GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – US President Barack Obama said Tuesday 29 January that the time has come for a sweeping overhaul of the country’s immigration system, with a bipartisan approach to reform. On Monday a bipartisan commission presented a blueprint for immigration reform. Members of both parties heaped praise on the task force’s achievement, which will [...]
US Congress targeted for law change to end citizenship-based taxation
February 20, 2012 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - A proposal to the US Congress to end the citizenship-based tax system used by the United States was unveiled Monday by a Geneva-based international group, American Citizens Abroad (ACA). The proposal follows a series of meeting between congressional leaders in Washington and Jackie Bugnion, ACA director, with ACA pushing the argument that [...]
US health care bill inches forward with Senate vote
February 3, 2011 by
US Senate Republicans failed Wednesday 2 February in their bid to repeal the healthcare act that was passed in March 2010, as expected, but before the vote the lawmakers passed an amendment to reduce the healthcare plan’s paperwork for companies. The law, a key part of President Obama’s reforms, will provide coverage to 30 million [...]
French Senate passes veil ban
September 15, 2010 by
By 246-1 the French Senate voted 14 September to ban the use in public of veils which cover the entire face. The National Assembly had previously passed the law, which must now be vetted by the Constitutional Council before it becomes law in six months’ time. Offenders face a €150 fine. France has Western Europe’s [...]
US raises questions about former VP Cheney hiding CIA activities
July 13, 2009 by
The number of questions is growing about former US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s orders to the CIA to hide some of their activities from Congress. By law, congressional subcommittees must be informed of covert activities but CIA Director Leon Panetta testified to the Senate and House intelligence committees that he had been directed by Cheney to [...]
US Senate agrees to tone down stimulus package “buy America” words
February 5, 2009 by
The White House has convinced the US Senate to tone down the language of its version of the $900 billion US economic stimulus package following angry outcries from other governments that the “buy America” language would hamper efforts to recover from the global economic crisis and flies in the face of trade agreements. IHT/New York [...]
