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Recent
Judgments Available on the Internet
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Constitutional
Court of South Africa
-
www.constitutionalcourt.org.za
;
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/
Biowatch
takes its battle for costs to Constitutional Court - 24 December
A nongovernmental organisation that won a court battle but was
ordered to pay legal costs will now approach the Constitutional
Court to argue why it should not pay the legal costs. The matter
started in 2003 when Biowatch Trust applied to the Pretoria High
Court for an order that the agriculture minister and the registrar
for genetic resources provide information that would shed light on
the basis for decisions about permitting genetically modified crops
in SA. - allAfrica website
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Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
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http://www.supremecourtofappeal.gov.za/index.html
; wwwserver.law.wits.ac.za/sca/index.php ;
http://www.uovs.ac.za/apps/law/appeal/
;
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/
Ex-teacher wants more money for sex pic prank - 22 December
A prank
by three teenagers during which they manipulated a picture of
former Hoerskool Waterkloof vice-principal, Dr Louis Dey,
portraying him in a sexually compromising position with the
school's principal Dr Christo Becker - and which resulted in a
damages claim by Dey against the culprits, will see both Dey and
the pranksters before the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
Dey is appealing the judgment in which he is to receive R45 000 in
damages, a sum he claims is shockingly low, while the teenagers
are appealing the fact that Dey had been awarded any damages at
all. Dey had instituted two claims of R300 000 each - the first
for being defamed by the manipulated picture, and the second that
the publication of the picture was extremely offensive towards
him. -
IOL website
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Cape
Provincial Division
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http://law.sun.ac.za/cgi-bin/list.php
; Court rolls at
http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=134
Don't dread : Rastas get the go-ahead - 21 December
Cape Town's Rastafarian community had to go to the Cape High Court
for permission to hold their annual festival this weekend after
the City of Cape Town and the Metro Police tried to stop the
event. After winning an urgent interdict on Friday, Rastas got the
10th Sunny Ocean Reggae Festivalgoing at Soetwater near Kommetjie
on Friday night. Organiser Michael Patterson launched the court
application against the City of Cape Town and Metro Police after
the city's environmental department turned down the group's
request to hold the festival. -
IOL website
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Natal
Provincial Division
-
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAKZHC/
; Court rolls
via
http://www.lawlibrary.co.za/notice/highcourts/index.htm
and
http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=190
Bid to stop builder leaving - 22 December
A Pietermaritzburg couple, Brian Majola and his wife, Phindile
Sibiya, approached the high court here yesterday for an urgent
interim order to prevent their building contractors from leaving
South Africa to emigrate. In an affidavit Majola said the
application was intended to ensure that the builders - Christo and
Colleen Boshoff, trading as JOAT Construction - complete his house
according to their contract. But court papers revealed that
Christo Boshoff flew to Australia on Sunday. After discussions
between the legal teams, Judge Kevin Swain granted an order
adjourning the dispute to January 5. Boshoff maintains that Majola
and Sibiya in fact breached their contract with him in various
respects, and said this caused him to "validly"
cancel the contract on November 19. He also alleges they still owe
him money. - Witness
website
Roadlink to roll on - 20 December
National bus operator SA Roadlink on Friday night obtained
an interim court order in the Pietermaritzburg High Court
preventing KwaZulu Natal transport MEC Bheki Cele from suspending
its operating licence. Judge Isaac
Madondo said there was a possibility that SA Roadlink would suffer
irreparable harm and Cele had not provided any evidence before the
court that there would be more accidents. -
IOL website
17 December 2008
Suspension of SA Roadlink operations in the province of
KwaZulu-Natal
KZN Department of
Transport website
Excerpt :
"In the last four days we have lost 33 lives in our province in
accidents involving public transport. However the most troublesome
of them all is an ever increasing rate of fatal accidents
involving buses belonging to SA Road Link. Stated below are the
alarming incidences involving SA Road link since 2006 in KwaZulu-Natal
. . ."
