Putin set for fourth term with 74 percent of vote: exit poll

Yahoo – AFP, Theo MERZ, Maria ANTONOVA, March 18, 2018

Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win a fourth term (AFP Photo/
Yuri KADOBNOV)

Moscow (AFP) - Vladimir Putin won Russia's presidential election on Sunday with almost 74 percent of the vote, according to an official exit poll, with the opposition reporting ballot stuffing and other cases of alleged fraud.

Putin, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, stood against seven other candidates, but his most vocal critic Alexei Navalny was barred from the ballot for legal reasons and the final outcome was never in doubt.

The Kremlin was hoping for high voter numbers to give greater legitimacy to Putin's historic fourth term as Russia faces increasing isolation on the world stage over a spy poisoning in Britain and a fresh round of US sanctions.

About 107 million Russians were eligible to cast ballots and the central election commission said turnout was 60 percent, after the authorities used both the carrot and the stick to boost participation.

Selfie competitions, giveaways, food festivals and children's entertainers were laid on at polling booths in a bid to create a festive atmosphere around the election.

But employees of state and private companies reported coming under pressure to vote, while students were threatened with problems in their exams or even expulsion if they did not take part, according to the opposition-leaning Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

The exit poll by state-owned pollster VTsIOM at 1,200 voting stations around Russia projected that Putin had won 73.9 percent of the vote, up from 64 percent six years ago.

Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin performed better than expected, with 11.2 percent according to the exit poll, but the results of all other candidates including former reality TV host Ksenia Sobchak were forecast to be in single figures.

A woman holds a poster reading "Put In - Put Out" as she demonstrates outside the 

Russian embassy in Berlin (AFP Photo/Tobias SCHWARZ)

'Unprecedented violations'

Navalny -- who called on his supporters to boycott the "fake" vote and sent over 33,000 observers across the country to see how official turnout figures differed from those of monitors -- said there had been "unprecedented violations".

His lawyer Ivan Zhdanov said the actual national turnout at 1700 GMT, when polls closed in Moscow, was 55 percent, according to data collected by monitors.

Navalny's opposition movement and the non-governmental election monitor Golos reported ballot stuffing, repeat voting and Putin supporters being bussed into polling stations en masse.

One election commission worker in the republic of Dagestan, which traditionally registers extremely high official turnout figures, told AFP around 50 men entered the station where he was working and physically assaulted an observer before stuffing a ballot box.

But the electoral commission dismissed most concerns, saying monitors sometimes misinterpret what they see.

Putin 'a hero'

Since first being elected president in 2000, Putin has stamped his total authority on the world's biggest country, muzzling opposition, putting television under state control and reasserting Moscow's standing abroad.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has claimed widespread vote fraud (AFP Photo/
Maxim ZMEYEV)

The 65-year-old former KGB officer used an otherwise lacklustre presidential campaign to emphasise Russia's role as a major world power, boasting of its "invincible" new nuclear weapons in a pre-election speech.

Casting his ballot in Moscow, Putin said he would be pleased with any result giving him the right to continue as president.

"I am sure the programme I am offering is the right one," said the man who is already Russia's longest-serving leader since Stalin.

Most people who spoke to AFP said they voted for Putin, praising him for restoring stability and national pride after the humiliating collapse of the USSR.

"Of course I'm for Putin, he's a leader," said Olga Matyunina, a 65-year-old retired economist.

"After he brought Crimea back, he became a hero to me."

Sunday marks four years since Putin signed a treaty declaring Crimea to be part of Russia in a move that triggered a pro-Kremlin insurgency in east Ukraine, a conflict that has claimed over 10,000 lives.

Voting in space

Ahead of the vote, a new crisis broke out with the West as Britain implicated Putin in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal with a Soviet-designed nerve agent.

Map showing Russian economic, political, military and cultural influence around
the world (AFP Photo/Dario INGIUSTO)

In response, London expelled 23 Russian diplomats, prompting a tit-for-tat move by Moscow. Also this week, Washington hit Russia with sanctions for trying to influence the 2016 US election.

Putin's previous Kremlin term was marked by a crackdown on the opposition after huge protests, the Ukraine conflict, military intervention in Syria and the introduction of Western sanctions that contributed to a fall in living standards.

The president has said he will use his fourth term to address a litany of domestic problems including widespread poverty and poor healthcare.

Ahead of the election, state-run pollsters had predicted Putin would take about 70 percent of the vote, with the independent Levada Centre -- branded a "foreign agent" -- barred from releasing any polls.

"Another six years of slavery," said a piece of paper made up to look like a ballot which was spotted on a Moscow street -- in an apparent reference to Putin's next term.

