HIGH INTEREST IN MONACO BANKS
Outside of the EU and free of its restraints, Europe’s top two tax havens - Monaco and Andorra - are seeing an influx of funds to their banks, despite governments worldwide actively trying to stop their citizens using tax havens to bank their money. The financial industry in Monaco is attracting money from wealthy individuals seeking a degree of privacy, and keeping their assets away from the clutches of their governments at record levels with most of the money coming from the Middle East and Europe. While the banks will not disclose the volume of money they have attracted recently, some industry analysts estimate it could be as much as 20 billion Euros over the last eighteen months, with 70 billion in total managed assets overall.

BAHRAIN MAY BAR FOREIGNERS FROM BUYING RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY
Bahrain may soon ban non-Bahrainis, including GCC nationals, from owning residential properties in the kingdom. The Bahraini Parliament is mulling a law for the purpose, Abduljalil Khalil, head of the Parliament’s Financial Affairs Committee said. The move aims to check the “unreasonable hike” in real estate prices in Bahrain. Khalil said the committee would shortly approve a draft law imposing restrictions on non-Bahrainis’ trading activities in real estate.

ANTIGUA FAILS TO IMPOSE $3-BILLION GAMBLING FINE ON US: WTO
The tiny Caribbean island of Antigua failed Friday in its bid to impose $3.44 billion (€2.4 billion) in fines on the United States in an Internet gambling dispute. The World Trade Organisation, to which the country took its complaint, instead ruled that Antigua could fine the US just $21 million because Washington had not complied with a ruling to open its borders to online gambling.

LATVIA SET TO RETURN OLD COALITION TO POWER
Latvia’s parliament is set to vote the previous four-party, centre-right coalition back into power on Thursday after a key opposition party declined to join, officials said. President Valdis Zatlers asked veteran politician Ivars Godmanis to form a new government after the old coalition quit following protests over its attempt to sack the anti-corruption bureau’s head and the resignation of several ministers.

SCHENGEN ZONE GROWS TO 24 STATES
According to APA, 9 more European countries have joined the Schengen agreement which enables passport-free travel between European countries and the number of the states reached to 24. A Schengen visa enables non-EU citizens to visit all states part of the accord after being granted permission to travel by any country.

SWITZERLAND GIVES E1.8M TO MALTA FOLLOWING SWISS ACCESS TO EU MARKET
Switzerland has given Malta e1.8 million in a bilateral agreement which implements Switzerland’s undertaking to provide cohesion funds to the new member states of the EU following its access to the EU internal market. The individual bilateral agreements by Switzerland with the 10 EU member states which joined in 2004 follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Switzerland and the Council of the European Union in February 2006. This MoU contained the overall conditions and modalities agreed between Switzerland and the EU for a financial contribution by Switzerland as a compensatory measure to the latter’s participation in the economic and social dimensions of the EU internal market.

OFFSHORE FINANCIAL SERVICES PUT MILLIONS INTO NIA’S COFFERS
The Offshore Financial Services sector in Nevis continued to do well and Premier of Nevis and Minister with responsibility for Finance Joseph Parry, said the industry had raked in $11million into the coffers of the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) for 2007, as of 28 Nov. It represented a nine per cent increase for the corresponding period in 2006.

MICROSOFT, GOOGLE, YAHOO PAY PENALTIES
Three of the largest Internet companies have agreed to pay millions in fines, cooperate with investigators and stop accepting ads for online gambling, the U.S. attorney’s office here announced Wednesday. Microsoft, Google and Yahoo neither admitted nor denied federal prosecutors’ claims that as much as a decade of their advertising aided and abetted the crime of online gambling. But as part of the $31.5 million settlement, they have agreed to stop running online gambling ads and also agreed not to publicly contradict the allegations.

IRS UNVEILS WHISTLEBLOWER PROCEDURES
The Internal Revenue Service has outlined new procedures under which informants could report violations of tax laws and possibly claim rewards based on the amount of additional tax, penalties and interest owed. Under the new procedures, the amount of the award will be at least 15 percent, but no more than 30 percent, of the collected proceeds. The awards would be in cases in which the IRS determines that the information submitted by the informant substantially contributed to the collection of tax. The award percentage may be reduced in some circumstances, which are described in IRS guidance.

A LOOK AT KEY POLICIES OF SOUTH KOREA’S PRESIDENT-ELECT
Lee calls for a 10 percent cut in special excise tax on fuel to relieve the public from the burden of soaring oil prices. He also pledges to cut taxes on real estate by overhauling the incumbent government’s housing policy that has used higher taxes to curb soaring apartment prices.

CLINTON FUNDS TIED TO CAYMAN
Securities and Exchange Commission documents and financial disclosure forms filed by Hillary Clinton show that Bill Clinton, 61, has a financial stake in three investment entities registered in the Cayman Islands by California billionaire Ron Burkle‘s Yucaipa Cos. LLC.

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