2016年经济学人 大众排放门事件进一步发酵北美区总裁辞职 英国当局向脸书施压要求其加大纳税额度（在线收听）

Business this week

本周经济要闻

The Volkswagen scandal rumbled on. Prosecutors in Germany expanded the number of employees at the car maker who are under investigation to 17. But they have yet to find firm evidence that senior executives had knowledge of the rigged software in diesel cars that yielded false readings in emissions tests. In France authorities opened a formal inquiry into “aggravated fraud”. VW's chief in America, Michael Horn, resigned. Matthias Muller, VW's chief executive, warned of “substantial and painful” ?nancial damage at the company because of the scandal.

去年德国大众排放丑闻还在继续发酵。目前该公司已有17人接受德国检查机关的调查。但是他们还没有发现有力证据证明大众高层对柴油机机车中的“作弊”软件知情。该“作弊”软件能够篡改尾气排放测试中的显示数据，从而使其尾气排放量达标。法国当局则对德国大众的这起“严重欺诈”正式展开调查。大众集团北美地区总裁迈克尔·霍恩)离职。大众首席执行官马塞勒斯·穆伦警告说，这起排放丑闻将给公司财务状况带来“巨大而沉痛”的打击。

Under pressure to hand over more tax in Britain, Facebook reportedly told its larger British advertisers to pay it via its UK subsidiary rather than through its office in lower-tax Ireland. Earlier it was revealed that in 2014 Facebook paid just 4,300 in corporate tax; the next year British tax authorities paid the social-network company 27,000 ($44,000) to place ads reminding people about tax commitments.

据报道称，在英国当局要求加大纳税额的压力下，脸书公司要将英国大型客户的广告营收不再列为税率较低的爱尔兰总部的收入，而列入英国分公司的收入。2014年脸书缴纳的公司税仅有4300英镑。2015年英国税务部门让脸书发布宣传公民纳税义务的广告，并支付其27,000英镑(44,000美元)的广告费。

Chevron announced additional cuts to its capital-spending plans on top of the ones it outlined last December. Like its rivals, the oil giant has been hurt by the prolonged fall in oil prices. The further reduction in spending should shore up its dividend to shareholders, which it has paid out continuously since 1926.

美国油气生产商雪佛龙(Chevron)宣布再次削减其去年12月所定的几项首要计划的资本预算。像其他油气生产商一样，石油巨头雪佛龙(Chevron)也受到了油价低迷的冲击，这次进一步削减资本预算应该会对其发放股东红利有所帮助。该公司自1926年来一直不间断地派发股利。

Oil prices have been rallying recently, however. Brent crude rose above $40 a barrel for the first time since early December and at mid-week was priced 47% higher than the 13-year low it had sunk to in mid-January. The price has risen in part because oil production in America, where output from shale fields has boomed in recent years, is dropping. The price of iron ore soared by record amounts after Chinese officials said they would do what it takes to boost growth?

不过近期石油价格有所回升。布伦特原油（Brent crude）交易价自12月初以来首次上浮超过40美元/桶。在本周中期，布伦特原油交易价比一月中期13年来的最低价高了47%。这次油价上涨的部分原因是美国石油产量正在下滑，而近年来美国的页岩油气产量猛增。另外由于中国政府表示他们会采取措施促进经济增长，随后铁矿石价格飙升，增幅创新高。

The prospect of building Hinkley Point C, a proposed nuclear-power plant in Britain, was thrown into turmoil after the chief financial occer of Electricite de France, which is to build Hinkley, quit over concerns that the project threatened EDF's future. At 18 billion ($25 billion), Hinkley would be the most expensive power plant in history.

英国欣克利角C核电站的建造计划陷入僵局，原因是建造该核电站的法国电力集团（électricité de France）的财务总监认为该项目会影响公司未来发展，故决定退出该项目。欣克利角C核电站将是史上造价最昂贵的核电站，预计至少需投资180亿英镑（250亿美元）。