Election officials flew to far-flung regions to collect votes from indigenous herders, while cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov -- the only Russian currently aboard the International Space Station -- cast his ballot by proxy.

Unilever move will boost financial services sector, says PwC

DutchNews, March 16, 2018

The Zuidas business district is still busy in the evening. Photo: DutchNews.nl 

Profits will be pouring in to Amsterdam’s prime Zuidas financial services business district after Unilever’s decision to move its London headquarter operations to the Netherlands, according to PwC. 

The international accountacy and consultancy group told the Financieele Dagblad on Friday that Unilever’s selection of Rotterdam as its sole headquarters will swell the ranks of advisory services such as tax experts, lawyers and accountants. 

PwC’s chief economist Jan Willem Velthuijsen said the set up of any headquarters operation in the country sparked extra business for the financial services industry. 

Although Unilever has always operated as a single business, it maintained headquarters both in London and Rotterdam since its founding in 1930. On Thursday the soup-to-soap giant opted to have a single headquarters unit in the Netherlands. 

Velthuijsen said personal contacts and networking were major factors in building up consultancy services. ‘People know one another from university or meet at networking events. Companies needing a lawyer usually select one near their own headquarters.  And the decision-makers  are found at headquarters. They hire the consultants and lawyers,’ he said. 

‘Having the Unilever headquarters in the Netherlands will not create many jobs. What is important is that decisions will be made here,’ said Maurice de Kleer, chairman of the Netherlands tax advisers association.

Related Articles:

British gov’t: Brexit not reason for Unilever move to Rotterdam

Prime minister welcome’s Unilever decision, shrugs off dividend tax claim

Dutch MEPs lead onslaught against EU secretary-general appointment

DutchNews, March 12, 2018

Dutch MEPs will on Monday join the onslaught on the appointment of Martin Selmayr as a top European official without any consultation, The Times reported at the weekend. 

The paper said D66 MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld will call on the European Commission to reverse its decision to appoint the controversial Selmayr to the top job and has also asked the EU ombudsman to investigate. 

The decision of the 28 commissioners to approve the appointment without discussion or other applications is ‘stupid and immoral’, she said. 

‘These people are supposed to be the very best. They run the most powerful institution on the continent and yet they behave like sheep when something like this is put before them,’ the Times quoted her as saying. 

‘If you are so out of touch that you think you can get away with it… what planet are you living on?’ 

Broadcastere NOS said last week almost all Dutch MEPs think Selmayr should withdraw because he has not been named in line with EU rules. 

‘If this happened in Burkino Faso, that country would no longer receive any support and we would say this is not how you should govern a country,’ Hans van Baalen, a VVD MEP, told broadcaster NOS. 

Selmayr, who is controversial for his domineering style, was promoted to secretary general of the commission at lightning speed, and decision announced by Jean-Claude Juncker at a press conference earlier this month. 

French newspaper Liberation then said the appointment was tied to improved perks for commissioners after they leave office. 

Last week, Dutch MPs also asked prime minister Mark Rutte about the case, but did not get majority support in parliament to press for a debate.

#Selmayrgate raises grave doubts about integrity, transparency and judgement of the European Commission. Debate tomorrow in @Europarl_EN https://t.co/82sVE3rEYY

— Sophie in 't Veld (@SophieintVeld) March 11, 2018

EU aims to tax internet giants at 'two to six percent': France

Yahoo – AFP, March 4, 2018

The tax-avoidance strategies used by Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple have
cost governments around the world as much as $240 billion a year in lost revenue,
according to the OECD (AFP Photo/Damien MEYER)

Paris (AFP) - The EU will soon unveil a plan for taxing major internet companies like Amazon and Facebook by imposing a levy of two to six percent on revenues in every country where they operate, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday.

"The range will be from two to six percent; but closer to two than to six," Le Maire told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

The European Commission has said it will present by end March an overhaul of its tax rules, which currently allow US digital economy giants to report their income from across the bloc in any member state.

That leads them to pick low-tax nations like Ireland, the Netherlands or Luxembourg, depriving other nations of their share of the revenue even though they may account for more of a company's earnings.

"The heads of these companies know themselves that this system can't continue," Le Maire said.

Critics say the tax-avoidance strategies used by the tech titans known as GAFA -- Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple -- deprive EU governments of billions of euros while giving them an unfair advantage over smaller rivals.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says such strategies cost governments around the world as much as $240 billion (195 billion euros) a year in lost revenue, according to a 2015 estimate.

Asked if the proposed rate might be criticised as too low, Le Maire said: "I would rather have a law that can be implemented quickly instead of drawn-out negotiations."

American tech giants appear to believe the European tax revamp is in the cards, with several already announcing pledges to pay more in each country where they operate as governments step up their fiscal demands.

