Wildfires raging on the Spanish Canary Islands of La Gomera and Tenerife have forced the evacuation of more than 4,700 people in two days, authorities say.
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Fresh fires burn Canary Islands
11 August 2012 Last updated at 19:19 ET
Spanish firefighting teams in the Canary Islands are struggling anew to contain forest fires said to have forced some 4,700 people from their homes.
On the island of Tenerife, the blaze has cut road links and power lines.
On the neighbouring island of La Gomera officials say the fire has destroyed part of a nature reserve with "incalculable ecological value".
Spain has been hard hit by forest fires after its driest winter in 70 years.
Blazes are also raging in the mainland region of Galicia.
Fires first erupted on La Gomera a week ago, but by Monday the blaze was thought to be under control and aircraft used to help put out the flames had even been sent elsewhere, regional official Nancy Melo told the Associated Press news agency.
But on Friday the islands' government said the fire had now intensified, and a fresh blaze had begun on Tenerife.
About 2,500 people have been evacuated on La Gomera, along with some 2,200 people on Tenerife, the Agence France-Presse news agency quoted the regional government as saying.
On La Gomera, the flames have devoured some 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of land, AFP said.
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Japan to take islands dispute with Korea to intl court
TOKYO - Japan said on Saturday it will take its long-running islands territorial dispute with South Korea to the International Court of Justice, after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made a surprise visit to the islands this week.
The islands, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, lie equidistant from the two mainlands and are believed to contain frozen natural gas deposits potentially worth billions of dollars.
Lee became the first South Korean leader on Friday to make the trip to the islands, which have been a persistent irritant in relations between the two countries.
"Japan decided to act to peacefully solve the issue by bringing it to International Court of Justice," a spokesperson for Japan's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said via an e-mailed statement on Saturday.
"Having seen Republic of Korea take such an unacceptable action, we believe that letting Japan's case on Takeshima known to the world, through ICJ, is more important than holding back, giving consideration for the whole Japan-ROK relations."
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Korea, Japan clash over islands
South Koreans stand behind President Lee Myung-bak's decision to visit disputed islands. Sophia Soo reports.
A SURPRISE presidential visit to some disputed islands between Japan and Korea has fired tensions in the region, even as China and the Philippines manoeuvre further south.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has paid a surprise visit to the islands at the centre of a decades-long territorial dispute with Japan, which has recalled its ambassador from Seoul in protest.
Lee was making the first visit by a South Korean president to the rocky volcanic outcrops in the Sea of Japan, roughly midway between South Korea and its former colonial ruler, Japan.
This is just one of many island disputes. Last week, the United States warned China over its aggressive campaign to build outposts on disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
Disregarding Tokyo's warnings that the move would strain already prickly relations, Lee toured the main island and shook hands with coastguards as a South Korean flag fluttered in the breeze.
"Dokdo is indeed our territory and a place worth staking our lives to defend. Let's make sure to safeguard it with pride," pool reports quoted him as saying.
A police guard with a rifle is seen before a South Korean landing ship on the remote islands disputed with Japan. Picture: DONG-A ILBO
TV footage showed him posing for a photo in front of a rock painted with the slogan "ROK (South Korean) territory".
The South has stationed a small coastguard detachment since 1954 on the islands known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.
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Oregon AG suggests Islands Tanning change its contract to meet consumer laws
A day after Islands Tanning was the subject of an investigation by The Desk, the Oregon attorney general's office alerted business owner Jon Guyette that his contracts for tanning packages don't appear to comply with state consumer laws.
"You may want your attorney to review your contracts and bring them into compliance with the law," a state investigator said in a July 23 email to Guyette. "Failure to comply with this law is a violation of Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act."
Guyette and his 10-salon chain were featured in Complaint Desk on July 22 after 19-year-old Peter Santoro applied for a job at the Islands Tanning outlet in Wilsonville. The teenager walked in looking for work and walked out with a yearlong tanning contract that cost $548. Oregon's Health Spa Law, which also applies to gyms and tanning salons, requires those businesses to alert their customers that they have the right to cancel their contracts within three days.
