Oregon governor says Nike plans expansion

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Nike wants to expand its Oregon operations and hire hundreds of workers but is asking the government to promise it won't change the state tax code.
Gov. John Kitzhaber (KIHTS'-hah-bur) says he'll call the Legislature into session Friday to create a law to give Nike its wish.
The company has not specified its expansion plans except to say it would create at least 500 jobs and $150 million in capital investment over five years.
Nike Inc. has its headquarters in Beaverton, outside Portland. Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
It employs 44,000 people globally, including 8,000 in Washington County.
Nike has been selling off brands and making other moves to focus on its most profitable businesses, which include its namesake Nike brand, Jordan, Converse and Hurley.

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Report: Most Pakistani lawmakers do not file taxes

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The majority of Pakistani lawmakers do not file tax returns despite a legal requirement to do, a report said Wednesday, reinforcing concerns about the low level of tax revenue in the country.
Pakistan has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP rates in the world because payment is not well enforced, and major areas of the economy, such as the agriculture sector, are either taxed at very low rates or not at all.
Around two-thirds of the country's 446 lawmakers failed to file tax returns in 2011, the latest data available, said the report, co-published by the Center for Investigative Reporting in Pakistan and the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives.
A similar percentage of the government's 55 Cabinet members also failed to file returns, said the report, titled "Representation Without Taxation." Among those politicians who failed to file a return was Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Even lawmakers who filed returns often paid very low amounts of tax on outside income. The lowest-paying lawmaker who filed a return, Senator Mushahid Hussain, paid less than $1 in taxes, said the report.
The figures do not take into account the tax paid by lawmakers on their official salaries, which is automatically deducted. It instead focuses on declarations of supplemental income from land, businesses and other sources of revenue.
Analysts have said that the country's effective tax rate is so low because a small elite, comprised of the military, land owners and the rising urban upper and middle classes is reluctant to give up any of its wealth. These groups either put pressure on lawmakers or are the lawmakers themselves.
"End result is the erosion of public trust in the government that is frequently blamed for serving the interests of the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and low-income groups," the report said.

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Pennies over patriotism: Look at tax-averse stars

PARIS (AP) — France's Socialist government is introducing a 75-percent income tax on those earning over €1 million ($1.3 million), forcing some of the country's rich and famous to set up residency in less fiscally-demanding countries.
Here's a look at some big stars in France and elsewhere who have, over the years, put their pennies above their patriotism.
DEPARTING DEPARDIEU
The French prime minister has accused actor Gerard Depardieu of being "pathetic" and "unpatriotic" for setting up residence in a small village just across the border in neighboring Belgium to avoid paying taxes in France.
The office of the mayor in Depardieu's new haunts at Nechin, also known as the "millionaire's village" for its appeal to high-earning Frenchmen, said that for people with high income, like Depardieu, the Belgian tax system, capped at 50 percent, is more attractive.
Depardieu, who has played in more than 100 films, including "Green Card" and "Cyrano de Bergerac," has not commented publicly on the matter.
BEATLE TAX
In 2005, the Beatles' Ringo Starr took up residency in Monaco, where he gets to keep a higher percentage of royalties than he would in Britain or Los Angeles. France's tiny neighbor Monaco, with zero percent income tax for most people, has obvious appeal for the 72-year-old drummer and his estimated $240 million fortune.
The Beatles' resentment of high taxes goes back to their 1960s song "Taxman." George Harrison penned it in protest of the British government's 95 percent supertax on the rich, evoked by the lyrics: "There's one for you, nineteen for me."
Harrison reportedly said later, "'Taxman' was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes."
LICENSE TO DODGE
Former "James Bond" star Sean Connery left the U.K. in the 1970s, reportedly for tax exile in Spain, and then the Bahamas — another spot with zero income tax and one of the richest countries per capita in the Americas. His successor to the 007 mantle, Roger Moore, also opted for exile in the 1970s — this time in Monaco — ensuring his millions were neither shaken nor stirred.
EXILE ON MAIN ST.
In 1972, The Rolling Stones controversially moved to the south of France to escape onerous British taxes. Though it caused a stink at the time, it spawned one of the group's most seminal albums, "Exile on Main St." The title is a reference to their tax-dodging. In 2006, British media branded them the "Stingy Stones" with reports that they'd paid just 1.6 percent tax on their earnings of $389 million over the previous two decades.
FISCAL HEALING
In 1980, U.S. singer Marvin Gaye moved to Hawaii from L.A. to avoid problems with the Internal Revenue Service, the American tax agency. Later that year, Gaye relocated to London after a tour in Europe. Gaye, whose hits include "Sexual Healing" and "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" settled in Belgium in 1981. He was shot to death in 1984.

