IRS official refuses to answer questions at hearing
WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of a scandal about extra tax scrutiny of conservative groups told Congress on Wednesday she had done nothing wrong but invoked her constitutional right not to answer questions. Full Article | Video
Twitter beefs up security safeguards after recent attacks
- Twitter Inc began introducing new technology on Wednesday to shore up security for users, responding to a spate of recent attacks on prominent accounts including those owned by the Associated Press and Financial Times.
FBI kills man questioned in Boston bombings
ORLANDO, Fla./WASHINGTON - An FBI agent shot and killed a man of Chechen origin who turned violent while being questioned about his connection to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of two Chechen brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings. Full Article
Tornado victims astounded at how they survived
MOORE, Oklahoma - Tornado survivors thanked God, sturdy closets and luck in explaining how they lived through the colossal twister that devastated an Oklahoma town and killed 24 people, an astonishingly low toll given the extent of destruction. Full Article | Video
Moving ahead with a plant that worries the West
VIENNA - Iran is pressing ahead with the construction of a research reactor that Western experts say could offer it a second way of producing material for a nuclear bomb if it decides to make one, a U.N. report showed. Full Article
Bernanke suggests Fed not ready to pull back
WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus is helping the economy recover but the central bank needs to see further signs of traction before taking its foot off the gas, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said. Full Article
EU leaders shine spotlight on Apple tax policy
BRUSSELS - European leaders plan to discuss how to combat aggressive tax avoidance by major companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google and cut the estimated 1 trillion euros a year the EU loses to tax evasion or avoidance. Full Article
Stockholm riots belie image of happy Swedes
STOCKHOLM - Hundreds of young people have torched cars and attacked police in three nights of riots in immigrant suburbs of Sweden's capital, underscoring the country's failure to defuse youth unemployment and resentment of asylum seekers. Full Article
U.S. may help rebels if Assad won't talk peace
AMMAN/BEIRUT - The United States and its allies are ready to increase support for Syria's rebels if President Bashar al-Assad refuses to discuss a political solution to his country's civil war, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. Full Article
Entertaining change: Sony eyes spin-off idea
TOKYO - Few foreign activist investors have made much headway in forcing change in Japan. Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb is hoping to be an exception with his push to make Sony spin off its film, television and music business. Full Article
Kerry warns Syria's Assad against rejecting political solution
May 22 - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says western governments are ready to bolster opponents of Syria's Bashar al-Assad if he rejects a political solution to civil war. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
Latest Headlines
Prosperity without power
Across the BRIC nations, frustrated members of the middle class are demanding change, but traditional power holders from Russia’s Vladimir Putin to India’s large political parties remain entrenched. Commentary
Apple, hypocrisy and stakeholder tax
Politicians are hypocrites when they complain about the cross-border tax strategies of Apple and other multinationals. But "hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue." It’s high time that companies admit taxes on profit are fair payments for the help that governments give them. Commentary
How much does Jamie Dimon matter?
To his supporters, he’s the personification of everything that’s best about the financial system. But to detractors, he’s the personification of all that’s wrong with modern banking — the arrogance, the resistance to new regulation, the astronomical pay in the face of obvious mistakes. Commentary
What Hollande can learn from Queen of Hearts
So far there has been little to show for his economic policies. Some actions have backfired and others have not gone far enough. Commentary
U.S. power: Down but still unrivaled
Beijing does not threaten to counterbalance U.S. power as gravely as America’s economy threatens to become imbalanced on its own. Commentary
The European Union's unending quandary
As recession deepens in the euro zone, the political questions about what comes next are resurfacing. Commentary
It's time for iTax
Rob Cox and his Breakingviews colleagues discuss why Apple’s minimalist approach to devices should be applied to the overcomplicated U.S. tax code. Video

















