World Business

Apple CEO grilled on taxes

WASHINGTON — The Senate dragged Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company, into the debate over the U.S. tax code Tuesday, grilling CEO Tim Cook over allegations that its Irish subsidiaries help the company avoid billions in U.S. taxes.

Cook said the subsidiaries have nothing to do with reducing its U.S. taxes, a message he struggled to convey to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. READ

No ticking time bombs with oil

A new government report details 87 shipwrecks — most sunk during World War II decades ago — that could pollute U.S. waters with tens of millions of gallons of oil. READ

Tractors replacing golfers

Clark Kelly plans to spend a lot of time on the links this spring. The Illinois farmer is plowing the Hend-Co-Hills Golf Course near tiny Biggsville into a cornfield. READ

Election boosts pipeline chances

The re-election of British Columbia’s Liberal government means a pipeline from Alberta to Canada’s Pacific coast that would allow tankers to export oil to Asia now has a better chance of being built, a Canadian senator said Wednesday. READ

Sharply lower deficit estimate could put damper on further deficit-cutting

The budget deficit for the current year is projected to come in well below what was estimated just a few months ago, a development that could further curb the already slowing momentum for a budget pact this year. READ

Loblaw moves on plant safety

Loblaw Companies Ltd. (TSX:L) said Tuesday that it will sign a pact to improve fire and building safety in Bangladesh following the collapse of a factory in that country that killed more than 1,100 workers. READ

Microsoft to address Windows 8 complaints

A planned Windows 8 update to address complaints and confusion with Microsoft’s new operating system will be made available for free this year, the company said Tuesday. READ

Plans to increase U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas stir debate

A domestic natural gas boom already has lowered U.S. energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster. Now U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of the much-debated kind of drilling known as fracking. READ

EU finance ministers seek rules to shift burden for bank failures

European Union governments want to shift the cost of rescuing troubled banks from taxpayers to the banks’ creditors, including the holders of large deposits as a last resort. READ

Mexico proposes banking overhaul to make loans cheaper, foreclosures easier

Mexico’s government proposed a sweeping overhaul of the banking sector Wednesday to make credit cheaper and more available, a move desperately needed in a country where bank loans represent less than 20 per cent of GDP — one-tenth the level seen in the United States. READ

Brazilian to head WTO

The World Trade Organization has settled on Roberto Azevedo of Brazil, a well-known diplomat and consummate insider, to serve as its director-general for the next four years, officials said Tuesday. READ

States allowed to tax Internet purchases

The Senate sided with traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments Monday by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping — for many a largely tax-free frontier — to state sales taxes. READ

Illinois braces for fracking

This is the Illinois that many people never see — the sparsely populated southern tip where flat farmland gives way to rolling hills, rocky outcrops, thick forests and cypress swamps. Blacktopped county roads wend through no-stoplight towns. Locals speak in soft drawls and talk of generations who’ve lived on the same land or in the same villages. READ

Obama has new economic proposals

The White House says President Barack Obama’s trip to Austin, Texas, on Thursday will kick off a series of day trips aimed at highlighting his proposals on jobs and the economy. While in Texas, Obama will visit a technical high school and meet with entrepreneurs. READ

Energy advances, job gains help lift U.S. economy

A stronger-than-expected April rebound in job creation and recent dramatic discoveries of vast U.S. oil and gas reserves are helping to lift the American economy out its long funk. The economic good news is also drawing attention to the importance of private-sector innovation rather than government policy in fostering growth. READ

Norway wants to shift tax burden

The Norwegian government is proposing to shift the tax burden more to its large oil industry to stimulate growth in other sectors. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg presented a new tax plan Sunday that will increase tax revenues from the oil industry by 70 billion kroner ($12 billion) by 2050 by reducing deductions available to that sector. READ

NYC’s war on smoking undercut

New York City’s war on smoking is being undercut by light penalties for merchants caught selling cigarettes smuggled in from low-tax states. Right now, shops that evade the nation’s highest cigarette taxes by buying untaxed inventory from bootleggers face fines and penalties of around $150 per carton. READ

‘Ethical’ clothing hard to find

You can recycle your waste, grow your own food and drive a fuel-efficient car. But being socially responsible isn’t so easy when it comes to the clothes on your back. Take Jason and Alexandra Lawrence of Lyons, Colo. The couple eat locally grown food that doesn’t have to be transported from far-flung states. They fill up their diesel-powered Volkswagen and Dodge pickup with vegetable-based oil. They even bring silverware to a nearby coffeehouse to avoid using the shop’s plastic utensils. READ

USGS boosts estimate

Government data released Tuesday show that 7.4 billion barrels of oil could be recovered from two massive shale formations spanning parts of the Dakotas and Montana, nearly double the amount previously estimated for the region. READ