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Pennies over patriotism? Stars move to tax havens

PARIS (AP) — France's Socialist government is introducing a 75-percent income tax on those earning over €1 million ($1.3 million), leading some of the country's rich and famous to set up residency in less fiscally demanding countries.
Here's a look at some big names in France and elsewhere whose changes of address over the years have meant lighter taxes.
DEPARTING DEPARDIEU
The French prime minister has accused actor Gerard Depardieu of being "pathetic" and "unpatriotic," saying he set up residence in a small village just across the border in neighboring Belgium to avoid paying taxes in France.
The office of the mayor in Depardieu's new haunts at Nechin, also known as the "millionaire's village" for its appeal to high-earning Frenchmen, said that for people with high income, like Depardieu, the Belgian tax system, capped at 50 percent, is more attractive.
Depardieu, who has played in more than 100 films, including "Green Card" and "Cyrano de Bergerac," has not commented publicly on the matter.
BEATLE TAX
In 2005, the Beatles' Ringo Starr took up residency in Monaco, where he gets to keep a higher percentage of royalties than he would in Britain or Los Angeles. France's tiny neighbor Monaco, with zero percent income tax for most people, has obvious appeal for the 72-year-old drummer and his estimated $240 million fortune.
The Beatles' resentment of high taxes goes back to their 1960s song "Taxman." George Harrison penned it in protest of the British government's 95 percent supertax on the rich, evoked by the lyrics: "There's one for you, nineteen for me."
Harrison reportedly said later, "'Taxman' was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes."
LICENSE TO DODGE?
Former "James Bond" star Sean Connery left the U.K. in the 1970s, reportedly for tax exile in Spain, and then the Bahamas — another spot with zero income tax and one of the richest countries per capita in the Americas. His successor to the 007 mantle, Roger Moore, also opted for exile in the 1970s — this time in Monaco — ensuring his millions were neither shaken nor stirred.
EXILE ON MAIN ST.
In 1972, The Rolling Stones controversially moved to the south of France to escape onerous British taxes. Though it caused a stink at the time, it spawned one of the group's most seminal albums, "Exile on Main St." The title is a reference to their tax-dodging. In 2006, British media branded them the "Stingy Stones" with reports that they'd paid just 1.6 percent tax on their earnings of $389 million over the previous two decades.
FISCAL HEALING
In 1980, U.S. singer Marvin Gaye moved to Hawaii from L.A. to avoid problems with the Internal Revenue Service, the American tax agency. Later that year, Gaye relocated to London after a tour in Europe. Gaye, whose hits include "Sexual Healing" and "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" settled in Belgium in 1981. He was shot to death in 1984.

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State tax revenues continue growing in third quarter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State tax revenues have grown for more than two years, but they are still suffering the effects of the 2007-2009 recession, according to a report released by the Rockefeller Institute of Government on Thursday.
Using preliminary data, the New York research group found that collection from major taxes increased in 47 states in the third quarter of 2012 from a year before, marking the 11th straight increase.
The recession caused states' revenues to plummet to lows not seen in decades over the course of five quarters. That forced almost all states to make emergency spending cuts, raise taxes, borrow and turn to the federal government for help just as the newly jobless and homeless increased demand for their services.
While revenues have been growing, the increases have been small. According to the institute, revenues "are still far below where they would have been in the absence of the Great Recession." Moreover, when adjusted for inflation, revenues are 5 percent below the peaks they reached in fiscal 2008, the last year before the recession devastated their budgets.
Rockefeller found that personal income tax collections were up 4.5 percent in the quarter ending in September, and sales taxes grew 3.1 percent. Corporate income taxes, which provide only a sliver of revenues, fell 0.5 percent.
In the third quarter of 2011, personal income tax collections surged 10.2 percent.
Delaware had the largest increases in overall tax collections in the third quarter, 11.7 percent, followed by Colorado, 10.3 percent.
(Reporting By Lisa Lambert; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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6 predicted apocalypses that never happened

