UK in EU legal stink over garlic from China

UK in EU legal stink over garlic from China

Britain is being taken to court by the European Commission in a battle over a ?15m unpaid tax bill on imports of Chinese garlic.

The UK mistakenly classified fresh garlic imported from China as frozen, which has a lower tax rate.

The European Commission is demanding compensation for the missing tax and is taking legal action to recover it.

The action was branded "vindictive" by Conservative MEP group leader Richard Ashworth.

The mistake was revealed during an inspection by the European Anti-Fraud Office in July 2006. The UK authorities were then asked to to justify why they had issued authorising documents for frozen garlic between 2005 and 2006.

The European Commission said it had begun demanding compensation in January 2008 and launched legal action after the UK's "continued failure" to pay.
'Common interest'

In a statement, the European Commission said: "In failing to collect the correct amount, the UK authorities did not act with all due care.

"The UK authorities, however, have failed to compensate for the missing amount, by claiming that the customs took all necessary actions justified by the case."

The statement said the European Commission was taking legal action "to protect the common EU interest," adding: "Fair treatment of all member states must be ensured - if one member state fails to deliver on its obligation to collect the common resources of the EU budget, the other member states are forced to pay more as a result."

Commenting on the row, Richard Ashworth MEP said: "I'm sorry to say that the aggressive approach of the Commission - over garlic of all things - leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

"In such hard times, when all countries, including ours, are looking to save every bit of money they can just to combat the debt crisis, it defies all sense of proportion to be taking Britain to court over what amounts to a demand for garlic tax.

"Whether or not you care for the aroma of garlic, nobody likes the whiff of vindictiveness."

All customs duties charged on imports of goods coming from a non-EU country are collected by member states on behalf of the EU and paid to the common EU budget as part of each member state's annual contributions.

source: www.bbc.co.uk

Publication date: 6/22/2012

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PST: France faces tall task vs. Spain at Euro 2012

If Sweden was France?s wake-up call, what do we call Spain? Les Bleus face the defending world and European champions Saturday in Donetsk, a match that asks France to complete one of the more remarkable one-match turnarounds in recent memory. On Monday, the Group D favorites lost to a Sweden team that had failed to record a point through two rounds. In the process they gave up first place in their group. Just under one week later, their tournament lives depend on beating a team that has lost just two competitive matches since 2007.

Stylistically, it?s a bad matchup for France. The two losses Spain?s suffered have come to teams that played for counter attacks ? defending deep and rarely challenging Spain?s control of the game. The United States defeated Spain 2-0 at 2009?s Confederations Cup by sitting on the early lead gifted them by some horrible Spanish defending. Switzerland upset Spain 1-0 at the last World Cup on the back of one lightning bolt counter attack. If this type of approach is in the French repertoire, we?ve yet to see it.

Of the teams that qualified for the quarterfinals, France may have been the least efficient in the final third. They?ve had a lot of the ball and at times have looked quite fluid, but they?ve generated a disproportionately small number of chances, scoring only three times. The biggest concern when they face Spain: Two of their three goals have been the product of a possession-based attack. Against Spain, they won?t see much of the ball.

Not proficient at counter attacking, without a killer dead ball specialist, and not particularly good on set pieces, what can France lean on against Spain? The same thing the United States used in South Africa: Patience and opportunism. Perhaps the United States are a better counter attacking team than France, and surely they were more used to playing without the ball, but there?s always a chance Spain (or any team) can replicate those errors. No matter the style Laurent Blanc employs on Saturday, France is going to have to make the most of those few chances Spain grants them.

Kickoff is at 2:45 p.m. Eastern time. Here is your playlist.

1. Let?s be, Franck

France does have one option beyond pure opportunism. On their left, they have one of the best wide attackers in the world: Bayern Munich?s Franck Ribery. When Laurent Blanc sketches out the Spanish formation, the pairing of right back Alvaro Arbeloa opposite his best attacker carries a lot more promise than any other match up.

The problem comes in getting the ball to Ribery. Think back to Spain?s three group games, and it?s hard to remember very many players having a lot of chances on the ball. Luka Modric stands out, but he played through the middle. Italy?s Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli had a few opportunities thanks to Andrea Pirlo, a combination that provides France some hope. Blanc may need Yohan Cabaye to do his best Pirlo impression in order to take advantage of Ribery.