5 SA Roadlink buses impounded - 22 December
Following KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC Bheki Cele's promise to
intensify law enforcement against long-distance bus services,
eight buses have been impounded in Pietermaritzburg. Transport
Department spokesperson Nonkululeko Mbatha said on Sunday that
five of the buses belong to SA Roadlink. SA Roadlink spokesperson
Sam Fidelis said most of their buses were taken off the roads for
technicalities. Three of the buses were impounded because they did
not have permits to operate in KwaZulu-Natal. Though he admitted
that it is unacceptable for buses to operate without permits, he
said that the department has never been strict about this. -
News24 website
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Regional Courts
Pretoria
Kalla faces justice again after 11 years - 23 December
A 61-year-old man who managed to evade justice for 11 years after
he allegedly escaped from prison in 1997 was expected to apply for
bail on Tuesday. The case against Abdul Gafoor Kalla in the
Pretoria Regional Court was earlier postponed for a possible plea
as the defence and the state were expected to enter into plea
negotiations. Two more provisional
charges were added to the charge sheet. When Kalla was extradited
from India to South Africa earlier this month, it was on charges
of dealing in Mandrax and escaping from lawful custody. Now
charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances and the unlawful
possession of a firearm have been added - the latter two charges
relating to his daring escape. -
IOL website
Escapee left SA legally 'many times' - 24 December
The 61-year-old man labelled as a "most wanted criminal" after he
evaded police for 11 years apparently travelled in and out of
South Africa using legal documents. And when Abdul Gafoor Kalla
lost his passport, he went to the Lenasia police station to report
it. This information, described as "shocking and astonishing" by
state advocate Petra van Basten, was revealed on Tuesday at the
Pretoria Regional Court, where Kalla was applying for bail. -
IOL website
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Magistrates Courts
Cape Town
Partner pays undercover cop for hit - 23 December
More than a month before hearing that his business partner was
planning to have him killed, a City Bowl Armed Response director,
Alan Kusevitsky, filed a fraud
complaint against his partner with police. Investigating officer
Mike Barkhuizen told this on Monday to the Cape Town Magistrate's
Court, where Grant Smith, the security company's chief operations
officer, and his mistress of two years, Joanne Neethling, were
applying for bail. The state is opposing bail. -
IOL website
'He's not such a wonderful character' - 24 December
Cape Town's City Bowl Armed Response's co-owner and chief operations
officer and a former employee, accused of conspiring to kill the
company's director, have been granted bail by the Cape Town
Magistrate's Court. Grant Smith, 44, alleged by police to have
provided R15 000 for a hit man to murder his business partner, Alan
Kusevitsky, was granted R50 000 bail. Joanne Neethling, 28 - Smith's
mistress of two years who is alleged to have handed the money to
police posing as hit men, was granted R10 000 bail. -
IOL website
Welkom
Anger as couple who left baby in car go free - 24 December
Human rights activists are fuming over a prosecutor's decision to
withdraw charges of child negligence against a couple who left their
five-month-old baby in a car while they went Christmas shopping.
Frantic bystanders eventually smashed the window of the car to get
to the crying and dehydrated baby, after the couple failed to
respond to repeated appeals over a shopping centre's public address
system. Welkom prosecutor Reggy Maphomolo decided on Tuesday to
withdraw the case against the couple because they had no intention
to harm the child. At the same time, Welkom police reported that
another couple arrested for a similar incident of child negligence
were due to appear in court on Wednesay. -
IOL website
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Government
and Legislation
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Legislation
Medicines and Related
Substances Act
Hogan taken to court - 22 December
The new health minister will taken to court over dispensing fees
for doctors and other non-pharmacist dispensers, the National
Convention on Dispensing said on Monday. Dr Norman Mabasa,
National Convention on Dispensing chairperson, said court papers
were delivered at Minister Barbara Hogan's offices on Friday. The
move was a bid to declare a provision of the regulations of the
Medicines Act that fixes a dispensing fee at 16 percent for
medicines costing less than R100. -
IOL website
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Useful
Links and Items of Interest
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Legal Profession
Ireland
Lawyers learn new skills - 21 December
Solicitors are starting to
diversify as their property boom income vanishes, writes Mary
Minihan. Solicitors, who did well out of
the construction and property boom, are now among those trying to
find alternative sources of income by developing expertise in new
areas. The surge in professional
development courses reflects solicitors'
growing awareness of the need to consider new opportunities. Law
Society director general Ken Murphy said the society had recorded
"a very considerable increase in the
profession's uptake on these educational
opportunities in recent months, consistent with the desire of a
great many practitioners to reskill in areas of legal practice
where opportunities may still exist’".