We have a long history of auguring our own demise
It's the end of the world as we know it. Again. This time it's the Mayan Apocalypse, which could supposedly see the planet Nibiru emerge from its hiding place behind the sun to crash into Earth on Dec. 21. If you're feeling nervous, take a look back at six other doomsday predictions from years past, and take comfort in knowing that no such prediction has ever come to pass. At least not yet.
The Rapture, May 2011
What was predicted: Harold Camping, an 89-year-old Christian fundamentalist and fringe radio host, predicted that 1994 was the year the Rapture would begin. When that didn't happen, he concluded that he must have messed up his numbers, which were based on decoded messages in the Bible. After some recalculation, Camping announced that the world would actually end on May 21, 2011. Thousands of his followers left their lives behind to help spread word of the coming apocalypse.
What actually happened: On May 22, the world still stood, and Camping was "flabbergasted." His followers, many of whom had drained their savings to promote the message, reacted with anger and confusion. But Camping quickly reassured them that the real end of the world was coming on Oct. 21, 2011. In case you're wondering, that didn't happen, either.
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Y2K, 2000
What was predicted: Chaos, widespread panic, and a shortage of food and goods — all because of a little computer bug. In the years leading up to the millennium, computer programmers used only two digits to represent years. It was theorized that when the clocks struck 12:00 a.m. on January 1, 2000, the machines would not be able to read the year "00." The Y2K panic was born, and billions of dollars were spent fixing the original source code in older computers. By 1998, 34 percent of Americans anticipated the Y2K bug would cause major problems, and the Independent newspaper even warned that the glitch could spark a nuclear war.
What actually happened: Midnight struck with no major outages. A few glitches were reported, but for the most part "1999 passed into history with barely a whimper." Experts remain divided over whether Y2K was a legitimate threat or an exercise in mass paranoia.
The Jupiter Effect, March 1982
What was predicted: In 1974, John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann wrote a best-selling book called The Jupiter Effect. In it, they argued that the planets of the solar system would align in March 1982, triggering massive natural disasters on Earth, including an earthquake on the San Andreas Fault that would wipe out Los Angeles. Nervous residents panicked, and many considered selling their homes and leaving L.A.
What actually happened: March came and went peacefully. One year later, the two authors released The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered, which also became a bestseller. 
Halley's Comet, 1910
What was predicted: When Halley's Comet reappeared in 1910, the Chicago Yerkes Observatory made the poorly calculated decision to announce that it had detected a poisonous gas in the comet's tail. The New York Times added fuel to the fire by quoting a French astronomer as saying this gas "would impregnate that atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet." Panic ensued, gas masks were purchased, and people began loading up on "comet pills," which promised to counter the effects of the noxious gas. In an attempt to keep the fumes at bay, homeowners placed pieces of paper over their locks.
What actually happened: The planet remained undisturbed. Once the comet had passed, The Chicago Tribune announced to readers, "We're still here."
The Great Flood, 1524
What was predicted: In 1499, German-born astronomer Johannes Stoeffler predicted that the world would be engulfed in a massive flood in February of 1524. The planets would align, he said, in the constellation of Pisces, the sign of the fish, dooming the entire world to a watery death. Because of Stoeffler's position as a well-known astronomer and mathematician, his words weren't taken lightly. German Count von Iggleheim was so determined to survive the coming storm, he built a massive three-story ark. And when it did actually start to rain, panicked crowds stormed the ark and stoned the count to death when he refused to let them in.
What actually happened: When the rain stopped, Stoeffler insisted that he'd miscalculated (sound familiar?), and that the real flood would come in 1528. Stoeffler died shortly thereafter, in 1531, of the plague.
Author-mania, 2800 B.C.
What was predicted: It appears that mankind's fear of the apocalypse goes way back. An unearthed clay tablet thought to date back to 2800 B.C. reads, "Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end." What kinds of signs? Bribery and corruption. Disobedient children. Plus, "Every man wants to write a book, and the end of the world is evidently approaching."
What actually happened: Our understanding of this time period is limited, but we know the human race still thrives, kids are still mouthing off, and basically everyone still aspires to become a renowned author.

