At 12:22 PM 1/10/01 -0500, you wrote:

     NY Times has a story today about the offshores being pressured
     by the big nations to curtail tax evasion and avoidance. The islands
     first resisted assaults on their sovereignty, but have agreed to
     do a study of the issue.

   1 )     Tax Havens, Wealthy Nations Face Off
   By REUTERS
   BRIDGETOWN, (Reuters) - The leader of Barbados, spearheading small
   nations fight against demands from developed countries to reform their
   offshore financial centers to thwart international tax evasion,
   proposed on Tuesday setting up a new working group to give all parties
   a voice in the contentious issue.
   Date: January 09, 2001
   2 ) Parties Agree in Tax Haven Debate
   By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
   ST. MICHAEL, Barbados (AP) -- Leaders of a meeting between wealthy
   countries seeking to halt tax evasion and small countries with
   lucrative offshore banking industries said Tuesday that they had made
   headway toward resol ving their differences.
   Date: January 10, 2001
   Source: AP | Section: World
   3 ) Nations Agree to Task Force on Tax Havens
   By REUTERS
   Representatives of wealthy nations and of Caribbean and other small
   nations branded as "tax havens" agreed on Tuesday to set up a task
   force to devise ways to reform offshore financial centers used by
   criminals and tax dodgers.
   Date: January 10, 2001
   Source: The New York Times | Section: World
   steve