- The Post website
Malawi
Law firm's book gift to Malawi - 22
December
B J Gateley Wareing, on West Regent
Street, and its offices across Scotland are sending 84 cases of
books to the Malawi Law Society to be used as a reference for
lawyers and the general public. The books, numbering in their
hundreds, have been housed at the law firm's
library in Edinburgh since the 1870s. The books will be kept at
the Malawi Law Society's
head office in Blantyre. -
Evening Times Online
website
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South Africa
Conservation
Environmentalists furious about Plett chick killing - 22
December
Furious environmentalists in Plettenberg Bay are fighting to keep
alive 200 cormorant, egret and heron chicks tipped onto the ground
when residents of a housing estate felled the trees in which they
were nesting, apparently because the birds'
smell and noise offended them. In June, a Jewish youth
organisation was fined R100 000 by the
Cape High Court for killing about 3000 chicks nesting in a tree
which they chopped down at their youth camp near Mossel Bay. Some
of the birds were protected species, including herons and reed
cormorants. - Herald Online
website
Correctional
Services
South
African prisoners embrace yoga - 24 December
The prisoners at Gruoenpunt Maximum Security prison in Free State
province are among the most violent in South Africa. They have
raped, murdered, smuggled drugs or abused children. Many are
HIV-positive and can expect to die in jail. Inside prison their
anger boils over and violence is common. But a new programme of
yoga lessons is helping inmates to discover ways to calm
themselves and take a more positive look at their lives, even if
they never get out from behind bars. -
BBC News website
Courts
The court soapies of 2008 - 23 December
IOL website
Criminal Justice
System
'Role of police downplayed' - 22 December
According to the media, a recent Institute of Security Studies
report attributes the failure of the National Crime Prevention
Strategy to its not being linked to underlying socio-economic
causes, and reportedly downplays the role of the
police. Socio-economic conditions contribute to crime, but it is
an oversimplification to place the emphasis on poverty,
unemployment, lack of education and inadequate social services,
and it stigmatises the poor at the expense of better-off crime
kingpins. Continuing high levels of crime are, above all, a
glaring indictment of the failure of the criminal justice system.
Article by Mary de Haas on the
IOL website
Human Rights
'Xenophobic attacks point to tribalism' - 22 December
The lack of a "legitimate elected leadership" was behind much of
the May xenophobic attacks, Cormsa said on Monday. Consortium for
Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (Cormsa) spokesperson Duncan
Breen said in many areas local leaders were actively involved in
fuelling the violence that left 62 people dead in May 2008.
"Unless these leaders are held accountable, they will continue to
base their campaigns and positions on an agenda of hate and
violence," he said. Cormsa has since called on the SA Human Rights
Commission to hold an inquiry into the xenophobic violence of mid
2008. - IOL website
Land Affairs and
Property
SA property : 2008 year in review - 24 December
Personalities, trends, opinions that captured attention in one of
the toughest trading years many have experienced. -
Realestateweb website
See also :
[Supreme
Court of Appeal]
20 March 2008
[2008] SCA 11 (RSA)
Nedcor Bank Ltd v SDR Investment Holdings Co (Pty) Ltd [2008] SCA 11
(RSA)
Land Claims and
Expropriation
Bay land claimants elated at historic handover - 23 December
Port Elizabeth land claimants were overjoyed when they received
their title deeds yesterday to one of the country's
biggest land reclamation sites. The claimants from South End,
Salisbury Park and Fairview were elated when title deeds were
issued to them at the Port Elizabeth Land Restitution and Housing
Association's (Pelrha) offices. Pelrha
secretary Clive Felix said they had received "the
first 99 title deeds of the 198 registered at the deeds office to
date". Even though yesterday was an
exciting day for claimants, Felix said
the registration of the claimant transfers had created a new
problem for "some of the indigent
claimants" as their "assistance
to the poor" subsidy had been suspended,
because "they now own more than one
property". -
Herald Online website
National Prosecuting
Authority
'Time will tell' - 23 December
President Kgalema Motlanthe's office has agreed to consider a
request by Johannesburg businessman Hugh Glenister to submit
legislation disbanding the Scorpions to the Constitutional Court,
Glenister's lawyer said on Tuesday. -
IOL website
Interesting times in NPA's first decade - 24 December
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) turned 10 this year, but
it has not been easy going. It is an important milestone, but this
was also the year in which the NPA was dogged by myriad challenges
that have left it licking its wounds - it was labelled
counterrevolutionary, among other things. The stakes are very high
indeed. - Article by Bulelwa Makeke, Executive Manager :
Communications at the NPA on the
allAfrica website
Politics
ANC faces messy new legal battle -
21 December
A week after losing two bruising court cases, a panicky ANC faces
another messy legal battle after it suspended 50 Eastern Cape
councillors on suspicion they were working for the Congress of the
People (COPE). The suspensions took place just two days after the
national executive committee stripped the dysfunctional Western
Cape ANC leadership of all powers, and sent national leaders to
oversee party affairs in a desperate attempt to shore up voter
support ahead of the elections in 2009.
