Plans to force the largest companies to disclose more about their tax affairs will be unveiled by the European Union on Tuesday.
Britain’s EU Commissioner, Lord Hill, is set to present the rules, which will affect multinational firms with more than €750m (£600m) in sales.
They will have to detail how much tax they pay and in which EU countries.
The plans come amid heightened scrutiny of the use of tax havens following the Panama Papers revelations.
It could get a lot harder for kids and young teens to access the Internet in Europe over the next few years.
Top political leaders and lawmakers across the European Union are in the midst of finalizing updated regulations to protect the personal data of people across the region. An agreement could come as early as Tuesday and the new rules would go into effect in 28 European countries in about two years.
While intentions are good, one particular proposal that tries to protect children is drawing harsh criticism.
The proposal calls for all kids under the age of 16 to get parental consent before they use online services, including social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
The European Union has filed a complaint against Google over its alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
The competition commissioner said she had issued a “statement of objections”, stating that the firm’s promotion of its own shopping links amounted to an abuse of its dominance in search.
Margrethe Vestager said Google now had 10 weeks to respond.
The firm said it “strongly disagreed” with the allegations and looked forward to making its case.
Ms Vestager also revealed that she had launched an investigation into whether the way Google bundled apps and services for its Android operating system was unfair.
And the commissioner said the EU would continue to monitor other activities by Google that its rivals had complained about.
More fallout from the Greece situation:
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, a former European Central Bank executive board member and Italian finance minister, said today there was no possibility of a partition of the euro-zone.
“I don’t think there is any prospect for such an event and I don’t think it makes much sense to talk about it,” he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
You may or may not be aware, but Greece is on the edge of a complete economic collapse. The problem is that the more prosperous European Union countries don’t want to ride to the rescue of their unfortunate neighbors:
But the Europeans are not being careful – and it’s not just about Greece any more. Worries about government debt and associated public sector liabilities (e.g., because banking systems are in deep trouble) have spread through the eurozone to Spain and Portugal. Ireland and Italy are next up for hostile reconsideration by the markets, and the UK may not be far behind.
Dispatches From The Front 