Queen Elizabeth cancels public events as knee mends
Queen Elizabeth II
LONDON, (AFP) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has cancelled two public engagements at the end of this month as she recovers from a knee operation, Buckingham Palace announced.
She had been due to attend a church service at Chelmsford Cathedral on January 31 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of catastrophic floods in the east of England, and a lunch afterwards.
The service would have involved large amounts of standing and walking at a time when the Queen, 76, is supposed to be resting from surgery to her cartilage, Court sources said.
Swiss bankers threaten referendum on savings tax
BERN, (AFP) - Swiss private bankers have threatened to call a referendum on the controversial issue of savings taxation, currently the subject of negotiation between Switzerland and the European Union.
Pierre Mirabaud, of the Mirabaud and Cie private bank, said: "The people must be able to decide by a referendum."
He was speaking during a news conference in the Swiss capital organised by the Swiss Private Bankers' Association.
Switzerland has been holding talks with the 15-nation bloc on the taxation of savings as part of a new raft of bilateral deals.