ANC provincial secretary Pemmy Majodina said she had received
lawyers' letters demanding that she reverse the party's decision
to suspend the 50. But she is adamant
the ANC will not budge, claiming the councillors had either acted
in a "un-ANC" manner or were actively campaigning for Cope. -
IOL website
Cope clarifies AA position - 18 December
The Congress of the people (Cope) on Thursday denied that it is
against the country's black empowerment policies, saying its
position on affirmative action has been "misinterpreted". "The
Cope has noted various media reports that seem to have
misinterpreted our policy positions on BEE and Affirmative action
- Cope believes strongly in Affirmative Action and Black Economic
Empowerment as necessary instruments of the change we profess,"
the organisation said in a statement. -
News24 website
Black lawyers fume at COPE policy - 17 December
The Congress of the People's (COPE) promise to throw affirmative
action and economic empowerment open to all races has drawn fire
from prominent black lawyers. COPE President Mosiuoa Lekota was
cheered when he told delegates at the party's inaugural congress
that it would support both policies but not on the basis of race
because the Constitution was "unequivocal about its rejection of
discrimination on any ground". -
IOL website
Tutu junior blasts AA - 22 December
Affirmative action has always been a hotly contested issue among
politicians as well as ordinary South Africans. Trevor Tutu, son
of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, became so incensed with
comments from listeners on affirmative action that he called a
radio talkshow and added his five cents worth - and not in a way
that was expected. Introducing himself only as Trevor, he said his
own children could never be considered previously disadvantaged,
because they come from a line of university graduates. He said he
used to be a candidate for affirmative action, but he could not
agree with how some individuals from privileged backgrounds
benefit from it, based on their skin colour alone. -
IOL website
Review affirmative action : Boesak - 22 December
The Congress of the People's newest leadership recruit, Allan
Boesak, has charged that the ANC government's interpretation of
affirmative action was putting "narrow ethnic considerations"
before South Africa's skills needs. "All of a sudden, coloured
people are told that if they are not an ethnic African, they can't
get certain jobs," Boesak said in an interview about the current
implementation of black empowerment policies and affirmative
action along strict racial lines. -
IOL website
Road Accident Fund
A car accident can bankrupt you for life, SA attorneys say -
22 December
A serious car accident can now bankrupt you for life, the
Johannesburg Attorneys Association said on Monday. "Regulations
implemented this year limit payouts to victims of accidents and
place families at severe risk of bankruptcy," said Michael de
Broglio of the Johannesburg Attorneys Association. -
Mail & Guardian website
Taxation Law
Unhappy with your tax assessment? - 23 December
Your options; Sars's rights. -
moneyweb website
Subsistence allowances : changes are a' coming - 22 December
Manuel indicated as far back as his 2006 Budget speech that Sars
was looking to apply different rates per country or group of
countries, but at the time it was felt that the administrative
burden on payroll departments would be too harsh. However, given
that this discussion has been in the public domain for some time,
Sars has felt that the time is right to propose such a change by
releasing a discussion document. This was done on 15 December
2008. Sars has invited comments from the public on the proposed
changes. Comments are to be submitted via e-mail to
policycomments@sars.gov.za,
or via facsimile to 012-422
5195. In both cases, the subject line is to read
"International subsistence allowance changes". -
moneyweb website
How to demerge tax free - 19 December
Amidst the current economic turmoil experienced worldwide, South
African companies are battling to create value for their
shareholders. To release value in a company, the best thing to do
is to focus on core business, sell inferior assets and, if
necessary, split the company into several parts. Any form of
reorganisation involving a transfer of assets is likely to have
tax implications, whether it be income tax, CGT, VAT, Donations
Tax, STC or any combination thereof. This applies equally to a
demerger. Or, can a demerger be done tax-fee? -
moneyweb website
Transport and Roads
Interested in police action? Subscribe to SMS - 23 December
Law enforcement and traffic officials have questioned the
introduction of an SMS service that could help drunken drivers and
