IRS cracks down on tax evasion schemes

IRS cracks downon tax evasion schemes
NEW YORK -- Hundreds of Internal Revenue Service investigators have raided several suspected promoters of tax evasion schemes in what the agency calls its most extensive crackdown ever, The New York Times reported today.
The IRS, in pursuit of promoters who used foreign banks and trusts to help people hide their income, sent 300 of its 2,700 criminal tax investigators to make four arrests and conduct more than three dozen searches last week, the newspaper said.
"Last week's historic enforcement activities send an unmistakable signal about IRS commitment to pursue investigations of promoters and their clients who would try to move money offshore to evade taxes," IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti told the Times.
The four arrested were affiliated with Anderson's Ark, a company that sells what the agency calls sham trusts for tax evaders. Two men were charged with tax evasion and money laundering; the others were charged as accessories.
Agency cites libraryfor safety violations
WASHINGTON -- Congressional safety officials predict the Library of Congress will not be able to fix all fire safety violations that threaten some of the nation's priceless historical treasures for another two years, despite new citations ordering the problems corrected and the building brought up to modern standards.
Congress' health and safety agency, the Office of Compliance, issued seven citations Monday, pointing to "an undue danger to the lives and safety of occupants" of the three Library buildings, especially the domed, 103-year-old Jefferson Building.
The citations listed fire dangers in book stacks, stairwells, book conveyor systems, electrical switch boxes, rare book areas and the storage space for 30,000 audio recordings of the early 1900s treated with a potentially explosive chemical.
Exercising brain aidsagainst Alzheimer's
WASHINGTON -- Adults with hobbies that exercise their brains -- such as reading, jigsaw puzzles or chess -- are 2 1/2 times less likely to have Alzheimer's disease, while leisure limited to TV watching may increase the risk, a study says.
A survey of people in their 70s showed that those who regularly participated in hobbies that were intellectually challenging during their younger adult years tended to be protected from Alzheimer's disease. The finding supports other studies showing that brain power unused is brain power lost.
The study is also more bad news for the couch potato, said Dr. Robert P. Friedland, first author of the research appearing today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Television watching is not protective and may even be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease," said Friedland, an associate professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and member of the medical staff at University Hospitals of Cleveland.
More defense spending
BEIJING -- China announced plans today to raise defense spending by 17.7 percent this year, in part to fuel its drive to catch up with Western militaries' high technology, citing "drastic" changes in the world military situation.
Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng said a large share of the $17.07 billion military budget -- which analysts say represents only a portion of total defense spending -- would go to higher salaries and to improving weapons technology.
Xiang told delegates to the national legislature in its annual session that the increase -- much higher than the 12.7 percent increase in 2000 -- was needed "to adapt to drastic changes in the military situation of the world and prepare for defense and combat given the conditions of modern technology, especially high technology."
Pilgrims continue ritual
MINA, Saudi Arabia -- Nearly 2 million pilgrims threw pebbles at pillars in a symbolic stoning of the devil today at a site where a day earlier 35 Muslims performing the ritual were crushed and trampled to death.
The tragedy during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, was the main topic of discussion among participants today, with many blaming overzealous pilgrims as well as bad organization.
Today, crowds of pilgrims moved patiently along the giant ramps surrounding the three stone pillars symbolizing the devil at which the faithful cast seven pebbles.
Pilgrims who had completed the ritual changed from their traditional hajj garbs -- seamless white robes for men and modest head-to-toe costumes for women -- and put on their usual clothes, their heads shaved in the tradition for those finishing the pilgrimage.
Associated Press