United Kingdom
Banking
Banks
to face tougher regulation - 8 July
UK banks will face tougher regulation and consumers will get more
protection, under reforms to the financial system proposed by the
chancellor. Alistair Darling said the Financial Services Authority
(FSA) would have tougher powers to deal with risk-taking in banks
and penalise misconduct. The current scheme to compensate savers
would be improved, he added. - BBC
News website
Firms
to reveal complaints data - 9 July
Financial firms will have to publish figures about the complaints
made against them, under new proposals from the Financial Services
Authority (FSA). It said that the publicity would put pressure on
the firms to deal with the complaints more effectively. Until now
there has been no obligation on firms to reveal the number of
complaints they receive, nor what they did about them. Wednesday's White
Paper on financial regulation called for improvements. - BBC
News website
Courts
Inside
France's 'Barbarians' trial - 9 July
Jurors in the Gang of Barbarians case in Paris are due to deliver
their verdict. Youssouf Fofana and 26 other gang members are accused
in the brutal murder of a 23-year-old Jewish man in 2006. Emma Jane
Kirby has been following the 10-week trial. - BBC
News website
Pre-nuptial
victory for heiress - 2 July
A court ruling over a divorced couple's pre-nuptial agreement could
pave the way for such contracts to become legally binding in England
and Wales. Katrin Radmacher, a German heiress, has overturned an
earlier court decision to award her ex-husband £5.8m of her £100m
fortune despite their agreement. Frenchman Nicolas Granatino had
agreed not to make a claim if they divorced. Such contracts are
enforceable in Germany, where the couple's was signed, but not in
England where they married. They are also enforceable in Mr
Granatino's home country. - BBC
News website
Sex
assault head teacher jailed - 3 July
A primary school head teacher convicted of nine counts of sexually
assaulting children in his care has been jailed for two years at
Swansea Crown Court. - BBC
News website
Cow
attack sparks damages concern - 5 July
Farmers have expressed disappointment and concern at a legal ruling
in favour of a walker hurt when she was attacked by cows as she
crossed a field. Shirlie McKaskie was seriously hurt in Cumbria in
2003 and a judge has ruled the farmer was liable because he had not
properly considered the risk. Ms McKaskie is claiming £1m damages
but farmer John Cameron is appealing. Dairy farmers said so many
fields were open to walkers that such incidents would occur from
time to time. Legal sources say the Preston Crown Court judge's
decision in favour of Ms McKaskie, who was walking her dog at the
time of the May 2003 attack and was rescued by Mr Cameron, could set
a legal precedent and mean farmers having to remove their cattle
from fields. But the National Farmers' Union said there was nothing
in law to prevent farmers putting cattle and calves in fields with
public footpaths. - BBC
News website
Criminal
Justice System
Booth
hails Scottish penal reform - 4 July
Cherie Booth QC has singled out aspects of Scotland's prison system
for praise in a report produced by the Commission on English
Prisons. She chaired the commission behind the report, which called
for some English jails to be closed and the number of inmates to be
reduced. The wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed
Scottish penal philosophy and the use of community sentences. - BBC
News website
Straw
refuses Ronnie Biggs parole - 1 July
The Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs has been refused parole by
Justice Secretary Jack Straw. Mr Straw rejected a recommendation by
the Parole Board which backed the release of Biggs, 79. Mr Straw
said Biggs was "wholly unrepentant" about his actions and
had "outrageously courted the media". Biggs' son Michael
called for Mr Straw to review the decision. "This is not
justice," he said. He said his father was in a
"life-threatening" condition. - BBC
News website
Lawyers
challenge Biggs decision - 3 July
Lawyers for Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs have claimed Justice
Secretary Jack Straw acted outside his powers in denying the
79-year-old parole. Biggs's solicitor said laws the minister relied
on when making Tuesday's decision were invalid. The lawyers said one
had been repealed and the other was overruled by the House of Lords
in 2002. The Ministry of Justice said Mr Straw has the power to
reject Parole Board recommendations. Biggs is being treated at the
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. - BBC
News website
Education
'No
fee degrees' university plan - 8 July
The government is considering "no fee degrees", in which
students in England would not pay tuition fees - but would not get
any loans or other support. These could be aimed at university
students living at home with their parents, allowing them to avoid
debt. The proposal is in a draft framework for the future of
higher education. - BBC
News website
Environment
Prince
fears Earth 'catastrophe' - 8 July
The Prince of Wales has issued a fresh warning of environmental
catastrophe, telling an audience in London "if we fail the
Earth, we fail humanity". He was delivering the 33rd Richard
Dimbleby lecture at St James's Palace, in honour of the late
broadcaster. The prince's audience included former US President
Bill Clinton and the Archbishop of Canterbury. - BBC
News website
Government
Bid
to delay Standards Bill fails - 8 July
An attempt to delay plans to "clean up" Parliament in
the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal has failed. Peers rejected
calls to postpone a bill which will set up a new independent body
to oversee claims, despite arguments it was being rushed. But a
proposed new offence of paid advocacy by MPs has been shelved,
ministers have said. And in a further U-turn, the government has
