging her ceremony came when she was initially told that none of West Point's chaplains was authorized by his or her denomination to perform same-sex weddings.

Luckily, Fulton said, they were able to call on a friend, Army Chaplain Col. J. Wesley Smith. He is the senior Army chaplain at Dover Air Force Base, where he presides over the solemn ceremonies held when the bodies of soldiers killed in action overseas return to U.S. soil.

The couple added other military trappings to their wedding, including a tradition called the saber arch, where officers or cadets hold their swords aloft over the newlyweds as they emerge from the church.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/west-point-chapel-hosts-first-same-sex-wedding-185326592.html

mega millions march 30 lucky numbers odds of winning mega millions mary mary sag aftra merger dj am bully

Wall Street flat, trading cautious; Obama to speak on 'cliff'

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Friday as investors were hesitant to make big bets ahead of a statement by President Obama on the progress of budget talks in Washington that have recently driven volatility in financial markets.

U.S. President Barack Obama, visiting a factory in Pennsylvania, will press his case on raising taxes on the wealthy to narrow the deficit. He is expected to make a statement around midday that is likely to impact markets.

"There is always hope in those situations that he (Obama) is going to announce some type of positive development," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York. "We see how violently the market swings on positive and negative announcements."

Trading has been choppy as investors react to mixed statements from policymakers in Washington about discussions on averting the "fiscal cliff," spending cuts and tax hikes that will come into effect in the new year and could cause a recession, according to worst-case predictions.

Corporations continued to anticipate a harsher tax regime next year. Whole Foods Market Inc was the latest to announce a special cash dividend of $2.00 per share to skirt higher dividend tax rates in 2013. The stock was up 0.6 percent at $93.60.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 5.63 points, or 0.04 percent, to 13,027.45. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.58 points, or 0.04 percent, to 1,415.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 3.43 points, or 0.11 percent, to 3,008.59.

The S&P 500 was on track to end the month 0.3 percent higher, after declining nearly 2 percent in October. The index has recovered 4.5 percent since shedding 8 percent following the U.S. presidential election earlier in November.

"The correction from the S&P 500's September peak has allowed overbought momentum and optimistic sentiment conditions to recede, and we believe the index is closer to an intermediate-term buy signal than a sell signal," said Ari Wald, analyst at PrinceRidge Group.

Yum Brands Inc shares slumped 9.4 percent to $67.42. The company said late Thursday it expects fourth-quarter sales at established restaurants to drop in China, where a cooling economy is making it difficult to exceed the 21-percent gain it enjoyed there a year earlier.

After a close relationship for several years, Facebook Inc and Zynga Inc revised terms of a partnership agreement between the companies. Under the new pact, Zynga will have limited ability to promote its site on Facebook.

Zynga shares dropped 5.3 percent to $2.48. Facebook shares were down 1.2 percent at $26.99.

The markets' reaction to data on Friday was muted.

A report showed business activity in the U.S. Midwest expanded for the first time since August, buoyed by an improvement in the labor market.

Separately, data showed U.S. consumer spending fell in October for the first time in five months as income growth stalled, suggesting slower economic growth in the fourth quarter.

Apple Inc's latest iPhone has received final clearance from Chinese regulators, paving the way for a December debut in a highly competitive market where the lack of a new model had severely eroded its share of product sales. Shares of Apple were down 0.7 percent at $585.29.

Verisign Inc said the U.S. Department of Commerce had approved its agreement with ICANN to run the .com internet registry, but the company wouldn't be able to raise prices as before. The stock dropped 14.1 percent to $33.80 in late morning trading.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-opens-flat-obama-speak-cliff-144334046--finance.html

honor killings mary tyler moore x games pro bowl pro bowl 2012 rick santorum daughter gainesville

Wikileaks: Manning grilled over delay in complaints

Patrick Semansky / AP

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning steps out of a security vehicle as he is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., on Thursday.

By Courtney Kube, NBC News

FORT MEADE, Md. --?Pfc. Bradley Manning spent six more hours on the stand Friday during a hearing on the Wikileaks case, facing questions from the prosecution, the judge and his own attorney, David Coombs.

The discussion never deviated from Manning's treatment while at Quantico brig, focusing mainly on why he didn't complain about his treatment before January and on various incidents that may have led to the military to put Manning on prevention of injury status, which put more restrictions on him.

Manning did seem to choke back tears at one point when he spoke about his family.

