Thursday newspaper round-up: Apple tax, Sports Direct, Panama Canal

The US has launched a stinging attack on Brussels’ tax investigations into Apple and other companies in an escalation of the transatlantic battle over alleged EU targeting of US multinationals. In a last-ditch shot before Brussels announces the results of its lengthy investigation into Apple’s Irish tax affairs, the US Treasury accused the European Commission of trying to become a “supranational tax authority”. - Telegraph

The chief executive of Vice, the highly valued youth media company, has warned of an imminent “bloodbath” in digital media and signalled he could sell up to a giant such as Disney in a bid for survival and growth. Shane Smith, co-founder and chief executive of Vice Media, said at the Edinburgh International Television Festival that he is now wrestling “every day” with the question of whether to accept a takeover. - Telegraph

The Treasury is proposing new rules to punish offshore tax evaders who fail to come clean about their finances before September 2018, with fines of up to 200% of the amount owed. Published on Wednesday, the measures represent the second government consultation in two weeks on sanctions against tax cheats. – Guardian

Sports Direct will open its doors to the public on the day of the retailer’s annual general meeting, giving people an opportunity to speak to board directors following months of criticism over the treatment of workers. A timetable for the event said non-shareholders are welcome to attend the Sports Direct AGM on 7 September, which is being held as usual at the company’s headquarters in Shirebrook, Derbyshire. – Guardian

An employment agency that supplies warehouse workers to Sports Direct has put itself on a collision course with MPs after declining to amend evidence it gave at a parliamentary hearing. Transline, which has been accused of deliberately misleading the business, innovations and skills select committee, has given MPs a detailed explanation of why it believes evidence it gave into working practices at Sports Direct’s warehouse complex in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, was not misleading. – The Times

Iran has expressed interest in joining forces with a Chinese company that plans to build a $50 billion canal across Nicaragua that links the Atlantic and Pacific and rivals the Panama Canal. Mohammed Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, said that business leaders who went with him to the Central American state this week had discussed teaming up with HKND, a private Hong Kong company that has broken ground on the project but made little progress in the past two years. – The Times