New US policy won't compel journalists to reveal sources

Yahoo = AFP, Bob Lever, July 19, 2021 

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the US administration would no longer go
to court to force journalists to reveal their sources a move hailed by advocates
 for a free press

The US government pledged Monday to steer clear of legal orders that force journalists to reveal their sources, with only rare exceptions, reversing course after revelations of secret efforts to obtain information from the media. 

The Justice Department said it would no longer use the "compulsory legal process" including subpoenas or warrants to obtain records or identify sources from journalists involved in newsgathering activities. 

The new policy comes following revelations that under former president Donald Trump the department secretly obtained phone records of journalists investigating his administration, including from CNN, the Washington Post and New York Times. 

The statement said the policy shift was made "because a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy." 

It said the new policy applies to reporters, publishers, third-party service providers and others involved in newsgathering, and to physical or digital documents as well as phone records. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the new policy in a memo and called for "a review process to further explain, develop and codify the policy." 

Monday's announcement comes after news that the Trump administration sought records of journalists investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, while obtaining "gag orders" to keep that effort secret. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last month that the use of such orders in leak investigations "is not consistent with the president's policy direction." 

The Garland memo said exceptions to the policy would be made if the journalist were the subject of an investigation, or was suspected of being a foreign agent or member of a terrorist group, or in cases of "imminent" risk of death or bodily harm. 

The policy would not apply if the reporter were suspected of a criminal act such as insider trading, or if a criminal act -- such as breaking and entering -- were part of the reporter's activities. 

Former New York Times journalist Judith Miller, who was jailed in 2005 for
 refusing to reveal her sources for her reporting on Iraq, is seen in a 2008 picture

Longstanding concerns 

While the cases involving the Trump administration have drawn scrutiny, the policy change addresses a longstanding concern on press freedom and follows several cases where journalists have been threatened with jail for refusing to reveal sources. 

"The attorney general has taken a necessary and momentous step to protect press freedom at a critical time," said Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

"This historic new policy will ensure that journalists can do their job of informing the public without fear of federal government intrusion into their relationships with confidential sources." 

The American Civil Liberties Union also welcomed the move. 

"This policy is a major step forward in protecting journalists against government spying and safeguarding a free press," said Patrick Toomey, senior staff attorney of the ACLU’s National Security Project. 

New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed in 2005 for refusing to reveal the source of her reporting on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 

Another New York Times reporter, James Risen, was threatened with jail for refusing to testify in a case seeking to confirm his sources for reporting on a US operation in Iran that was intended to disrupt that country's nuclear program. 

Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters waged a legal battle to avoid incarceration in 2007 for protecting a source for an investigation in a steroid scandal in major league sports.

Global tax deal backed by 130 nations

Yahoo – AFP, Jürgen HECKER, July 1, 2021 

US digital giants are the main targets of the new tax

A total of 130 countries have agreed a global tax reform ensuring that multinationals pay their fair share wherever they operate, the OECD said on Thursday, but some EU states refused to sign up. 

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a statement that global companies, including US behemoths Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple would be taxed at a rate of at least 15 percent once the deal is implemented. 

The new tax regime will add some $150 billion to government coffers globally once it comes into force, which the OECD said it hoped would be in 2023. 

"The framework updates key elements of the century-old international tax system, which is no longer fit for purpose in a globalised and digitalised 21st century economy," the OECD said. 

The formal agreement follows an endorsement by the G7 group of wealthy nations last month, and negotiations now move to a meeting of the G20 group of developed and emerging economies on July 9-10 in Venice, Italy. 

US President Joe Biden said the latest deal "puts us in striking distance of full global agreement to halt the race to the bottom for corporate taxes." 

Germany, another backer of the tax reform, hailed it as a "colossal step towards tax justice", and France said it was "the most important tax agreement in a century". 

British finance minister Rishi Sunak, whose country holds the G7 presidency, said "the fact that 130 countries across the world, including all of the G20, are now on board, marks a further step in our mission to reform global tax". 

'In everyone's interest'

But EU low-tax countries Ireland and Hungary declined to sign up to the agreement reached in the OECD framework, the organisation said, highlighting lingering divisions on global taxation. 

Both countries are part of a group of EU nations also including Luxembourg and Poland that have relied on low tax rates to attract multinationals and build their economies. 

Ireland, the EU home to tech giants Facebook, Google and Apple, has a corporate tax rate of just 12.5 percent. 

Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned that the new rules could see Ireland lose 20 percent of its corporate revenue. 

On Thursday, Donohoe said Ireland still "broadly supports" the deal, but not the 15-percent tax floor. 

The tax plan got a much-needed boost from Joe Bidens's administration

"There is much to finalise before a comprehensive agreement is reached", he said, adding that Ireland would "constructively engage" in further discussions. 

Also expressing concerns is Switzerland -- known for its banking secrecy laws -- which said it would support the measures despite "major reservations" and that it hoped the interests of "small, innovative countries" be taken into account. 

An agreement for the implementation of the plan is planned for October. 

Nine of the 139 participants in the talks have so far not signed on to the agreement. 

But China, whose position was being closely watched as it offers tax incentives to key sectors, endorsed the agreement. 

"It is in everyone's interest that we reach a final agreement among all Inclusive Framework Members as scheduled later this year," said OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann. 

"This package does not eliminate tax competition, as it should not, but it does set multilaterally agreed limitations on it," Cormann said, adding that "it also accommodates the various interests across the negotiating table, including those of small economies and developing jurisdictions". 

'More equitable' global economy 

Finance chiefs have characterised a minimum tax as necessary to stem competition between countries over who can offer multinationals the lowest rate. 

For Biden, a global tax agreement will help maintain US competitiveness since he has proposed hiking domestic corporate taxes to pay for an infrastructure and jobs programme with a price tag of around $2 trillion. 

Biden -- whose tax plans face a potentially uphill battle in Congress -- hailed an "important step in moving the global economy forward to be more equitable for workers and middle class families in the United States and around the world." 

He noted that those nations who signed up make up more than 90 percent of the world's economy. 

The OECD's statement said the package "will provide much-needed support to governments needing to raise necessary revenues" to fix their budgets and invest in measures to back the post-Covid recovery. 

Oxfam, a charity, meanwhile said that the deal fell short of a tax level needed to give poorer countries a sufficient share of additional tax revenue. 

Calling the deal "skewed-to-the-rich and completely unfair", Oxfam said that signatories had missed a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a profoundly more equal world".