9,000 died in Irish homes for 'illegitimate' infants: report

Yahoo – AFP, Joe STENSON, January 12, 2021 

A shrine inTuam commemorates up to 800 children who were allegedly
buried at the site of a former home for unmarried mothers run by nuns

Some 9,000 children died in Ireland's "mother and baby homes", where unmarried mothers were routinely separated from their infant offspring, according to an official report published Tuesday. 

Ireland's Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (CIMBH) found "disquieting" levels of infant mortality at the institutions, which operated in the historically Catholic nation as recently as 1998. 

Studying such homes over a 76-year period through 1998, the CIMBH determined that 9,000 children died in them, or 15 percent of those who passed through. 

The homes -- run by religious orders and the Irish state -- housed unmarried women who became pregnant, were unsupported by partners and family and faced severe social stigma. 

Children born in the institutions would often be separated from their mothers and put up for adoption, severing all family ties. 

Prime minister Micheal Martin said the CIMBH report "opens a window onto a deeply misogynistic culture in Ireland over several decades". 

"We had a completely warped attitude to sexuality and intimacy, and young mothers and their sons and daughters were forced to pay a terrible price for that dysfunction," he added. 

Martin -- who will make an official state apology on the matter in Irish parliament on Wednesday -- said the high infant mortality was "one of the most deeply distressing findings" of the report. 

"One harsh truth in all of this is that all of society was complicit in it," Martin said. 

"We are going to need to confront and come to terms with this as a people." 

'Forced adoption' 

The CIMBH was established in 2015, after an amateur historian uncovered evidence of a potential mass grave of infants at one such home in the west Ireland town of Tuam. 

Irish premier Micheal Martin will make an official state apology over
 "mother and baby" homes

But survivors' group Irish First Mothers said the report "fails to find that mothers were coerced into giving up their children", which it said was the "most grievous injury" inflicted by homes. 

The group said the report "absolved both the Church and state of any systemic responsibility for what it admits is the effective incarceration of pregnant mothers". 

The CIMBH report says 56,000 unmarried mothers and 57,000 children passed through the homes examined. 

"By the 1960s most women placed their child for adoption and left a mother and baby home within a few months of giving birth," it said. 

It said "some of this cohort of women are of the opinion that their consent was not full, free and informed." However, it added, "with the exception of a small number of legal cases, there is no evidence that this was their view at the time of the adoption." 

Many of the women received little or no ante-natal care. 

The report gave no single explanation for the deaths, but said "the major identifiable causes... were respiratory infections and gastroenteritis." 

It also highlighted a total of seven unethical vaccine trials on children in the institutions between 1934 and 1973. 

Meanwhile women of the period who gave birth outside marriage were "subject to particularly harsh treatment" at the hands of families and partners, backed by both Church and state. 

Women entered the homes mostly because they had "no alternative" and many suffered "emotional abuse", it said. 

"The atmosphere appears to have been cold and seemingly uncaring," the study said.

EU and UK agree Brexit scheme to ease N.Ireland trade

Malay mail – AFP, Wednesday, 09 Dec 2020

Senior UK minister Michael Gove confirmed that a deal agreed with Brussels
this week ensured Northern Ireland business 'will be free of all tariffs'. — Reuters pic 

ONDON, Dec 9 — The UK and the European Union have agreed a scheme to ease the flow of goods between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland after Brexit, London said today.

Trading arrangements for Northern Ireland have been a major sticking point in the Brexit process given that it will have Britain’s only land border with the EU from January 1. 

The prospect of imposing tariffs on all goods travelling to Northern Ireland from mainland Britain arose because of the risk of them crossing into the EU’s single market, via member state Ireland. 

But London said that was unacceptable, as it would cut Northern Ireland off from the rest of the UK. 

Senior UK minister Michael Gove confirmed that a deal agreed with Brussels this week ensured Northern Ireland business “will be free of all tariffs”. 

“British sausages will continue to make their way to Belfast and Ballymena in the New Year,” Gove told lawmakers. 

He also said a “trusted trader” scheme would “guarantee goods being sold in Northern Ireland and businesses operating in Northern Ireland will face no tariffs”. 