2. More left versus right

In the corner opposite Ribery and Arbeloa, Spain will be pressing one of their advantages: Andres Iniesta on anybody. By formation, it should be France right back Mathieu Debuchy, though with Iniesta often coming inside, midfielders Alou Diarra and Yann M?Vila will be pressed into action. It will likely take a team effort to slow down a man making a claim as the tournament?s best player.

The battle could be the biggest test of M?Vila?s young career. The highly touted defensive midfielder is projected to be one of the world?s best at his position, precisely the reason why Arsenal has considered spending some very un-Arsenal-like money to get him from Rennes. But to live up to that hype and price, he?ll be expected to perform in these types of situations.

M?Vila won?t be expected to completely shut down Iniesta, but he must prevent him from influencing the game coming in from the left. While M?Vila providing that deterrent means Debuchy will likely see more of the Barcelona star, at least it will be in a less dangerous spot on the field. And Debuchy?s unlikely to have to handle him alone.

3. Haven?t missed you so far

One of our major reasons for downgrading Spain?s prospects going into the tournament was the absence of Carles Puyol. The holders? best defender underwent knee surgery last month and won?t be available against until late summer. That?s forced Sergio Ramos inside, Arbeloa into the starting XI, but most importantly, it?s deprived Spain of the player most likely to handle people like Karim Benzema.

France?s number nine hasn?t had a huge impact challenging for goals mostly because he?s been playing like a nine-and-a-half or ten. While Samir Nasri orchestrated the attack against England, Benzema has served as the focal point in the matches that have followed, providing both assists on France?s goals versus Ukraine.

Against Benzema, Puyol could be particularly missed. Benzema?s willingness to drop from his position and take the ball to feet will require strong decision making from Spain?s central defenders. If they can break up the play, follow him, but they better be sure. One touch to Nasri or Cabaye gives another skilled passer a chance to target the space that?s been vacated.

With Puyol, you have somebody who makes the right decision almost every time.?Can we say the same about Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique? It?s a high standard to meet.

4. Too soon?

France has come a long way in two years, and by almost anybody?s post-South Africa expectations, they are ahead of schedule. Their status as Group D favorites showed the regard the rest of Europe?s cultivated for their new core. With nine of their potential starters 26 or younger, France?s best days are ahead of them.

This game, however, seems like too much, too soon. The steep climb from South African?s trough to where they are now leaves them a promising but untested team. This core doesn?t have the experience of leading a team into must win games. That may have shown against Sweden.

Spain?s a big ask for any team, and as we saw when Germany and the Netherlands met La Roja in the World Cup, the champions have a way of taking the best teams out of their game. It all just feels like a little too much, too soon for France to handle. Saturday may prove to be a valuable if disappointing learning experience.
ProSoccerTalk is doing its best to keep you up to date on what?s going on in Poland and Ukraine.?Check out the site?s Euro 2012 page?and look at the site?s previews, predictions, and coverage of all the events defining UEFA?s championship.

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Greece needs technological help to reboot economy

TO REBOOT the Greek economy, first check the system hardware is up to date. The parliament and civil service of the "pro-Euro" government that could be formed this week needs an overhaul of its technology if it is to have any chance of transforming the country's fortunes.

"What Greece needs is significant support, not just financial, but technical," says Vassilis Monastiriotis, an economist at the London School of Economics' Hellenic Observatory. "We still don't have computerisation for systems such as tax collection."

Greece needs a technological and organisational "big bang" to computerise and connect all 14 ministries so they can begin recording data and statistics. Monastiriotis says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned last year that without such a boost, the government would be powerless to transform Greece into the modern state demanded by its creditors.

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Taptu Adds ?Magic? Article Recommendations Based On Your Reading Habits

News app Taptu is adding a feature called Magic, starting with a new version of its Android app that just went live. When you name something Magic, it has a lot to live up to. In Taptu's case, the idea sounds pretty impressive. The app is probably best known for the ability to "DJ your news," creating customized news streams, either from scratch or by modifying one of Taptu's existing topic streams. With Magic, Taptu users get another layer of personalization without doing any extra work.

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LeRoy Neiman, artist of sports world, dies in NY

NEW YORK (AP) ? LeRoy Neiman, the painter and sketch artist best known for evoking the kinetic energy of the world's biggest sporting and leisure events with bright quick strokes, died Wednesday at age 91.

Neiman also was a contributing artist at Playboy magazine for many years and official painter of five Olympiads. His longtime publicist Gail Parenteau confirmed his death Wednesday but didn't disclose the cause.

Neiman was a media-savvy artist who knew how to enthrall audiences with his instant renditions of what he observed. In 1972, he sketched the world chess tournament between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik, Iceland, for a live television audience.

