Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Speculation & Innovation

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it - wise Ferris Bueller taught all of us this valuable lesson in the 1986 BC classic film. Make every day count - maybe not like Bruce Wayne ...


Speculation & Innovation Investor Amnesia


Taxes are not a burden: they provide many of the good things in life

Coalition spending over the past six years has been nearly half that of the past 40 years and is forecast to drop further. With many services already cut to the bone, even the Parliamentary Budget Office has warned such ‘spending restraint’ is likely to be unsustainable. In a post-pandemic world, bringing forward tax cuts that only benefit high earners would be irresponsible, writes Michael Keating.

 

Mobile phone camera 'loophole' referred to NSW Auditor-General






DOJ Tax has this press release:  Houston Attorney Sentenced to Prison for Offshore Tax Evasion Scheme: Conspired to Secretly Bring to the US More Than $18 Million in Untaxed Money Held in Foreign Banks The key excerpts are

Houston Attorney Sentenced to 24 Months for Conspiracy and Tax Evasion


The Canada Revenue Agency is investigating several cyberattacks in recent days compromising the private information of thousands of taxpayers.


How to practise 'cyber hygiene' in wake of CRA breach



How public servants can use behavioural insights to combat misinformation

ON THE FRONTLINE: The resource specifically targets public servants whose roles may involve tackling the growing prevalence of misinformation.



Former CIA and FBI officer charged with spying for China after undercover sting


 

‘NEW SNOWDEN’

The whistleblower behind Luanda Leaks has been released from custody in Portugal while he awaits trial. Rui Pinto shared the 715,000 files at the heart of Luanda Leaks with the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa – which then shared them with ICIJ. He is also the source of Football Leaks, which revealed tax dodging by soccer players. William Bourdon, one of Pinto’s lawyers, called him the Edward Snowden of international corruption. (Snowden is the American whistleblower who leaked classified United States National Security Agency information.) Pinto’s lawyers, and his international supporters, believe he should be protected as a whistleblower. His trial begins later this year. 

Separately, following his release, Pinto enraged Angola billionaire Isabel dos Santos on Twitter last week.

PROVE IT

11,500 years. That’s how long it would have taken Renu Tikamdas Tharani, who had a declared income of less than $4,000, to earn the $39.7 million she had sitting in a Genevan HSBC account in 2006, according to India’s Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. Tharani’s name was linked to our Swiss Leaks investigation, which enabled authorities to reassess her tax returns over the past 16 years. The tribunal told Tharani it was up to her to prove she didn’t own the assets in the account and explain where the money came from. “If a person has nothing to hide, we believe the person would have cooperated in obtaining the bank statements,” the judgment said. 

TRUST & TECH

Hopefully you’ve heard of our document analysis tool, Datashare, by now. (If you haven’t, it’s available for everyone to use – you find more info here!) The next step in our development is to build DatashareNetwork, so reporters can easily and securely share their documents. To make it happen, we’ve teamed up with the renowned Swiss university EPFL. “By combining trust and technology at this level, we believe this new tool will enable even more powerful investigations,” said ICIJ’s Soline Ledésert. Privacy and security are the top priorities – so that journalists are protected when sharing sensitive information across the world.

 

 

Tree removals surge in Sydney's inner west under council clearing policy


These sleek houses are 3D printed, and they fit in your backyard

THE FUTURE OF CONSTRUCTION: This company recently printed a 350-square-foot studio demo unit in under 24 hours and it has already delivered two units to homeowners.


WHAT DID ROMAN EMPERORS LOOK LIKE? A Novel Blend of AI and Art Conjures Up Eerily Detailed Photographic Portraits.


Belarus: Mass protest eclipses defiant Belarus leader’s rally BBC


Belarus’s Workers Are Going on Strike Against the Election Fraud Jacobin