Amazon said last month that it had settled a major tax claim in France and that it would start declaring all its earnings in the country.

Shivering Europe hopes for weekend respite as deep freeze persists

Yahoo – AFP, March 3, 2018

Temperatures in many parts of Europe remained sub-zero because of a
deadly cold snap from Siberia (AFP Photo/Tolga AKMEN)

Paris (AFP) - Europe's deep freeze, which has cost more than 60 lives over the past week, continued to wreak havoc early Saturday as the shivering continent awaited a sliver of weekend respite from a brutal Siberian cold front.

After heavy snowfall and deadly blizzards lashed Europe, conditions marginally improved in some regions on Friday -- although temperatures generally remained sub-zero, forcing more major delays on roads, railways and at airports.

But Britain's Met Office said the Arctic temperatures were set to rise.

"After the extreme weather many of us have seen recently many will see conditions ease a little through the next few days," it said.

In France, the forecast this weekend was for rain rather than the kind of heavy snowfall that has blanketed vast tracts of Europe.

The deadly chill has been caused by weather blowing in from Siberia. British media have dubbed the front "the Beast from the East," while the Dutch have gone for the "Siberian Bear" and the Swedes plumped for the "Snow Cannon".

Over the past week, the freezing conditions have claimed more than 60 lives, according to an AFP toll, including 23 in Poland, seven in Slovakia, six in the Czech Republic and five in Lithuania.

The cold weather did not spare even Mediterranean beaches, with a thick blanket of
snow covering the Promenade des Anglais in Nice (AFP Photo/VALERY HACHE)

Other deaths were recorded in Spain, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.

France has seen at least nine weather-related deaths, including four skiers killed by an avalanche on Friday in the Alps, which have seen particularly heavy snowfall.

A 41-year-old Libyan man was found dead in an empty train carriage in the western French town of Saintes. Police suspect he died of hypothermia, but could not be sure.

In Austria meanwhile, five migrants abandoned by smugglers were rescued from a motorway near the city of Graz on Friday, some of them walking barefoot in sub-zero temperatures, according to police.

Switzerland has seen the mercury plummet to records of up to minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) in the ongoing blizzard, which has even covered usually balmy Mediterranean beaches with a blanket of snow.

Geneva's busy airport announced it had re-opened shortly after midday Friday "despite the unfavourable meteorological conditions", having warned earlier it faced staying shut for a second consecutive day as snowstorms continued to lash the Swiss city.

Airport authorities warned, however, of further "delays and cancellations".

Snow falls on Paris during the cold front dubbed "The Beast from the East" 

(AFP Photo/OLIVIER MORIN)

The cold threw a spanner in the works of British Prime Minister Theresa May's plans to give a speech on Brexit in the northeastern city of Newcastle.

May elected to stay put in London given the transport mayhem, which saw motorists stuck in their cars around Manchester in the northwest and troops deployed overnight in Hampshire in the deep south to aid other drivers battling fresh snowfall and icy gales.

Snow baby

Also having to change their plans were Andrew Waring and his wife Daniella, who gave birth to baby daughter Sienna on the side of a snowbound main road outside the northeastern town of Darlington.

Waring delivered the child on the roadside after the couple realised they would not reach the hospital in time, with paramedics dubbing Sienna the #A66snowbaby after the road where she emerged into the world.

In Ireland, housing minister Eoghan Murphy tweeted that "blizzard conditions have now passed", advising people they could now venture outdoors while still exercising "extreme caution".

The brutal conditions have claimed at least 60 lives across the continent and

 brought many cities to a standstill (AFP Photo/JASPER JACOBS)

Even so, Dublin airport remained closed until at least Saturday. Some 24,000 people remained without electricity in Ireland Friday morning.

The country battled to get over the worst of a combination of the cold blast and Storm Emma, which has also been battering western Europe and was doing its worst over Britain.

Italy was also still stuck in sub-zero temperatures with a number of major roads blocked because of snow and black ice as forecasters warned the country's northern and central regions would see little immediate improvement.

Many schools remained closed and local authorities told people to remain indoors unless they urgently needed to travel.

Elsewhere in Europe, Serbia and Croatia saw some improvement but two people died overnight in Poland as temperatures plunged to a low of -27 Celsius (-16.6 Fahrenheit). They were set to remain as low as -17 Celsius across the day in some areas even as forecasters spoke of a relative weekend thaw.

Folldal, a small village in central Norway, saw a record European low for recent days of -42 Celsius during the night.

Even so, residents used to harsh conditions were sanguine.

"Life is generally ongoing," mayor Hilde Frankmo Tveren quipped to broadcaster TV2.