"Scorn also to depress thy competitor by any dishonest or unworthy method; strive to raise thyself above him only by excelling him; so shall thy contest for superiority be crowned with honor, if not with success."

Akhenaton

Read Migalhas LatinoAmérica in Spanish every Tuesday and Thursday. Visit the website at www.migalhas.com/latinoamerica

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• Top News

OECD: Global firms need new tax rules

Moves to tackle corporate tax avoidance on a global scale have been unveiled by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The action plan is aimed at multinational companies that shrink their tax bills by shifting their profits from one country to another. Firms including Starbucks, Amazon and Google have been accused of pursuing such strategies. They have all said they operate within the law. The OECD says 44 nations making up 90% of the world economy favor its plan. Announcing the proposals, the OECD's head of tax, Pascal Saint-Amans, said that they would "change the rules of the game" by making sure companies paid taxes in the country where profits were generated. At present, firms can exploit agreements intended to avoid double taxation of profits by using them to obtain double tax deductions instead. They also use internal billing procedures to ensure that profits are registered in countries where corporate tax levels are lower. Under the OECD plan, a country-by-country model would require firms to declare their revenue, profit, staffing and tax paid in each jurisdiction. The measures will go before finance ministers at the next meeting of G20 nations in Australia this weekend.

Investments

In their new article Renata Maria Novotny Vallarelli, Paulo Eduardo Penna and Juliana Carvalho de Azevedo of Lobo & Ibeas Advogados discuss "Private Equity Investments: Tax Advantages of Brazilian FIPs". (Click here)

Visit our new ‘Magic Eye’ page and boost your career

Migalhas International brings the best career and professional development opportunities to its readers. We call this service the "Magic Eye". So, before you open the door to the boardroom, click here and peek through the keyhole!

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• MiMIC Journal

Chinese President set for India visit

China's President Xi Jinping is making his first official visit to India, with a focus on improving trade ties and resolving the decades-old dispute over border areas. China is one of India's top trading partners and the Asian neighbors are the world's most populous countries. "If I have to describe potential of India-China ties I will say- INCH (India & China) towards MILES (Millennium of Exceptional Synergy)!," Modi tweeted ahead of Xi's visit.

China trial for Uighur academic

Prominent Uighur academic Ilham Tohti is going on trial for separatism in China's far western region of Xinjiang. Tohti is an economics scholar who has criticized Beijing's policies towards the Uighur minority. He has been detained since January, after he condemned the government's response to a suicide car attack in Tiananmen Square. The United Nations, the EU and US have all called for Tohti's release. He denies the charges against him.

China's central bank said to inject $81bn into system

China's central bank is said to be injecting 500bn yuan ($81bn) into the five biggest state-owned banks to counter slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is reportedly giving each bank a $100bn low-interest loan over three months. The move may be the first of several stimulus measures, analysts say. It is aimed at lifting business confidence and investment following a string of weak economic data.

Chinese teacher is busted after demanding gifts from students

In China's extremely competitive school system, families often buy presents for teachers. But a teacher has been suspended after she was caught on tape demanding gifts and insulting her students.

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• Historia Verdadeira

Autos

En Venezuela, las medidas políticas del gobierno y la falta de insumos por el recorte en la asignación de divisas dejan a la industria automotriz imposibilitada de exportar. (Presione aquí)

Inversiones

La compañía de energías renovables Enel Green Power (EGP) anunció el inicio de las obras para la construcción de un nuevo parque eólico en Chile, que se situará en la región de Coquimbo y que satisfará el consumo de 60.000 hogares chilenos. En comunicado EGP, que cotiza tanto en la Bolsa de Madrid como en la de Milán, informó que el nuevo parque eólico Talinay Poniente contará con una capacidad instalada total de 61 megavatios (MW) y estará compuesto por 32 turbinas.

