Argentina suspends P&G over tax claims

Procter & Gamble is based in the US city of Cincinnati, Ohio

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Argentina has banned the consumer products giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) from doing business in the country, accusing the firm of tax fraud.

A statement on the presidential website, published on Sunday, said P&G had inflated the price of imports by $138m (£87m) in an effort to get money out of the South American country.

It also accused the firm of attempting to avoid taxes.

P&G said it was working to understand and resolve the allegations.

"We don't pursue aggressive tax/fiscal planning practices as they simply don't produce sustainable results," said P&G spokesman Paul Fox.

The alleged fraud involves shipments of razors and other hygiene products.

The statement, published on behalf of Argentina's Federal Administration of Public Revenue (Afip), added that details of the alleged fraud have been sent to its counterpart in the US - the Securities and Exchange Commission.

P&G has been operating in Argentina since 1991 and currently runs three manufacturing plants and two distribution centres in the country.

Right-to-die advocate Brittany Maynard ends life

Brittany Maynard made international headlines after documenting her decision in a video on the internet

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Brittany Maynard, the terminally ill cancer patient whose viral YouTube video reignited the debate on assisted-suicide, ended her life on Saturday.

Mrs Maynard and her husband moved from California to Oregon, where assisted-suicide has been legal since 1997.

Oregon's Death with Dignity Act allows terminally ill residents to obtain lethal prescriptions from doctors.

Since 1997, 1,173 people were granted lethal prescriptions and 752 patients used it to end their own lives.

Mrs Maynard, 29, who was suffering from a terminal brain cancer, died at home after administering lethal drugs on Saturday.

She died "in the arms of her loved ones," a spokesman for the campaign group Compassion & Choices said.

Sean Crowley said Mrs Maynard was suffering from increasingly severe seizures and head and neck pains which had at times limited her ability to speak.

Mrs Maynard's video has attracted nearly 10 million views on YouTube

Following months of treatment and a worsening prognosis, Mrs Maynard made the decision to use Oregon's laws to obtain a lethal dose of medication which she kept "until the time is right," as she said in her video.

She received the lethal medication several months ago, and last week in a video posted to her website she said that she was considering delaying her plan.

"I still feel good enough and I still have enough joy and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn't seem like the right time right now," she said. "But it will come, because I feel myself getting sicker."

Mrs Maynard's first video went viral and has attracted more than nine million views on YouTube.

In it she said that she first started experiencing the headaches shortly after getting married.

Assisted suicide is controversial in the US, where it faces staunch opposition from Christian campaign groups, among others.

Total's CEO Christophe de Margerie dies in Moscow plane crash

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Christophe de Margerie's plane was trying to take off at Vnukovo airport, as Dmitry Medvedenko, from the Voice of Russia radio station, reports

Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of French oil company Total, has died in an air crash in Moscow.

His corporate jet collided with a snow plough and then was engulfed in flames. All four people on board were killed.

The driver of the snow plough was drunk, according to Russian investigators.

Mr de Margerie, 63, had been chief executive of Europe's third largest oil company since 2007. He was highly regarded within the oil industry.

'Huge loss'

"France is losing an extraordinary business leader who turned Total into a world giant," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement.

"France is losing a great industry captain and a patriot."

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences.

News agency Tass quoted a Kremlin spokesman as saying: "The President highly appreciated de Mergerie's business skills, his continued commitment to the development of not only bilateral Russian-French relations, but also on multi-faceted levels."

Mr de Margerie joined Total Group after graduating from the Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Paris in 1974.

At the company, where he had spent his entire career, he was nicknamed "Big Moustache".

John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil, told the BBC: "It's a huge loss to the industry and its future focus.

"What he has done for Total in repositioning the company to return to integrity and sound operations is deeply respected and highly regarded."

According to Russia's Vedomosti newspaper, Mr de Margerie had met Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his country residence outside Moscow to discuss foreign investment in Russia.