even criminals to avoid roadblocks and police spot checks in
KwaZulu-Natal. ERTi managing director Vincent Parisis said that
once an alert was received, an SMS was sent out to subscribers
almost immediately. He said the service received information about
roadblocks from internet chat rooms, community blogs and
subscribers. Parisis acknowledged that the service was
controversial but said it was legal. "We are offering a service to
sober people so they do not lose time stuck in a roadblock. There
is always the risk that the service will be used wrongly. But we
are not extremely specific about where the roadblock is and our
legal team assures me the service is legal in KZN". -
IOL website
Miscellaneous
Shopping mall death shocker - 23 December
After a child falls to his death at a mall, we ask legal experts
about when shopping centres can be sued over safety issues. -
moneyweb website
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Africa
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
: Statement on the Humanitarian Situation - 22 December
Statement by the President of the Movement for Democratic Change,
Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, On the Humanitarian and Security Situation
in Zimbabwe, Delivered in Gaborone, Botswana. -
allAfrica website
Robert Mugabe : 'Zimbabwe is mine, I will never surrender' -
20 December
A defiant President Mugabe scorned the growing international
clamour for him to step down, insisting yesterday that
"Zimbabwe is mine"
even as his regime struggled to contain a devastating cholera
epidemic that has brought his already ravaged nation to the brink.
- Times Online website
Mugabe dismisses US stand on power-sharing pact - 23 December
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe described US President George W
Bush on Tuesday as a "dying horse" after the United States said it
could no longer support a Harare government that includes him. US
Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said on Sunday Mugabe
reneged on a power-sharing deal and he was "completely out of
touch" and was responsible for turning the once prosperous country
into a "failed state." - Reuters
website
US balks at Mugabe role in Zimbabwe - 21 December
The US can no longer support a proposed Zimbabwean power-sharing
deal that would leave Robert Mugabe, ''a man who's lost it,'' as
president, the top US envoy for Africa told reporters Sunday.
Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state for African
affairs, made the announcement in South Africa after spending the
last several days explaining the US shift to regional leaders. The
new US stance will put pressure on Zimbabwe's neighbors - South
Africa in particular - to abandon Mugabe. But South Africa said
its position was unchanged. -
New York Times website
Gordon Brown's Africa minister hints at imminent action against
blacklisted Mugabe 'cronies' - 22 December
Gordon Brown's Africa Minister gave the clearest hint yet that
Britain is to follow America's lead and blacklist a British-based
businessman and UK-related companies accused of financially
supporting Robert Mugabe's regime. -
Times Online website
Tutu
accuses S Africa over Mugabe - 24 December
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has accused South Africa of losing the
moral high ground by failing to stand up to Zimbabwe's president,
Robert Mugabe. The Noble peace-prize winner told the BBC
that using force should be an option to get rid of Mr Mugabe.
Archbishop Tutu also said he was saddened that his own country
appeared not to be on the side of Zimbabweans. -
BBC News website
ACDP
calls for Mugabe to be arrested and tried at the international
court - 23 December
"The ACDP calls for Robert Mugabe to be
pressured to step down and a unity government to be put in place
without him. For the sake of the people of Zimbabwe, South Africa
must stop shielding Robert Mugabe". -
Media release on the SW
Radio Africa website
South Africa releases R300m aid package to Zimbabwe - 24
December
South Africa has done a u-turn and provided a R300 million aid
package to Zimbabwe. In a statement issued yesterday Presidency
spokesperson Thabo Masebe confirmed that South Africa was
providing the aid to Zimbabwe in contravention of the conditions
it had set when the plan was announced in September. According to
the conditions, the R300m in aid was conditional upon the
successful formation of a unity government between President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the two factions of the Movement for
Democratic Change. - Cape
Times website
SA
explains R300m aid for Zimbabwe - 24 December
The South African presidency attempted to explain the government’s
provision of R300m in food aid to Zimbabwe in a statement issued.
