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PBC News & Comment: Depositors Panic as EU Grabs Cash from Savings Accounts

Ruthless EU bankers impose tax up to 9.99% on savings accounts, prompting predictable panic withdrawals in Cyprus over weekend…PBC compares this austerity measure with Obama’s willingness to trim Social Security benefits to appease Republicans

–good news: SF federal judge rules that FBI national security letters cannot include gag provision

–more good news: influential DC Court of Appeals rules that CIA can’t pretend the drone program is a secret

–VA backlog makes vets wait over 600 days to confirm benefits

–Pentagon will drop its missile defense fantasy for Europe

–Pentagon wants to expand missile defense fantasy for N. Korea

–Obama names Justice Dept. official Tom Perez new Labor Secretary

–Miami grand jury is investigating Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for influence peddling as Dominican cops say prostitutes were paid to lie about Menendez for video

–Syria bombs Lebanon as Obama prepares to visit Israel and Palestine

–U of Tennessee announces plan to study fracking impact by offering leases in pristine Cumberland Forest

–natural gas pipeline fire rages, 30 miles south of New Orleans

–San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s double standard:  housing director accused of official misconduct is permitted to retire, hopes to keep pension, while Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was subjected to 9-month effort to terminate him for misconduct that occurred before he took office