The EU claims that there is a link between tax evasion and global poverty. However, the EU continues to lend money to banks who participate in tax haven schemes.

From the IPS, writer David Cronin explores this contradiction.

The Internal Revenue Service is staging a massive poker game.

Former South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, grilled by prosecutors last month in a bribery investigation, died after leaping from a mountaintop, leaving what appeared to be a suicide note to his family.

Roh, 62, jumped from the 30-meter (100-foot) Owl Rock atop Mount Bonghwa during an early morning hike yesterday, and was pronounced dead at Pusan National University Hospital, Lee Woon Woo, chief of South Gyeongsang Police, said at a televised briefing.

Roh, who boasted his 2003-2008 administration was South Korea’s cleanest, last month became the third president to be questioned in bribery probes, after writing on a Web site that his wife, Kwon Yang Suk, received money to pay family debts from a businessman later charged with tax evasion and insider trading.

“This is an overwhelming shock for the public,” said Kim Meen Geon, professor of politics at Kyunghee University.

GENEVA – Switzerland’s days as a safe haven for the world’s tax evaders are numbered.

Under pressure from the United States and other troubled economies, the Swiss government announced Friday that it will cooperate in international tax investigations, breaking with a long-standing tradition of protecting wealthy foreigners accused of hiding billions of dollars.

Angel Gerri

The global economic slowdown will hit the poorest nations hardest. Demand for their exports is falling.