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Friday
20 February
The
landmark decision by two Eastern Cape judges last
year ruling it as UNCONSTITUTIONAL
FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO HOLD PROPERTY OWNERS
RESPONSIBLE FOR TENANTS' WATER AND ELECTRICITY
ARREARS
will again come under the spotlight on March 10 (The
Herald 2004-02).
The
Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein was asked on
Friday to rule on A
CURIOUS DILEMMA CREATED BY TEH FORMER APARTHEID
REGIME'S NOTOTRIOUS GROUP AREAS ACT
(News24 2004-02-20).
Following
Tuesday’s sentencing of Jack Milne to 8 years in
prison (3 suspended), ATTENTION
NOW TURNS TO GARY PORRIT,
the big fish in the PSC Guaranteed Growth Fund
scandal. Porritt’s defence will not be made any
easier by the fact that Milne has entered into a
plea bargain with the state (MoneyWeb 2004-02-18).
United
Kingdom
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
today issued INTERNATIONAL
FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARD 2 SHARE-BASED
PAYMENT (IFRS 2)
on accounting for share-based payment transactions,
including grants of share options to employees (IASB
2004-02-19). A draft of the summary is
available at http://www.iasb.org/news/index.asp?showPageContent=no&xml=
10_84_25_19022004_19022005.htm.
Five
British men INTERNED
WITHOUT TRIAL AT GUANTANAMO BAY
for more than two years will be flown home within
weeks (Telegraph 2004-02-20).
British
anti-terrorism officers were today INVESTIGATING
THE CASES OF FIVE BRITONS
who are to be released by the US after being held
for more than two years at Guantanamo Bay (Scotsman
2004-02-20).
Peace
protesters yesterday won
a landmark ruling that POLICE
ACTED UNLAWFULLY BY FORCING THEM TO RETURN HOME AS
THEY MADE THEIR WAY TO AN ANTI-IRAQ WAR
DEMONSTRATION.
About 120 demonstrators are
expected to claim hundreds of thousands of pounds
(Telegraph 2004-02-20).
United
States
California regulators have denied a Department of
Homeland Security request to FORTIFY
THE WESTERNMOST STRETCH OF THE US-MEXICO BORDER,
setting the stage for a possible legal battle
between the state and the Bush administration
(FindLaw 2004-02-19).
Thursday
19 February
In
another STRONG
MESSAGE TO WIFE BEATERS
"that courts mean business", Durban
magistrate Melanie de Jager sent Anthony Lesley
Swinburn, 41, to jail for three years on Friday (IOL
2004-02-13).
The
government plans to introduce a CEILING
ON THE AMOUNT OF SCHOOL FEES A PUBLIC SCHOOL MAY
CHARGE
because there are ones that are wasting money on
luxuries (News24 2004-02-17).
The
process of LAND
CLAIMS FOR RESTITUTION PURPOSES WILL NOT BE RESUMED
anywhere in the country, says land claims
commissioner Tozi Gwanya (News24 2004-02-18).
Properties,
vehicles and cash with a total VALUE
OF MORE THAN R600 000 BELONGING TO FIVE LEGAL
PRACTITIONERS
based in Umtata have been placed under curatorship
following an order by an Umtata High Court judge
(SABC News 2004-02-19).
United
States
David Welch, fired from his $60,000-a-year job as
the bank's chief financial officer, is the FIRST
WHISTLEBLOWER GRANTED PROTECTION UNDER THE
SARBANES-OXLEY ACT
(Washington Times 2004-02-16).
The Federal Government of the US has a coordinated,
risk-based system to ensure new biotechnology
products are safe for the environment and human and
animal health. A website has been developed
which focuses on the agricultural products of modern
biotechnology. At this time, the searchable database
available on this site only covers genetically
engineered crop plants intended for food or feed
that have completed all recommended or required
reviews for food, feed or planting use in the United
States (see http://usbiotechreg.nbii.gov/).
Kuala
Lumpur
The
UN University has said in a report that indigenous
people are trapped in a "Catch-22"
situation over the PROTECTION
OF THEIR TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MEDICINAL AND
OTHER USES OF PLANTS
: the report urges changes to international law to
eliminate what it calls "a modern
absurdity" which forces the holders of ancient
secrets to disclose them publicly if they want to
protect them (News24 2004-02-19).
Thailand
A DOMESTIC
CAT HAS DIED OF BIRD FLU
in Thailand in one of the first known cases of the
disease outside birds and humans (News24
2004-02-19).
Wednesday
18 February
Churches,
mosques and other places of worship will escape the LONG
ARM OF PROPERTY-TAX LAWS,
but welfare organisations, independent schools and
conservation bodies will be at the mercy of
municipalities (News24 2004-02-17).
A
Cape Town property magnate took his nine-year legal
battle for development rights on his prime property,
FOUR
OUDEKRAAL,
near Camps Bay to the Supreme Court of Appeal in
Bloemfontein on Tuesday (News24 2004-02-17).
The
University of Pretoria says an internal disciplinary
procedure will go ahead, despite charges being
dropped against the FOUR
SUSPECTS IN A RAPE CASE
(SABC News 2004-02-18).
