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Saturday
6 March
Egypt
Egypt will reject any proposal to lower its quota of
the Nile water, Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mahmud
Abdel Halim Abu Zeid said on Saturday, ahead of
delicate talks with other COUNTRIES
SHARING THE AFRICAN RIVER BASIN
(News24 2004-03-06).
United
Kingdom
COURTS
MAY BE ENTITLED TO OVERRULE NEW ASYLUM LEGISLATION
BECAUSE IT BREACHES FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONAL
RIGHTS,
according to a judge. The comment by Lord Steyn, one
of the most senior law lords, amounts to a direct
challenge to the longstanding principle of
parliamentary sovereignty and puts the judges on a
collision course with the Government (Telegraph
2004-03-05).
"Timid"
PROPOSALS
TO PROTECT YOUNG PEOPLE FROM ABUSE WERE CRITICISED
by charities and children's organisations yesterday
(Telegraph 2004-03-05).
The
CABINET
PAVED THE WAY YESTERDAY FOR GENETICALLY MODIFIED
CROPS TO BE GROWN
commercially in Britain (Telegraph 2004-03-05).
France
The FOOD
EXPERT ID CARD
can identify different animal products in food and
feed samples, and it could help prevent Mad Cow
disease (CNet News 2004-03-05).
United
States
As lawyers and court watchers have long suspected,
the Supreme Court was ready to effectively OVERTURN
THE LANDMARK ROE V WADE RULING LEGALIZING
ABORTION
in 1992, but Justice Anthony M Kennedy got cold
feet, and the vote went the other way (FindLaw
2004-03-04).
Singapore
A Singapore court on Saturday CLEARED
DOCTORS WHO LAST YEAR TRIED TO SEPARATE ADULT
CONJOINED TWINS FROM IRAN OF ANY CRIMINAL LIABILITY,
saying the operation which ended fatally was an
accident (News24 2004-03-06).
Friday
5 March
In
a ruling that has huge financial implications for
the state, the Constitutional Court said yesterday
that SOCIAL
WELFARE GRANTS MAY NO LONGER BE LIMITED TO SOUTH
AFRICAN CITIZENS
and must be paid to all permanent residents who need
them (Business Day 2004-03-05). In the ruling - a
majority decision of seven against two - CERTAIN
SECTIONS OF THE SOCIAL ASSISTANCE ACT, WHICH REFUSES
SOCIAL GRANTS TO PEOPLE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES EVEN IF
THEY HAVE PERMANENT RIGHT OF ABODE - WERE DECLARED
UNCONSTITUTIONAL
(News24 2004-03-04).
REVISED
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE OMBUDSMAN FOR BANKING
SERVICES
(OBS) were unveiled in Johannesburg on Thursday
(M&G 2004-03-04).
The
city of Cape Town is sending out letters to
landlords requiring that they SIGN
AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR TENANTS'
SERVICE DEBTS,
but a local attorney believes the city is out of
line in doing this and is warning landlords not to
sign the letters (News24 2004-03-05).
NOT
ALL PRISONERS ARE HAPPY ABOUT THE CONSTITUTIONAL
COURT'S DECISION TO ALLOW THEM TO VOTE IN THE APRIL
14 ELECTION
: some are in prison under different names to those
which they are known outside. A Correctional
Services spokesman explained the voting process
involves all prisoners getting an identification
document and to do that they need to have their
fingerprints taken. "They feel this might link
them to other crimes for which they have not yet
been found guilty," he said (M&G
2004-03-05).
The media needs to debate A
NEW SET OF NEWS VALUES THAT RECOGNISES WOMEN'S
ISSUES,
journalism head at the University of Stellenbosch
Prof Lizette Rabe said on Friday (News24
2004-03-05).
Uganda
A Ugandan king is demanding A
TRILLION POUNDS IN COMPENSATION FROM THE BRITISH
MONARCHY
for decimating the population of his kingdom in the
late 1890s (M&G 2004-03-04).
Germany
A
German appeals court has ordered A
RETRIAL FOR MOUNIR EL-MOTASSADEZ, THE ONLY PERSON
SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED FOR INVOLVEMENT IN THE SEPT
11 ATTACKS.
Complaining that crucial evidence had been withheld
by the German and American authorities, a five-judge
panel threw out the year-old conviction and sent the
case back to the lower court in Hamburg which had
sentenced him to 15 years in prison on more than
3,000 counts of accessory to murder (New York Times
2004-03-05).