Petrobras

El desarrollo del campo Libra, el mayor yacimiento de crudo de Brasil, demandará inversiones de US$ 80.000 mlls, afirmó un alto ejecutivo de la petrolera francesa Total, una de las cinco empresas que participa en el proyecto. (Presione aquí)

• Brief News

Final push in Scottish referendum

Both sides in the Scottish referendum campaign make their final pitches to voters as the latest polls suggest the result remains too close to call. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has written to voters appealing to them to vote "Yes", saying "let's do this". Former US President Bill Clinton stepped into the debate urging Scots to vote No. He said: "Unity with maximum self-determination sends a powerful message to a world torn by identity conflicts.” Fourteen former British armed forces chiefs warned in an open letter that a "Yes" vote would make the whole of Britain more vulnerable to attack.

Scotland's really big vote: can women join St. Andrews golf club?

Scotland's independence referendum is set for Thursday. On the same day, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews will announce whether women can join.

Ebola global security threat

Obama calls the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a threat to security worldwide while announcing a larger US role, including 3,000 troops, to help fight the virus. There's a "potential threat to global security if these countries break down", he said, which would impact on everyone. "The world is looking to the United States," Obama said, but added the outbreak required a "global response". The announcement comes as UN officials have called the outbreak a health crisis "unparalleled in modern times".

Ukraine crisis: Rebels defiant over new self-rule law

A senior Ukrainian rebel leader said that a new law granting self-rule to parts of the east will not sway the demand for independence. Andrei Purgin said there were no plans to develop any political relationship, federal or otherwise, with Ukraine. But he said there were "positives" in the move by MPs to grant self-rule and an amnesty to pro-Russian rebels. He said it could be used as the basis for dialogue but rebels would not give up on a desire for "the Russian world". Russia needs to boost forces in Crimea because of the Ukraine crisis and a foreign military build-up, Russia's defense minister says.

Judge overturns Uber ride-sharing ban in Germany

A German judge has overturned a nationwide ban on one of the services offered by the alternative taxi firm Uber. The temporary injunction banned the start-up from offering its UberPop ride-sharing service in the country. Frankfurt Regional Court Judge Frowin Kurth ruled that taxi companies in the country had waited too long to request an emergency injunction. The German Taxi Association, Taxi Deutschland, said that it would appeal. "The taxi industry accepts competitors who comply with the law. Uber does not," it said in a statement. For its part Uber welcomed the judge's decision.

Courts use copy and paste, too

The Second US Circuit Court of Appeals appears to be copying and pasting the wrong legal standard into some of its opinions in immigration cases. The Manhattan court hears more immigration cases than any other federal appeals court, save for the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit. Last year, the New York court received 17% of the 7,225 appeals nationwide challenging decisions from the Board of Immigration Appeals, the highest administrative immigration court. Brian Soucek, a professor at U.C. Davis School of Law, found in a 2012 study that the New York court had repeated, verbatim, a legal standard that he believed was misleading in a dozen unpublished orders involving asylum claims from 2008 to 2012.

Alibaba raises price of share sale as demand increases

Chinese online giant Alibaba has increased the price range of its initial public offering (IPO), meaning it could raise more than $25bn when it lists in New York. The firm said in an official filing that it expected to price its shares at between $66 and $68 a share, up from its earlier price range of $60 to $66 a share. The increase suggests demand for the firm's shares are high. Its listing is expected this week.

Law-firm employee charged with insider trading

A back-office employee of law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati was arrested Tuesday and charged with trading on inside information he allegedly gleaned from the firm's computer systems about potential mergers and acquisitions.

French PM Valls wins confidence vote

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has narrowly won a crucial confidence vote in parliament, despite a recent cabinet revolt over austerity measures. Deputies in the National Assembly voted 269 to 244 in favor of the government's policies. Valls earlier defended reforms of his Socialist cabinet, saying they did not mean to destroy the welfare state. "I know the French public don't believe in us any more - they're been put off by the political spectacle of the past few weeks; this climate of narcissism and shame," he said. Opinion polls put Hollande's ratings at 13%, with almost two-thirds wanting him to resign.

