April 6, 2015 nº 1,613 - Vol. 11
"The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject but man only"
Thomas Hobbes
Insider's view: see how local concerns shape up the global world. Read the daily press review in Migalhas International
____________
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.
Obama confident of Iran success
The White House has said it is "confident" of reaching a final deal over Iran's nuclear program by an end-of-June deadline. A framework agreement struck on Friday will see Iran curb nuclear activities in return for relief from sanctions. US Republicans skeptical to the deal have threatened to derail it or impose new sanctions. Obama said he had begun efforts to win over skeptical members of Congress. Republicans control both US Houses of Congress, and there is bipartisan support for a bill which would give Congress the right to review any deal before sanctions are lifted. Obama has threatened to veto it. Iran's President, Hassan Rouhani, has vowed it will abide by the terms of the preliminary nuclear agreement it signed with six world powers, so long as they do too. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that it posed a grave danger to the region, in particular his own country. He said any comprehensive accord, due before 30 June, had to include a "clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist".
Tax advantages
The tax advantages of Brazilian real estate investment funds are discussed in this article by the lawyers Renata Maria Novotny Vallarelli, Guilherme Leporace and Juliana Zielinsky Yonenaga, from Lobo & Ibeas Advogados. (Click here)
Visit our new 'Magic Eye' page and boost your career
Migalhas International, with the support of executive search firms, brings the best career and professional development opportunities to its readers. We call this service the "Magic Eye". Click here to go to our special webpage and find your next lease on life.
1 - Kenya court urges change to law that penalises women who pass HIV to baby - click here.
2 - Arkansas Governor Asks Lawmakers to Recall Religious Exception Bill - click here.
_____________
100% Migalhas: www.migalhas.com
_____________
Google stops 'trusting' Chinese net regulator after lapse
A Chinese internet regulator has hit out at Google for no longer accepting its security certificates. When browsing the internet, certificates are designed to ensure the communication between a computer and web server is secure. Google said it would no longer accept certificates issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) following a security lapse. The CNNIC said Google's decision was "unacceptable and unintelligible". The CNNIC is responsible for providing certificates for websites with .cn domain names, as well as Chinese-language domains - including banks and government sites.
China ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang charged
China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang has been charged with bribery, abuse of power and the intentional disclosure of state secrets, state media report. Zhou was, until his retirement in 2012, one of China's most powerful men. He headed the Ministry of Public Security and was a member of China's top decision-making body.
_____________
Tell your friends and colleagues you’ve read it in Migalhas International
_____________
Arkansas and Indiana pass changes to religious laws
Arkansas and Indiana have passed laws to quell the outcry over new "religious freedom" legislation that critics say encourages anti-gay discrimination. Republican Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a revised version of his religious objections bill that he hopes addresses these concerns. The amendments mean his state's law more closely mirrors what Bill Clinton signed into federal law in 1993. Indiana also approved law changes which were signed off by its governor. The Indiana amendment prohibits businesses from using the law as a legal defense if they refuse to provide services to gays and lesbians, or other groups. The change does not apply to churches, religious schools, or non-profit religious organizations.
HSBC sues Petrobras supplier Schahin over unpaid notes
HSBC Holdings Plc is suing Schahin Engenharia SA, a Brazilian oil-industry supplier accused of paying kickbacks to win public contracts, for 173.6 million reais ($55 million) related to unpaid promissory notes. The claim, which was filed in Sao Paulo on March 30, doesn't say when the notes were supposed to have been paid to London-based HSBC, a court filing shows. HSBC joins Deutsche Bank AG and Banco IBM SA, the local financial division of International Business Machines Corp., in making claims against Schahin this year. Schahin is among more than 20 companies that have been temporarily banned from bidding on new projects with state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA, amid allegations that suppliers and builders paid bribes to inflate the value of contracts.
15 states urge US Supreme Court to uphold same-sex marriage bans
Fifteen states, led by Louisiana, urged the US Supreme Court on Thursday to uphold same-sex marriage bans. The brief asserts that voters should decide for themselves whether to allow same-sex marriages in their respective states. Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia joined the brief, even though courts have struck down same-sex marriage bans in these states. Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas, which have not legalized same-sex marriage, were the other states that took part in the brief. The Supreme Court agreed in January to rule on same-sex marriage, and oral arguments are scheduled for April 28.