Irish state broadcaster RTE said the exemptions of tariffs would cover up to 98 percent of goods moving from England, Scotland and Wales to Northern Ireland from January 1. 

“The other two percent would potentially avail of rebates from any tariffs,” it said, adding the charges would mostly apply only in case Britain and the EU fail to reach a free trade deal in separate talks. 

A deal remains elusive, despite months of negotiations ahead of a December 31 deadline for one to be in place in time for the New Year. 

The separate agreement on Northern Ireland trade allows for some EU officials to be present at ports in the province as observers, but UK officials said they will not be allowed to carry out checks themselves. 

Neither will they be allowed to wear uniforms, and Gove said there was no prospect of the EU setting up a “mini embassy” in Northern Ireland, a prospect that has been denounced by Brexiteer lawmakers in the ruling Conservative party. 

“Limited and proportionate border facilities” between Northern Ireland and Ireland would be in place to conduct some checks on the transport of food and animals, Gove added. 

Keeping the border open, free of infrastructure and customs checks, was a key plank of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that largely ended 30 years of violence over British rule in Northern Ireland. — AFP

Dublin deserted as coronavirus dampens St. Patrick's Day

Yahoo – AFP, Joe STENSON, March 17, 2020

St Patrick's Day celebrations were cancelled over the virus (AFP Photo/Paul Faith)

Dublin (AFP) - Pubs were shuttered and pints left unpoured on St. Patrick's Day in Dublin Tuesday, as the Irish capital swapped its annual riot of celebration for "social distancing" designed to stem the spread of coronavirus.

The cobbled streets of Temple Bar -- usually the epicentre of celebrations -- were deserted.

"This place would be just swarming with people, the whole town would be," said Dubliner Anthony Whyte.

"It's like a ghost town. It's like armageddon," the 49-year-old told AFP.

Last week, Ireland's government cancelled St Patrick's parades nationwide, asked pubs to close and curbed gatherings of more than 100 individuals until March 29.

"Social distancing" -- remaining apart from others in public -- has also been strongly advised.

"On a day like St. Patrick's Day, you can really feel it," said Justin Sinnott, 44, strolling through abandoned streets with his young son on his shoulders.

Two people have died from coronavirus in Ireland, which has 223 confirmed cases so far.

Prime minister Leo Varadkar said he expected 15,000 cases in the country by the end of March.

Lost jobs

In central Dublin, St Patrick's Day decorations featuring brimming pints of Guinness, leprechauns and pots of gold found no customers to tempt.

In one open corner shop, staff wore face masks.

"Coronavirus/COVID-19 -- we are closed. Government + HSE (health service) advice," read a handwritten sign on one of the area's most popular drinking spots.

While most Irish citizens have lost a night on the town, others have felt the blow more dearly.

State broadcaster RTE estimated 140,000 hospitality and childcare workers have been laid off over government coronavirus measures.

"We're preparing for the worst," said tourism transport worker John Gately, cycling through central Dublin wearing protective blue rubber gloves.

The 30-year-old has not yet joined those laid off as a result of the coronavirus.

"It's a case of just battening down the hatches and trying to recover," he said. "This is totally unprecedented in my lifetime.

"I'm kind of fascinated and terrified at the same time -- it's like being in a horror movie and we're just waiting to see what happens next week."

Tourist attraction

Last year an estimated 500,000 people attended Dublin's St Patrick's festival. Irish media reported around 100,000 attendees were overseas visitors.

But with pubs closed and various foreign governments banning flights from European nations, many tourists had already begun to filter home.

Some US travellers had brought forward their flights home before Washington's travel ban on European countries was extended to include Ireland and the UK from 0400 GMT Tuesday.

"It just escalated so quickly in the last several days," Travis Mino told AFP at Dublin Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Washington.

Others were determined to soldier on with efforts to celebrate Ireland's patron saint on Tuesday.

"Strange times," said cheerful Russian tourist Aleksei Vishtibeev, sporting a shamrock green novelty leprechaun hat and a fake ginger beard.

"No parade, no holiday. But a holiday is in the head and in the heart, not only in the street."

"I'm ready and going on my single parade," the 45-year old said before setting off on a solo route around the eerie streets of the capital.

