170 killed in South Sudan clashes

More than 170 people have died in the last week in clashes between two sub-clans in South Sudan, an MP has said.
The violence in the Western Lakes region has also seen more than 200 people injured, local MP DharuaiMaborTeny added.
Despite clashes being relatively common, the toll from the latest outbreak is shocking, reports the BBC’s Ferdinand Omondi from Nairobi.
It has prompted President SalvaKiir to declare a state of emergency.
The order affects three northern states, with military chiefs told to mobilise forces with enough equipment for up to three months.

Mr Kiir also authorised the army to use force if armed civilians did not lay down their weapons peacefully.
The violence involves armed youths from two rival Dinka sub-clans, who first clashed on 6 December.
“Right now, from both sides, we have 170 plus people who lost their lives. 342 houses have been burnt and almost 1,800 people displaced,” Mr Teny told Reuters news agency.
A presidential spokesman said they hoped the state of emergency would help “curb the violence”.
It comes as the United Nations, which has deployed its own troops to help remove roadblocks put in by the two sides to enable trade to continue flowing, sends in a team on a five day mission to assess the human rights situation in the country.
South Sudan, the world’s newest state, became independent in 2011 after breaking away from Sudan.
It has been hit by numerous ethnic and political conflicts since then.
Mediation efforts by the African Union and foreign governments have failed to bring about peace.
Facebook to overhaul Irish tax scheme
Facebook is to overhaul its tax structure so that it pays tax in the country where profits are earned, instead of using an Irish subsidiary.
The online advertising giant is to make the change in every country outside the US where it has an office.
In 2016, Facebook said it would stop routing UK sales through Ireland for tax purposes.
The change comes after pressure on large firms over their tax affairs from governments and the public.
Facebook chief financial officer Dave Wehner said: “We believe that moving to a local selling structure will provide more transparency to governments and policy makers around the world who have called for greater visibility over the revenue associated with locally-supported sales in their countries.”
The move will affect how Facebook pays taxes in 30 countries including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, and Sweden.
In the UK, there was public outrage after it emerged that Facebook had paid just £4,327 in tax in 2014.
In April 2016, the company began booking more advertising income through its UK office, instead of Ireland.
That significantly boosted revenue and profits for its UK business, and has meant that so far it has paid higher taxes.
Facebook paid £5.1m in tax in the UK last year, up from £4.2m in 2015, on revenues of £842m.
However, that does not necessarily mean it will start paying more tax in other countries as a result of the overhaul, Professor PremSikka of the universities of Sheffield and Essex told the BBC.
Taxes are paid on profits, and “the huge difficulty with large companies is trying to determine exactly what the profit is,” he said.
There are a number of ways firms can muddy the waters, including charging intra-group management fees, royalty fees, and profit-sharing, he said.
Professor Sikka added that the Facebook move “may well be appeasing public opinion, while at the same time it takes a very small hit on its profits, if any.”
EU authorities are pursuing big technology companies over what they see as avoidance of tax by routing business through lower tax jurisdictions.
In 2015, the UK government introduced a “diverted profits” tax, a higher rate of corporation tax aimed at companies that move profits out of the country.

Leave a Reply