Responding to what it called "confusing reports in the media",
spokesperson Thabo Masebe confirmed that South Africa was
providing the aid to Zimbabwe. This contravened the conditions of
the aid that were outlined in September when the plan was
announced. - The Times
website
Zimbabwe
activist set for court - 24 December
The prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukoko who
was abducted from her home three weeks ago is due to appear in
court. The state-run Herald newspaper said Ms Mukoko is
charged with attempting to recruit people for military training to
try to overthrow the government. -
BBC News website
Zim rights activists 'tortured' - 24 December
After an orgy of torture and kidnapping by President Robert
Mugabe's secret police, eight civil rights activists and Movement
for Democratic Change officials were due to appear in the Harare
Magistrate's Court on Wednesday. Most of them are to be charged,
based on "confessions" made in the custody of the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO), of bombing Harare's Central
police station and a "plot" to violently topple Mugabe. -
IOL website
Mugabe
committed to land policy - 21 December
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe says he will not allow a unity
government to reverse his controversial policy of seizing
white-owned land. Mr Mugabe made the statement a day after telling
supporters that he would never surrender to those trying to
pressure him to step down. - BBC
News website
Zim's new legal boss thumbs his nose at SADC - 21 December
Zimbabwe's new attorney-general celebrated his appointment last
week with the prosecutions of white farmers in defiance of a
regional court ruling which was supposed to protect them from
eviction. Johannes Tomana, the new attorney-general, who helped
himself to a white-owned farm, and who led the legal campaign to
ban Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, sent four white
farmers to court on Thursday, accusing them of trespassing on
state property, a charge which carries a two-year jail sentence. -
IOL website
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Asia
India
Parliament approves cyber crime Bill - 24 December
Parliament on Tuesday passed the
Information Technology
(Amendment) Bill that provides for imprisonment, which
could extend to life term, for those indulging in cyber terrorism
and a jail term of up to five years for publishing or transmitting
obscene material in electronic form. -
The Hindu website
Opposition protests passage of Bills amid pandemonium - 24
December
The Left parties on Tuesday staged vociferous protests inside and
outside Parliament against the manner in which Bills were passed
amid pandemonium. The Bills that were cleared by voice vote in the
Lok Sabha included the
High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of
Service) Amendment Bill,
Prevention of Corruption
(Amendment) Bill,
Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill and
South Asian University
Bill. - The Hindu
website
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Europe
Airlines
warned over compensation - 23 December
The EU's top court says passengers must be compensated if an airline
cancels a flight for technical reasons, unless "extraordinary"
events are to blame. The European Court of Justice says it is up to
the airline to prove that the circumstances are "extraordinary". -
BBC News website
Belgium
Belgian
'internet baby' sent home - 23 December
A Belgian baby boy allegedly sold by his parents to a Dutch couple
has been transferred to Belgian authorities, Dutch child protection
officials say. "The baby was handed over today to the Belgian
authorities who will decide what to do with him," spokesman Kees
Dijkman told the AFP news agency. "Baby J" was allegedly sold in
July for thousands of euros. - BBC
News website
Finland
A little help from the menace - 22 December
Police in Finland believe they have caught a car-thief thanks to a
DNA sample taken from a sample of his blood found inside a
mosquito. The suspect, who has been interrogated, has insisted he
did not steal the car, saying he had hitchhiked and was given a
lift by a man driving the car. Palomaeki said a prosecutor would
decide if the evidence was solid enough for charges to be pressed.
Finnish police said it was rare for them to use insects to solve
crimes, although they are interested in everything found at a
crime scene. - IOL website
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Middle East
Iraq
Iraqi
MPs back foreign troop deal - 23 December
Iraqi MPs have authorised the government to sign agreements
allowing British and other non-US troops to stay on in the country
after 2008. The US earlier struck its own security pact to keep
troops in Iraq to 2011. Foreign troops' UN mandate runs out on 31
December, after which they require a new legal basis to be in
Iraq. Most of the non-US foreign troops currently deployed in Iraq
are British. - BBC News
website
Trying to redefine role of US military in Iraq - 21 December
Combat troops, defined by the military as those whose primary
mission is to engage the enemy with lethal force, will have to be
out of Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, the deadline under a
recently approved status-of-forces agreement between the United
States and Iraq. Military planners are now quietly acknowledging
that many will stay behind as renamed "trainers"
and "advisers"
in what are effectively combat roles. In other words, they will
still be engaged in combat, just called something else. -
New York Times website
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United Kingdom
Debt Collection
Bailiffs get power to use force on debtors - 21 December
The government has been accused of trampling on individual liberties
by proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into
homes and to use "reasonable force"
against householders who try to protect their valuables. Under the
regulations, bailiffs for private firms would for the first time be
given permission to restrain or pin down householders. They would
also be able to force their way into homes to seize property to pay
off debts, such as unpaid credit card bills and loans. -
Times Online website
Human Rights
High Court frees thousands to challenge place on sex offenders
register - 19 December
Thousands of convicted sex attackers won the right to challenge
being on the sex offenders register for life today after a
landmark High Court ruling. Three judges said that indefinitely
placing sex offenders on the register with no right of a review is
a breach of their human rights. The test case opens the way for
thousands of individuals to try to get off the list on the basis
that there is no longer a risk that they will reoffend. -
Times Online website
Stephen English, a straight man, was victim of gay gibes, court
rules - 20 December
A man who says he was hounded from his job by colleagues'
taunts that he was a "faggot"
even though they knew he was not gay has won a landmark court
ruling yesterday that he was the victim of sexual harassment.
