Brazil
When
love is gone, divorce is one click away - 2 September
The Brazilian Senate has approved a bill that would allow consensual
divorces to be filed and resolved on the Internet. The Senate's
official news agency says the bill would speed divorce proceedings,
allowing couples to split without lawyers or having to wait in line
in court. Couples could file for legal separations, divide property
and decide alimony via the Internet as well, according to the bill
approved Wednesday by the Senate constitutional commission. - IOL
website
Community
work for fraud Britons - 20 August
Two British law graduates who admitted an attempted insurance fraud
in Brazil have been sentenced to community service and fined.
Rebecca Turner and Shanti Andrews told a court they were robbed but
exaggerated the theft. They told police that goods worth £1 000
were stolen from them during a bus journey in Brazil. The women,
both 23, may have to stay in Brazil for at least eight months,
unless an appeal succeeds. - BBC
News website
See
also :
Britons
to stay in Brazil prison - 31 July
Canada
Hate
speech law unconstitutional : rights tribunal - 2 September
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on Wednesday ruled that Section 13,
Canada's much maligned human rights hate speech law, violates the
Charter right to free expression because it carries the threat of
punitive fines. The shocking decision by Tribunal member Athanasios
Hadjis leaves several hate speech cases in limbo, and appears to strip
the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its controversial legal
mandate to pursue hate on the Internet, which it has strenuously
defended against complaints of censorship. - National
Post website
Courts
SA
does about-turn on US apartheid case - 3 August
The South African government has overturned a decision made under
ex-president Thabo Mbeki not to support class action for apartheid
reparations from eight United States-based companies, Business Report
said on Thursday. Justice Minister Jeff Radebe has written a letter to
the presiding judge of the US District Court of the southern district
of New York to announce that President Jacob Zuma's government would
support the lawsuit brought by Khulumani Support Group. This was in
contrast to a letter written by his predecessor, Penuell Maduna, to
the court in July 2003, which said the state would oppose Khulumani's
action because it would "discourage much-needed foreign
investment". - Mail & Guardian
website
Keyphrase :
United States. 'Apartheid Case'
Microsoft
wins right to sell Word - 4 September
Microsoft has overturned a ban on it selling its flagship Word
software, imposed after a patent dispute. The block was imposed by a
Texan court following a ruling that its use of formatting language XML
in Word 2003 and 2005 infringed patents. Under the ruling Microsoft
was ordered to pay Canadian patent owner i4i $290m (£177m) damages
and also told to stop sales of the relevant versions of Word. - BBC
News website
Criminal
Justice System
Prosecutor's
duty to disclose evidence an information favorable to the defense
- 8 July
American Bar Association. Standing Committee on Ethics and
Professional Responsibility. - ABA
website
Handwriting-based
tool offers alternate lie detection method - 29 August
For ages experts and laymen have been analyzing and trying to crack
the code of handwriting characteristics, in order to detect an
individual's personality traits, or in most cases, gauge their
innocence in the case of a crime. Although this science has often
gone the way of pseudoscience, researchers are now discovering that
with the aid of a computerized tool, handwriting characteristics can
be measured more effectively. - Science
Daily website
Cyberlaw
Bill
would give president emergency control of Internet - 28 August
Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring
when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to
disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They're not
much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay
Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting
behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the
55-page draft of S.773, which still appears to permit the president to
seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called
cybersecurity emergency. - Politics
and Law website
Entertainment
'Lethal
levels' of anesthetic propofol killed Michael Jackson - 24 August
Michael Jackson died of "lethal levels" of the
powerful anesthetic propofol, according to a search warrant
affidavit unsealed today in Houston. The court documents quote the LA
County coroner's office as reaching that conclusion after an autopsy
of the pop star. The documents address one of the major unanswered
questions surrounding Jackson's death. But they also raise new
questions about how Jackson was treated, particularly in the hours
before his death. Much of the investigation has focused on propofol -
a drug typically administered by anesthesiologists during surgery -
and whether Jackson's personal doctor Conrad Murray’s decision to
give it to Jackson as a sleep aid outside a hospital setting reaches a
level of negligence required for an involuntary manslaughter charge. -
Los Angeles Times
website
Rihanna
attacker Brown sentenced - 25 August
US singer Chris Brown has been sentenced to 180 days' community labour
and five years' probation for assaulting pop star Rihanna. The
20-year-old R&B star pleaded guilty in June to beating Rihanna,
his former girlfriend, before the Grammy awards in Los Angeles in
February. The judge said Brown must do physical labour, not community
service, and attend domestic violence counselling. Brown must also
stay at least 100 yards from Rihanna for the next five years. The
judge said violation of the terms would be taken "very, very
seriously". - BBC News
website
Family Law
The
role of a child custody investigator - 25 October 2007
Contrary to popular belief, child custody investigators are not just
private detectives hired by those who can afford their exorbitant
fees. The court system also employs investigators to provide them with
a better insight into the daily routines and behaviors of both
parents. Since the judge is unlikely to witness either parent's
activities outside of the court room, it has become more common for
the court to assign an independent party to monitor these things. For
that reason it is important for anyone facing a custody hearing to
become aware of the role that an investigator plays, and how it may
affect the outcome of the case. - articles
engine website
Finance
Madoff
fraud probes 'a failure' - 2 September
The US financial watchdog mishandled a string of probes into the
business of convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff, an investigation has
found. It said the Securities and Exchange Commission bungled five
investigations despite many complaints over 16 years about the $65bn (£40bn)
fraud. - BBC News website
Executive
summary of SEC IG's Madoff Report now available
- 2 September
Guatemala
Guatemala
sees landmark sentence - 1 September
A Guatemalan court has sentenced an ex-paramilitary officer to 150
years in prison for the forced disappearance of civilians in the civil
war. Felipe Cusanero, found guilty over the disappearance in the 1980s
of six indigenous Maya farmers, is the first person to be jailed for
such crimes. Human rights groups have hailed the verdict as a
breakthrough in the fight against impunity in Guatemala. - BBC
News website
Health
Pfizer
agrees record fraud fine - 2 September
US drugmaker Pfizer has agreed to pay $2.3bn (£1.4bn) in the largest
healthcare fraud settlement in the history of the Department of
Justice. It follows the firm being found to have illegally promoted
four drugs as treatments for conditions different to those which
regulators had approved. The investigation was trigged by allegations
made by six whistleblowers. They will receive $102m of the civil fines
paid by Pfizer. - BBC News
website
Keyphrases :
Bextra
False Claims Act
Geodon
Lyrica
Zyvox
Human
Rights
Why
are cops tasering grandmothers, pregnant women and kids? - 17
August
In the several years since the Arizona-based Taser International has
deployed its terminologically challenging Electronic Control Devices
(ECDs), colloquially known as stun guns or simply tasers, what
started out as a midrange law enforcement weapon has turned into a
surreal nightmare that has gone viral from streets to screens.
Thanks to the taser's wildfire deployment, classification as
non-lethal weaponry and pop-cultural appeal in films, television,
comics and even cartoons, cops have nearly lost their minds using it
on everyone from children, the elderly, and pregnant mothers to the
mentally unstable and physically disabled. - AlterNet
website
Privacy
US
rejects wiretapping challenge - 21 August
A US judge has rejected a challenge to a law that allows
intelligence services to eavesdrop on overseas conversations to
gather intelligence. The Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act allows the US to monitor the calls and
emails of non-US citizens abroad. Human rights groups contended that
their workers might be bugged for talking to people under
surveillance. - BBC News
website