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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2016)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016 Governments around the world face Court upholds total fallout from offshore accounts report population count in Iceland’s prime minister resigns By DAVID MCHUGH Associated Press FRANKFURT, Germany — Governments around the world tried Tuesday to contain the fallout from the publication of thousands of names of rich and powerful people who con- ducted offshore ¿nancial activ- ity through a Panamanian law ¿rm. Iceland’s embattled prime minister has resigned amid a controversy over his offshore holdings, a Cabinet minister said Tuesday as outrage over the accounts roiled the North Atlantic island nation. Prime Minister Sigmun- dur David Gunnlaugsson is stepping down as leader of the country’s coalition govern- ment, Agriculture Minister Sig- urdur Ingi Johannsson told Ice- landic broadcaster RUV. No replacement has yet been named, and Iceland’s president has not yet con¿rmed that he has accepted the resignation. China dismissed as “ground- less” reports that relatives of current and retired politicians, including President Xi Jinping, own offshore companies. The state media are ignoring the reports, and search results for the words “Panama docu- ments” have been blocked on websites and social media. And Ukraine’s president was accused of abusing his of¿ce and of tax evasion by moving his candy business off- shore, possibly depriving the country of millions of dollars in taxes. The reports are from a global group of news organizations working with the Washing- ton-based International Consor- Brynjar Gunnarsson/AP Photo Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson speaks during a parliamentary session in Reykjavik. Gun- nlaugsson resigned today after facing growing calls for him to step down because of reported offshore financial dealings by him and his wife that opposition lawmakers say show a significant conflict of interest with his job. tium of Investigative Journalists. They have been processing the legal records from the Mossack Fonseca law ¿rm that were ¿rst leaked to the German Sueddeut- sche Zeitung newspaper. Shell companies aren’t by themselves illegal. People or companies might use them to reduce their tax bill legally, by bene¿ting from low tax rates in countries like Panama, the Cay- man Islands and Bermuda. But the practice is frowned upon, particularly when used by pol- iticians, who then face criticism for not contributing to their own countries’ economies. Because offshore accounts and companies also hide the names of the ultimate own- ers of investments, they can be used to illegally evade taxes or launder money. Mossack Fonseca says it obeys all laws relating to com- pany registrations and does not advise people how to evade taxes. The ¿rm said in a statement that “our industry is not partic- ularly well understood by the public, and unfortunately this series of articles will only serve to deepen that confusion. “The facts are these: while we may have been the vic- tim of a data breach, nothing in this illegally obtained cache of documents suggests we’ve done anything wrong or illegal, and that’s very much in keep- ing with the global reputation we’ve worked hard to build over the past 40 years of doing business the right way. “ Members of the Group of 20 — which includes China — have agreed on paper to tighten laws relating to shell compa- nies and make sure authori- ties can ¿nd out who the real owners are. Actual legislation at the national level has lagged behind the promises, however. The appearance of offshore accounts in political scandals is far from new. Shell companies played a role in the corruption scandal involving the Petro- bras oil company in Brazil. The U.S. Justice Department said in an indictment last year that offshore accounts were used to mask the transfer of bribes to of¿cials at FIFA, the global soccer federation. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he would not discuss the reports further and declined to say whether the individuals named would be investigated. “For these groundless accusations, I have no com- ment,” Hong told reporters at a regularly scheduled news conference. Sueddeutsche Zeitung, working with NDR and WDR public television, reported Monday that 14 German banks had used Mossack Fonseca’s services to set up 1,200 letter- box companies for clients. The report said use of off- shore company registrations had spiked after the European Union introduced regulations in 2005 requiring countries to exchange tax information on physical persons, but not for companies. Many of the accounts, however, have since been closed. The EU has since tightened its rules on offshore companies under its Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which is being phased in as national governments pass local laws to comply by June 26, 2017. The new rules tighten requirements for companies to keep accurate information on their real own- ers and to make that available to authorities. electoral districts By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON — A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can count everyone, not just eligi- ble voters, in deciding how to draw electoral districts. The justices turned