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Welcome to Tough Love with Starshine Roshell

Coming soon to TheWeek.com: A weekly advice column. Send us your dilemmas!
Give me your confused, your aggravated, your bewildered. Send me your perplexed, your rattled, your befuddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Yes indeed — I'm the new advice columnist at TheWeek.com, and I'm here to steer you right on dating dilemmas, parenting pickles, workplace woes, and every juicy quandary in between.
SEE ALSO: 10 fascinating true origin stories of America's favorite toys
As a veteran journalist, I've reported on opportunities that spring from wise decisions, and unfortunate incidents that arise from bad ones. And like you, I've been through some stuff.
Named for a song in the rock musical Hair, in which my father starred naked, I survived a Hollywood hippie childhood to become a news reporter, music critic, travel writer, and often overwhelmed mother of two. Life's messy — but advice shouldn't be.
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Sensible and straight-talking, I'm the opinionated best friend you never knew you wanted. The gal who tells it to you straight. The occasionally snarky voice of reason. The this-is-gonna-hurt-you-more-than-it-hurts-me coach and confidant.
I don't like liars, I have no patience for whiners, and in truth, I'm not even a great listener. But I'm an excellent reader, so type your troubles to me — we won't publish your name! — and I'll help you find freedom from what flummoxes you.

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Did the human hand evolve for fighting?

Apes don't throw punches. And now scientists think our ability to form an effectively clenched fist is no accident
The question: The human hand is quite unlike the appendages of our great ape cousins. Our palms are shorter, and our fingers are long and lithe. For years, evolutionary scientists believed humans developed this way because it helped our ancestors use tools better — gripping hammers and fashioning spears, for instance. But now, a group of researchers from the University of Utah suggests our hands evolved for more violent reasons. They sought to determine if a person's ability to form a closed fist was favored from an evolutionary standpoint — especially when you stop to consider that no other ape throws punches.
How it was tested: The team enlisted the help of 12 volunteers who had either boxing or martial arts experience. Participants were directed to hit a punching bag as hard as possible with different types of strikes, from closed fists to open-handed palms. The idea was to determine how much force the hand shape produced, clueing researchers in on how our hands evolved.
The outcome: Unsurprisingly, the open-handed palm strike and the closed first produced the same level of force. But clenched fists are much tighter, and can concentrate that force on a smaller surface area. That means more broken bones and a higher likelihood of tissue damage for the victim. "A punch delivers up for three times more force to the same amount of surface area as a slap," says the Telegraph. "And the buttressing provided by a clenched fist increases the stiffness of the knuckles fourfold, while doubling the ability of the fingers to deliver a punching force."
What it means: In the researchers' minds, the ability to inflict serious damage through a punch may have been a big evolutionary advantage for our ancestors. After all, our hand dexterity could have evolved without the fingers and palms getting shorter. Instead, our hands evolved to favor the clenched fist — namely our long thumbs, which lock the other fingers in and better protects the otherwise delicate bones of the hand.
What the experts say: "If you stop and look at what we know about the other species, we're a relatively violent group of mammals," says co-author David Carrier, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Utah. "Once that selection for climbing [trees] went away, there may also have been this selection for physical fighting — particularly in males. And these [hand] proportions would have increased how dangerous an individual was in those fights." When threatened, our first instinct is to clench our fists. That isn't a coincidence.
The takeaway: The hand's ability to manipulate intricate objects and instantly transform itself into a cudgel-like weapon is a uniquely human trait. "More than any other part of our anatomy, the hand represents the identity of Homo sapiens," write the researchers. "Ultimately, the evolutionary significance of the human hand may lie in its remarkable ability to serve two seemingly incompatible but intrinsically human functions."

