Iceland: Husband’s Day Celebrated in Iceland
Today is Bóndadagur, or Husband’s Day, when wives and girlfriends in Iceland pamper their men. Bóndadagur also marks the beginning of the old Icelandic month of Þorri, during which Þórrablót mid-winter feasts are held across the country.
In many households, Bóndadagur is celebrated by eating the traditional Þorri food: dried fish, smoked lamb, putrefied shark and soured blood and liver pudding, along with other soured meat products, including ram testicles. ...
Iceland Review
France: McDonald’s denies evading French taxes
McDonald’s has denied a report by French weekly L’Express that claims the US fast-food giant transferred profits abroad to evade French taxes.
According to the report, published in the French magazine’s Wednesday edition, McDonald’s has transferred 2.2 billion euros to foreign tax havens since 2009.
L’Express, quoting French tax officials, says the money was sent to subsidiaries in Luxemburg and Switzerland “thereby evading VAT and corporate taxes in France”. ...
France 24
South Korea: Health agency to sue tobacco makers
South Korea’s public health insurance agency decided Friday to start a legal battle against the tobacco industry to take back health costs allegedly caused by smoking-related diseases.
The state-run National Health Insurance Service held an executive board meeting Friday evening and the majority of its members voted for filing a lawsuit against tobacco makers. ...
The Korea Herald
United Kingdom: Groundbreaking research involving Cardiff University sheds new light on schizophrenia
Research featuring scientists from Cardiff University into genetic mutations of those with schizophrenia has shed new light on the disorder.
In the largest genetic study of its kind, published in the Journal of Nature, the international research team, led by Cardiff University, examined new genetic mutations in people with the mental health condition. ...
Wales Online
Germany: Booming German offshore wind power industry puts pressure on marine life
Offshore wind energy is continuing to grow off the German coast as the country remains dedicated to its energy transformation. But conservationists are concerned about the effects the industry is having on animals. ...
DW
Canada: Canadian citizenship rules face broad reform in 2014
The federal government will introduce several changes to Canada’s citizenship rules after members of Parliament return to Ottawa next Monday following a six-week hiatus, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. ...
CBC
Chile: Promotion swallows Chile’s ‘absurdly’ high book tax
“The dictatorship not only closed publishing houses and burned books, it added the IVA tax on books,” the Books Without IVA manifesto reads.
The campaign — formed to rid Chile of its 19 percent book tax — claims the value added tax (IVA in its abbreviated Spanish form) on books is the most onerous in the Western Hemisphere, and has led to a culture in which few read for pleasure and books are seen as luxury items. ...
Santiago Times
*Image of couple via Shutterstock.
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