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When Homeland Security Theater goes Off-Script

"The FBI, whose chief occupation since 2002 has been the manufacture of ersatz terrorism plots, induced Tounisi into an act described as providing 'material aid' to a foreign terrorist group. If he is convicted, he will be found guilty of carrying out the Obama administration's official policy without official permission. He is not the only American presently facing the prospect of imprisonment on this charge. The administration has filed felony charges against a US Army Veteran from Arizona named Eric Harroun, who traveled to Syria to join the fight against Assad." Continue reading →

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Snarling, Robotic Police in House-to-House Search

"There is no question of anyone giving on-the-spot consent to a search when an occupant is facing a dozen men with rifles and guns pointing at him or her. The reporter describes the police searches as 'terrifying', as in police terror. Such searches are non-consensual. These police have all been trained to act robotically to control the people and intimidate them. They have been programmed. They will point the guns at a woman with a baby as readily as at someone who looks like their suspect. They will make everyone obey. The reporter says that people were not allowed back into their homes but left on the street for 14-15 hours." Continue reading →

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EU governments get cold feet on financial transactions tax

"Prospects of an EU tax on financial transactions have been put into question by confusion on how it would work and a legal challenge by the UK. A six-page-long memo drafted by civil servants in the EU Council last week - seen by EUobserver - indicates cooling enthusiasm among the 11 EU countries which supported the introduction of a financial transactions tax (FTT). The officials say the FTT, which includes a 0.1 percent levy on bonds and shares and 0.01 percent on derivative products, would hit repurchase agreements on sovereign bonds, forcing up the cost of financing government debt." Continue reading →

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Where Nervous Europeans Are Really Putting Their Money

"Demand for $100 bills has jumped since 2008 as nervous Europeans stuff them under the mattress, providing vivid proof that the world still loves the dollar and confirming the benefit to the US of the currency’s status as a global reserve. The amount of dollar cash in circulation has risen by 42 per cent in the last five years, with a main reason being demand from Europe, according to a top US Federal Reserve official. According to one set of estimates by the Fed in Washington, the share of US currency held abroad has risen from about 56 per cent to nearly 66 per cent in the last five years. It amounts to a $19bn-a-year gift from the rest of the world." Continue reading →

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Swiss court orders stolen East German millions returned

"The ruling, upholding an earlier verdict by a lower court, concerns the transfer into a Swiss bank of 128 million euros from the communist East Germany after the impoverished country's demise in 1990. This transfer by Rudolfine Steindling, a colourful Austrian communist dubbed 'Fini the Red' who died last year, was conducted by a former subsidiary of Bank Austria, itself now part of Italy's UniCredit. In the 1990s Germany, by then reunified, complained that Steindling had no right to the money, which was amassed by East Germany charging fees from Western firms investing there, and that Bank Austria knew this." Continue reading →

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Lucerne orchestra axes concert with Depardieu over tax shopping

"The orchestra in the central Swiss city decided to scrap the May 25th concert over worries that the political waves caused by Depardieu’s tax avoidance activities would overshadow the performance. The film actor, one of the highest paid in France, recently took up official residence in Belgium and obtained Russian nationality to lower his income tax bill. Depardieu was criticized as 'rather pathetic' by French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault last December for his departure to Belgium, which sparked an angry response from the actor, who said he was handing back his French passport." Continue reading →

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Munich football boss’s Swiss account becomes German political football

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday distanced herself from Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, whose Swiss bank account and alleged tax dodge has poured fuel on a heated election-year debate. 'Many people in Germany are now disappointed in Uli Hoeness,' said Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert about the football club chief. The 61-year-old football legend voluntarily disclosed a Swiss bank account in January and was working closely with investigators on a tax evasion probe. At a Bayern Munich press conference, journalists were told that the event would be immediately scrapped if anyone asked about the tax issue." Continue reading →

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Top ten celebrity expats living in Switzerland

"When was the last time you saw packs of photographers door-stepping the Swiss home of a star or politician? The answer is probably never. Welcome to Switzerland – the land where the rich and famous can walk down a busy street without anyone so much as batting an eyelid. Here, even the very notion of celebrity seems foreign. It’s no surprise, then, that increasing numbers of global celebrities are choosing the Swiss mountains over the Hollywood hills. Of course, camera shyness isn’t the only reason why celebrities choose to move there. Switzerland's famous tax breaks for rich foreigners have reportedly drawn many a minted magnate in recent years." Continue reading →

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Zurich Mayor Renounces U.S. Citizenship Amid Tighter Tax Rules

"Corine Mauch, 52, a member of the Socialist Party born in Iowa City, Iowa, returned her passport to the U.S. Embassy as she regards Switzerland as her home and doesn’t want to deal with IRS paperwork. 'My relationship with the U.S. is limited to my very early youth,' said Mauch, who retains Swiss citizenship. 'Neither the double taxation or any new directives on the taxation of U.S. citizens outside the U.S. have affected this decision. But I won’t miss the U.S. tax bureaucracy either.' The U.S. is the only nation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that taxes citizens wherever they reside, including an estimated six million expatriates." Continue reading →

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Tina Turner claims Swiss citizenship

"Tina Turner, the US-born singer famed for hits such as 'Private Dancer' and 'What’s Love Got to Do With It', has become a Swiss citizen, the Swiss newspaper Blick reported. The 73-year-old retired entertainer, who has lived in Switzerland for nearly two decades, received her red Swiss passport with its distinctive white cross on it on Monday, the publication said. Swiss media reported in January that Turner was to hand in her US passport when she got her Swiss one. She was quoted as saying that 'I cannot imagine a better place to live' than in the European Alpine state, where privacy laws are strictly enforced." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTina Turner claims Swiss citizenship