France's Total fined 750,000 euros for graft in UN's Iraq aid program

A French court has fined energy giant Total for using cash from the UN's "oil for food" program in Iraq between 1996 and 2003 to bribe Iraqi officials. The company was initially cleared of all charges in 2013.

Deutsche Welle, 27 February 2016

A Paris court on Friday convicted Total of bribing Iraqi officials and knowingly paying too much for oil in order to sign contracts with the Iraqi government between 1996 and 2003.

Total's lawyer, Jean Veil, said he was "disappointed" by the 750,000-euro fine ($824,000), the maximum possible amount at the time of the scandal.

French international radio RFI tweeted the news.

Frech oil giant Total fined over Iraq 'oil-for-food' https://t.co/tbGz0fzboo

— RFI English (@RFI_English) February 26, 2016

French judges also ordered Swiss oil company Vitol to pay 300,000 euros ($330,000). The company had already paid $17.5 million in 2007 following an agreement with the District Attorney of New York. France's former UN ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee and former diplomat Serge Boidevai were fined 50,000 and 75,000 euros respectively.

Appeals against 14 corporations, including Renault Trucks, Legrand, and Schneider Electric would be heard by the end of 2016, AFP news agency reported.

The 'oil for food' scandal

Saddam Hussein was hanged in December
2006 after being captured by US forces

The cases of corruption occurred between 1996 and 2003 when Iraq was facing international sanctions for marching into Kuwait. The UN subsequently launched an "oil for food" program, which allowed former leader Saddam Hussein's government to sell limited quantities of crude oil to foreign countries in exchange of humanitarian supplies.

However, the government allegedly sold more oil secretly and also forced companies to pay a 10 percent surcharge as "transport costs." Around 2,200 companies from 66 countries were involved in the scandal, according to a UN report.

In 2005, an enquiry by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker alleged that the companies involved in the UN aid arrangement had paid over $1.8 billion in kickbacks to win supply deals from the government. 180 of the firms were French.

The companies had initially been charged of corruption in 2005, but a French court acquitted all suspects in 2013, saying proof against them was insufficient.

The UN Secretary General at the time, Kofi Annan, was also drawn into the scandal after investigators found that his son Kojo worked at Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a large contract in the "oil for food" program.

mg/jr (AFP)

Swiss bank UBS charged with 'serious' fiscal fraud in Belgium

Yahoo – AFP, 26 February 2016

UBS is in trouble for allegedly encouraging clients to cheat on their taxes and
for involvement in money laundering (AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

Brussels (AFP) - Belgium on Friday charged Swiss banking giant UBS with "serious and organised" fiscal fraud for encouraging clients to cheat on their taxes, as well as being involved in money laundering.

UBS is also under investigation in the US and France accused of using Switzerland's banking secrecy laws to help rich clients avoid tax in their home countries.

"The Swiss bank is suspected of having approached Belgian clients directly (without going through its Belgian unit) with the aim of getting them to sign up to tax evasion products," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

It said the charge sheet covered criminal activity involving "money laundering, illegally acting as a financial intermediary in Belgium, and serious and organised fiscal fraud."

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said there was no deadline to close the case, and a judge would decide to hold a trial or not.

The charges followed "excellent cooperation" with the French authorities, the statement said, adding that no further details would be released for the moment.

UBS told AFP in an email that it would "continue with its vigorous defense against unfounded allegations."

In 2014, the head of the UBS subsidiary in Belgium, Marcel Bruehwiler, a Swiss national, was also indicted for money laundering and tax fraud.

At the time, Belgian officials spoke of billions of euros (dollars) deposited in secret bank accounts in Switzerland on behalf of rich Belgians.

Last week, French judges completed an investigation into allegations that UBS and its local unit had encouraged clients to open accounts in Switzerland so as to avoid the taxes during the period 2004-12.

UBS has been embroiled in a whole series of similar cases, most notably in the United States where the authorities said the bank allowed US customers to conceal their assets and income from the taxman.

Related Article:

UBS Whistle-Blower Says Bank Has ‘Global’ Issue With Tax Evaders

Amsterdam remembers WWII strike to support the Jews

DutchNews, February 25, 2016

Photo: P.H. Louw at nl.wikipedia

Amsterdam is marking the 75th anniversary of the mass strike in the city triggered by the detention of 427 Jewish men during World War II. 

Trams, buses and the metro stopped for one minute at 11am and passengers heard a recorded message from mayor Eberhard van der Laan about the February strike of 1941. The strike is considered to be the only mass protest against the Nazi round-up of the Jews. 