Sinn Fein finds its voice in Ireland after vote gains

Yahoo – AFP, Joe STENSON, February 10, 2020

Sinn Fein supporters celebrated the party's success in Ireland's weekend
election (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

Dublin (AFP) - Sinn Fein on Monday stood on the threshold of a potential role in Ireland's government after winning the popular vote in a weekend election, a result shattering the political landscape.

The result from Saturday's ballot broke the stranglehold of two-party politics in Ireland, opening up a possible role for a nationalist party once shunned because of its links to IRA paramilitaries.

Former leader Gerry Adams and other party representatives were even banned from the airwaves in the UK as violence raged over British rule in Northern Ireland over three decades to 1998.

But with two decades of peace and a new leader under Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein's left-wing policies on tackling crises in housing and health found favour with voters.

McDonald said the two main parties -- Fine Gael and Fianna Fail -- were "in a state of denial" and had not listened to the voice of the people.

On a walkabout in Dublin, she said she had begun talks with smaller left-wing parties to try to "test" whether it was possible to form a government without the two main centre-right parties.

Partial results fronm the Irish general election (AFP Photo)

"I may well be the next taioseach (prime minister," she said before chatting to supporters and market traders.

"Sinn Fein won the election, we won the popular vote... I'm very clear that people who came out and voted for Sinn Fein have voted for Sinn Fein to be in government," she added.

Prime Minister and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar acknowledged the shift to "a three-party system" and said talks between the parties could be protracted and difficult.

After ballots in all 39 constituencies were tallied on Sunday, Sinn Fein received 24.5 percent of first preferences in Ireland's single transferable vote system.

That outstripped the opposition Fianna Fail party on 22.2 percent and Fine Gael on 20.9 percent.

"The Irish political system has to react to it and probably accept that Sinn Fein will be part of the next government," Eoin O'Malley, associate professor at Dublin City University, told AFP.

Irish republican Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou McDonald says the two 

mainstream parties are in a 'state of denial' (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

Young appeal

At 1600 GMT on Monday, state broadcaster RTE reported 123 of the 159 seats in the Dail -- Ireland's lower house of parliament -- were filled.

Sinn Fein, whose flagship policy is uniting the republic with Northern Ireland, had 37, with Fianna Fail on 26 and Fine Gael on 24. Turnout was 62.9 percent.

But because it ran just 42 candidates, even a strong performance in the popular vote may not result in it becoming the biggest party in the next parliament.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have both ruled out any deal with Sinn Fein because of its past associations under Adams, who has long denied allegations he had a leadership role in the IRA.

"The Troubles" saw the IRA wage a campaign against unionist counterparts and British security forces over UK-rule in Northern Ireland that saw more than 3,000 killed on all sides.

Ballots in all 39 of Ireland's constituencies were counted on Sunday (AFP Photo/

PAUL FAITH)

McDonald's policies on tackling wealth inequality and housing shortages appear to have appealed to younger voters in the EU member state's 3.3 million-strong electorate.

Some 32 percent of voters aged 18-24 and 25-34 backed the party, according to an exit poll on Saturday.

Dublin coffee shop manager Darren Hart said it was time for another party to try after decades of two-party dominance.

"Whether they have a troubled past as a party or not, you know they deserve a shot same as everybody else, so why not?" he said.

Fiach Kelly, deputy political editor of The Irish Times, called McDonald "the star of the campaign" and said her attacks on Fianna Fail's support for Fine Gael's minority government were "brutally effective".

"It robbed (Fianna Fail leader) Micheal Martin of his claim to be an agent of change and solidified Sinn Fein as the party offering radical change," he wrote.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has been seen as the face of a new, more progressive

Ireland (AFP Photo/Bryan MEADE)

Coalition predicted

In a sign of the sea-change in Irish politics, Varadkar himself was beaten to the first seat in his constituency by a Sinn Fein candidate.

He took the second of four seats but it was a sharp symbolic blow on a long night for the premier, who was facing the electorate for the first time as prime minister.

Varadkar -- young, openly gay and mixed-race -- has been seen as the face of a new, more progressive Ireland after referendums overturning strict abortion laws and same-sex marriage.