When asked why he never complained about his restrictive status to his family during visits, Manning's voice hitched and his face got red. "I didn't want them to worry about me," he said. He added that he worried that he would not be allowed to have visitors if he complained.

---

One of the Marine guards who was assigned to Manning testified Friday evening about how Manning behaved at Quantico, saying that he was not a disrespectful inmate, with the exception of an incident in January 2011.

The guard testified that Manning yelled at the brig commander, which led the guards to call a "code blue" and mobilize a response team to possibly remove Manning forcibly from his cell. In the end, Manning wasn't removed from his cell, but the guard explained just how significant this incident was in the facility.

Assange asks Obama to release leak suspect

"It was an extremely big deal to show disrespect to the commanding officer of the brig," the former guard said.

Judge Denise Lind asked whether it was standard for someone who is disrespectful to the commander to be placed on suicide watch as a result.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

"It never happened before," the former guard said.

Earlier, a prosecutor, U.S. Army Maj. Ashden Fein, read through dozens of weekly evaluations in which Manning said that treatment by his guards was "excellent" and the facility "very professional." Fein also walked through months of assessments in which Manning did not ask to be taken off of protective status (which is essentially one step less restrictive than suicide watch).

Despite arriving at Quantico in late July 2010, Manning did not ask to be taken off prevention of injury status until January 2011, the defense said, when he appeared before a board to plead his case for fewer restrictions.

The defense argued that Manning demonstrated that he might harm himself on several occasions - including once making a noose.

Among the exhibits presented in court Friday were two bedsheets. Manning said that he recognized one of the sheets and, when asked whether it was the sheet he had made a noose out of while in detention in Kuwait, Manning said, "yes, sir."

Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com

The prosecution asked about Manning's handwritten statement on an admission form at the Quantico brig, in which he responded to a question about any suicidal tendencies with a cryptic "Always planning, never acting."

Manning said that when he appeared before the board in January 2011, the focus was on those two incidents. When the board asked about his admission statement, Manning told the court Friday that he had responded that it was really more of a philosophical question, so he gave them a longer, more intellectual answer.

Bradley Manning's psychiatrist says his recommendations ignored by Quantico staff

Manning said he argued with the board about what is really true or false, and explained that humans are fallible. He said it may have been a "sarcastic answer, given on a whim."

Manning did elicit laughter from some people in the courtroom when Fein asked him if he needed a "comfort break." Manning responded that he could wait.?"Seven more minutes will be good," he said, adding, "I can control my bladder." The prosecutor said he would try to limit his next few questions to exactly seven minutes.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

?

?

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/30/15578111-wikileaks-case-manning-grilled-over-why-he-didnt-complain-earlier-about-treatment-in-detention?lite

epidemiology total eclipse of the heart jionni lavalle earthquake san francisco donald payne elizabeth berkley lenny dykstra

Increase Your Self Improvement Success By Trying These Tips ...

Trying to grow through self improvement may seem like a daunting task. You need to see what will work for you. Nothing works the same for everyone in terms of self improvement. To get the most out of your own self-improvement process, you should be searching constantly for good advice and new practices to make use of. You may find some helpful information in the tips below.

By using love, you can re-energize your faith and get closer to your personal development goals. Without love, it?s impossible to have faith. Therefore, you should never just be idle on your faith. Faith and love can lead you to help those in need, and believe in people when they need it most, especially yourself.

Read some good books about self improvement. When you read a really good self improvement book, you may come away with life-changing advice and ideas. It is always best to check the reviews for a book. Personal development books can be very poorly written.

The condition in which you keep your body can significantly impact your mental state. Exercising regularly and eating well helps tremendously. If you want a healthy mind, make sure it resides in a healthy body.

One part of depression you may not thought of to look at is your diet and increasing the amount of complex carbohydrates that you consume. Without adequate complex carbohydrates, your body may burn too quickly through serotonin. You can do this by eating more raw veggies, fruits, nuts, brown rice, whole grains and assorted beans.

Each person needs to improve in different life areas, so grab the most useful tips for your situation from this article. Trying out and practicing what you?ve learned is the only reliable method for improving your personal development results. If you know of anyone who could also pick up useful advice from this piece, pass it along and help them begin the journey to becoming a more well-rounded individual.

Source: http://stumblepeach.com/increase-your-self-improvement-success-by-trying-these-tips/

school shooting daytona 500 winner cleveland plain dealer barry sanders barry sanders john scott jimmie johnson