United States and South America
Argentina
'Dirty
war' general found guilty - 13 August
A former general who headed a notorious detention centre during
Argentina's military rule has been sentenced to life in prison for
human rights abuses. Santiago Omar Riveros, 86, commanded the Campo de
Mayo military barracks on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. He was found
guilty of involvement in the 1976 murder of 15-year-old communist
youth member, Floreal Avellaneda, who was tortured to death. Some 30
000 people disappeared or died in Argentina's 1976-1983 "Dirty
War". - BBC News website
Bolivia
Bolivian
Indians in historic step - 3 August
Bolivia has become the first country in the history of South America
to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. The
country's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, launched his
so-called "indigenous autonomy" policy in the eastern
lowlands. Peasant and indigenous communities will be entitled to vote
for more autonomy in referendums next December. The provisions are
contained in a constitution passed earlier this year. The new charter
was bitterly opposed by Bolivia's traditional elite. - BBC
News website
Keyphrase :
Traditional leadership
Brazil
Britons
to stay in Brazil prison - 31 July
Two British law graduates charged with attempted insurance fraud in
Brazil are said to be "anxious and concerned" after they
were denied bail. Shanti Andrews and Rebecca Turner, both 23, are
being held in the "tough" Polinter prison, near Rio de
Janeiro. The women claim they were robbed but the police allegedly
uncovered some of the items in their Rio hostel room. - BBC
News website
Courts
Extortion
conviction upheld for lawyer who threatened hair-cut pricing suit
- 7 August
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has upheld the extortion conviction of
a lawyer who threatened to sue a Concord hair salon for charging women
more money for haircuts than men or children. The conviction was based
on a letter Daniel Hynes sent in December 2006 to Claudia's Signature
Salon accusing the shop of violating laws barring gender and age
discrimination. The letter demanded $1 000 to avoid litigation and
gave the salon owner 10 days to comply. However, Hynes had never
visited the salon and did not have a client complaining of
discriminatory pricing. As a result, he did not have standing to
pursue a claim under the state's Consumer
Protection Act, according to the court. The salon owner’s
husband complained to the attorney general, who sent an investigator
posing as a business partner to settlement discussions. Hynes was
arrested after agreeing to a $500 settlement. - ABA
Journal website
Survivors
say stunt left them twisted - 10 August
One woman who took part says the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii"
contest left her with a fear of water, and that she can no longer
listen to the radio. Another contestant says she has gained 60 pounds
and suffers from irrational mood swings. A third worries about
her own mortality, "like I am destined to die young, maybe at my
own hand". Fallout from the January 2007 contest that left one
contestant dead sparked media coverage worldwide. - The
Sacramento Bee website
Judge
: Microsoft banned from selling Word in the US - 12 August
Welcome to the world of surprising patent lawsuits. A Texas judge
ruled Tuesday that Microsoft cannot sell Word – yes, Microsoft Word,
the cornerstone of Microsoft Office – in the United States. - Mashable
website
Judge
jails man for yawning in court - 11 August
Clifton Williams was sitting in an Illinois courtroom waiting for the
final sentence of his cousin for drugs charges, when suddenly he
yawned. Judge Daniel Rozak sentenced the cousin to two years in prison
and will imprison Williams to six months in prison for yawning in his
courtroom. State' attorney's office spokesperson Chuck Pelkie said
that Williams did not let out a simple yawn and instead "let out
a boisterous and loud yawn." - Digital
Journal website
Cyberlaw
First
ever criminal prosecution for domain name theft underway - 3
August
Over the years hundreds of stories of domain name theft have been
reported, most famous among them of course is the theft of Sex.com.
Even as recent as last week, reports of stolen domains sent a chilling
reminder through the domain industry as valuable domains Before.com,
Adios.com and others were stolen from Warren Weitzman. Until recently,
there hasn’t been a case of a domain theft where the thief was
caught and arrested. However, on July 30th, Daniel Goncalves was
arrested at his home in Union, New Jersey and charged in a landmark
case, the first criminal arrest for domain name theft in the United
States. - DomainNameNews
website
Judge
rules that DVD copying software is illegal - 12 August
American software company RealNetworks has been banned from selling a
program that lets people make copies of their DVDs, in a US court
decision that could have far-reaching implications. After a year-long
case over the legality of the company's RealDVD software, a district
court in San Francisco ruled that Real had violated America's
copyright laws and granted a preliminary injunction against Real to
prevent it selling the program. In her ruling, Judge Marilyn Hall
Patel said that the complex meant that it was not illegal for
consumers to copy their own DVDs – just illegal to produce a program
that allowed them to do so. - Guardian
website
Employers
watching workers online spurs privacy debate - 23 April
A case brewing in federal court in New Jersey pits bosses against two
employees who were complaining about their workplace on an invite-only
discussion group on MySpace.com, a social-networking site owned by
News Corp, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. The case tests
whether a supervisor who managed to log into the forum - and then
fired employees who badmouthed supervisors and customers there - had
the right to do so. - Wall Street
Journal website
Finance
'All
fake' : key Madoff executive admits guilt - 12 August
A key lieutenant of convicted Ponzi-scheme operator Bernard Madoff
pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud, becoming only the second
person after Mr Madoff to admit to complicity in the
multibillion-dollar fraud. Frank DiPascali Jr pleaded guilty to 10
criminal charges at a hearing in federal court in lower Manhattan in
New York and was immediately sent to jail. - Wall
Street Journal website
Bernard
Madoff's right hand man pleads guilty, will tell all - 11 August
Bernard Madoff's right hand man in his monumental Ponzi scheme,
Frank DiPascali, will "tell all and name names" under the
terms of a guilty plea deal announced today in federal court in New
York City. DiPascali apologized for his actions and described the
transactions as "all fake. It was all fictitious. It was wrong,
and I knew it was wrong at the time". - abc
News website
Madoff
aide reveals details of Ponzi scheme - 11 August
On Tuesday, Mr DiPascali stood in a federal courtroom in Lower
Manhattan and admitted that, for at least the last 20 years, he had
helped Mr Madoff carry out one of the biggest frauds in Wall Street
history. Indeed, he detailed for the first time how he and
unidentified others helped Mr. Madoff perpetuate the crime - using
historical stock data from the Internet to create fake trade
blotters, sending out fraudulent account statements to clients and
arranging wire transfers between Mr Madoff's London and New York
offices to create the impression that the firm was earning
commissions from stock trades. - New
York Times website
Madoff
relied on 'key lieutenant', old stationery to hide scam - 12
August
Bernard Madoff used a random-number generator, old stationery, a
"phantom" trading platform and an aging computer to hide
for decades the world's biggest Ponzi scheme, US regulators said in
claims against the person they called his "key
lieutenant", Frank DiPascali. DiPascali, who yesterday pleaded
guilty in federal court in Manhattan to 10 criminal charges,
including conspiracy, fraud and money laundering, faces up to 125
years in prison. He also settled a civil lawsuit with SEC yesterday.
Civil penalties in that case may be set later. The Madoff case is US
v Madoff, 09-cr-213, US District Court, Southern District of New
York (Manhattan). - Bloomberg
website
Miscellaneous
Jobless
graduate sues her college - 3 August
A New York woman who says she cannot find a job is suing the college
where she obtained a bachelor's degree, the New York Post reports.
Trina Thompson, 27, filed a lawsuit last week against Monroe College
in Bronx Supreme Court. She is seeking to recover $70 000 (£42 000)
she spent on tuition to get her information technology degree. Monroe
College spokesman Gary Axelbank said Ms Thompson's lawsuit was
"completely without merit". - BBC
News website
|