The new Dail convenes on February 20. O'Malley predicted a Fianna Fail-Sinn Fein coalition as the most likely future government to be formed some time in early March.

Google to stop using ‘double Irish, Dutch sandwich’ tax dodge: Reuters

DutchNews, January 2, 2020

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Google parent Alphabet is to stop using an intellectual property licensing loophole, known as the ‘Double Irish, Dutch sandwich’, which allowed it to cut its global tax bill, Reuters reports. 

The strategy involves companies moving money from an Irish subsidiary to a Dutch holding company and then back to an Irish holding company located in Bermuda with licensing rights to Google intellectual property. 

Because Bermuda has no corporate income tax it was lucrative for Google to report income there, effectively delaying tax payment on international earnings to the US for years while paying a lower tax rate in Europe. 

After pressure from the EU and the US Ireland closed the loopholes in 2014 and companies were given until 2020 to comply with new tax regulations. 

Dutch filings at the Chamber of Commerce and seen by Reuters showed that in 2018 Google moved €21.8bn through its Dutch holding company to Bermuda, up from €19.9bn in 2017. 

Reuters said the filing did not give a definite end date but that Google management expected the termination to take place ‘as of 31 December 2019 or during 2020′. 

The scheme was in place for over a decade and allowed the tech giant to cut its tax bill by hundreds of billions of euros, the Guardian estimates. 

The Netherlands does not currently tax royalties, but is planning to change this as part of a package of measures to crack down on tax evasion in 2021. 

Some 10,000 shell, or letter-box, companies are based in the Netherlands and are primarily used to shift corporate earnings and obscure ownership. Google has used its Dutch affiliate to move money since 2004.

Dublin warns UK PM 'no amnesty' for soldiers in N.Ireland

Yahoo – AFP, Joe STENSON,  November 11, 2019

A mural commemorates the victims of the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" killings in the
Bogside area of Londonderry (Derry), Northern Ireland (AFP Photo/PAUL FAITH)

Dublin (AFP) - The Irish government said on Monday there must be "no amnesty" for British soldiers who committed crimes in Northern Ireland, after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made historic prosecutions an election campaign issue.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said it was "very concerning" that the British Conservative leader had pledged to end moves to bring criminal charges against army veterans who had served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

Campaigning for the December 12 election, Johnson pledged Monday, timed for the anniversary of the World War I armistice, to amend human rights law to shield servicemen from prosecutions for events before 2000.

The pledge stokes the divisive debate over prosecutions for British troops involved in killings during three decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland.

More than 3,000 people were killed before the conflict wound down with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, signed with the accord of London and Dublin.

"This is very concerning. Governments and parties have agreed an approach on legacy and reconciliation in Northern Ireland," Coveney said in a statement.

"There is no statute of limitations, no amnesty, for anyone who committed crimes in NI. The law must apply to all, without exception, to achieve reconciliation."

British troops were despatched to the province to buttress law enforcement in 1969, as Catholics opposed to British rule battled in the streets with Protestants who wanted to remain part of the UK.

Initially welcomed, their deployment transformed into the longest British Army operation in history and was marred by a number of high profile killings.

According to the Ulster University's Sutton Index of deaths, the British Army was responsible for around 300 killings over the course of operations, which officially ended in 2007.

But efforts to bring soldiers to justice have been fraught with acrimony and legal difficulty, and the issue continues to split British and Northern Irish society.

Some feel the prosecution of soldiers equates them with state-designated terrorists, such as those acting for the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Others feel that an amnesty implies wrongdoing among all veterans, most of whom who served honourably.

Johnson's Conservatives have promised to protect ex-soldiers from "vexatious claims", by legislating to ensure laws intended for peace time do not apply to service personnel on military operations.

In his message to the armed forces, Johnson said: "We salute you and we will always support you."

At present there are a number of inquiries and criminal cases under way dealing with British Army killings.

Most prominently, a Parachute Regiment serviceman is currently facing murder charges for the killing of two civilians during "Bloody Sunday".

On January 30, 1972, soldiers opened fire on protesters in a majority Catholic area of the city of Londonderry, killing 14.

The case against the anonymous "Soldier F" -- who also faces four attempted murder charges -- reached court for the first time in September.

