President Obama will be personally presenting the award to Ms. King. There will also be a concert featuring the most important singer-songwriter of the night together with other veteran musicians such as Billy Joel, James Taylor, Gloria Estefan, Emeli Sande, Trisha Yearwood and Jesse McCartney. Reports indicate that the concert can be viewed live at the White House website and it will also be seen on PBS stations next week.

King is the “Queen of the Night”

Carole King, now 71 years old, has written and sang landmark songs that even other famous artists had covered. According to James Billington, a member of the Library of Congress, King made a huge mark in the music industry and became very influential due to the fact that her songs were recorded by important artists, from The Beatles to Aretha Franklin. Billington also added that when The Beatles first came to America, the first person they wanted to meet was none other than Carole King. Performers of her time as well as modern entertainers today consider Carole King as one of the best singer-songwriters ever to have existed.

New song

According to King, she plans to unveil her new song, “I Believe In Loving You” at the concert proper. The song was the brainchild of Carole King and the late great Hal David. According to King, the song was really intended to give a romantic vibe that is perfectly suited to weddings. She also praised the lyrics written by co-writer Hal David and told the Associated Press that Hal’s word will surely live on for the rest of eternity.

Cultivating ingenuity

The Gershwin Prize is an award given to exemplary artists. According to Billington, who first started giving out this award in 2007, the Gershwin Prize is a symbol given to talented people that serve to amplify their creativity. The prize not only carries with it prestige but it also lets everyone know that the person chosen to receive the award possesses the traits of a phenomenal artist.

Choosing the winner

Like any other award-giving body, the Library of Congress follows its own procedure when it comes to selecting the winner. The winner of the Gershwin Prize is not chosen but just board nor determined by a simple vote or a survey. According to the Library of Congress, a board is selected from a wide selection of professionals who are all involved or related to the music industry. The board needs to be credible enough to represent the entirety of the popular music arena. The members may be composed of scholars, producers, songwriters, critics, specialist or any other qualified individual who may or may not be part of the Library of Congress.

Photo Credit: Carole King

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In the recently released statement, the legislation being formulated is designed to regulate the administrative confiscation of the assets of former dictators and facilitate the return to the countries of origin.

First of its kind

The pre-legislation proposal has already been presented to the Swiss Parliament. This is the first proposal of its kind to be put forward in the world, according to the Swiss Foreign Ministry. The proposal specifies a number of rules that are already in place with regard to freezing dictators’ funds. Additional elements include simplification of the process of restitution. This will be done with standardization of procedures and simplification of the process in general. In effect stolen assets by foreign leaders may be frozen more easily and they may be returned more readily to the countries of origin.

A quarter of a century of restitution

For the past 25 years, Switzerland has been restituting the frozen assets of dictators to their respective countries. Switzerland has already restituted around $1.75 billion to Nigeria, Peru, and the Philippines. The restituted funds came from the blocked assets that were embezzled by Sani Abacha (Nigeria), Vladimir Montesinos (Peru) and Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines).

In 2011, Switzerland has frozen 60 million Swiss francs from Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, The Tunisian dictator. The country did the same to the $700 million in assets of Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. And 100 million Swiss francs each have been blocked from Libya and Syria.

Current difficulties and limitations

The Swiss hope that the new law will make sure that former dictators cannot lay claim to frozen funds just because their countries have made mistakes in requesting for international judicial cooperation. Oftentimes, the new heads of state of formerly autocratic countries encounter difficulty while making the requests because of their lack of experience on the mater. Requests that are not made properly are not processed. Also, when there is confusion or misunderstanding of procedure, Bern cannot move forward to block or restitute the assets.

Provisions of the new law

With the new law, Switzerland will be able to block assets immediately when a dictator falls from power. There are other provisions that will definitely prove helpful to foreign governments involved in embezzling issues. The new law includes providing training for legal counsel and other authorities to help countries recover funds. The law would also specify measures that are required in making the request. The Swiss would even be able to provide the authorities in the respective countries formerly guarded banking details.

Other important details of the proposal

As for the banks that are managing the embezzled funds, they are obligated to report suspicious accounts immediately so that the Swiss Foreign Ministry can take appropriate action. If this is not done as indicated in the legislation, the bank would need to pay fines amounting to as much as 250,000 Swiss francs.

Photo Credit: Swiss Bank Office

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