agreed that the measure will only affect the Commons, and not the
Lords. - BBC
News website
Human
Rights
Court
revokes 'exile' decision - 3 July
A decision by the government to "exile" a terror suspect
from London on the basis of secret evidence must be revoked, the
High Court has ruled. A judge ruled the decision was flawed because
the father of five had not been given enough information to mount a
fair defence. But he said he had no choice but to revoke the move
because of new rules governing secret evidence. - BBC
News website
Court
law 'hinders terror police' - 5 July
The government should review the Contempt of
Court Act, the UK's former top anti-terror police officer
says. Peter Clarke said the law, designed to ensure fair trials by
limiting reporting of cases, made it harder for anti-terrorism
police to do their jobs. He said if they could not fully explain
their actions, it made it difficult for communities to have
confidence in them. The Criminal Bar Association disagreed with Mr
Clarke, saying the law "should not constitute a problem"
for police. The Contempt of Court Act became law in 1981. - BBC
News website
Lords
reject assisted dying law - 7 July
A move to make it legal to help a terminally ill person to die has
been defeated in the House of Lords. The measure would have removed
the threat of prosecution from those who go abroad to help an
"assisted suicide". It was proposed by former Labour Lord
Chancellor Lord Falconer who said there was a legal "no-man's
land" that required clarity. At least 115 people from the UK
have gone to Swiss clinic Dignitas to die, but as yet no-one has
been prosecuted. - BBC
News website
Media
Ex-Murdoch
editor Andrew Neil : News of the World revelations one of
most significant media stories of our time - 9 July
One of Rupert Murdoch's former leading editors said last night the
Guardian's revelations of the News of the World's
phone hacking represented one of the "most significant media
stories of modern times". Andrew Neil, who edited the Sunday
Times, said the News of the World did not have a public
interest defence for its practices, exposed by the Guardian.
Neil said : "I think it is one of the most significant media
stories of modern times. It suggests that rather than being a one
off journalist or rogue private investigator, it was systemic
throughout the News of the World, and to a lesser extent the Sun.
- Guardian website
Murdoch
papers paid £1m to gag phone-hacking victims - 8 July
Rupert Murdoch's News Group News papers has paid out more than £1m
to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his
journalists' repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to
get stories. The payments secured secrecy over out-of-court
settlements in three cases that threatened to expose evidence of
Murdoch journalists using private investigators who illegally hacked
into the mobile phone messages of numerous public figures to gain
unlawful access to confidential personal data, including tax
records, social security files, bank statements and itemised phone
bills. Cabinet ministers, MPs, actors and sports stars were all
targets of the private investigators. - Guardian
website
News
of the World phone hack claims : who's who
The issue of phone tapping at News of the World came to the
fore in 2006, with the arrest, trial and conviction of the newspaper's
royal editor Clive Goodman. The matter was considered closed, but
three years on, the issue has come back to haunt News International
and those initially involved as the authorities try to establish who
knew what, when, where and how. - Telegraph
website
Lawmakers,
celebrities targeted in alleged phone-hacking scandal - 9 July
British lawmakers demanded answers Thursday after a newspaper
reported that a UK tabloid illegally hacked the phones of thousands
of public figures including Gwyneth Paltrow, George Michael and Elle
MacPherson. Earlier Thursday the Guardian reported the cell
phones of "several thousand public figures" were hacked
into by reporters and staff of the News of the World tabloid
during one month in 2006. - CNN
website
Stars
'may sue' over phone claim - 10 July
Public figures who believe they were victims of alleged phone
hacking by investigators hired by the News of the World are
considering suing the paper. One lawyer told the BBC he has
had two enquiries and that more celebrities and politicians were
seeking advice. In its latest revelations, the Guardian names
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and former England
captain Alan Shearer among those whose messages were allegedly
intercepted. Three inquiries have been launched by the director of
public prosecutions, the Press Complaints Commission and a Commons
select committee. - BBC News
website
British
authorities open, then shut inquest into News Corp activities -
10 July
London Metropolitan Police opened a preliminary investigation
Thursday into the British division of Rupert Murdoch's News
Corporation, then closed the case later in the day, citing lack of
new evidence to move the inquiry forward. - To
the Center website
Double
jeopardy principle may save Andy Coulson from the sack, for now
- 10 July
Andy Coulson will know that he's broken the first rule of
political spin: never become the story yourself. Mr Coulson was editor of the
News of the World until he resigned in
2007 after one of his reporters was jailed for hacking into the
phone messages of royal aides. He is now David Cameron's director
of communications, and when allegations were made yesterday of much
more widespread use of bugging at the newspaper, the Conservatives
pointed out the claims related to a period after Mr Coulson left
office. So Mr Cameron has been stressing that people deserve a
second chance, and Mr Coulson's job is safe. But the Commons
Culture, Media and Sport Committee is sufficiently concerned to
re-open its inquiry into phone tapping. - Wales
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