King Willem-Alexander will attend a memorial ceremony at the Dockworker statue in Amsterdam at 4pm, which will be broadcast live on television. 

10 key facts about the February strike 

Jeb Bush ends White House bid

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, With Stephanie Griffith in Washington, 21 February 2016

Jeb Bush speaks at a town hall meeting in Beaufort, South Carolina, on 

February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

Columbia (United States) (AFP) - In the end, a famous name, political pedigree and deep-pocketed donors were not enough to rescue the lackluster presidential campaign of Jeb Bush.

Bush withdrew from the presidential race Saturday after another humiliating primary defeat, this time in South Carolina.

"Tonight, I am suspending my campaign," an emotional Bush, who at times appeared on the verge of tears, said after the disappointing result.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush started
his campaign as the odds-on favorite to 
win the Republican presidential nomination 
(AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

"I'm proud of the campaign that we have run to unify our country."

The former Florida governor -- son of one president and brother of another -- started his campaign as the odds-on favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, backed by a prodigious political brain trust and millions of dollars in donations from private and corporate supporters.

Although the 62-year-old Bush led some opinion some polls very early in the campaign, his support had dwindled by Saturday to single digits nationally, and his White House aspirations were on life support.

The coup de grace came after he earned less than eight percent of the vote in the primary in South Carolina, a state where his family had always made strong primary showings.

Donald Trump was the big winner in South Carolina -- a particularly bitter pill to swallow for Bush, who throughout the campaign was bullied and demeaned by the billionaire businessman.

Bush's campaign logo sported a jaunty exclamation mark after his first name -- Jeb! -- a jarring juxtaposition to the candidate himself, who came across as plodding and unexciting.

Bush and his Right to Rise super PAC -- vastly outraised his competitors, garnering some $118 million but the money -- largely spent on television ads -- failed to help generate excitement about his campaign.

A super PAC is an independent body that can raise unlimited amounts of money to support a candidate, but cannot coordinate their efforts with the party or candidate, or make direct campaign contributions.

'Low energy'

Bush was mercilessly pilloried by Trump, who lampooned him as "low energy" and lacking the requisite resolve and the fire-in-the-belly to lead the nation -- a catchphrase that stuck in the popular imagination.

In recent weeks, Jeb's famous mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, went out on the campaign trail for him, as did his brother, two-term former president George W. Bush.

At debates Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush seemed tongue-tied; on the 

campaign trail, he was flat-footed and seemed tepid and at times even testy as he 

traveled the country (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Trump only intensified his barbs, lampooning Bush as a mama's boy dependent on riding his family coattails for his past success.

George W. Bush had consoling words after his brother's humbling exit from the race for the White House.

"Tonight I talked to my brother and congratulated him on his campaign for the presidency. I told Jeb how proud I am of him and his staff for running a campaign that looked to the future, presented serious policy proposals, and elevated the tone of the race," he said in a statement.

For some, the prospect of yet another Bush presidency -- particularly when weighed against the possibility that Hillary Clinton, the wife of a former president, could become the Democratic nominee -- was more than some voters were willing to stomach.

At debates, Bush seemed tongue-tied; on the campaign trail, he was flat-footed. He had promised to campaign "joyfully," but seemed tepid and at times even testy as he traveled the country.

Some experts said however that the genteel, patrician, soft-spoken Bush simply failed to connect with the spirit of the times and an irascible electorate -- especially with white, lower middle class voters disgruntled after seven years under Democratic President Barack Obama.

As his campaign foundered in recent weeks, it became increasingly clear that Bush would not follow his father and brother in the White House, after Trump and Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio vaulted him in the polls.

He failed to get a coveted endorsement from the popular governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, who instead backed his former protege Rubio.

Rubio, a first-term senator from Florida, was in second place over Cruz in South Carolina and behind Trump. Bush, the mentor, finished in an unimpressive fourth place.

Trump supreme as White House race rolls on https://t.co/sBtPuJfSis #USvoteAFP pic.twitter.com/bob6l7dyau

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 21, 2016

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These donors lost the most money on Jeb Bush - New
The most awkward moments from Jeb Bush’s failed presidential campaign


"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

The Unthinkable… Politics, A Review

Humans will begin to search for integrity and fairness and it's going to happen in the places you never expect. I said this last week, so this is a review. There'll come a time when you will demand this of your politics - fairness and integrity. So when the candidates start calling each other names, you will turn your back on them and they won't get any votes. They're going to get the point real fast, don't you think? How about that?

