Shakira Reaches Deal to Avoid $15 Million Tax Fraud Trial in Spain 

Colombian singer Shakira (C) leaves Barcelona Provincial Court after attending procedures on the first day of her trial for allegedly defrauding Spanish tax officials of 14.5 million euro in taxes between 2012 and 2014, in Barcelona city, Catalonia region, north-eastern Spain, 20 November 2023. Woman (L) is not identified. (EPA)
Colombian singer Shakira (C) leaves Barcelona Provincial Court after attending procedures on the first day of her trial for allegedly defrauding Spanish tax officials of 14.5 million euro in taxes between 2012 and 2014, in Barcelona city, Catalonia region, north-eastern Spain, 20 November 2023. Woman (L) is not identified. (EPA)
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Shakira Reaches Deal to Avoid $15 Million Tax Fraud Trial in Spain 

Colombian singer Shakira (C) leaves Barcelona Provincial Court after attending procedures on the first day of her trial for allegedly defrauding Spanish tax officials of 14.5 million euro in taxes between 2012 and 2014, in Barcelona city, Catalonia region, north-eastern Spain, 20 November 2023. Woman (L) is not identified. (EPA)
Colombian singer Shakira (C) leaves Barcelona Provincial Court after attending procedures on the first day of her trial for allegedly defrauding Spanish tax officials of 14.5 million euro in taxes between 2012 and 2014, in Barcelona city, Catalonia region, north-eastern Spain, 20 November 2023. Woman (L) is not identified. (EPA)

Colombian pop star Shakira on Monday reached a settlement with prosecutors to avoid a trial in Barcelona over charges she failed to pay 14.5 million euros ($15.7 million) in Spanish income tax between 2012 and 2014.

As part of the deal, she accepted the charges and a fine of 50% of the amount owed, more than 7.3 million euros.

She also accepted another fine of 438,000 euros to avoid a three-year prison sentence, the judge said during the trial's first hearing.

"Do you recognize the facts and conform with the new penalties that have been requested?" asked Judge Jose Manuel del Amo Sanchez. "Yes," Shakira responded.

Wearing a pink suit, matched with a pink handbag and sunglasses, she arrived minutes before 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) accompanied by her lawyers, amid a media frenzy. On Thursday night Shakira won two Latin Grammy awards in Seville.

Previously, the "Hips Don't Lie" singer, who also has a second tax fraud investigation pending with Spanish authorities, had vowed to fight what she called false accusations.

The prosecutor's office was seeking an up to eight-year prison term and to claim back the taxes it says she owes.

It alleged that Shakira spent more than half of each of the years in question in Spain and was therefore ordinarily resident in the country. It also said that a Barcelona property she bought in May 2012 served as a family home.

Shakira, 46, lived with former Barcelona and Spain soccer star Gerard Pique for 11 years and the couple have two children. The singer, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, moved to Miami after their separation.

Spanish authorities have pursued other major celebrities over tax evasion including soccer players such as Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Argentina's Lionel Messi and Brazilian-Spanish player Diego Costa. All settled and paid large fines.

Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso refused to settle and eventually won a trial against the tax agency. Spain's Supreme Court last month upheld his acquittal.



How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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How the World’s Press Rated Paris’s Olympics Opening Ceremony

Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Former French football player Zinedine Zidane holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Paris broke with tradition on Friday by turning the Olympic Opening Ceremony into a parade down the River Seine rather than a stadium-based show.

TV viewers around the world were treated to a spectacle performed on bridges, the riverbank and rooftops, culminating with French athletes Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner lighting the Olympic cauldron and a performance from Canada's Celine Dion.

However, the 6,000-odd athletes, 3,000 performers, 300,000 spectators and dozens of world leaders had to endure heavy rain for much of the event.

Here's how the world's media judged Paris's ambitious ceremony:

FRANCE

Newspaper Le Monde wrote in a rave review that director Thomas Jolly "succeeded in his challenge of presenting an immersive show in a capital transformed into a gigantic stage".

Right-leaning Le Figaro said the show was "great but some of it was just too much". It said viewers "could have been spared" images including an apparent recreation of the painting of The Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles in front of a fashion show.

UNITED STATES

"Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat" headlined the New York Times's television review.

It wrote that the river parade "turned the ceremony into something bigger, more various and more intermittently entertaining. But it also turned it into something more ordinary — just another bloated made-for-TV spectacle".

The Washington Post was more glowing, noting that the organizer's "bold thinking" brought a shine back to an event that has seen its popularity wane in recent years.

CHINA

China's Xinhua state news agency said the ceremony succeeded in showcasing France.

"There were Can-Can girls, a homage to the reconstruction of Notre Dame and of course the French Revolution, with fireworks, heavy metal and singers who appeared to have lost a battle with the guillotine.

"If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the performances."

SOUTH KOREA

South Korean media noted the "impressive" imagination of using the whole city as the backdrop but the event was overshadowed by the country's team being misintroduced as North Korea.

South Korea's CBS radio said while the incident was no doubt an honest mistake, it was disappointing the Paris organizers failed at what should have been a very basic part of the event.

GERMANY

"As beautiful as it was mad," wrote Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine. "France revolutionized the opening ceremony ... by the end even the rain had been defeated."

Tabloid Bild was bowled over by Celine Dion's return to the stage after four years, defying illness to "sing just as in the best of times. She deserves a gold medal for this performance."

BRITAIN

British tabloid The Sun joked "Wet The Games Begin!" on its front page alongside an image of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by laser beams, and described the ceremony as spectacular.

The Daily Mail's headline read "La Farce!", mainly in reference to the train disruption earlier in the day, but the paper also judged Paris's gamble on the weather had "backfired spectacularly".

A writer for the Guardian newspaper described the parade of boats on the Seine as "like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties" but concluded Celine Dion had rescued the event with a "jaw dropping" performance.

ITALY

La Gazzetta dello Sport said the ceremony was "something unprecedented, even extraordinary. A great show or a long, tedious work, depending on your point of view and sensibility."

The mainstream Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera likened the show to a contemporary art performance, noting that "some (spectators) were bored, others were amused, many found the spectacle disappointing".

The left-leaning Italian daily La Repubblica said the ceremony overshadowed the athletes.

"A lot of France, a lot of Paris, very little Olympics.... a mirror that the immortal Paris turned on herself and discovered that she was so much, too much and soaking wet".