Brazil
UK
arrests in toxic waste probe - 24 Juyl
UK officials investigating an illegal shipment of 1 400 tonnes of toxic
waste to Brazil have made three arrests. Environment Agency officers and
police raided three properties in the Swindon area, making arrests. The
UK is working with Brazil to return the contents of 99 containers to
Britain. The waste reportedly includes syringes, condoms and bags of
blood. The Brazilian government has said it will lodge a formal
complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). - BBC
News website
See :
Brazil
anger over toxic UK waste - 17 July
BBC News
website
[InfoUpdate 15 of 2009]
Correctional
Services
NYC
inmates sue over 23-hour cell isolation orders - 23 July
A group of inmates who claim they were locked in their cells for their
own protection for as many as 23 hours a day have sued the city
Department of Correction to stop the practice, saying the isolation is
cruel and violates jail regulations. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Marcy
Friedman heard oral arguments in the case Thursday and said she would
issue a decision in the next few weeks. - newsday
website
Courts
The
Fire Dept tests that were found to discriminate - 24 July
When Judge Nicholas G Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn
ruled on Wednesday in a Justice Department lawsuit that New York City
had discriminated against black and Hispanic applicants to the Fire
Department, he argued that the entrance exams used had little relation
to firefighting. The two tests, administered in 1999 and 2002, involve
dozens of multiple-choice questions that appear to evaluate reading
comprehension, the ability to look at buildings from one angle and
visualize them from others, and specific knowledge about things like in
what order firefighters should put on their gear in an alarm. But
lawyers for the Vulcan Society, an organization of black firefighters
that is part of the lawsuit, argued successfully that those sorts of
questions could not measure the skills necessary to become a good
firefighter. - New York
Times website
Defence
Clinton
outlines how US might deal with nuclear Iran - 22 July
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sketched out on Wednesday how the
United States might cope with a nuclear Iran - by arming its
allies in the Gulf and extending a "defense umbrella" over the
region. - Reuters
website
Entertainment
Clinic
of Jackson doctor raided - 22 July
The Houston clinic of Michael Jackson's doctor has been searched by drug
police looking for evidence of manslaughter, his lawyer says. Officers
from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) entered Dr Conrad Murray's office
and removed several items. - BBC
News website
Environment
Seal
dispute on San Diego beach - 20 July
The Californian city of San Diego has been given 72 hours to remove
harbour seals from a small beach area originally designated for
children. They were ordered by a judge to comply with an earlier order
to clean up the Children's Pool at La Jolla beach. But lawyers for seal
activists are planning to file a motion to block the move in what has
been a decades-long battle over the issue. The city plans to use the
sound of barking dogs to scare off the seals. They cannot use force
because the seals are a federally-protected marine species. San Diego
County Superior Court Judge Yuri Hoffman ruled on Monday that state law
requires the beach be kept clean for children under a 1931 deed to the
property. However, supporters of the seals would like the area to be
preserved as a sanctuary. - BBC
News website
Finance
Madoff
with billions now light manual labour in prison - 21 July
Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff, given a 150 year prison sentence in
June for running the biggest fraud in Wall Street history, spends seven
hours a day doing light manual labor, the New York Post said
Monday. The former Nasdaq chairman was transferred last week to a
medium-security facility in Butner, North Carolina - widely described as
a "crown jewel" in the federal prison system because
of the reputation of its staff and medical facilities. According to the Post,
Madoff was given a job in the prison's engraving section, where he makes
desk and door nameplates from 7:00 am to 2:30 pm every day. - The
Richmark Sentinel website
Human
Rights
Baseball's
use of DNA raises questions - 21 July
Confronted with cases of identity and age falsification by Latin
American baseball prospects, Major League Baseball is conducting
genetic testing on some promising young players and their parents.
Many experts in genetics consider such testing a violation of personal
privacy. Federal legislation, signed into law last year and scheduled
to take effect Nov. 21, prohibits companies based in the United States
from asking an employee, a potential employee or a family member of an
employee for a sample of their DNA. - New
York Times website
Labour
Issues
Boston
Globe union accepts deal - 21 July
Members of the largest union at the Boston Globe have voted by
nearly two to one to accept pay cuts in an attempt to save the
struggling newspaper. The Boston Newspaper Guild's decision will
enable the 137-year-old paper to save $10m a year. The Globe's owner,
the New York Times, wants to sell the loss-making title.
Analysts say the pay and benefit cuts approved by the union may make
the newspaper a more attractive purchase for potential buyers. - BBC
News website
Mexico
Express
route to divorce has familiar delays - 21 July
Legislators swept aside the requirement that couples prove grounds for
divorce in situations like violence, cruelty, terminal illness and
adultery. Instead, they created no-fault divorce - one size fits all.
Under the old law, a divorce could drag on for years, but the judge
would grant the divorce and determine the custody arrangements, the
amount of child support, the alimony and the division of property all at
the same time. Now, divorced couples battle over those issues through
repeated legal motions, so the stacks of documents and morass of delays
have not gone away. - New York Times
website
Peru
Fujimori
convicted of corruption - 20 July
The former President of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, has been given a
seven-and-a-half-year jail term for corruption. The 70-year-old was
convicted by Peru's Supreme Court of giving $15m (£9.3m) in state
funds to his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos. The sentence is the third
handed down against Fujimori, who ruled Peru from 1990 to 2000, since
he returned from exile in late 2007 to face charges. Last April, he
was sentenced to 25 years in jail for ordering killings and
kidnappings by the security forces. Fujimori was already serving a
six-year term after being found guilty in 2007 on separate charges of
abuse of power. - BBC
News website
Miscellaneous
"Madoff"
bill would charge rich NY inmates for jail - 20 July
For anyone who believes crime doesn't pay, tell that to the New York
state legislator who introduced a "Madoff" bill on Monday.
Rich New Yorkers convicted of crimes would be forced - if his bill
becomes law - to pay the state and federal governments for how much it
costs to keep them in jail. Like many states, New York has looked at
various ways of driving drive down the cost of keeping people in jail.
- Reuters
website
Three
city mayors and several rabbis held in New Jersey corruption inquiry
- 23 July
Three city mayors, two state politicians and five rabbis were among 44
people arrested across New Jersey yesterday when federal agents
cracked an alleged Sopranos-style crime ring accused of bribery, money
laundering and trafficking body parts and counterfeit handbags. - Times
Online website