Let me give you another potential. This country that I sit in right now [USA] will set the mold for that particular attribute. I have no clock. Watch for the youngsters to set this in motion, and they will, for they are the voters of tomorrow and they do not want the energy of today. To some of them, it's so abominable they won't even register to vote in this energy. You're going to see this soon. That was number five.. ..."

"You Don’t Know How the Frog Jumps"–  Jan11, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version) - New

“…  Last week, I gave you a message about the potentials of 2011. And there were those in this room who attended. I'm going to repeat something I said there, for you need to hear it and it has to do with politics. It would seem intuitive to every single Human Being in the room that in order to accomplish what you do as Americans in Congress, you must have at least two parties. For that is the way it has always been - the red and the blue.

What if I told you that there will come a time when there will be no parties? You might then say, "Well, that's impossible, Kryon, because you're not Human and you don't know how funding works." You might say, "It has to be a party that creates the power to raise money for the ones who cannot, and then the funding is spread around and this is the way we work. If you didn't have parties, you'd have no funding. Nobody could advertise, and no one could get elected."

Oh, really?

Are you aware right now, that you have a president who was elected on the Internet? He figured it out. When everybody can talk to everyone, you have plenty of funding. A few dollars here, a few dollars there. You talk to millions at the same time, they talk to millions at the same time. It's a new paradigm of communication. The young people know all about it, and you can't stop it. Watch for more from this new paradigm.

It is worldwide communication, one person at a time. It doesn't matter how many laws you pass, and it doesn't matter what you decide about who is in charge of it, you can't stop it. It's out of the bag now, and the communities of the young are going to be communicating. This is how the politicians are going to be communicating to you, literally coming into your home in a holographic form perhaps, explaining their position one by one, without a party. Then you will elect them to your Congress without a party and they will sit in the chairs without a division and there will be no such thing as the "other side of the aisle."

And that, Human Being, is called unity and there is a paradigm that you cannot even imagine. And it's in the works. And then you'll have a Congress that works together and gets things done without the current duality.  ….”

Dutch agree $397m settlement with VimpelCom over corruption

DutchNews, February 19, 2016

Amsterdam-based telecoms company VimpelCom has agreed to pay $835m to settle Dutch and US charges that it paid huge bribes to enter the Uzbekistan telecommunications market. 

The Russian-owned company is based in Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district and the deal is thought to be the biggest ever struck by the Dutch prosecution department. The payment to the Dutch authorities amounts to $397m. 

In total, VimpelCom paid over $114m in bribes to government officials, the public prosecution department said in a statement. The bribes were paid to enter the Uzbek telecom market in 2006 and in connection with obtaining telecommunication licenses for 3G and LTE frequencies. 

Corruption

‘Vimpelcom benefits from the favorable business climate in The Netherlands. The company must adhere to Dutch laws and regulations, also when trading abroad,’ the department said. 

In addition, the department is conducting a criminal investigation into several individuals, one of whom has Dutch nationality. He was arrested in November and taken into custody, the department said, but released no further details. 

More on this

Nike axes Pacquiao over gay slurs - official

Yahoo – AFP, 17 February 2016

Philippine boxing icon Manny Pacquiao (C) works out with fellow boxers during a 

training session at a sports complex in General Santos on the southern Philippine

island of Mindanao on February 16, 2016 (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

US sports equipment giant Nike on Wednesday axed Manny Pacquiao after he described gay couples as "worse than animals", slamming the Filipino boxer's remarks as "abhorrent."

A Nike statement said the company had severed its ties with Pacquiao, who triggered a firestorm of controversy with his comments to a Filipino broadcaster earlier this week.

"We find Manny Pacquiao's comments abhorrent," a Nike statement said.

"Nike strongly opposes discrimination of any kind and has a long history of supporting and standing up for the rights of the LGBT community... we no longer have a relationship with Manny Pacquiao."

Devout Christian Pacquiao, 37, had issued an apology soon after the controversy erupted.

"I'm sorry for comparing homosexuals to animals. Please forgive me for those I've hurt," Pacquiao said in a video post on Instagram, his arms crossed.

Pacquiao, who is running for a seat in his country's Senate, said he was not condemning homosexuals but was standing by his conservative Christian faith.

"I love you all with the love of the Lord. I am praying for you."

Pacquiao told television station TV5 earlier this week: "It's common sense. Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female."

