Wednesday, November 18, 2009
IRS: 14,700 disclose offshore bank accounts
MIAMI — More than 14,700 U.S. taxpayers came forward to disclose billions in offshore bank accounts in 70 countries under a voluntary Internal Revenue Service program allowing most to avoid criminal prosecution as long as they pay what they owe, IRS officials said Tuesday.
A flood of people came forward in the last days before the amnesty program expired Oct. 15, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. The final total far surpasses the number who disclose offshore accounts in a typical year — about 100 — and comes amid a broad U.S. crackdown on international tax evasion at Swiss bank UBS AG and other institutions.
The total in taxes, interest and penalties collected from those in the voluntary disclosure program will be in the “billions of dollars,” Shulman said.
Twins recovering after separation surgery
MELBOURNE, Australia — Formerly conjoined Bangladeshi twins spent their first night in separate beds and were in serious but stable condition today after a marathon surgery to separate the toddlers, who were joined at their heads.
Trishna and Krishna, who turn 3 next month, shared a skull, blood vessels and brain tissue. They were separated Tuesday after 25 hours of delicate surgery and reconstruction by a team of 16 surgeons and nurses.
It is too early to know whether the girls suffered any brain damage during the marathon operation — an outcome doctors said was a 50-50 chance.
US sharply criticizes Israeli building plans
JERUSALEM — Israel moved Tuesday to approve a plan to build 900 more housing units in a Jewish neighborhood in the part of Jerusalem claimed by Palestinians, drawing harsh criticism from the United States.
The Jerusalem district planning commission officially deposited the plan, opening it to comments, objections and appeals from the public. Jerusalem city spokesman Gidi Schmerling said final approval was “many months” away.
A statement from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs criticized unilateral steps by Israel “that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations” and said the issue of Jerusalem “must be resolved through negotiations between the parties.”
Debate over cause of death of Chicago school official
CHICAGO — Divers returned to the Chicago River and investigators scoured cell phone records Tuesday as police declined to call the death of the city’s school board president a suicide a day after an autopsy concluded he shot himself in the head.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, meanwhile, held a rare press conference to address doubts about its findings in the death of Chicago Board of Education President Michael Scott, whose body was found near a .380-caliber handgun not far from a riverside loading dock Monday.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Nancy Lynne Jones said her office “felt the police department was taking some unfair potshots.”
Jones said there was nothing to indicate Scott’s death was anything other than a suicide.
Scott, 60, was last seen around 6:30 p.m. Sunday. He was reported missing overnight.
Advance car for Biden’s motorcade in crash
WASHINGTON — The Secret Service says a police advance car working ahead of Vice President Joe Biden’s motorcade was involved in a traffic accident Tuesday evening in New York.
The car wasn’t part of the motorcade, and the vice president was unhurt. New York City police say two police officers and a livery cab driver were hospitalized with minor injuries.
$98B in government waste
WASHINGTON — More than $98 billion in taxpayer dollars spent by government agencies was wasted, much of it on questionable claims for tax credits and Medicare benefits, representing an increase of $26 billion from the previous year.
About 5 percent of spending in federal programs in fiscal year 2009 was improper, according to new details of a government financial report that were released Tuesday. Saying the overall error rate was similar in 2008, officials attributed the $26 billion jump to some changes in how to define improper spending as well as an increase in overall spending due to the recession.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order within the next week aimed at cracking down on government waste and fraud.
Associated Press