US man charged with supporting IS

A court in the US has formally charged a man with planning to assist the Islamic State militant group and attempting to murder US soldiers. Mufid A Elfgeeh, 30, a naturalized citizen from Yemen, was arrested in May after an undercover operation. Prosecutors said Mr Elgeeh wanted to buy handguns to carry out shootings, saying he might target US military personnel returning from the Middle East and Shia Muslims living in the Rochester area.

Belgium agrees to euthanize man convicted of murder, rape

In a country whose laws don't allow for the death penalty, the case of a Belgian man who sees himself as a threat to society — and wants to die — is putting new focus on Belgium's health care and justice system, as well as its laws allowing euthanasia. After an appeals court in Brussels approved a deal allowing inmate Frank Van Den Bleeken to die from an assisted suicide, the country's justice minister cleared the way for his transfer to a hospital late Monday. Convicted of rape and murder, Van Den Bleeken has been in prison for nearly 30 years. Now in his 50s, he recently asked to die because he hasn't seen any improvement in the psychological problems that have been linked to his crimes. (Click here)

Philip Morris sues Uruguay over graphic cigarette packaging

The country requires photos of decaying teeth and gruesome hospital scenes on every pack. Philip Morris sees this as a violation of a trade agreement and is suing Uruguay for $25 million.

Wall Street Court defeat strengthens swap rules overseas

Wall Street's bid to rein in US derivatives regulation was rejected by a federal judge in a significant victory for the government's ability to police trading outside the country.

Thousands gather in Germany to rally against anti-Semitism

In Berlin, thousands of people gathered at the Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to demonstrate against a wave of harassment and attacks against Jews in Germany. Many blame the rising anti-Semitism there and across Europe on tensions over the Gaza conflict. Merkel, who attended the Berlin rally, said there is no place for anti-Semitism in Germany, particularly because of its Nazi past, and that fighting it is every German citizen's duty. She called it a "monstrous scandal" that anyone in Germany would be hassled for being Jewish or for backing Israel. Merkel says all Jewish institutions in Germany are under police protection because of the current climate.

Germany man charged in more than 300,000 Auschwitz murders

German prosecutors on Monday charged a 93-year-old former Waffen SS volunteer with aiding in the murder of at least 300,000 people during his time as a volunteer at Auschwitz. The man is accused of helping collect money stolen from the disposed luggage of inmates and transferring it to the SS's economy and administration agency in Berlin. Prosecutors said that the money he collected helped fund the Nazis and supported the systematic killings. Germany's central Nazi crime investigation unit asked prosecutors last year to investigate 30 former guards at Auschwitz.

UN rights office welcomes150th ratification of disability convention

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday celebrated the 150th ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as Guyana became the latest country ratify the document. Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes, on behalf of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, stated that such widespread ratification over the course of six years "highlights the growing awareness that people with disabilities suffer serious gaps in the enjoyment of their rights and that these gaps need to be addressed."

Calpers quits hedge funds

Hedge funds were once the domain of the rich. Today, it is the teachers, firefighters and other public employees in the country’s biggest pension funds who are among the industry’s main investors. So when the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, said on Monday that it planned to eliminate all $4 billion of its hedge fund investments over the next year, the industry took note. Public pension funds make plans on the assumption that over the long haul their investments will earn average returns of 7 to 8 percent a year. If they fall short, it causes political problems because local taxpayers must then be called upon to replace the missing money. In recent years, some public plans added hedge funds to their portfolios after traditional stocks and bonds missed the target. There is a lot of disappointment that hedge funds have not been able to capture more of the market results. The Calpers decision pushed the fee issue to the forefront. Hedge funds follow a "2 and 20" model: They charge investors 2 percent of their total investment and 20 percent of any profit. The Calpers decision pushed the fee issue to the forefront. Hedge funds follow a "2 and 20" model: They charge investors 2 percent of their total investment and 20 percent of any profit.

Norway to launch I.P.O. of State-owned property company

The government said it would privatize Entra Holding, with a portfolio of properties worth about $4.2 billion, as part of an effort to reduce its holdings in Norwegian firms.