Tag Archives: Asia

Gold Smuggling to Climb in India on Tax Increase, Festivals

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“The third increase in import taxes on gold this year by India, the world’s biggest user, is set to boost smuggling ahead of the festival and wedding seasons as official imports halt on central bank curbs, a trade group said. Poor Indian laborers working in the Middle East are acting as couriers for organized gangs in return for a ticket home and a few thousand rupees, according to Rishi Yadav, assistant commissioner at the Mumbai customs department’s Air Intelligence Unit. The gangs seek to benefit by selling that smuggled bullion to traders and mom-and-pop jewelry stores, who benefit from cheaper supplies.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-13/india-gold-tax-increase-festival-demand-seen-spurring-smuggling.html

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9 things you should know about Bitcoins

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“There are a number of places where you can spend Bitcoins. If you’re a user of WordPress or popular websites like Reddit, 4Chan, The Pirate Bay, EZTV and The Internet Archive, you can use Bitcoins to make donations. If you’re into online storage, you can upgrade the 50GB free storage that Kim Dotcom’s Mega.co.nz offers with Bitcoins. If you like trying your luck, you can try Bitcoin gambling at places like www.satoshibet.com and www.bc-casino. com. And just a little bit of digging will even throw up shopping websites like www.somethinggeeky.com that accept Bitcoin payments.”

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/9-things-you-should-know-about-bitcoins/articleshow/21814828.cms

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Reserve Bank of India won’t regulate virtual currency Bitcoin, yet

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“India’s central bank is ‘watching’ Bitcoin, the virtual currency that is gaining popularity among Net users, but has no intention of regulating it right now. The Reserve Bank of India, which has its hands full trying to arrest the slump in the value of the rupee, will first seek to understand Bitcoins before seeking to bring it under its purview. ‘As of now we are watching and learning about the developments in Bitcoins but are not regulating it,’ an RBI spokeswoman wrote in an e-mailed response. In a note published in June, the central bank acknowledged that virtual currencies ‘pose challenges in the form of regulatory, legal and operational risks.'”

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/reserve-bank-of-india-wont-regulate-virtual-currency-bitcoin-yet/articleshow/21814624.cms

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U.S. Expats Balk at Tax Law, Reconsider Citizenship

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“Withers, in Hong Kong, says that many of its clients are giving up their green cards and U.S. citizenship after filing their taxes, deeming the tax liability to be too onerous.  Among them are American expatriates who see their Singaporean and Hong Kong peers paying a far-lower income tax and aren’t subject to capital-gains taxes, Mr. Krause said.  The foreign grantor trust is becoming a favored method for passing on wealth, said Mr. Krause of Withers. Such trusts are ‘highly advantageous’ to families living abroad, he said.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323585604579007860126146566.html

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India raises import duty on gold, silver to 10 per cent

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“India hiked import duty on refined gold bars for a third time in eight months to 10 per cent from the earlier 8 per cent, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The government also raised the import duty on silver to 10 per cent from the earlier 6 per cent, and the factory gate duty on gold bars to 9 per cent from 7 per cent. India, the world’s biggest buyer of gold, has been trying to curb imports of the yellow metal, which is the second biggest imported item after crude oil. On July 22, the RBI required a fifth of all gold imports to be used for export, usually in the form of jewellery.”

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-raises-import-duty-on-gold-silver-to-10-per-cent/413946-7.html

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300 Tons a Day of Radioactive Water From Fukushima Pours Into Ocean

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“Officials in Japan hid the fact that the Fukushima nuclear plant has been pouring hundreds of tons of nuclear waste water into the ocean every day and that a containment barrier has been breached.  There is no credibility from TEPCO or the Japanese government on the extent of the real disaster, its effects, the ultimate cleanup costs, or how many years fish in the area will be contaminated. In addition, contaminated fish may turn up anywhere within their normal swimming range with obvious implications.”

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/08/300-tons-day-of-nuclear-waste-from.html

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Fishermen still fighting Fukushima’s aftermath

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“The environment ministry recently announcement that 300 tonnes of contaminated groundwater from Fukushima Daiichi is still seeping over or around barriers into the Pacific every day, more than two years after it was struck by a tsunami in March 2011. Government officials said they suspected the leaks had started soon after the accident, which resulted in a nuclear meltdown. Unable to make a living from a sea poisoned by radiation, the town’s 70 fishermen earn money clearing tsunami debris; the only fish they catch are taken not to market, but to makeshift labs where they are tested for radiation from the plant, located just 12 miles to the north.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/09/i-havent-been-able-to-fish-since-the-tsunami-fishermen-still-fighting-fukushimas-aftermath/

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Greek police report riot at immigrant detention camp

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“Riot police were dispatched on Saturday to put down a riot at Greece’s main migrant detention camp where detainees hurled stones at officers and set fire to their living quarters, authorities said. Television footage showed fires blazing at the Amygdaleza detention camp outside Athens, where some 1,200 mainly Asian migrants are kept under police guard.  Amygdaleza is one of several detention camps set up since last year to assist in the repatriation of thousands of undocumented migrants. The police spokesman said rioting began when the detainees were told that their maximum stay in the camp would be extended to 18 months from a year previously.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/10/greek-police-report-riot-at-immigrant-detention-camp/

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Japan’s Debt Exceeds 1 Quadrillion Yen as Abe Mulls Tax Rise

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“The country’s outstanding public debt including borrowings reached a record 1,008.6 trillion yen as of June 30, the finance ministry said in Tokyo today. Larger than the economies of Germany, France and the U.K. combined, the amount includes 830.5 trillion yen in government bonds. The world’s heaviest debt burden will weigh on Abe when he decides next month whether to implement a two-step plan to double the tax on consumers in a nation with ballooning welfare costs. Moody’s Investors Service yesterday warned that a worsening of finances would erode confidence in government bonds.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-09/japan-s-debt-surpasses-1-quadrillion-yen-as-abe-weighs-tax-rise.html

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Filipino farmers destroy genetically modified ‘Golden Rice’ crops

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“A group of activist farmers in the Philippines stormed a government research facility and destroyed an area of genetically modified rice crops the size of 10 football fields. ‘The Golden Rice is a poison,’ said Willy Marbella. The farmers attacked the fields at the research facility in Pili, Camarines Sur out of concern that their own crops could be pollinated and thereby contaminated by the GMO plants, possibly resulting in a boycott of their products like U.S. farmers of soft white wheat saw when a strain of Monsanto herbicide-resistant wheat abruptly appeared in an Oregon field. South Korea and Japan both halted imports of U.S. wheat.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/10/filipino-farmers-destroy-genetically-modified-golden-rice-crops/

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