back a challenge from Texas voters that could have dramatically altered political district bound- aries and disproportionately affected the nation’s growing Latino population. The court ruled that Texas’ challenged state Senate dis- tricting map, using total pop- ulation, complied with the principle of “one person, one vote,” the requirement laid out by the Supreme Court in 1964 that political districts be roughly equal in population. The issue, though, was what population to consider: everyone or just eligible voters. The challengers said the districts had vastly different numbers when looking at eli- gible voters, in violation of the Constitution. “Jurisdictions, we hold, may design state and local legislative districts with equal total populations; they are not obliged to equalize voter populations,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, summarizing her opinion for the court. Ginsburg said that “history, our decisions and settled prac- tice in all 50 states and count- less local jurisdictions point in the same direction.” Two rural Texas voters challenged the use of total population data in drawing state Senate districts because they said it inÀates the voting power of city dwellers at their expense. In Texas, and other states with large immigrant popula- tions, urban districts include many more people who are too young, not citizens or oth- erwise ineligible to vote. Civil rights groups said forcing states to change their method of constructing districts would have damaged Latino political inÀuence. The court stopped short of saying that states must use total population. And it also did not rule on whether states are free to use a different mea- sure, as Texas asked. Ginsburg said the court was not resolving whether states may use voter population. Richard Hasen, an expert in election law at the Univer- sity of California at Irvine law school, said, “A contrary rul- ing would have shifted power to Republican, rural districts, and away from Democratic urban areas.” Edward Blum, whose Proj- ect on Fair Representation backed the lawsuit, said he was disappointed in the outcome, but predicted that “the issue of voter equality in the United States is not going to go away.” Though the justices were unanimous in upholding Texas’ use of total population, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito declined to join Ginsburg’s opinion. Thomas said the Constitu- tion gives the states the free- dom to draw political lines based on different population counts. Referring to the 1964 case of Reynolds v. Sims, he said the high court “has never provided a sound basis for the one-person, one-vote principle.” Scientists urge action to combat changing ocean chemistry The Associated Press SEATTLE — Global car- bon dioxide emissions are rapidly altering ocean chem- istry along the West Coast and urgent regional action is needed, a panel of ocean scientists said in a report released Monday. The group warned that failing to respond to ocean acidi¿cation, which comes from added carbon absorbed by oceans, will have wide- spread negative ecological consequences for the West Coast. California, Oregon, Wash- ington and the province of British Columbia in 2013 brought together 20 scientists to come up with management tools to address ocean acidi¿- THE DAILY ASTORIAN T UESDAY E VENING A (2) (-) (-) (6) (-) (8) (9) (10) (12) (13) (-) (20) (-) (29) (30) (31) (32) (34) (35) (36) (38) (39) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (56) (57) (58) (61) (63) (64) (65) (162) L KATU KOMO KING KOIN KIRO KGW KRCW KOPB KPTV KPDX KCPQ TBS KZJO ESPN ESPN2 NICK DISN FAM FMC LIFE ROOT FS1 SPIKE COM HIST A&E TLC DISC NGEO TNT AMC USA FOOD HGTV FX CNN FNC CNBC BRAV TCM SYFY RFD (2) (4) (5) (-) (7) (-) (3) (10) (12) (-) (13) (20) (22) (29) (30) (31) (32) (34) (35) (36) (38) (39) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (56) (57) (58) (61) (63) (64) (65) (162) 6 cation and hypoxia, or waters with extremely low oxygen levels. Global carbon emissions are the dominant cause of ocean acidi¿cation, accord- ing to scientists from the three states and province. While it is a global prob- lem that will require global solutions, West Coast lead- ers should develop regional strategies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the group said. The scientists outlined other actions these govern- ments could take, including exploring using seagrass to remove carbon dioxide from seawater, improving the moni- toring network and identifying areas where local pollutants can make problems worse. “There has been an attitude that there is not much we can do about this locally, but that just isn’t true,” said Francis Chan, an Oregon State Uni- versity marine ecologist and who co-chaired the panel. “A lot of the solutions will come locally and through coordi- nated regional efforts.” Because of the way the 3aci¿c Ocean circulates, the LISTINGS A - Charter Astoria/ Seaside - L - Charter Long Beach West Coast is exposed to unusually high volumes of seawater at elevated acidity levels, according to Richard Feely with 1OAA’s 3aci¿c Marine Environmental Labo- ratory in Seattle. Responding to the report, Washington Gov. Jay Ins- lee said in a statement that he’s ready to work with West Coast leaders on the issue. 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