Boxer Manny Pacquiao appears on stage and points to his NIKE shoes during the 

official weigh-in for his bout against Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand 

Garden Arena November 11, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada (AFP Photo/Ethan Miller)

"If men mate with men and women mate with women, they are worse than animals."

Pacquiao's comments were greeted with revulsion in the United States, where same-sex marriage is enshrined in law following a historic Supreme Court ruling.

Jason Collins, the first openly gay athlete in the NBA, dismissed Pacquiao as "bigoted."

"I lost all respect for you," Collins wrote on Twitter. "Bigoted people like you (& yes you are one) should never hold an office in politics."

Pacquiao's long-time rival Floyd Mayweather -- who outclassed the Filipino in their money-spinning mega-fight last year -- also took aim at the remarks.

"We should let people live their lives the way they want to live their lives. To each his own," Mayweather was quoted by TMZ Sports as saying.

Gay marriage is outlawed in the Philippines due to strong opposition from the Catholic Church and 80 percent of the country's 100 million people subscribe to the faith.

Gay marriages are officiated at small churches but are not recognised by the mainstream church or the state.

Pacquiao's remarks angered some of his compatriots, with the country's most popular gay comedian, Vice Ganda, urging his 6.7 million Twitter followers to "#PrayForMannyPacquiao".

"Some people think they can judge people, like God, just because they've attended a prayer meeting and read the Bible," he said.

Singer Aiza Seguerra, who recently married her actress-girlfriend, called on Filipino voters to boycott Pacquiao, who is also preparing for his last boxing fight in April, calling him an "ignorant, bigoted hypocrite".

"You might have done our country proud but with your statement, you just showed the whole country why we shouldn't vote for you," Seguerra said in a post on Instagram.

Related Articles:

Philippines' Pacquiao apologises for comparing gays to animals

Pope Francis: Who am I to judge gay people?

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?

Answer: [From the Kryon Office]

There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]

An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306

Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.

Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."

Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!

The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.

Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?

If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

Arrests Reveal Judicial 'Mafia': Anti-Graft Experts

Jakarta Globe, February 15, 2016

The Corruption Eradication Commission headquarters in South Jakarta.
(Antara Photo/Widodo S. Jusuf)

Jakarta. The recent arrest of a Supreme Court official in a sting operation from the antigraft agency has revealed corrupt and mafia practices within the country's judicial system, experts said on Monday (15/02).

Andri Tristianto Sutrisna, the head of the Supreme Court’s subdivision for civil lawsuits, appeals and judicial reviews, was arrested with Rp 400 million (around $30,000) in cash during a late-night sting on Friday.

He allegedly received the bribe as pay off to delay the issuance of a cassation ruling in a graft case involving businessman Ichsan Suaidi.

Ichsan and another four suspects were arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in separate busts on the same day.

Yenti Ganarsih, an expert in money laundering from Trisakti University, said the arrest of the court official reveals the "mafia" practices within the country's judicial system, which has been long running and involving high ranking officials of the Court.

"This practice has long been suspected. The decades-old Criminal Code Procedures Law, if its history is carefully reviewed, organizes kinds of bribery for the judges or the Court apparatus by the lawyers," Yenti said.

In 2013, Supreme Court clerk Djodi Supratman was jailed for two years for allegedly accepting Rp 128 million  in bribes from a lawyer in connection with an appeal being heard by the court.

The judicial process mafia is a latent risk and threatens trust in the Courts, Yenti said, adding that it is still difficult to eradicate corrupt practices.

The case should be studied by lawmakers currently fight for amendments to laws governing the anti-graft agency, Yenti said. The revisions are widely believed to weaken the authority of the KPK.

Lawmakers have proposed four revisions which would alter the scope of the KPK powers in the following areas: methods of conducting investigations, wiretapping, recruitment protocols and the establishment of a supervisory body to monitor the KPK.

Aradila Caesar, a researcher at the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), said the bust shows poor supervision and monitoring of the Supreme Court  — despite the institution already having an internal supervisory body.

He said the Supreme Court has opposed proper supervisions to the body by other parties, such as the Judicial Commission. On Oct. 7, Supreme Court won a judicial review at the Constitutional Court to annul Judicial Commission's roles in judges recruitment, letting the body to be fully authoritative in selecting the country's highest justices.

“The Supreme Court is resistant to supervisions [from other parties],”Aradila said.