New
Zealand
The Law Society is questioning the effectiveness of
a $20 000 fine as A
DETERRENT TO MEDIA PUBLISHING THE NAMES OF POLICE
OFFICERS WHO USE LETHAL FORCE.
Parliament is considering the Police Complaints
Authority (Conditional Name Protection) Amendment
Bill (Otago Daily Times 2004-03-05).
Thursday
4 March
BLACK
WOMEN SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO INHERIT UNDER THE
INTESTATE SUCCESSION ACT
and not under customary law, the Constitutional
Court heard on Wednesday (Witness 2004-03-04).
South
African VOTERS
IN PRISONS ARE ENTITLED TO CAST THEIR BALLOTS IN THE
UPCOMING GENERAL ELECTION
in terms of a Constitutional Court ruling on
Wednesday (Witness 2004-03-04).
The
extent that THE
OMBUDSMAN FOR BANKING SERVICES (OBS) IS ABLE TO HELP
SOUTH AFRICANS
who have complaints against their banks has received
a much-needed boost, following the announcement that
its terms of reference have been updated (Business
Day 2004-03-04).
South
Africa should launch an URGENT
EDUCATION CAMPAIGN ON POST-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS
(PEP) SERVICES FOR RAPE SURVIVORS
and also make clear statements supporting
antiretroviral drugs, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said
(Business Day 2004-03-04).
Central
African Republic
Authorities will meet in the coming days with OUSTED
HAITIAN LEADER JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE,
to "clear up" whether he wants to remain
in Bangui or head into exile elsewhere. A
government spokesperson said "he's scarcely
been here 24 hours, and he's causing problems for
Central African diplomacy," (News24
2004-03-03).
Wednesday
3 March
eThekwini
municipality will seek a court interdict to STOP
THE GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING OF THE KWAZULU-NATAL
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION
(Kwanaloga) to be held this month (Witness
2004-03-03).
KwaZulu-Natal
residents DO
NOT NEED POSSESSION PERMITS TO OWN CYCADS.
However, anyone transporting a cycad from one
property to another or out of the province does
require a permit (Witness 2004-03-03).
United
Kingdom
Gordon Pollock QC has won a Court of Appeal victory FORCING
THE BANK OF ENGLAND TO DISCLOSE CERTAIN
COMMUNICATIONS WITH ITS LAW FIRM,
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, that the bank had
sought to keep secret (The Lawyer 2004-03-01).
Australia
In
2003 the Law Society took two parters of a law firm
to the Supreme Court for professional misconduct,
including gross overcharging. The court found the
solicitors guilty, and at the request of the ACT Law
Society, ordered them to pay $150,000 into a
restitution fund to provide partial compensation for
the ACT clients they had overcharged. It is believed
to be the FIRST
TIME IN AUSTRALIA WHERE SUCH AN ORDER HAS BEEN
SOUGHT FROM AND MADE BY A COURT
(City News 2004-03-03).
Tuesday
2 March
A class action in the Constitutional Court is SET
TO CHALLENGE MUNICIPALITIES' STATUS AS TOP PRIORITY
CREDITORS creditors in cases where
property owners fail to pay their rates and taxes when a
property is auctioned (Business Day 2004-03-01).
The
INHERITANCE
RIGHTS OF BLACK WOMEN UNDER CUSTOMARY LAW
will come under the scrutiny of the Constitutional
Court today, when it hears three cases challenging
this law (Business Day 2004-03-01).
The
IEC has published the text of the ELECTORAL
CODE OF CONDUCT AND LISTS OF REGISTERED PARTIES
in each province (IEC 2004-02-01). The ORDER
IN WHICH PARTIES WILL APPEAR ON THE BALLOT PAPERS
been decided but whether or not this has any
influence on where you decide to place your cross is
a matter of opinion (The Star 2004-03-02).
In a departure from their long-held policy of not
making political donations and in recognition of the
country's 10th anniversary of democracy, Standard
Bank (SBK) and the Liberty Group (LGL) announced DONATIONS
OF R5 MILLION AND R1.5 MILLION RESPECTIVELY TOWARDS
NATIONAL ELECTION FUNDING
(Business Day 2004-03-02).
