"What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine?"
Isak Dinesen
pseudonym of Baroness Karen Blixen
Read Migalhas LatinoAmérica in Spanish every Tuesday and Thursday. Visit the website at www.migalhas.com/latinoamerica
_____________
Get Migalhas International on your mobile
You can now read the newsletter on your mobile device, through the migalhas.com/mobile website. The content of the main sections is the same as that found on the newsletter, but optimized for small-screen displays on mobile devices. Migalhas International Mobile, advancing legal news.
Rousseff loses lower house impeachment vote
Brazil's lower house has voted to start impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff over charges of manipulating government accounts. The "yes" camp comfortably won the required two-thirds majority, after a lengthy session in the capital. The motion will now be sent to the upper house, the Senate, which is expected to suspend Rousseff while it carries out a formal trial. She denies the charges, and accuses her opponents of mounting a "coup". Brazil's governing Workers' Party said "the fight continues now in the Senate", which is expected to consider the case in May. Defending Rousseff, the Workers' Party urged MPs to have a "democratic conscience", and attacked her opponents who are facing their own charges of corruption. The political turmoil and the effort to impeach Rousseff is being driven by the miserable state of the economy. A majority of Brazilians want to see Rousseff impeached, according to recent polling data. Her supporters say many of the congressmen who are sitting in judgment have been accused of far more serious crimes. Pro-impeachment partisans told lawmakers to "choose the country that we want from now on", and said Brazil needed "moral reconstruction." In the Senate, a simple majority is enough to suspend her for up to 180 days while she is put on trial. Vice-President Michel Temer would step in during this period. For Rousseff to be removed from office permanently, two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote in favor. Temer would remain president for an interim period should this happen.
1 - Louisiana govenor signs order banning LGBT discrimination - click here.
2 - Canada's new assisted suicide bill doesn't allow visitors - click here.
_____________
100% Migalhas: www.migalhas.com
_____________
China lawyer detained for post mocking President Xi Jinping over Panama Papers
Ge Yongxi, a civil rights defense lawyer, was detained and released late Friday by Chinese authorities for posts on social media that "poked fun" at President Xi Jinping in relation to the Panama Papers. Ge posted an image of the president on WeChat, a messaging service, along with Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin in a body of water with the words, "The Panama River," "It is really deep," "So easy to get drowned," and "Don't be scared, I have a brother-in-law." The president's brother-in-law, Deng Jiagui, was named—along with a handful of elite Chinese citizens—in the data leak from a Panamanian law firm that exposed offshore accounts held by prominent politicians and others across the globe. Information about the Panama Papers has been censored across China with websites in that country "forbidden" from publishing material about the subject. Ge was also detained 10 months ago for defending another lawyer and questioned by authorities for being involved in a lawyers' rights movement.
_____________
Tell your friends and colleagues you’ve read it in Migalhas International
_____________
Wall Street veterans bet on low-income homebuyers
As the head of Goldman Sachs’s mortgage department, Daniel Sparks helped make the bank more than a billion dollars betting against the market as housing prices began to crash in 2007. Today, he is betting on home buyers who no longer qualify for mortgages in the fallout of that housing crisis. Shelter Growth Capital Partners, an investment firm Mr. Sparks founded in 2014 with two other former Goldman Sachs executives, has been buying homes that were foreclosed on during the financial crisis and later resold to buyers under long-term installment contracts. The firm has bought just over 200 homes from Harbour Portfolio Advisors, a Dallas investment firm that has specialized in selling homes to lower-income buyers through what is known as a contract for deed. In these deals, a seller provides the buyer with a long-term, high-interest loan, with the promise of actually owning the home at the end of it. These contracts, a form of seller financing, have ballooned in recent years as low-income families unable to get traditional mortgages have turned to alternate ways to buy homes. The homes are often sold “as is,” in need of costly repairs and renovations, and many of the transactions end in eviction when buyers fall behind on payments. The market is growing in part because so many would-be home buyers with damaged credit histories cannot get loans. Banks are unwilling to write mortgages to riskier clients after being fined billions of dollars for pushing borrowers into unaffordable subprime mortgages before the crisis.