European
antitrust regulators have REBUFFED
AN OFFER BY THE MICROSOFT CORPORATION
to include audio- and video-playing software of its
competitors in the form of CD-ROM's in the boxes of
new personal computers (New York Times 2004-02-18).
United
States
A panel of the US Court of Appeals in Denver has
upheld the government's right to help people shield
themselves from unwanted telemarketing calls by USING
THE DO-NOT-CALL REGISTRY
(New York Times 2004-02-18). Judgment online at
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/ftc/mmsvftc021704opn.html.
Tuesday
17 February
Tomorrow's
budget will see the UNVEILING
OF THE GOVERNMENT'S NEW ECONOMIC REPORTING FORMAT,
which will replace the decades-old standard item
classification system (Business Report 2004-02-17).
Just
24 hours before Finance Minister Trevor Manuel
announces his 2004/05 budget in Parliament, a United
Nations-accredited non-governmental organisation
called in papers before the Cape High Court on
Tuesday to have government's multi-billion rand arms
deal declared null and void
; ECAAR-SA
WAS PARTICULARLY SEVERE WITH MANUEL,
saying he had "encumbered" South Africa's
existing and future assets, and "ceded control
of economic and financial policies for the next 20
years to the British government and the
International Monetary Fund" (M&G
2004-02-17).
Environmental
Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa put the
final nail in the coffin yesterday of a CONTROVERSIAL
MULTIBILLION-RAND AUSTRALIAN MINING INVESTMENT,
striking it off the Wild Coast development agenda
with cleverly crafted regulations (Business Day
2004-02-17).
Mr
Moosa also announced his intention to designate FIVE
NEW MARINE PROTECTED AREAS
in the government gazette on Tuesday : they are
Aliwal Shoal, adjacent to Umkomaas, KwaZulu Natal ;
the coastal and marine environment adjacent to
Pondoland in the Eastern Cape ; Bird Island at Algoa
Bay, Eastern Cape ; Cape Peninsula in the Western
Cape ; and Namaqualand in the Northern Cape (M&G
2004-02-16).
Estate
agents and rent collection organisations have
described as "ridiculous" a Mandela metro
municipal by-law, promulgated last year, which
stipulates that ONLY
A REGISTERED PROPERTY OWNER OR HIS AUTHORISED AGENT
CAN OPEN A MUNICIPAL SERVICES ACCOUNT
(The Herald 2004-02).
United
States
The Senate Intelligence Committee made the right
call last week when it decided to examine whether
top administration officials had exaggerated or
misused the INTELLIGENCE
ON IRAQ'S WEAPON PROGRAMS.
Whatever horrendous errors the intelligence analysts
made were surely compounded when the president and
other senior officials emphasized unlikely
worst-case scenarios to win support for the invasion
(New York Times 2004-02-17).
Monday
16 February
The
South African government plans to make R2 billion
available every year TO
HELP STRUGGLING COMPANIES GET BACK ON THEIR FEET
(SABC News 2004-02-11).
Despite
the government's plans to pump R4bn into the
industry, to regulate it and to replace the ageing
minibus taxi fleet with safer vehicles by 2010, TAXI
OWNERS THEMSELVES ARE NOT DELIGHTED WITH THE MOVES
(News24 2004-02-16).
African
leaders ended their summit on Saturday a step closer
to implementing a unique PEER
REVIEW SYSTEM
peer
review system that would allow countries to name and
shame states on the continent that fail to live up
to set of agreed principles of good governance
(News24 2004-02-14 and M&G
2004-02-15).
SOUTH
AFRICA MUST ABANDON THE ROMAN-DUTCH SYSTEM OF LAW
in the interests of justice and transformation,
Shadrack Gutto, the director of the African
Renaissance Institute at Unisa, said (Business Day
2004-01-25).
Zimbabwe
Opponents of President Robert Mugabe's regime were
in an uproar on Sunday over new regulations decreed
on Friday that GIVE
POLICE THE POWER TO DETAIN FOR A WEEK PEOPLE
SUSPECTED OF ECONOMIC CRIMES
including corruption, money laundering and illegal
dealing in foreign exchange and gold, even where
there is no reasonable evidence of their guilt
(M&G 2004-02-16).
United
Kingdom
The LAW
SOCIETY OF ENGLAND AND WALES' VALENTINE GUIDE
issues advice to people setting up home together or
getting engaged on Valentine's day. Many people will
not realise how their change of status affects their
legal rights (2004-02-14).
Scotland
Scottish solicitors find
themselves on the horns of a dilemma in attempting
to COMPLY
WITH RECENT MONEY LAUNDERING LEGISLATION
(Scotland on Sunday 2004-02-15).
United
States
The illicit distribution on Thursday of portions of
the secret programmer's instructions for two
versions of the Windows operating system poses VEXING
LEGAL AND SECURITY CHALLENGES FOR MICROSOFT
(New York Times 2004-02-14).
The
lawsuit filed in San Francisco seeking to HALT
THE CITY'S ISSUANCE OF MARRIAGE LICENSES TO SAME-SEX
COUPLES
is now online (Randy Thomasson v Gavin Newsom)
; so too is the San Francisco Mayor's letter
to the County Clerk urging that MARRIAGE
LICENSES BE ISSUED ON A NON-DISCRIMINATORY BASIS,
without regard to gender or sexual orientation
(FindLaw 2004-02-13 and 10).
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