He also produced live drawings of the Olympics for TV and was the official computer artist of the Super Bowl for CBS.

Neiman's "reportage of history and the passing scene ... revived an almost lost and time-honored art form," according to a 1972 exhibit catalog of the artist's Olympics sketches at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

"It's been fun. I've had a lucky life," Neiman said in a June 2008 interview with The Associated Press. "I've zeroed in on what you would call action and excellence. ... Everybody who does anything to try to succeed has to give the best of themselves, and art has made me pull the best out of myself."

Neiman's paintings, many executed in household enamel paints that allowed the artist his fast-moving strokes, are an explosion in reds, blues, pinks, greens and yellows of pure kinetic energy.

He has been described as an American impressionist, but the St. Paul, Minn., native preferred to think of himself simply as an American artist.

"I don't know if I'm an impressionist or an expressionist," he told the AP. "You can call me an American first. ... (but) I've been labeled doing neimanism, so that's what it is, I guess."

He worked in many media, producing thousands of etchings, lithographs and silkscreen prints known as serigraphy.

But his critics said Neiman's forays into the commercial world minimized him as a serious artist. At Playboy, for example, he created Femlin, the well-endowed nude that has graced the magazine's Party Jokes page since 1957.

Neiman shrugged off such criticism.

"I can easily ignore my detractors and feel the people who respond favorably," he said.

Neiman was fascinated with large game animals, and twice traveled to Kenya to paint lions and elephants "in the bush" in his trademark vibrant palette.

But it was the essence of a basketball or football game, swim meet or cycling event that captured his imagination most.

"For an artist, watching a (Joe) Namath throw a football or a Willie Mays hit a baseball is an experience far more overpowering than painting a beautiful woman or leading political figure," Neiman said in 1972.

With his sketchbook and pencil, trademark handlebar mustache and slicked back hair, Neiman was instantly recognizable.

At a New York Jets game at Shea Stadium in 1975, fans yelled, "Put LeRoy in," when the play wasn't going their way.

Neiman's decades-long association with Playboy began in 1953 following a chance meeting with Hugh Hefner. It was the start of what he called "the good life" and inspiration for much of his future work.

He regularly contributed to the magazine's "Man at His Leisure" feature, which took him to such places as the Grand National Steeplechase and Ascot in England, the Cannes Film Festival in France and the Grand Prix auto race in Monaco.

Neiman was a self-described workaholic who seldom took vacations and had no hobbies. He worked daily in his New York City home studio at the Hotel des Artistes near Central Park that he shared with his wife of more than 50 years, Janet.

"What else am I good for?" he said in 2008. "I don't think about anything else."

To prove it, he said he was working on a large scale project for a Louisville, Ky., horse festival planned for 2010.

Another later project, a 160-foot-long sports mural, hangs in the Sports Museum of America in New York that opened in 2008.

Neiman was also a portraitist who captured some of the world's most iconic figures, Frank Sinatra and Babe Ruth among them, in a style that conveyed their public image.

"I am less concerned with how people look when they wake," he said. "A person's public presence reflects his own efforts at image development."

One face he recorded over and over again was that of Muhammad Ali. Those painting and sketches, representing 15 years of the prizefighter's professional life, permanently reside at the LeRoy Neiman Gallery at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky.

Over the years, Neiman has endowed a number of institutions, donating $6 million in 1995 for the creation of the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University and $3 million to his alma mater, the Art Institute of Chicago, where he taught for a decade.

He also donated $1 million to create a permanent home for Arts Horizons, a community art center in Harlem.

His works are in the permanent collections of many private and public museums. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., was selected by Neiman to house his archives.

"I just love what I do," Neiman told the AP. "I love the passion you go through while you're creating" and the public's "very thoughtful and careful studied and emotional reaction of what you're doing."

He added: "It's a wonderful feeling."

___

Associated Press writer Tom McElroy contributed to this report.

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Video: Study: drinking early in pregnancy OK?

>>> well, this is one of those studies where the results should be quickly followed by someone saying this doesn't mean you necessarily have to try this. nevertheless, this new study out of denmark finds moderate drinking by pregnant women , meaning five to eight drinks per week early in pregnancy had no impact on their children, their neurological development or attention span later in life. this may explain why a bunch of us turned out okay against all odds. and a reminder here, for a good reason the u.s. surgeon general flatly advises against pregnant women consuming alcohol. we wanted to

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi meets Prince Charles

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