Zimbabwe
The year-long TREASON
TRIAL OF MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, ZIMBABWE'S OPPOSITION
LEADER, HAS ENDED
with defence lawyers accusing the government of
bribing witnesses to testify (Telegraph 2004-02-27).
Iraq
It is important that the various factions on Iraq's
Governing Council agreed to GUARANTEE
THE RIGHTS OF SPEECH, ASSEMBLY AND THE PRESS,
and that they provided for an independent court
system with protections for the accused. Even more
significant was the deal struck on the role of
religion in the state: Islam will be the official
religion but only one source of law (Washington Post
2003-03-02).
Haiti
"The task will not be an easy one," said
Boniface Alexandre about rebuilding his country
after being sworn in as HAITI'S
INTERIM PRESIDENT
Sunday. That understatement came from the chief
justice of Haiti's Supreme Court, the constitutional
successor to ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
who resigned and fled as armed rebels closed in (The
JournalNews 2004-03-02). Meanwhile, as Jean-Bertrand
Aristide arrived in Africa seeking refuge yesterday,
IT
LOOKED AS IF A TORNADO HAD BLOWN THROUGH HIS PRIVATE
VILLA
back home in Haiti (Canoe 2004-03-02). ARISTIDE
SAID HE HAD BEEN OVERTHROWN BY THE UNITED STATES,
a charge dismissed by the White House as
"complete nonsense" (New York Times
2004-03-02). See SOUTH
AFRICA'S OFFICIAL MEDIA STATEMENT
(SA Government Online 2004-03-02).
United
Kingdom
Mondaq has published an article on PRACTICAL
IMPLICATIONS OF THE UK MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS
2003 - WHICH ARE NOW IN FORCE
(2004-03-01).
Monday
1 March
The
South African Law Commission is expected to put
forward legislative proposals to PREVENT
DEBT ADMINISTRATORS FROM OVERCHARGING CLIENTS,
says the Banking Council (Business Day 2004-03-01).
Public
service trade unions believe that the more than 13
000 excess PUBLIC
SERVANTS MAY NOT BE SIMPLY DISMISSED
(News24 2004-02-29).
The
Department of Home Affairs - teetering on the brink
of collapse as a result of rampant corruption and
inefficiency - has called in the National
Intelligence Agency to SUBJECT
ALL ITS EMPLOYEES TO SECURITY VETTING
(News24 2004-02-29).
Can
an employer can FORCE
ITS EMPLOYEES TO ACCEPT CHANGES TO THEIR TERMS AND
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
and, if so, how can such a change be effected?
(International Law Office - 2004-02-25).
Sectional
title sales during the year 2003 registered at nine
regional deeds offices TOTALLED
R25.9BN
(Finance24 2004-02-27).
ONE-FIFTH
OF ALL SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND A
QUARTER OF TECHNIKON STUDENTS ARE HIV-POSITIVE,
says the Human Sciences Research Council (News24
2004-02-27).
Iraq
After MISSING
THE SATURDAY DEADLINE FOR COMPLETING WORK ON A
TEMPORARY CONSTITUTION
intended to guide the country for at least a year
(New York Times 2004-02-29), the Iraqi Governing
Council today approved AN
INTERIM CONSTITUTION THAT RECOGNIZES THE INFLUENCE
OF ISLAM ON THE COUNTRY AND SETS A QUOTA FOR THE
INCLUSION OF FEMALE REPRESENTATIVES IN A FUTURE
GOVERNMENT
(Bloomberg 2004-03-01).
United
States
Environmentalists
claimed victory over the United States on Friday as
signatories to the UN's Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety agreed to INTERNATIONAL
RULES COVERING THE EXPORT OF GENETICALLY-MODIFIED
PRODUCTS
such as crops and food (News24 2004-02-29).
Europe
Millions
of giant Pacific crabs, which can weigh up to 25lb
and have a claw-span of more than three feet, are MARCHING
SOUTH ALONG NORWAY'S COAST, DEVOURING EVERYTHING IN
THEIR PATH
(Telegraph 2004-02-28).
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