The Desk noted in the July 22 report that Guyette's employees hadn't told a number of customers about the cancellation right and that his contracts did not include the required wording. In fact, Guyette's contracts stated that "Islands Tanning has a no refund, no return policy."
Guyette confirmed that he'd received the email from the state and that he planned to update his contracts.
"I would think so, yeah," he said, hanging up on The Desk before answering whether he planned to refund Santoro's money.
Santoro's mother, Juliet Santoro, contended the company had taken advantage of her son.
Guyette originally told Juliet Santoro that her son was mature enough to sign the contract and that he'd have to follow its terms for a refund: Paying six monthly payments of $44 and then a $199.99 cancellation fee.
However, an attorney general's office investigator told Juliet Santoro on Friday that her son's contract had been voided and the cancellation fee waived. The investigator also said she would look into a refund for money the Santoros already had paid.
-- Laura Gunderson
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Oregon AG suggests Islands Tanning change its contract to meet consumer laws
Fires on Spain's Canary Islands force 4,700 evacuations
Wildfires raging on the Spanish Canary Islands of La Gomera and Tenerife have forced the evacuation of more than 4,700 people in two days, the regional government said Saturday.
Firefighters battling the blazes on the islands off Morocco were up against "high temperatures, low humidity and wind" that fanned the flames, said regional economy minister Javier Gonzalez Ortiz.
A pitiless heatwave originating from north Africa that follows Spain's driest winter in seven decades has shown no sign of letting up, and fires were also raging in the mainland Galicia region.
On La Gomera, the most devastating fires in a decade have ravaged some 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of land, including about one-tenth of the Garajonay nature reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
About 2,500 people from 13 villages in the island's west and southwest were evacuated as a precaution, the regional government said in a statement.
On the other Canaries island of Tenerife, more than 2,200 people were moved from their homes.
"The fires are still burning on three fronts," an emergency services spokesman said earlier. "There is no positive change for the moment."
Water-dropping aircraft again flew missions Saturday as blazes erupted anew in the Garajonay reserve, home to rare subtropical forests which boasts 450 plant species, including eight found only in the park.
Ventura del Carmen Rodriguez, the island's environment secretary, said last week it would take 30-40 years for Garajonay's burned areas to recover.
Three more villages were evacuated after 300 people fled their homes to safety on Friday, as roads leading to the affected areas were cut off.
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Cayman Islands scraps expat tax plan
Unpopular proposal to tax expatriates in the Cayman Islands has been dropped.
The Cayman Islands has axed a plan to tax foreign workers that sparked widespread outrage.
Residents of the British Caribbean territory, which famously imposes no direct taxes, were shocked when the government announced the introduction of a 10 per cent community enhancement fee on the income of foreign workers earning over 15,300 (later lifted to 27,600).
Premier McKeeva Bush said the tax was imperative to help Cayman tackle its financial problems. But both expats and locals expressed concern that it was not only unfair, but could damage the Islands' status as one the of the worlds leading offshore financial centres.
After nearly two weeks of vigorous campaigning by islanders, a statement was issued by Mr Bush confirming the tax was off the table and will not be implemented.
In a meeting on Wednesday, he identified other sources of revenue which were likely to be brought in to replace the expat tax, including raised work permit fees and property stamp duties.
Robyn Larkin, an American expat living on the Islands, was one of many expats celebrating the demise of the plan. I am glad to hear that the expat tax is off the table, she said. "Cayman is my home, no matter where I was born, and I want to see this community prosper, not suffer as it has since this tax was announced.
In 2009, official statistics showed that there were nearly 23,000 foreigners living in the Cayman islands, comprising 41 per cent of the population. A significant number work in the two pillars of the Islands economy, finance and tourism.
The Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association said that the tax would have meant giving up "the single-most important value proposition that the Cayman Islands has to offer our investors no direct taxation" and would see the territory lose out to its competitors.
The Cayman Islands has long been the worlds most important hedge fund location, and is the fifth biggest banking centre. A combination of the financial crisis and alleged government overspending however has seen it struggle to balance the books in recent years.
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Japan to take islands dispute with Korea to international court
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan said on Saturday it will take the long-running islands territorial dispute with South Korea to the International Court of Justice, after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made a surprise visit to the islands this week. The islands, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, lie equidistant from the two mainlands and are believed to contain frozen natural gas ...
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Japan to take islands dispute with Korea to international court
Islands spat flares up between South Korea and Japan
The Dokdo, or Takeshima islands are rich in fish and maybe gas, but lie in disputed waters almost slap-dash in the middle between South Korea and Japan.
It is a long-simmering dispute. South Korea insists the Dokdo are theirs, and now the head of state has made an unprecedented visit, and ambassadors have been recalled.
If its true, that would run counter to Japans stance on Takeshima and it would be extremely regrettable. We strongly urge South Korea to call off this visit. We are now already strongly asking South Korea to call off the visit, said Japanese cabinet secretary Osamu Fujimura on hearing the news.
In Seoul, just hours before their national football side plays Japan in the Olympic final, some people feel like they are one-nil up already.
Its our territory. So its quite natural that our president visits there. If other countries say anything against it, it should be an infringement of sovereignty, said one man.
Its natural that President Lee Myung-bak visits the islands and hes doing the right thing, agreed another man. However, from the diplomatic point of view, Japan might take actions against us economically or there might be diplomatic problems, he added.
South Korea controls the islands with a coastguard station. The visit also comes shortly before the anniversary of the end of Japanese colonial rule.
Copyright 2012 euronews
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S. Korean leader due to visit disputed islands
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak is expected later Friday to visit islands at the heart of a territorial dispute with Japan, his spokeswoman said, a trip set to ignite a sharp diplomatic row with Tokyo.
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S. Korea leader visits disputed islands: report
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak landed Friday on remote islands at the heart of a territorial dispute with Japan, according to news reports, on an unprecedented visit which stirred anger in Tokyo.
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Japan and South Korea Lock Horns Over Islands, China Steers Clear
Just because most Americans can't tell them apart doesn't mean the South Koreans and the Japanese don't have their differences. This Friday, Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea after South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak paid an official visit to a small group of islands located smack-dab in the middle of the Sea of Japan. Or the East Sea of Korea, as the South Koreans call it.
Absent from this territorial dispute is China, who has been known, of late, to engage in naval disputes wuth neighbors over territory it claims as its own.
The islands, called the Dokdo Islands in Korean, the Takeshima Islands in Japanese, and Liancourt Rocks in English, have been part of a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan since Korea gained its independence from Japan after World War Two.
South Koreans are reportedly passionate about the issue, and claim the islands have always been part of their motherland.The only current residents of the island are an old woman, her husband, and the South Korean Coast Guard. But the islands are also home to an abundance of fish, in which Japan is extremely interested, and to recently discovered reserves of natural gas, which would be worth billions of dollars.
Territorial disputes are common in this region, given the vast number of tiny islands, according to Harvard Professor of Japanese History David Howell. "These disputes are more visible now that China is exerting a naval influence," he said. "For most Japanese people, the status of some islands in the southern Okinawa is a much more powerful issue [than the Takeshima islands]."
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Howell said he'd be surprised if China got involved with these islands. China, after all, is busy disputing Ieodo Island with South Korea, and a whole host of other islands between China and Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Japan."
Howell also said China might be staying out of this spat strategically: "Getting involved one way or the other would highlight the ambiguity of these territorial claims in general," he said, "and that might undermine some of China's other claims to other islands."
But howell also does not think things are likely to get too hot between Japan and South Korea. "Recalling the ambassador is not a big deal," he said. "In South Korea this issue is a big deal, but from the Japanese side, they wouldn't want relations with South Korea to get sour over this."