Related Article:

Former Minister Jero Gets Four Years for Embezzlement

Meryl Streep blasts white male studio bosses over diversity

Yahoo – AFP, Deborah Cole, 14 February 2016

US actress Meryl Streep is president of the jury at this year's Berlinale film
festival (AFP Photo/John MacDougall)

Berlin (AFP) - Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep told young actors at the Berlin film festival Sunday that Hollywood would never resolve the diversity row until studio boardrooms became less white and male.

Giving a masterclass for 300 budding actors from around the world at the cinema showcase, where Streep is serving as jury president, the most acclaimed US film actress of her generation was asked whether sexism and racism in show business had waned over her four-decade career.

"I think it's moving in a very positive direction. I think you have to make noise to have room at the table, for people to move aside and let you pull your chair up to the conversation," she said.

"But in our industry it will always depend on diversity in the boardroom. So all the talk about the lower levels of endeavour -- if the decisions are only made by one group of people whose tastes will decide which kinds of films are made, then only certain kinds of films will be made."

Streep lamented that it was hard to get "40 to 50-year-old white males to be interested in stories about their first wives or their mothers".

"They don't feel invested in this journey and yet younger men are and that's good," she said.

The movie industry is embroiled in a bitter debate about unequal pay between the sexes and a shut-out for non-white actors in the main acting nominations for this month's Academy Awards, for a second year in a row.

'Hags and witches'

Streep, 66, landed in hot water on the opening day of the Berlin festival when she was asked whether she felt qualified to judge Middle Eastern films and responded by emphasising human beings' common origins.

"I've played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures and the thing that I notice is that there is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture," she said.

"And after all we're all from Africa originally. You know, we're all Berliners, we're all Africans really."

Critics using a #wereallafricans hashtag on Twitter called the comment tone-deaf, while others defended her as trying to call for greater inclusion.

Streep said Sunday she had been surprised by her career's longevity, expecting sexism to thwart her much earlier on.

"I always thought my career was over starting at 38 years of age," Streep said.

"In those days I had no reason to think that I would work past 40. You could work to 40 and then you start playing hags and witches," she said.

"That's one reason I didn't play a witch until 'Into the Woods' (in 2014) -- and I had been offered many. It's that trough that women fall into when they're no longer fertile..."

Streep advised the acting students not to become too attached to their sex appeal if they hoped to go the distance.

"You can't have a long career and play a lot of different kinds of characters of all different ages and maintain your magazine cover vanity," she said.

"It's stupid and it's superficial and it's unartistic and who cares?" she said to cheers from the young audience.

Rather die than direct

Asked if she would follow the long trail of acting colleagues from Clint Eastwood to Angelina Jolie into directing, Streep quipped: "Some of my directors would say that I already have," referring to her own hands-on style on set.

"But no, I think it's two different muscles," she said.

"I'm not that quick on my feet to be able to walk around and choose a lens and then," she said, striking a pose.

"It is also a, to me, much more boring job. I don't care where they put the toilets, I'm an actress. I don't have to put on a puffy jacket at four in the morning and location scout. I'd rather die."

Streep joked that her late friend Mike Nichols, who directed her in several films including "Postcards from the Edge" and "Silkwood", used to "drill" her about how other filmmakers worked.

"I told him it's like asking about the other boyfriends, 'Does he do it better than I do?'," she said.

"They are all different. It's the most interesting thing about having a long career, seeing how many different ways there are to get a good result."

German authorities shut down Canada's Maple Bank

Germany's financial watchdog has closed down the German subsidiary of a Canadian bank. The company has been accused of tax evasion and money laundering.

Deutsche Welle, 7 February 2016

The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) said Sunday it was shutting down the German arm of Maple Bank, which is part of Canada's Maple Financial Group.

BaFin, which is headed by Felix Hufeld (pictured), accused the Frankfurt-based lender of tax evasion and money laundering, saying the company will have to set aside funds to cover tax payments.

A small lender, Maple Bank has total net assets of just $5.6 billion (5 billion euros) and liabilities of $2.9 billion, and is therefore at risk of "impending financial over-indebtedness." Authorities are closing the bank to customers and preventing the bank from taking payments not related to its debt.

No threat to Germany's stability

The watchdog said its closure poses no threat to Germany's financial stability.

Maple Bank is best known in Germany for having assisted carmaker Porsche in its attempt to take over German auto manufacturer Volkswagen in 2008.