Shrunken Citigroup Illustrates a Trend in Big US Banks
In the last seven years, Citigroup has sold more than 60 businesses, and its holdings have shrunk by $700 billion.
Oil meeting aiming to cap output ends without agreement
A meeting of the world's leading oil exporters to discuss capping production has ended without agreement. After hours of talks in Qatar, the country's energy minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada said that the oil producers needed "more time". Most members of the Opec producers' group, plus other oil exporters including Russia, attended the talks. They wanted a deal that would freeze output and help stem the plunge in crude prices over the past 18 months. Oil prices tumbled in Asian trading as a result, with the price of both US and London crude oil down more than 5%. Talks hit difficulties earlier on Sunday as reports emerged of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Iran did not attend the meeting. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, appeared willing to only freeze output if all Opec members agreed, including Iran.
India’s Tata Consultancy Services to appeal jury verdict
India’s biggest outsourcer by revenue, Tata Consultancy Services, said it would appeal an intellectual property-infringement case after a US federal court jury ordered it pay nearly $1 billion in damages.
Bankers bored as threat of Brexit kills off UK dealmaking
As Europe holds its breath over whether or not the UK will stay in the union, companies are holding on to their cash. Coming off of an eight-year record for mergers and acquisitions, the UK just had its worst quarter for deals since 2010. First-quarter M&A spending on and by companies in the country is down 39 percent from a year ago. Blame Brexit. Critics have warned that the loss of trade and immigration agreements could cause economic instability and push some businesses out of the country. With its large banking hub in London, the UK has been in many respects the financial capital of the European Union. The slowdown in deal making activity is poised to continue until June when Britons will vote to stay or quit the bloc. Brexit is having a negative impact on deals, especially those with a cross-border angle.
Your conversation on the bus or train may be recorded
In a number of cities, what riders say may be recorded. Transit agencies are adding audio recording for security reasons, but civil liberties advocates say it's an invasion of privacy.
Merkel allows inquiry into comic's Erdogan insult
Germany will allow the potential prosecution of a top comedian after the Turkish president filed a complaint. Jan Boehmermann had recited a satirical poem on television which made sexual references to Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Under German law, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government had to approve a criminal inquiry. Merkel stressed that the courts would have the final word, and it was now up to prosecutors to decide whether to press charges.
US transfers nine Guantanamo bay prisoners to Saudi
The US has transferred nine Yemeni prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis agreed to take the prisoners because Yemen was considered too unstable for them to return them to. The transfer leaves 80 prisoners at the US military jail - most of whom have been held without charge or trial for more than a decade. Obama wants to close the prison before he leaves office.
UN rights experts: Chile should establish national body to prevent torture
A delegation from the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) called on the Chilean government Thursday to establish a national independent body to monitor "places of detention."
Apple-FBI battle over iPhone encryption rages on in New York
The tug-of-war between Apple Inc. and the FBI over encryption shows no signs of easing with the company standing fast in its refusal to help investigators in Brooklyn access a drug dealer’s phone. The government’s argument that it needs Apple’s help to extract the data is undercut by its revelation in California that it cracked a terrorist’s phone without the tech giant’s assistance, even though it was more secure, Apple said in court papers filed in Brooklyn on Friday. After months of fighting, both sides are now deeply entrenched in their positions -- arguments that have drawn other technology companies and government officials into an intensifying public debate over privacy. A day before Apple’s latest filing, Microsoft Corp. took a stand in defense of its customers’ data-protection rights, suing to overturn a US law requiring it to comply with data requests without telling its customers. In the Brooklyn case, the US government is asking a federal judge to order Apple to help, after a magistrate judge rejected the prosecutors’ request. Apple said the magistrate judge’s ruling should stand. “The government’s failure to substantiate the need for Apple’s assistance, alone, provides more than sufficient grounds to deny the government’s application,” Apple said in its filing.
Discord grows among the parties over greek debt talks
Greece may be pushed to the edge of bankruptcy again if its government, Europe and the International Monetary Fund cannot reach a compromise on its debt.
