Archive

BY PHILIP FINE

NESTLE SA is offering to sweeten its bid for a US$2.8 billion (GBPounds1.79 billion) buy-out of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. The US Federal trade Commission is trying to block the plan that would give Nestle a 67 per cent stake in Dreyer’s, up from the current 23 per cent.…

BY PHILIP FINE

A US Senate committee has approved a bill that is designed to reduce the risk to air transport from unsafe airline cargo. The Air Cargo Security Act would require Washington’s Transportation Security Agency (TSA) to draw up a strategic plan for the inspection and screening of cargo and facilities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL AND PHILIP FINE

AMERICAN companies that commit accounting fraud are willing to pay millions of dollars in additional income taxes on phony earnings to continue their charade, according to a University of Michigan Business School researcher.

In a new study that examines the negative tax consequences of allegedly fraudulent earnings overstatements, Michelle Hanlon of the university’s business school and colleagues Merle Erickson of the University of Chicago and Edward Maydew of the University of North Carolina found that, on average, firms sacrifice 11 cents in additional income taxes per dollar of inflated pre-tax earnings.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GLITZY mobile anti-smoking campaign has been launched by the European Commission, using a campaign truck to stage events such as karaoke, quizzes, competitions and even auditions for appearances on MTV as a backdrop to anti-cigarette propaganda. The EU-roadshow will rumble into a series of youth events this summer, such as the Edinburgh Funfest in August and the FIFA under-17’s world cup in Finland, also in August, having graced April’s Paganello Frisbee Party/World Beach Ultimate Cup in Rimini, Italy.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CHILDREN exposed to passive smoking have twice as many tooth cavities as those who are not, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings, derived from the USA’s Third National Health and Nutrition Survey, concluded that inhaling ‘second-hand’ smoke inhibits a child’s ability to fend off bacteria that causes tooth decay.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
SCIENTISTS in North Carolina, USA, have released a study that indicates that the use of nicotine patches can counter an existing condition of deteriorating memory loss. Test patches were used on 11 older men and women and after several weeks the subjects had significant improvements in their ability to recognise objects and make decisions quickly.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHILE has moved to create a disputes panel at the World Trade Organisation, asking it to order Uruguay to abolish its Specific Internal Tax system, which Santiago claims levies much heavier taxes on imported tobacco, cigarettes, alcohol and other generally excisable goods, than on domestically produced lines.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADIAN tobacco growers are fuming over Rothmans Benson and Hedges’ decision not to purchase tobacco from local growers in Quebec.

Growers from L’Office des Producteurs de Tabac Jaune du Quebec demonstrated in front of a Montreal Rothmans B&H factory in March after receiving notice that tobacco firm – that buys 15 per cent of its tobacco from Quebec – will no longer be a customer.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPARED with the years of tortuous wrangling that slowed the adoption of the first – and legally abortive – European Union (EU) tobacco advertising directive, the EU Council of Ministers has speedily approved its replacement.

The council has accepted amendments tabled by the European Parliament and approved the legislation on its first reading, with Germany and Britain voting against.…

Keith Nuthall
THE INDIAN government is threatening to impose trade penalties on the European Union, because of the latest WTO decision in the long running cotton-type bed linen dispute, where the organisation’s appellate body ruled that the EU had failed to impose anti-dumping duties fully in accordance with international law.…