German authorities launched the tax probe in September.

blc/sms (AP, AFP)

Assange hails 'victory' from embassy balcony after UN panel ruling

Yahoo – AFP, Jacques Klopp, February 5, 2016

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addresses the media holding a printed report 

of the judgement of the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on his case

 from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in central London on February 5, 

2016 (AFP Photo/Niklas Halle'n)

London (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday urged Britain to let him walk free from Ecuador's London embassy after a UN panel found that the anti-secrecy campaigner who faces a rape allegation in Sweden was "arbitrarily detained."

Speaking to a handful of supporters and a media scrum in a rare appearance from the balcony of the embassy where he took refuge nearly four years ago, Assange hailed a "victory of historical importance".

"How sweet it is! This is a victory that cannot be denied," he proclaimed, waving a hard copy of the legal opinion and often seeming emotional.

Assange has refused to go to Sweden for questioning fearing deportation to the US over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A look back at the key dates in the life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

(AFP Photo/Kun Tian, Thomas Saint-Cricq)

Earlier, the 44-year-old Australian told journalists via video link that it was "now the task of the states of Sweden and the United Kingdom as a whole to implement the verdict".

The UN panel said Assange's detention should end and that he should be able to claim compensation from Britain and Sweden.

But both countries quickly dismissed the non-binding legal opinion, with Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond calling it "ridiculous".

Assange walked into the embassy in June 2012 to avoid the threat of arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he still faces a rape allegation.

He has lived there ever since in a small office room with a bed, computer, sun lamp, treadmill and access to a small balcony decorated with Ecuador's flag.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo 

Patino speaks during a press conference

 in Quito on February 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Rodrigo Buendia)

In a statement, the panel said it had adopted an opinion that considered Assange "arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

It added: "The working group also considered that the detention should be brought to an end and that Mr Assange should be afforded the right to compensation."

Fears of imprisonment

Britain and Sweden sharply condemned the panel's findings and said they would change nothing.

Hammond called Assange "a fugitive from justice."

"This is frankly a ridiculous finding by the working group and we reject it," the foreign secretary added.

Sweden's foreign ministry said that it "does not agree" with the assessment.

"Mr Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point and Swedish authorities have no control over his decision to stay at the embassy," the ministry added.

Only three of the five members of the UN panel supported the opinion -- one recused herself because she is Australian, like Assange, and another member disagreed.

British designer Vivienne Westwood displays a British passport after arriving to visit

 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in central London, on

February 4, 2016 (AFP Photo/Chris Ratcliffe)

Christophe Peschoux, the working group's secretary, said at a briefing in Geneva that Britain and Sweden had two months to submit new information to force a review, and Britain says it will contest the opinion.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said it was "time for both governments... to allow Julian Assange his freedom."

Swedish authorities want to speak to Assange about a rape allegation whose statute of limitations does not expire until 2020.

Elizabeth Fritz, the lawyer for the woman who has accused Assange, criticised the panel's comments.

"That a man who is wanted on an arrest warrant for rape should be awarded compensation for intentionally hiding from the judicial system for more than five years is offensive to my client," she said.

Swedish judicial authorities said last month that Ecuador had refused its request to let a Swedish prosecutor question Assange because Quito wanted an Ecuadorean prosecutor to do the questioning.

British Foreign Secretary Philip

Hammond described the UN panels'

decision on Wikileaks founder Julian 

Assange as "ridiculous" as he 

met journalists in London, on 

February 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Niklas Halle'n)

'Publicity stunt'

Assange fears that if he went to Sweden for questioning, he could then be sent to the US and face prison. 

WikiLeaks' activities -- including the release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- have infuriated the US.

The main source of the leaks, US Army soldier Chelsea Manning, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for breaches of the Espionage Act.

A hero to supporters and a dangerous egocentric to detractors, the computer programmer and hacker, whose celebrity fans include fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and singer Lady Gaga, founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and has been portrayed in two movies in recent years.

Britain spent over £10 million (12 million euros, $15 million) maintaining a 24-hour guard outside the embassy to immediately arrest Assange if he set foot on British soil, but withdrew it last year.

The Assange case has polarised opinion in Britain and there were many criticisms of his conduct Friday.

The Guardian newspaper, which has in the past worked with WikiLeaks to publish secret documents, used an editorial to condemn the latest developments as "a publicity stunt."

Julian #Assange should be able to walk free and claim compensation, UN panel says: https://t.co/3K7c4d7XKF pic.twitter.com/9WcaQsz7lw

— AFP London (@afplondon) February 5, 2016

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