IRS official Lois Lerner: ‘I have not done anything wrong’

Lerner brushes back her hair before testifying at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in WashingtonLois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service official in charge of approving applications for tax-exempt status, denied wrongdoing in response to accusations that the IRS targeted conservative organizations seeking non-profit status for heavier scrutiny between 2010 and 2012. “'I have not done anything wrong,” Lerner told the House Oversight Committee during a hearing about the IRS' [...]

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Kerry warns Syria's Assad against rejecting political solution

AMMAN (Reuters) – Western governments are ready to increase support to opponents of President Bashar al-Assad if he rejects a political solution to Syria’s civil war, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday. Kerry said recent military gains by Assad’s forces were only temporary and that if he believed the counter-offensives against the rebels would be decisive, “then he is mis-calculating”. …

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Fiat Industrial says 500 million euro tax loss reports false

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy-based truck and tractor maker Fiat Industrial said reports that Italy would lose more than 500 million euros in tax receipts as a result of its moving fiscal domicile to the UK after a merger with unit CNH were absolutely false. According to U.S. stock exchange regulatory filings dated May 14, Fiat Industrial aims to be treated as a UK resident company after the merger to lower its tax bill. …

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Stockholm riots challenge image of happy, generous state

A car set on fire burns following riots in the Stockholm suburb of KistaBy Johan Sennero and Johan Ahlander STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Hundreds of young people have torched cars and attacked police in three nights of riots in immigrant suburbs of Sweden's capital, shocking a country that has dodged the worst of the financial crisis but failed to defuse youth unemployment and resentment of asylum seekers. On Tuesday night, a police station in the Jakobsberg area in northwest Stockholm was attacked, two schools were damaged and an arts and crafts centre was set ablaze, despite a call for calm from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. …

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IRS official refuses to answer questions at scandal hearing

Lerner as she takes her seat before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in WashingtonBy Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of a tax scandal about extra scrutiny of conservative groups told a congressional hearing on Wednesday she had done nothing wrong but asserted her constitutional right not to answer questions. “I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws,” Lois Lerner, head of the IRS tax-exempt unit, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. …

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