Headlines of the Day

OECD removes the Marshall Islands from its List of Unco-operative Tax Havens

Other countries that escaped the list;

The OECD has determined that three other jurisdictions - Barbados, Maldives, and Tonga - identified in the 2000 Progress Report as tax havens should not be included in the List of Unco-operative Tax Havens.

-Barbados will not be included in the list because it has longstanding information exchange arrangements with other countries, which are found by its treaty partners to operate in an effective manner. Barbados is also willing to enter into tax information exchange arrangements with those OECD Member countries with which it currently does not have such arrangements. Barbados has in place established procedures with respect to transparency. Moreover, recent legislative changes made by Barbados have enhanced the transparency of its tax and regulatory rules.
-The OECD has determined after careful review of the current laws and practices of Tonga and the Maldives that these jurisdictions do not meet the tax haven criteria.

Public nudity is losing its power to shock- The Economist reports

If the influence of nudity is declining, that may be a sign of the times. After expelling the pair from the Garden of Eden, God’s immediate priority was to clothe Adam and Eve in animal skins. The resurgence of nudity is not a sign of a return to a less sinful age but rather the tail end of the crumbling of restrictive social mores since the 1960s. But as public nudity has become more acceptable, its power to surprise and so its usefulness as a catalyst for change has diminished. The connection between nudity and purity, while remaining a potent part of the symbolism of religious art, is long broken beyond the canvas. Now the last vestiges of baring all as a symbol of dissatisfaction with the system have slipped away too.

The shedding of clothes as a means of direct action has some history. Lady Godiva’s famous bare horse ride through the streets of 11th century Coventry was the culmination of a successful high-profile campaign against her husband’s repressive tax regime. Around the beginning of the 20th century, a radical faction of the Doukhobors, a Russian Christian sect that had escaped persecution by fleeing to Canada, used mass nudity as a means of protesting against materialism. But as that century wore on a great unclothing gathered pace.

The World Next Week: August 17, 2007