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6 movies for the end of the world

If December 21 doesn't usher in the apocalypse after all, face the final curtain vicariously by watching one of these recent Hollywood films
If you forgot to flip the page on your Mayan calendar this month, we have some bad news. The world is coming to an end on December 21 thanks to the preordained Mayan Apocalypse. At least, that's what dubious sources have spent the past few years alleging. But if the apocalypse means widespread fear and panic to the average person, it means something else to Hollywood: Great entertainment. So just in case tomorrow isn't the last day Earth exists, here are 6 recent movies that will let you the enjoy the end of the world vicariously:
1. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
It's probably too late for you to find your own new friend for the end of the world, but you can revel in this underrated, underseen romantic dramedy, which stars Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley as neighbors spending their last weeks together before an asteroid destroys Earth.

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2. Melancholia (2011)
If the thought of Earth's complete obliteration bums you out, you'll feel right at home with Melancholia. Kirsten Dunst plays a deeply depressed young woman whose life is altered by the announcement that a mysterious planet, dubbed "Melancholia," has emerged from behind the sun — and may be on a collision course with Earth.

3. The Road (2009)
Doomsday enthusiasts can't agree on the form the so-called "Mayan Apocalypse" will take, which makes The Road — a post-apocalyptic film in which the cause of the cataclysm is never explained — ideal viewing. Viggo Mortensen stars as a man trying to protect his son from cannibals, scavengers, and thieves.

4. 2012 (2009)
If you prefer your apocalypses of the big, stupid, Hollywood-blockbuster variety, your best bet is Roland Emmerich's 2012. John Cusack leads a cast of slumming stars as they face an apocalyptic wave of earthquakes and mega-tsunamis.

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5. Wall-E (2008)
If you decide to spend the immediate pre-apocalypse with your children, you may be seeking a doomsday film that's a little more family-friendly. Luckily, Pixar created Wall-E, a film about an adorable robot who falls in love with another adorable robot, as they explore an Earth that was abandoned by the humans who devastated it.

6. I Am Legend (2007)
The cosmos ordains the Mayan Apocalypse, but man triggers the apocalypse in I Am Legend — by genetically engineering a virus intended to cure cancer that somehow mutates into a virus that turns people into zombies. (Who said apocalypse movies had to make sense?) Will Smith stars as the last man in an all-but-abandoned New York City, attempting to reverse the apocalypse by developing a cure.

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WATCH: The hyperactive new trailer for The Great Gatsby

Baz Luhrman's glittery take on the Great American Novel is slated to hit theaters in May 2013
The trailer: Director Baz Luhrmann's visually stunning adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was originally slated for a Christmas Day release, and, although the film has been bumped to May 2013, Warner Bros. has delivered a new trailer as a form of season's greetings. (Watch the new trailer for The Great Gatsby below.) The clip does a decent job of outlining Gatsby's themes for anyone who never took a 10th grade English class. "Can't repeat the past? Why, of course you can," says Leonardo DiCaprio's Gatsby, one of several iconic lines from the novel that the trailer features. Does this new trailer do justice to the Great American Novel?
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The reaction: If the first trailer for The Great Gatsby was "all about selling the world of 1920s New York upper society," this new one "is more about selling us on the man at the heart of this fantastical world — the titular Jay Gatsby," says Kofi Outlaw at Screen Rant. And despite the hyperactive Hollywood visuals, Fitzgerald devotees should take heart: The "subtext of the characters and [the] story seem to be intact." This may be the craziest filmed take on The Great Gatsby yet, says Christopher Rosen at The Huffington Post, but it's "so insane that it just might work." Indeed, agrees Russ Fischer at Slashfilm: "Luhrman's vision of the Roaring Twenties is glorious and dazzling. Whether that will work for the story remains to be seen."

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