Despite laws and lawsuits, quota-based policing lingers
The NYPD is denying allegations that officers were forced to make a certain number of warrantless stops, and faced retaliation from superiors when they didn't. One of the dirty secrets in law enforcement that no one likes to talk about is quotas. Police departments routinely deny requiring officers to deliver a set number of tickets or arrests. But critics say that kind of numbers-based policing is real, and corrodes the community's relationship with the police.
French MPs back ban on skinny catwalk models
French MPs have approved a law to ban the use of fashion models deemed to be excessively thin. Under the law, models will have to show they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) above a certain level. Modelling agents that break the rules face fines and six months in jail. The lower house of parliament also passed a separate measure making it illegal to condone anorexia, a move targeting internet sites that encourage dangerous weight loss.
Indigenous tribe's blood returned to Brazil after decades
An indigenous tribe in the Amazon jungle has secured the return of blood samples taken from its people by American researchers in the 1960s. Thousands of samples were taken from members of the Yanomami tribe, in 1967 for genetic testing. A Yanomami shaman, Davi Kopenawa, said the blood would be buried with special prayers. He said his people had been horrified to discover it had been kept in freezers far from home for years.
Death row inmate freed after 30 years
An Alabama man has been freed after spending nearly 30 years on death row. Anthony Ray Hinton, 58, was convicted of murdering two restaurant managers in Birmingham in 1985, but was granted a new trial last year. Tests on bullets found at the crime scene could not be connected to a gun found at Hinton's home, prompting prosecutors to drop the case. His lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, said his client was convicted because he could not afford better legal counsel. The US Supreme Court ruled last year that Hinton did not have adequate legal counsel at the first trial and said the case should be reconsidered at a second trial.
Kuwait top court upholds prison term for Twitter posts
Kuwait's Supreme Court on Sunday upheld a two-year prison sentence for a man accused of insulting the emir on Twitter, his lawyer said. Opposition activist Ayyad al-Harbi is an online journalist in his 20s who posted verses by an Iraqi poet critical of the nation's ruler. Al-Harbi was sentenced to two years in prison for the crime in May, and could have faced as much as five years. Lawyer Mohammed al-Humaidi said al-Harbi's final hope now would be a pardon by the emir.
Delaware senate votes to repeal death penalty
The Delaware Senate voted 11-9 Thursday to repeal the death penalty. The legislation is being sponsored by Senator Karen Peterson and includes an exemption for the 15 inmates currently on Delaware's death row, who will face death by lethal injection. Delaware is one of 32 states that employ capital punishment. Supporters of the death penalty believe that it is a just penalty for the most detestable of offenses, but detractors say execution is costly, encourages violence against minorities, and violates human rights.
Sri Lanka panel calls for prosecutions, probe into state airline
A board appointed by the Sri Lankan government recommended a criminal investigation into the $2.3 billion re-fleeting process of the state-owned airline under the former administration. The board found instances of "gross abuse of power" by former SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickramasinghe and recommended prosecution.
Court Rejects Bharara's plea to reconsider insider trading ruling
Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, was denied in his request for the appeals court to reconsider a ruling that narrowed the definition of what constitutes insider trading.
Digital cracks the final frontier: Law school
Law schools will never be the same thanks to a Minnesota law school which went up against the American Bar Association and won. The William Mitchell College of Law applied to the ABA for permission to design a hybrid online program to students. In an unprecedented move, the ABA approved it. Even though online law schools have existed since the 1990s, their reach was very limited and the ABA refused to recognize them. Many now believe groundbreaking changes are coming in the way lawyers are being educated across the board. In January, 85 students from 31 states and two countries began taking classes in the first-of-its-kind hybrid program, according to the William Mitchell College of Law. Every class is half online and half in person.
Thailand's new law could be worse than martial law
The decision of the Thailand government to lift martial law on April 1 has failed to appease critics after General Prayuth Chan-ocha signed a new law that imposed harsher security measures across the country.
