LiveOffshore

Retirees wanting a luxury life abroad may find it harder than ever to get what they want, as EU legislation on state benefits starts to bite.

France and Spain particularly are applying EU rules, in place since 2004, to ensure retirees they will not be a burden on the state.

Healthcare is a particular concern, as many nations - including the UK - struggle to cope with the financial burdens of an ageing population.

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Wealthy expats relying on offshore pensions to fund a sunshine lifestyle face a swingeing bill from the UK taxman, writes Paul Burgin

The Revenue is cracking down on flexible expat pension scheme allowances introduced just two years ago.

Those moving their pensions to Singapore to avoid inheritance tax and buying annuities could face a 55 per cent tax bill from the British government – and it could spread to other expat destinations.

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Not too radically, of course. Collobrières, after all, is deep in Provence, a picturesque little place of 1,600 people, with a perfect, tiled village square, commanded by city hall and a café with a table of old men playing cards and drinking pastis, all shaded by huge plane trees from the hot southern sun.

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Russia has widened its media clampdown to the English-language press for the first time after an infamous expatriate newspaper that regularly lampooned the Kremlin was forced to close.

The Exile, a fortnightly newspaper which reveled in its brash reputation for causing outrage and shock in equal measure, said it had taken a decision to cease publication after an unscheduled audit of its editorial content by a government agency.

Representatives of Russia's federal agency for media and communications seized back issues of the newspaper during a raid on its Moscow offices earlier this month.

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Thousands of wealthy Britons are increasingly taking advantage of a tax rule change that allows them to retire abroad with their UK pension savings and live tax-free.

Under new rules Britons who emigrate permanently can transfer their entire retirement savings, which have been subject to tax relief, to a foreign pension plan and not pay a penny in tax.

The money has to be moved to an approved scheme in an approved country for at least five years but after that there is no requirement to pay back the tax relief.

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The British Government has refused to allow an exceedingly dangerous American into Britain.  

Martha Stewart is not being allowed into Britain because of a conviction four years ago.  

Apparently the British government is comfortable with allowing US President Bush into Britain, a man with an astonishingly large number of violations of law and human rights.

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Martha Stewart has been refused a visa to Britain because of her criminal convictions for obstructing justice, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

The lifestyle guru, convicted four years ago in the US for obstructing justice, was planning to speak at the Royal Academy and to hold meetings with several figures in the fashion and leisure industry, including Jasper Conran, and was due to travel within the next few days.

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The European Union's politicians and institutionalized bureaucracy were stunned and affronted at the audacity of the Irish people, who last week unexpectedly bucked their own political establishment by voting against the EU reform treaty.

The deal, which must be approved by all 27 EU members to take effect, was touted as a "streamlining" of the Euro Superstate, with its establishment of a full-scale EU presidency and a powerful foreign ministership. So far, the document has been approved by 18 member nations, including Britain. All of Ireland's major political parties campaigned hard for a "yes" result in the referendum.

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Time reporter Amanda Ripley was in New York when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. Over the next few weeks, she talked to dozens of 9/11 survivors and was entranced by their different responses. Why did one woman coming out of Tower 1 freeze when she saw the bodies of workers who had jumped from above, while the woman next to her walked briskly past them to safety? Why were people terrified of terrorist attacks, when they were more likely to die from accidental falls or car crashes?

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Money is different from all other commodities: other things being equal, more shoes, or more discoveries of oil or copper benefit society, since they help alleviate natural scarcity. But once a commodity is established as a money on the market, no more money at all is needed. Since the only use of money is for exchange and reckoning, more dollars or pounds or marks in circulation cannot confer a social benefit: they will simply dilute the exchange value of every existing dollar or pound or mark. So it is a great boon that gold or silver are scarce and are costly to increase in supply.

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American Presidential Candidate, Congressman Ron Paul, has brought his presidential campaign to a close.  He has launched Campaign for Liberty.

"These past 17 months have been among the most exciting and eventful of my life.  Together you and I delivered a message of freedom the likes of which American politics had not seen in decades.  I wasn’t sure the country was ready for it.  But it was a message, I discovered, that many Americans had been waiting for a long time to hear.

I have been blessed with the most informed, well read, and enthusiastic supporters of any presidential campaign.  Your extraordinary efforts in organizing and fundraising grabbed the attention of millions of Americans and shocked just about everyone in politics and the media.  I still cannot get over all the fantastic work you did."

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