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Dutch cabinet acknowledges limited liability for Srebrenica relatives

On the Irish border, Britain's new Brexit plan fails to lift mood

Yahoo – AFP, Joe STENSON, October 3, 2019

The border between EU-member Ireland and Northern Ireland is a key part of
disagreements over a Brexit deal (AFP Photo/PAUL FAITH)

Middletown (United Kingdom) (AFP) - In Middletown, Northern Ireland, opinions on Brexit vary, but most people can agree on one thing: London's latest Brexit plans do nothing to quell fears of a return to a hard border.

"It's a joke," said Lena Carville, 52, as she strolled to the village post office on Thursday morning. "It's going to be hard on everybody who lives along the border.

"It's going to be a disaster as far as I can see," she told AFP.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson published his government's long-awaited proposals for a deal to leave the European Union on Wednesday before an October 31 deadline.

Notably, he pledged no customs checks "at or near the border in Northern Ireland", and instead proposed they are performed at traders' premises or "other points on the supply chain".

But among the 250 residents of Middletown, which butts up against the boundary between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Johnson's plan has not put minds to rest.

"The general Brexit situation is that everybody's in limbo -- nobody knows exactly what's going to happen," said farmer Peter Mackle with exasperation.

Mackle, 60, lives just outside Middletown across the border in the Irish republic. He is a self-avowed Johnson and Brexit supporter.

Sitting in his Range Rover surveying Middletown's high street, he said there could be no return to the past.

"There'll be no customs on the border north and south simply because they'll not be allowed", he said.

"There'll be people power and it'll be stopped regardless of laws and who's going to make them. It certainly will not be tolerated again."

A frontier village

The border between the Republic of Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland was once a frontier of violence in the 30 years of sectarian strife known as "the Troubles".

The bloodshed ended after the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which dissolved infrastructure along the 500-kilometre (300-mile) line and rendered it largely invisible.

Since Britain's seismic 2016 vote to leave the EU, there has been a sense a new frontier could emerge between Northern Ireland and trading bloc member Ireland.

Despite Johnson's latest assurances, there were still questions about whether he risked unravelling the fragile peace process -- and even provoking fresh violence.

"I'm pretty worried about it at the minute because at my age I've been through all the troubles and I don't want it for my kids," Carville said, looking concerned.

"We can't go back on the Good Friday Agreement" added villager Gerald Williamson, 54, with a sense of agitation.

"It's written in stone, it's very important to the people here," he added before heading up Middletown's main street and its smattering of shops.

Business concerns

Visitors to Middletown are left in no doubt about local views on the border. Signs dot the side of the road beside the lush green hillsides, stocked with cattle.

"No border, no barriers, protest," one placard reads. Another says "EU customs area", denoting the spot where checks could soon take place.

Local people aren't the only ones unconvinced by Johnson's proposals. Northern Irish business leaders also slate them as costly and unworkable.

Aodhan Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium industry body, said they would require "intrusive surveillance which will put a burden on business and be disruptive for border communities".

But stacking chairs and tables outside her takeaway cafe as she prepared to open, Noeleen Simpson gave some backing to the prime minister.

"It's all he can do," she said with a sense of resignation.

For her the threat of a no-deal Brexit -- meaning checks choking the border roads which carry her passing trade -- is a greater concern.

"I don't want any interruptions. I just want the best for the north," the 45-year-old explained.

Parked on Middletown's main thoroughfare, though, one man saw a upside to any strict customs checks -- the re-emergence of lucrative black market smuggling, once common in the area during the Troubles.

"If they do this we could be earning a lot of money out of it," he said.

EU loses big Starbucks tax case, wins on Fiat

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine KURZAWA, September 24, 2019

In cases keenly being watched by Apple, ordered to repay Ireland 13 billion euros 
in 2016, Brussels saw its unpaid taxes claim against Starbucks annulled -- but 
upheld in the case of Fiat (AFP Photo/Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD)

Luxembourg (AFP) - An EU court on Tuesday annulled an order by Brussels that Starbucks pay 30 million euros to the Netherlands, saying regulators had failed to demonstrate it received illegal state aid.

In a separate decision, however, the same court said Fiat must pay roughly the same amount to Luxembourg, upholding a similar EU order from 2015.