Telecoms ready fight against Net Neutrality
The telecommunications industry has myriad objections to the government's new net-neutrality rules, but its legal challenge could start with a procedural point: whether the Federal Communications Commission provided adequate notice. Groups representing wireless carriers, cable firms and Internet providers are expected to file lawsuits seeking to overturn the new rules as soon as they land in the official record of government actions, which is imminent.
Uber hires Facebook's security chief to help with fallout
Uber is bringing in an enforcer of security to help quell concerns about whether the ridesharing service suitably protects the private data of its riders and drivers.
Time
Freedom fight. The battle of Indiana
Newsweek
Kenya Says Government Official's Son Among Garissa Gunmen
Business Week
Trading Floors Can’t Feed Africa
The Economist
Urban land. Space and the city
Der Spiegel
Schuld und Psyche
L'Espresso
Un partito buttato
Hadron collider restarted after two-year upgrade
Al Jazeera, Doha, Qatar
WATCH: Jon Stewart on the appeal of a chocolate bunny vs. a dead lamb's bone
Haaretz, Liberal daily, Tel Aviv, Israel
Easter sermons focus on persecution
BBC News, Centrist newscaster, London, England
Kenya: Leader has extensive terror network
CNN International, London, England
Tamara Ecclestone dresses up daughter Sophia in cute pink rabbit costume
Daily Mail, Conservative daily, London, England
Boy, 14, and girl, 16, arrested on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism†
Daily Mail, Conservative daily, London, England
Christians in Iraq and Syria celebrate Easter and pray for better days
EuroNews, International news, Ecully Cedex, France
Pope decries religious persecution, Kenyan killings
France 24, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
'Transformers' statue called upon for help by Ankara's eccentric mayor
Hurriyet Daily News, (Liberal, English-language), Istanbul, Turkey
The dramatic growth in plant cover will not offset the damage made from deforestation
Independent The, London, England
Man in Pakistan kills 10 including ex-fiancee in dowry dispute, police say
Telegraph The, Conservative daily, London, England
Sir Salman Rushdie accidentally shares his book tastes with the world
Telegraph The, Celebrity news, London, England
Taiwan needs strength for AIIB: Gou
China Post, English-language daily, Taipei, Taiwan
Billions Up for Grabs If Nuclear Deal Opens Iran Economy
Chosun Ilbo, Conservative daily, Seoul, South Korea
Dozens killed in fighting near Yemens Aden port
Hindustan Times, New Delhi, India
Here, they count on torn notes to rake in moolah
India Times, Conservative daily, New Delhi, India
Suga, Onaga hold talks over relocation of U.S.' Futenma base in Okinawa
Japan Times, Independent centrist, Tokyo, Japan
Mexico non-violence art features guns with knotted barrels
New Zealand Herald, Conservative daily, Auckland, New Zealand
Ukraine President cancels trip over protests in eastern Ukraine
Straits Times, Pro-government, Singapore
Child sex abuse survivors' hopes for national redress scheme take a whallop
Sydney Morning Herald, Centrist daily, Sydney, Australia
Gov. Jerry Brown defends drought order that spares farmers
Taiwan News, English-language daily, Taipei, Taiwan
Alibaba-backed ShopRunner gains momentum, eyes China
The Economic Times, Business, Mumbai, India
Kenyan attacker in college killings shows security challenge
Canadian Broadcasting Centre, Toronto, Ontario
British police arrest 14-year-old boy, 16-year-old girl on terrorism charges
Globe and Mail The, Centrist daily, Toronto, Canada
Liberty Reserve Brought Down By 'Joe Bogus': How The Feds Arrested Arthur Budovsky
International Business Times, Business news organization, New York, U.S
Deforestation in the Amazon Aggravates Brazil's Energy Crisis
IPS Latin America, International cooperative of journalists, Rome, Italy
Argentine central bank to send regulators to local Citibank HQ: media
Reuters, Business News, New York, U.S
Kenya says government official's son was among gunmen in Garissa attack
Reuters, World News, New York, U.S
CIA staff tried to stop arrest, torture of Canadian Maher Arar, says former spy
Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario
Kenya mourns Garissa attack dead
BBC News, Centrist newscaster, London, England
-----
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 2012 - Migalhas International