Police dismantle vast carbon credit fraud
Le Monde reports that UK police have dismantled an extensive network specializing in carbon credit fraud. On Wednesday 19 August, nine people were arrested on charges of misappropriating £38 million (44 million euros). According to the French daily, "Participants in the fraud took advantage of the fact that VAT is charged on carbon credits throughout the EU, but not in the United Kingdom. They bought tons of British CO2 credits, sold them on in other countries, and pocketed huge sums of VAT that should have been declared to tax authorities. " The EU's decision to impose emissions ceilings on private companies has led to an explosion in the market for greenhouse gas credits. Companies who do not use up all of their carbon credits are allowed to sell them to other companies who have exceeded their quotas. In September, the European Commission will announce changes to its VAT Directive to combat the problem of fraud.
In a time of crisis with high unemployment, young Lithuanians are following in the footsteps of their emigrant ancestors. Tens of thousands have left the country in search of a better life, mainly in the British Isles and Scandinavia. The weekly Veidas reports: 
The new Eurogroup meeting on February 9 is not enough to banish the spectre of a Greek bankruptcy. While Athens may largely be responsible for the crisis, the EU and its partners are not blameless themselves. La Stampa argues that their confused messages and the absence of any strategy have transformed a resolvable problem into an explosive chaos. 
Two camps, two theories, and two visions of France: 18 years after the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis, the precise role played by Paris is still the subject of heated debate, fueled by the findings of successive criminal investigations.