Stephen English, 56, a happily married man for 20 years with three
teenage children, said that the ribbing and teasing
"tormenting"
began when a work colleague discovered that he had been to
boarding school and now lived in Brighton, which has a large gay
population. His compensation claim against his former employer,
Thomas Sanderson Blinds, Ltd, based near Portsmouth, was rejected
by an employment tribunal and also by the Employment Appeal
Tribunal. But yesterday the Court of Appeal ruled, by a 2-1
majority, that someone can be harassed by homophobic banter even
though he is not gay, is not thought to be gay by his fellow
workers and even though he accepts that they do not believe him to
be gay. - Times
Online website
300 victims of abuse to sue councils for neglect - 24 December
Hundreds of children who suffered neglect or abuse at the hands of
their parents have been given the green light to sue councils for
damages that could total millions of pounds. Between 200 and 300
cases where councils failed to take children promptly into care
are being prepared after a landmark legal ruling,
The Times has learnt. -
Times Online
website
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United States
Human Rights
European nations consider taking Guantanamo detainees - 23
December
Half dozen European countries are considering resettling detainees
from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a gesture to
the incoming Obama administration, The Washington Post
reported on Tuesday. - Reuters
website
Miscellaneous
Charges expected in fire at Deutsche Bank Tower - 21 December
Prosecutors in Manhattan are expected to announce manslaughter
charges on Monday against three construction supervisors and a
subcontractor in the deaths of two firefighters who were killed
while battling a smoky fire in August 2007 at the Deutsche Bank
building in Lower Manhattan. But New York City, whose numerous
failures in safeguarding the building, which was damaged on Sept
11, 2001, were revealed soon after the fire and then exposed in
painstaking detail during a 16-month investigation, will not be
indicted. That decision was based on the significant legal
obstacles that would be presented by charging the city, the people
briefed on the matter said. The series
of missteps and failures by city officials, state development
officials, contractors and others that preceded the fire stoked
the anger of the firefighters' families,
who believe that they died because of these lapses. The building's
sprinkler system had been dismantled and fire exits were sealed
off as part of the demolition and asbestos abatement. It was later
learned that a standpipe, designed to carry water to the building's
upper floors during a fire, had also been dismantled and that
cheap, non-fire-retardant plywood had been used in the
deconstruction. - New York Times
website
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Miscellaneous
Book Reviews
The 12 Days of Xcerpts : Things Without a Name by Joanne Fedler
Joanne Fedler's Things Without a Name is
a "curious love-story set in the chaotic
universe of rape and domestic violence",
according to its publisher, Jacana. A major theme running through
the writer's life is advocacy on behalf
of victims of sexual abuse : Fedler has
an impressive track record as an activist, and her work in this
area informs Things Without a Name. But her sense of humour
remains intact. - BookSA
Magazine blog
Sarah Hudleston reviews Magenta - 23 December
Denis Beckett uses his first novel as a way to convey his thoughts
on the rights and wrongs of our country. Beckett always wanted to
make a difference. He studied law and qualified as an advocate.
But no sooner had he passed his bar exams than he decided to give
it all up for journalism, working for The Star and The
Rand Daily Mail, before founding Frontline, an avant
garde magazine that poked holes in life in apartheid SA.
Magenta, his latest book and first novel, is a natural
progression for him. -
Dennis Beckett @ Book
Southern Africa blog
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