The split decision will be closely watched by Apple, which was ordered to repay Ireland 13 billion euros in 2016 in a blockbuster case that is also making its way through EU courts.

The cases can now be appealed at the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice.

"The general court annuls the commission's decision on the aid measure implemented by the Netherlands in favour of Starbucks," the statement said.

"The commission was unable to demonstrate the existence of an advantage in favour of Starbucks," it added.

The cases from 2015 were the first out of the gate in the crackdown by the EU's anti-trust supremo Margarethe Vestager against member states that had sealed sweetheart tax deals with multinationals.

In her landmark rulings, Vestager said Dutch authorities must recoup unpaid taxes from Starbucks because it illegally allowed an elaborate tax set-up that allowed it to shift revenue abroad.

"I am pleased that the European Commission's case on Starbucks against the Netherlands on state aid has been clarified," Dutch secretary of state for finance Menno Snel said in a statement.

"This decision proves that the Dutch tax authorities treated Starbucks like any other company, and no better or different," he added.

The Starbucks and Fiat cases are dwarfed by the blockbuster order in 2016 that Apple repay Ireland 13 billion euros.

That case drew global attention, helping Vestager become the EU's highest-profile official.

In the new commission, she has been promoted to executive vice president and will effectively become Europe's tech regulation czar, while still holding on to her powerful anti-trust portfolio.

EU member states such as Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have attracted multinationals over many years by offering extremely favourable tax deals to generate jobs and investment.

The issue hit close to home in 2014 with the LuxLeaks scandal which revealed that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's native Luxembourg gave companies favourable tax deals while he was prime minister.

Luxembourg has also been ordered by Brussels to recoup 250 million euros from Amazon and 120 million euros from French energy giant Engie.

The same court handed the commission a first setback in 2019, when it threw out a tax deal decision against Belgium, but mainly on procedural grounds. The commission last week refiled the case.

The commission is also investigating tax deals with Ikea and Nike in the Netherlands. Brussels dropped a keenly-watched case against McDonald's.

UK court ruling leaves Queen in ‘hideous’ position

24matins, Dmitry ZAKS,  24 September 2019

Queen Elizabeth II approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson's advice to cut down the
number of days MPs will meet before Brexit, set for October 31© POOL/AFP Victoria Jones

Queen Elizabeth II was left exposed Tuesday to suggestions that Boris Johnson used her as a political pawn by having her approve a suspension of parliament that the Supreme Court has unanimously ruled broke the law.

Constitutional experts say the 93-year-old head of state had no choice but to give royal assent to Johnson’s request to slash the number of days parliament meets before Britain is due to leave the European Union on October 31.

Britain has functioned for centuries as a constitutional monarchy in which the sovereign can only act on the prime minister’s advice.

In other words: the monarch has authority in name only while her prime minister wields the political power that counts.

“It’s the oldest rule in the constitution,” Durham University constitutional expert Robert Craig said.

Yet the five-week suspension she signed off on looked suspiciously long from the start. The court noted Tuesday that most prorogations last for a matter of just days.

These are required when parliament’s session draws to an end and the prime minister prepares to set out the agenda for the year ahead.

And the one Johnson had asked for came in the politically-explosive run-up to Britain’s scheduled withdrawal from the European Union on October 31.

“This is a hideous moment for the palace,” BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond wrote.

It also raises even bigger questions as Brexit day nears and the debate over the monarch’s role in UK politics rumbles on.

“For decades, for centuries, (Britain’s constitutional monarchy) has been governed by convention and precedent, and an unspoken agreement not to push things too far,” Dymond said.

“Boris Johnson blew that apart.”

Breaking conventions

University of Liverpool law professor Mike Gordon speculated before the ruling that Johnson’s “government might advise the queen not to give the royal assent” to the parliamentary law ruling out the possibility of Britain’s crash exit from the EU.

“And at that point we’ll be in difficult constitutional territory,” said Gordon.

“The convention she gives the royal assent to anything parliament will pass clashes with the convention she acts on ministerial advice.”

The last monarch to refuse royal assent — signing a bill into law — was queen Anne in 1708.

