JUL
31
2009

Delphi Sale to GM, Lenders Wins U.S. Court Approval

Delphi Corp. cleared the final obstacle to exiting from almost four years of bankruptcy protection when it won court approval of its plan to sell most of its assets to lenders and former parent General Motors Co.

JUL
30
2009

Lawmaker urges regulations for file-sharing

A senior U.S. lawmaker said on Wednesday that it may be time for the government to regulate companies that provide online file-sharing services after a number of people managed to access FBI files, medical records and Social Security numbers.

JUL
30
2009

Defamation lawsuit for US tweeter

Horizon Group Management filed a lawsuit that has accused Amanda Bonnen of defaming the company with her tweet. She sent out a message that said "Who said sleeping in a mouldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it´s okay."

JUL
30
2009

House committee approves bill to regulate executive compensation

The US House Committee on Financial Services [official website] on Tuesday approved [press release] the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act [HR 3269 text, PDF], which would restrict the way in which executives for publicly-traded companies can be compensated. Committee members say the bill would discourage executive compensation packages that emphasize short-term gains over long-term stability, which they say helped to cause the country´s recent financial collapse.

JUL
30
2009

Federal appeals court revives suit over Iran assassination

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that a lawsuit against Iran over the 1984 assassination of former chief of the Iranian armed forces Gholam Oveissi in France by Hezbollah [JURIST news archive] may proceed. The suit was brought by Oveissi´s grandson, who alleged that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian Ministry of Information and Security (MOIS) funded and directed Hezbollah.

JUL
30
2009

Ireland to take 2 Guantanamo detainees

Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern [official profile] announced Wednesday that Ireland will accept two detainees [press release] being released from the US prison facility at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. The detainees will not be admitted as refugees, but rather with permanent residency rights [Guardian report], allowing them to work and move freely. Ahern said:

JUL
30
2009

U.K. Ends More Than 600 Years of Tradition as Law Lords Bow Out

More than 600 years of British history and tradition will end today when Parliament’s upper chamber, the unelected House of Lords, ceases to also be the nation’s highest court.

JUL
29
2009

China bans online games which glamorize gangs

China has banned websites featuring or publicizing online games which glamorize mafia gangs, saying violators will be "severely punished," state media reported on Tuesday. The Culture Ministry said such games "advocate obscenity, gambling, or violence," and "undermine morality and Chinese traditional culture," the official Xinhua news agency said.

JUL
29
2009

Spammers got busy when Michael Jackson died

When Michael Jackson died on June 25, his fans mourned — and cybercriminals swung into action. Within 38 hours, they forged alliances with familiar partners to trigger global spam campaigns that capitalized on the singer´s death.

JUL
29
2009

Rights group urges revision of Nicaragua absolute abortion ban

Amnesty International [advocacy website] on Monday called on Nicaragua to end its total ban on abortions [report, PDF; press release], saying that the lack of an exception for the mother´s health has caused numerous deaths. AI also called for the country to eliminate severe criminal punishments for those who seek or perform abortions, saying that the penalties would often prevent women from receiving even non-abortion medical care. It also called for an exception allowing abortions in the cases of rape or incest. The group said that ban forces obstetricians to choose between medically necessary procedures and the law, and that it violates the UN Convention Against Torture, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [texts] and other treaties signed by the country:

JUL
29
2009

Eleventh Circuit denies FedEx employees class certification

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] on Monday denied [opinion, PDF] FedEx Corporation [official website] employees suing over compensation the ability to gain class classification. The court´s decision affirmed a decision by the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida [official website] that the claims rested too heavily on factual information that was unique to individual members of the suit. The court wrote:

JUL
29
2009

Senate committee to hold hearings on ´Don´t Ask, Don´t Tell´

The US Senate Armed Services Committee [official website] announced [press release] Monday that it will hold hearings this fall to review the US military´s "Don´t Ask, Don´t Tell" policy [10 USC § 654 text; HRC backgrounder]. Under the policy, openly gay servicemen and women are subject to discharge from the US military. Committee member Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) [official website] commented:

JUL
29
2009

Hollywood companies file suit against Pirate Bay file-sharing site

Several Hollywood production companies filed suit Monday in Sweden against the operators of the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay [website], seeking an injunction. The US companies, including Disney, Universal, and Columbia Pictures, filed a writ to sue [The Local report] in the Stockholm District Court, requesting that the court order the owners to cease and desist the operation of their BitTorrent [backgrounder] website.

JUL
29
2009

Senate committee recommends Sotomayor for Supreme Court

The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] on Tuesday voted 13-6 to recommend the confirmation [hearing materials] of Sonia Sotomayor [WH profile; JURIST news archive] for the Supreme Court [official website]. All 12 Democrats on the committee and one Republican voted in favor of the recommendation. In a statement [text] praising Sotomayor, committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] applauded her experience and dismissed allegations of prejudice:

JUL
29
2009

US immigration detention centers violate rights: advocacy group

US detention centers for illegal immigrants have failed to meet basic standards [press release] for the treatment of those held at the facilities, according to a report [text, PDF] released Tuesday by the National Immigration Law Center [advocacy website] and two other groups. The groups said that immigrants being held in the US are often denied adequate visitation, telephone, recreation, legal information access, and grievance rights. It also said that the institutions failed to follow standards for detainee transfer, holding, and discipline procedures. The groups said that by denying immigrants these rights, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] agency has failed to observe rules set out in its Detention Management Control Program Manual [text]:

JUL
28
2009

Judge orders guardian for octuplets´ finances

A California judge appointed a lawyer Monday to oversee the estate of Nadya Suleman´s octuplets, saying he wanted to ensure they weren´t exploited by reality television shows, tabloid photo spreads or other paid ventures.

JUL
28
2009

Start-Up Plans to Make Journalism Pirates Pay Up

Online piracy isn’t just a problem for music companies; it hurts newspapers and magazines as well. News organizations are now trying to do something about the many Web sites that simply copy articles and paste them into their own pages.

JUL
28
2009

AVG temporarily blocked iTunes, labeling it malware

AVG´s free antivirus product temporarily blocked users from getting to iTunes late last week, detecting it as a Trojan, the company said on Monday.

JUL
28
2009

Nortel and RIM held wireless patent talks: source

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has held talks with Nortel Networks on buying next-generation wireless patents that were not part of Nortel´s $1.13 billion wireless asset sale on the weekend, a source familiar with the situation said on Monday.

JUL
28
2009

Oracle sues Qtrax, claims P2P site owes $1.8 million

Oracle, the giant enterprise software company, has accused Qtrax, the legal peer-to-peer music service, of copyright infringement and breach of contract in a $2 million lawsuit filed last week in Northern California.

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