ZURICH (July 25, 2010): The United States, which targeted Swiss bank giant UBS in a damaging tax fraud probe last year, is not planning to carry out new tax investigations against Swiss banks, the US ambassador to Switzerland said. Asked whether he envisaged new probes after the Swiss parliament ratified a Swiss-US deal in June that put an end to the UBS tax saga, Donald Beyer told Swiss newspaper Le Temps on Saturday he was not aware of any new probe.

BRUSSELS (July 23, 2010): China was the source of 64 percent of all counterfeit goods seized at European Union borders last year while 73 percent of all fake medicines impounded came from the UAE, a EU report said Thursday. From 118 million articles intercepted at ports and other entry points by EU customs in 2009, at least half in some categories and as much as 90 percent in others came from China, the European Commission customs report said.

PARIS (July 20, 2010): A global tax on foreign exchange trades could raise 30 billion dollars (23 billion euros) to fight poverty with development projects, an international group of finance experts said in a report. The report by the Leading Group, commissioned by 12 governments, said a tax on currency deals would mean an extra 0.005 percent on each trade and would be simple to implement as it could be collected under existing mechanisms.

NEW DELHI (July 18, 2010): India may again hike export taxes on iron ore, making the steelmaking raw material costlier for biggest customer China, but it is unlikely to heed domestic demands for an outright ban on international sales. Any clampdown on ore exports by India would send shockwaves through the $88-billion international market, forcing up prices and increasing Chinese reliance on top producers Australia and Brazil.

FRANKFURT (July 15, 2010): Authorities raided Credit Suisse bank branches across Germany Wednesday on suspicion they helped rich account-holders hide money from the taxman, part of a probe that has angered Switzerland. About 150 investigators swooped on 13 German branches of the second biggest Swiss bank, the prosecutor's office in Duesseldorf, western Germany said. State attorney Johannes Mocken said the searches "targeted Credit Suisse staff suspected of having assisted tax fraud by clients."

TOKYO (July 14, 2010): Japan needs to proceed with an overhaul of its tax system that could include a sales tax hike despite the ruling party's loss in the upper house election, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Tuesday. He made the remark after credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned on Monday it might cut Japan's sovereign debt ratings as the Democratic Party's thrashing in a weekend election posed new hurdles for the government to cut public debt.

LAS VEGAS (July 11, 2010): President Barack Obama urged the US Congress on Friday to pass a $5 billion expansion of tax credits for clean energy manufacturing that he said would generate tens of thousands of new jobs. With anxiety over high unemployment threatening Obama's Democrats in November congressional elections, he used a campaign swing for key political candidates to defend his economic agenda and promote job-boosting measures.

ASTANA (July 06, 2010): Belarus on Monday formally joined Russia and Kazakhstan in their efforts to increase economic integration following weeks of wrangling over energy prices. Meeting in the Kazakh capital Astana, leaders of the three countries signed a declaration bringing into force the joint customs code and effectively launching the three-way customs union from Monday.

CANBERRA (July 03, 2010): Australia ended a damaging dispute with global miners on Friday by dumping its planned "super profits" tax for a lower resources rent tax backed by big miners, clearing a major hurdle to calling an early election. The deal looks positive for miners and the government.

MOSCOW (July 02, 2010): Russia and Kazakhstan launched their customs union on Thursday in the first step towards creating of an ex-Soviet common market for 160 million people, brushing aside criticism from the West over protectionism. The third ally Belarus, which chose to drop out of the Union's launch due to the energy trade disputes with Moscow, was still welcome to join, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a government session.