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Japan and South Korea Lock Horns Over Islands, China Steers Clear
Kermadecs Islands: A Serendipitous `Event'
Kermadecs Islands: A Serendipitous `Event'
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William and Kate to visit Pacific Islands: palace
Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine will visit the Pacific Islands of Solomon and Tuvalu in September as part of a tour marking the queen's Diamond Jubilee, the palace said.
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Japan recalls envoy after South Korea's Lee visits disputed islands
SEOUL (Reuters) - Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea on Friday after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited disputed islands believed to contain frozen natural gas deposits potentially worth billions of dollars. Lee is the first South Korean leader to make the trip to the islands that have been a persistent irritant in relations between the two countries even after they moved on ...
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Japan recalls envoy after South Korea's Lee visits disputed islands
S. Korea's Lee visits disputed islands, Japan recalls envoy
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak paid a surprise visit Friday to islands at the centre of a decades-long territorial dispute with Japan, which recalled its ambassador from Seoul in protest.
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Kermadecs Islands: New Zealand s Remote Ocean Wilderness
Kermadecs Islands: New Zealand s Remote Ocean Wilderness
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Kermadec Islands: New Zealand marine reserve
Kermadec Islands: New Zealand marine reserve
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Fitch Rates $159MM Virgin Islands Matching Fund Bonds 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Fitch Ratings assigns 'BBB+' ratings to the following revenue bonds of the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority (VIPFA):
--$136.365 million revenue bonds (Virgin Islands matching fund loan note), series 2012A (Working Capital);
--$22.73 million revenue bonds (Virgin Islands matching fund loan note), series 2012B (Capital Projects).
The bonds are expected to be privately placed with investors with pricing scheduled for Aug. 21 and Aug. 22, 2012. The bonds are expected to close on Aug. 29, 2012.
In addition, Fitch affirms the following VIPFA revenue bond ratings:
--$707.5 million revenue bonds (Virgin Islands matching fund loan note) senior lien at 'BBB+';
--$183.71 million revenue bonds (Virgin Islands matching fund loan note) subordinate lien at 'BBB';
--$250 million subordinated revenue bonds (Virgin Islands matching fund loan note-Diageo project) series 2009A at 'BBB';
--$38.1 million subordinated revenue bonds (Virgin Islands matching fund loan note-Cruzan project) series 2009A at 'BBB'.
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Fitch Rates $159MM Virgin Islands Matching Fund Bonds 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable
Cayman Islands scrap planned income tax
Tax haven remains tax haven.
The Cayman Islands. Photograph: Getty Images
The Cayman islands, famed for being a haven for tax exiles and a jurisdiction which imposes minimal transparency requirements on foreign businesses, has scrapped an income tax which it was planning to levy on expatriate workers.
The Associated Press reports:
[Premier McKeeva] Bush announced in late July that he planned to impose a direct tax on expatriate workers' income Sept. 1 to bail the territorial government out of a financial hole and to meet Britain's demand that Cayman diversify its sources of revenue beyond the work permit fees, duties and other fees it now relies on.
He later said the annual income threshold would be $36,000, which would have affected about 5,870 expatriates. He described it as a "community enhancement fee" rather than a tax.
The proposal outraged many people, who said the tax would be discriminatory and could destroy the islands' main economic anchor.
The tax is, of course, problematic; imposing a special fee just on expatriate workers is aprima facie unjust thing to do. But it is somewhat surprising that Cayman residents have been quite so vehemently opposed to what is, after all, a relatively normal thing to experience in other countries.
It's almost as though they moved there for the express purpose of avoiding tax. Almost.
Scrapping the tax now leaves the Islands with a black hole in their finances, which the other ~48,000 residents of Cayman will struggle to pay off. But there could be a silver lining to that, as accountant and tax campaigner Richard Murphy writes:
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