news blog from Steffanie

By Jeremy PelofskyWASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The Iranian-American charged with plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat in Washington could claim he was wrongly entrapped by U.S. law enforcement, but if he does, he will likely have a hard time proving it.Manssor Arbabsiar was arrested last month and accused of approaching someone in Mexico he thought could carry out the hit against Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, but that man turned out to be a U.S. law enforcement snitch.The Obama administration has conducted numerous undercover and sting operations leading to arrests of many people seeking to carry out bombing or other attacks on U.S. soil, prompting some questions about the tactics used.No individuals charged in terrorism cases involving undercover operations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks have prevailed using an entrapment defense, said Georgetown University law professor David Cole, a longtime expert on the subject who has challenged terrorism policies in U.S. court.”Entrapment requires the defendant to show that he was not predisposed to commit the crime, so that the crime was instigated by the government rather than by himself,” said Cole.”The more serious the crime, the more difficult it is to imagine that someone would commit it who was not predisposed to commit it,” he said.After several high-profile cases emerged last year, including allegations that a Somali man tried to detonate a bomb at a crowded holiday ceremony in Oregon, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder strongly defended undercover tactics.”These types of operations have proven to be an essential law enforcement tool in uncovering and preventing potential terror attacks,” Holder said in December. In some operations, inert bombs were provided to the accused individuals.He added such tactics “have helped identify and defuse public safety threats such as those posed by potential terrorists, drug dealers and child pornographers for decades.”A U.S. Justice Department official said there are strict guidelines for such investigations and they undergo extensive legal reviews by prosecutors and law enforcement agents. They also typically require approvals by senior officials.BEEFED UP GUIDELINESThe U.S. government beefed up its guidelines and oversight after an embarrassing case in the 1990s involving reputed mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, an FBI informant who continued to carry out his alleged illegal activities including murders.To ensure an individual is not entrapped, undercover agents offer the person chances to back out and typically discuss possible collateral damage, including killing bystanders.In the case of Arbabsiar, the criminal complaint described how he approached an individual in Mexico — who turned out to be a paid U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informant — with a plot to blow up a Saudi Arabian embassy.Arbabsiar also discussed with the informant assassinating the Saudi ambassador, which was the plot they pursued, according to the sworn complaint signed by an FBI agent.While the plot to kill Jubeir never reached the operational stage, the paid informant discussed with Arbabsiar that if they bombed a restaurant the diplomat frequented, potentially 150 others would be killed, including U.S. lawmakers.Arbabsiar dismissed such concerns, stating “no problem” or “no big deal,” according to the criminal complaint. Iran has fiercely denied the allegations of the plot to kill Jubeir.Arbabsiar plans to plead not guilty to the charges, according to his public defender attorney. However, the sworn complaint said that after he was arrested, Arbabsiar admitted he agreed to pay the informant to carry out the assassination.The informant, who was not identified, was paid and narcotics charges against him were dropped in return for his cooperation. He previously provided information that led to drug seizures, authorities have said.Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said such tactics are common, have long been used, and that their “general legality is not, to my knowledge, the subject of serious question.”At the same time, a longtime counterterrorism expert and former Bush administration official, Juan Zarate, noted the Obama administration will “certainly need to present information beyond the four corners of the complaint to convince allies and rivals alike to pressure Iran further.”Another law professor raised a further risk to the case: would Washington have to reveal sources and methods in tracking the alleged plot back to Tehran.”We’re not about to reveal how we penetrate Iran’s clandestine operations,” said Michael Corgan, a Boston University international relations professor. “Our going public with as much as we have is mostly for propaganda purposes.”In other undercover operations, a Jordanian man was arrested in September 2009 for trying to bomb a 60-story Dallas skyscraper. The same day, an Illinois man was arrested in a similar plot and sting case. Both pleaded guilty.The Supreme Court last weighed in on entrapment in 1992, when it overturned the conviction of a Nebraska man for receiving child pornography in the mail after finding that agents improperly excited the man’s interest in the material and exerted substantial pressure on him during their lengthy investigation to obtain and read the material.