Lew can’t change law, so he changes rules
“No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed, with the exception administrative law.” Pfizer CEO Ian Read’s remarks quoted in “Jack Lew’s Political Economy” (Review & Outlok, April 7) recall similar thoughts from an especially good source. Mr. Read says, “If the rules can be changed arbitrarily and applied retroactively, how can any US company engage in the long-term investment planning necessary to compete?” In the Federalist Papers (No. 62, 1788) a prescient James Madison said: “What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not but that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed? What farmer or manufacturer will lay himself out for the encouragement given to any particular cultivation or establishment, when he can have no assurance that his preparatory labors and advances will not render him a victim to an inconstant government?” Have we reached a point in this country where original intent means less than nothing?
Supreme Court tears down another ‘tough on crime’ law
Bit by bit, the Harper government’s punitive and discriminatory “tough on crime” agenda is being dismantled. And not a moment too soon. The Supreme Court of Canada tore another brick out of the wall on Friday when it struck down two Harper-era laws. One was a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison for repeat drug offenders. The other prevented a person with a previous conviction from getting extra credit for time served in custody before trial. Taken together, the laws tended to reduce the discretion available to judges to tailor sentences to the specific circumstances of a crime, and a criminal. They forced them to punish professional criminals and hapless addicts in the same way. They served the former government’s political purposes, but did not serve either justice or public safety.
Time
Make America Solvent Again
Newsweek
Early voting goes against Rousseff in Brazil impeachment fight
Business Week
The Design Issue
The Economist
Dealing with autism: Beautiful minds, wasted
Der Spiegel
Boese, boeser, Boehmerman
L'Espresso
Altri 100 nomi
-----
How are we doing?
We would like to hear from you how we perform. What you like and what we should change or add… Send us an email; we aim to please!
Tell your friends and associates…
to subscribe to Migalhas International! www.migalhas.com
Express yourself
Want to share your opinion, your experience, your questions? You are welcome to do so. This forum is yours. Please contact the editor: [email protected]
Events
We welcome information about your events or conferences to come. Please contact the editor.
Sponsors
Become a sponsor. Spread your name in the business and legal spheres around the world in Migalhas International.
Subscription
To subscribe:Register your name and your address at https://www.migalhas.com
To unsubscribe:Send your name and e-mail address to in the subject line.We will remove your name soonest.
Address changes:If you want to continue to receive Migalhas International, please make sure we have your current e-mail address.
Contact
Michael Ghilissen, editor: [email protected]
Miguel Matos, publisher: [email protected]
Please feel free to send your comments, questions and suggestions to the editor.
Your comments
We always welcome information, articles, testimonials, opinions and comments about something you've read in Migalhas International. Please forward your contributions to the editor.
Confidentiality
When you add your name to Migalhas International, you can be sure that it's confidential. We do not share, trade, rent or sell this list.Our "privacy policy" contains no fine print.No one gets our list. Period.Your e-mail address is safe with us.
Sharing Migalhas International
If you'd like to share this Migalhas International with friends and colleagues, feel free to forward this issue including the copyright notice.Or, invite them to subscribe so they receive their own Migalhas International every week.
Sources
The content of the Migalhas International newsletter is edited for purposes of news reporting, comments and education from several sources, including: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The London Times, Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, The Financial Times, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Google News, International Herald Tribune, Paper Chase (jurist.law.pitt.edu), The World Press Review: https://www.worldpress.org, Forbes, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Harvard Business Review, American Bar Association, American Lawyer Media, FindLaw.com, The National Law Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, Internet Business Law Services, Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado do S. Paulo, Lexis Nexis, West Law, CNN, The Globe and Mail, The Los Angeles Times, Wikipedia and more.
Fair use notice
This newsletter contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of legal, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
The messages that appear in this newsletter are for informational purposes only. They are not intended to be and should not be considered legal advice nor substitute for obtaining legal advice from competent, independent, legal counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.
Transmission of this information is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. The information contained on this list may or may not reflect the most current legal developments.
www.migalhas.com
Copyright 2016 - Migalhas International