But much of what has been happening in UK politics has not been recorded in history for centuries.

It is hard to imagine anyone better-versed in the sovereign’s duties than Britain’s longest-serving monarch — on the throne since 1952 and holding a special place in most Britons’ hearts.

The sovereign is usually only approached by ministers when their attempts to sort out the various political debates among themselves all fail.

The closest this queen has come to being drawn into politics was during the 1975 constitutional crisis in Australia.

Her governor-general John Kerr had sacked Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam and the queen refused to get involved in the political furore that followed.

Former British prime minister John Major said he hoped the queen is spared any more possible blushes by Johnson.

“No prime minister must ever treat the monarch or parliament in this way again,” Major said.

UK Judge Brenda Hale delivered the UK Supreme Court's damning verdict against Boris Johnson with a huge glittery spider brooch.
The jewellery swiftly obtained its own Twitter account while a black t-shirt with a spider design has started selling on eBayhttps://t.co/gnAonFmsyQ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 24 september 2019

Apple slams EU as epic court battle over tax bill begins

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine KURZAWA, 17 September 2019

The EU has taken a 13-billion-euro bite out of Apple

Apple went on the offensive against Brussels in an EU court on Tuesday, fighting the European Commission's landmark order that the iPhone-maker reimburse Ireland 13 billion euros ($14 billion) in back taxes.

The EU's tax demand, made three years ago, "defies reality and common sense," Apple's lawyer Daniel Beard told the EU's lower General Court.

The commission's "conclusion... is wrong," he added at the start of two days of hearings.

Lawyers for the world's biggest company faced EU officials in the Luxembourg court, challenging a decision that CEO Tim Cook slammed at the time as "total political crap" with no basis in law.

Ireland, which is similarly appealing the decision, lashed out at the EU's "astonishing" interpretation of tax law.

"The Commission decision simply ignores Irish laws," Ireland's representative Maurice Collins told judges.

The commission's historic decision was delivered in August 2016 by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a shock decision that put Europe at the forefront of an emerging effort to rein in the power of America's largest technological companies.

The EU accuses Apple of parking untaxed revenue earned in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India in Ireland, which has become a European hub for US-based big tech.

This privilege allegedly gave Apple an advantage over other companies, allowing it to avoid Irish taxes between 2003 and 2014 of around 13 billion euros which, according to Brussels, constituted illegal "state aid" by Ireland.

An EU lawyer pushed back at Apple and Ireland's arguments, insisting that the iPhone-maker was on the hook to pay taxes in Ireland.

The judges are not expected to hand down their decision before 2020. Any appeal would then go the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice, for a final ruling that could land as late as 2021.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, in charge of the world's biggest company, has called the 

EU tax case "total political crap"

'Rewrite history'

Apple fiercely rejects the tax bill, while the US government insists the order by Brussels constitutes a major breach of international tax law.

"The European Commission has tried to rewrite Apple's history in Europe, to ignore Ireland's tax laws and, in doing so, to disrupt the international tax system," Tim Cook said in an open letter in 2016.

The group insists that it is in the United States, where the company invests in research and development and thus creates wealth, that it must pay taxes on the revenue in question.

This became possible after a major tax overhaul in the US at the end of 2017 that allowed Apple to repatriate profits made abroad. Apple has promised to pay Washington a tax bill of $37 billion, in addition to the taxes already paid in the United States.

That argument is "perfectly irrelevant", said the commission's lawyer.

"There is no tax mismatch here," said the lawyer.

The two days of hearings are taking place in a tense trade context between the EU and the United States. President Donald Trump accuses Europeans of deliberately attacking American technology giants.

The EU's competition supremo, Vestager, has in particular been accused by Trump of "hating" the US. He has slammed her as the "tax lady" because of the investigations and heavy fines imposed on US tech firms such as Google.

Pending the conclusion of the case, Apple has blocked the funds in an escrow account: a total of 14.3 billion euros after interest.

The group, which has been present in Ireland since the 1980s, employs around 6,000 people in Cork, the country's second-largest city.

The first indications of how the Apple case may finish will come as early as September 24 when the same EU court will rule on whether Vestager was right to demand unpaid taxes from Starbucks and a unit of Fiat Chrysler.