By Chris VellacottLONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - British tax authority HMRC is contacting 6,000 holders of accounts with HSBC’s Swiss bank to see if they have declared all income and gains to the taxman, offering a final opportunity to straighten out their affairs.HMRC has already started criminal and serious fraud probes into more than 500 individuals and organisations, it said on Thursday, and will shortly start contacting the rest.”They will be offered a window of opportunity to contact HMRC and disclose all their tax liabilities,” the body said. A source at HMRC said the account holders will have 30 days from being contacted to come forward.Those that do not will be investigated and could incur penalties of up to 200 percent of the tax liability, the source said.HMRC said it was “acting on information received last year under a tax treaty.”The source said the information was obtained through an exchange agreement with French authorities.However, the original source of the data is a haul of up to 24,000 Swiss client accounts stolen from HSBC by a former IT employee, the source said.The details subsequently found their way into the hands of tax authorities around Europe, including the UK.Switzerland’s coveted banking secrecy has come under increasing pressure as tax authorities in the United States, neighbouring European countries and now Britain step up crackdowns on hiding funds abroad.The source at the HMRC said the probe was limited to the individuals, companies and trusts holding accounts and did not extend to an investigation of the bank itself.An HSBC spokeswoman said: “HSBC does not condone tax evasion, and clients are responsible for their own tax affairs.”Earlier this year, the British government made 917 million pounds in new funds available to help fund the pursuit of tax evaders.HMRC’s Permanent Secretary for Tax Dave Hartnett said in a statement the latest move did not constitute a tax amnesty.”There are no special rates of penalty or interest for those who come forward voluntarily. This is an opportunity for those who have made errors in the past to correct them,” he said.Dawn Register, a director in the tax investigations team at London accountancy firm BDO who has advised some of the HSBC clients under scrutiny, said HMRC may be offering a disclosure window because carrying out 6,000 tax investigations would be beyond its means.”From HMRC’s perspective it makes sense… It saves them a lot of work and they get the tax take they are looking for,” she said.Register added a number of her clients with Swiss HSBC accounts have used an existing disclosure agreement designed to bring in money hidden in Liechtenstein to settle their affairs.The Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility runs until the end of March 2015, offering reduced penalties for disclosure of undeclared offshore assets.People with money in Switzerland can use the facility by transferring some of the money to Liechtenstein, unless they are one of the 500 already under investigation by HMRC.In August, Switzerland and the UK struck a deal to tax money kept by British residents in Swiss accounts that could net around 5 billion pounds.

In addition, a previously announced arm of the trial has been modified to an interferon-free 12-week regimen, the company said in a statement.Hepatitis C affects about 300 million people worldwide, causing 8,000-10,000 deaths each year due to chronic liver disease caused by the virus.”The rapid and consistent antiviral effects and high barrier to resistance demonstrated with PSI-7977 to date provided the rationale for additional exploratory regimens in this setting,” the company said.In June, the company had added three arms to the ongoing trial.Princeton, New Jersey-based Pharmasset’s shares were up 5 percent at $84.48 in morning trading on Monday on Nasdaq. Earlier in the session, they touched a high of $87.29.Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX.O), which competes with Pharmasset and Merck & Co (MRK.N) in the multibillion-dollar hepatitis C market, were down 5 percent at$42.05.

The single, featuring Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris, notched up sales of more than 87,000 in just four days.The U.S.-based singer is due to release her sixth studio album next month.American pop band Maroon 5, featuring Christina Aguilera, held steady in second place with “Moves like Jagger.”Spanish DJ Sak Noel, who secured his first British number one single last week with the dance anthem “Loca People,” dropped two places to number three.In the albums chart, James Morrison held onto number one for a second week with “The Awakening.”