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ARCHIVES NEWS Law News History Archives LAW ARCHIVES |
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- "Ashcroft
steps aside from CIA leak probe." ... "John Ashcroft,
US attorney-general, on Tuesday stepped aside from a politically charged
investigation into the leak of the identity of an undercover Central Intelligence
Agency officer." ... "Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney in Chicago, will
take over the inquiry and report to James Comey, Mr Ashcroft's deputy at
the Department of Justice, which is running the investigation, and Christopher
Wray, assistant attorney-general." -By Marianne Brun-Rovet
-FT.com
- 
- "Prison terms
for
female offenders now common in U.S.." ... "Nowhere
has there been more attention focused on that trend than in Oklahoma, where
the incarceration rate for women is more than double the national average.
The Legislature set up a task force this year to learn why. Nationally,
from 1993 through 2002, while overall crime was falling, the number of
women arrested rose 14.1 percent, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime
Report. In the same period, the number of men arrested fell 5.9 percent."
... "Some individual crimes show even more striking disparities. While
the number of men arrested on charges of aggravated assault fell 12.3 percent
in the decade, the number of women arrested on the same charge rose 24.9
percent. Drug arrests rose 34.5 percent a year for men in this period,
50 percent for women. And the number of women arrested on embezzlement
charges increased 80.5 percent, actually surpassing the number of men arrested
on the same charges, the only crime for which that is true." -By
Fox Butterfield -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
Sniper
- "Jury
sharply split in sparing sniper Malvo." ... "The
Virginia jury that spared the life of teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was apparently
sharply split, with five jurors favoring a death sentence but others saying
he was too young to be executed." ... "The jurors decided Tuesday -- after
nine hours of deliberation over two days -- to sentence the 18-year-old
to life without parole for his role in the Washington-area sniper slayings."-CNN
- 
- Anthrax
News
- "Judge
Halts Military's Required Anthrax Shots." ... "A
federal district judge ruled Monday that the Defense Department could not
compel members of the armed forces to be vaccinated against anthrax without
their consent." ... "The judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, issued a preliminary
injunction that prohibits Pentagon officials from "inoculating service
members without their consent."" ... "The judge found that the vaccine
in question, intended to protect military personnel against the potentially
deadly effects of inhaled anthrax, was "an investigational drug," being
used for an unapproved purpose." -By Robert Pear with
contributions by Thom Shanker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- 
- "Justice
Department endorses congressional redistricting by Texas Republicans."
... "The U.S. Department of Justice approved a Republican-backed congressional
redistricting map Friday, disappointing Democrats who staged two legislative
boycotts over redistricting and have sued over the new plan." ... "A federal
court panel considering legal challenges to the new map also gave Republicans
a victory Friday, ruling that that mid-decade redistricting is permissible
under state law." -By April Castro
-AP via -SFGate.com
- Sniper
- "Malvo
found guilty of capital murder." ... "Lee Malvo was
convicted Thursday of two counts of capital murder in the sniper attacks
that killed 10 people and terrorized the Washington, D.C., area just more
than a year ago." ... "Malvo was charged in the killing of Linda Franklin,
47, who was shot Oct. 14, 2002, in a Home Depot parking lot in Falls Church,
Va. In the first charge, the jury had to find that Malvo killed Franklin
and at least one other person within the past three years. Malvo also was
charged under Virginia's new anti-terrorism law, which makes killing while
committing a terrorist act a capital offense." -By
Laura Parker -USATODAY
- 
- 
- 
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
faces new antitrust battle." ... "A new front in
the Microsoft antitrust wars was opened on Thursday as rival software maker
RealNetworks accused the company of illegally trying to monopolise the
market for digital media software and said it would seek damages of more
than $1bn." -By Richard Waters and Scott Morrison
-FT.com
- 
- 
- "Court:
President cannot detain U.S. citizen as enemy combatant."
... "In a setback to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies,
a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the president does not have
the power to detain an American citizen seized on U.S. soil as an enemy
combatant." ... "In a 65-page decision, a three-judge panel of the 2nd
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 that the U.S. government must release
Jose Padilla from military custody within 30 days."
-CNN
-
- "Ex-Ill.
Gov. Ryan Indicted on Corruption." ... "Former Gov.
George Ryan, who gained a worldwide reputation as a critic of the death
penalty, was indicted Wednesday on charges of taking payoffs in a corruption
scandal that shadowed his entire four years in office and cut short his
political career." ... "Prosecutors said the 69-year-old Republican and
his family took cash, gifts, vacations and other favors to steer state
business to friends and associates while he was governor and, before that,
Illinois secretary of state." -By Mike Robinson
-AP via-AJC
- 
-
- Consumer
News
- "Calpers
files lawsuit against NYSE." ... "The largest U.S.
public pension fund is taking the unprecedented step of suing the New York
Stock Exchange, alleging the embattled exchange condoned fraudulent practices
by specialist trading firms that cost investors at least $155-million (U.S.)."
... "The California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers), which
has assets of $148-billion (U.S.), filed the suit in U.S. court yesterday,
and is asking other investors to join it in a class action." -By
Shawn McCarthy -GlobeAndMail
- 
- 
-
- 
- 
- "EU
Agrees to Share Airline Passenger Data." ... "The
European Union has agreed to share information about its airline passengers
with the United States, in a deal announced yesterday that ends year-long
negotiations over a new U.S. law intended to fight terrorism." ... "International
airlines will turn over data about their U.S.-bound passengers, such as
a traveler's name, e-mail address, telephone number and credit card number
to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection
unit." -By Sara Kehaulani Goo-WashingtonPost
- Consumer
News - "It's
not called 'Can' Spam for nothing." ... "After six
years of wrangling over legislative ways to stop spam, Congress was still
faced with a fundamental choice: Give consumers control over the growing
flood of unwanted spam e-mail that fills their in-boxes, or give in to
the powerful advertising and marketing industries who want to be the ones
filling consumer in-boxes." ... "In the end, consumers lost." ... "The
Can-Spam Act, signed
into law Tuesday, is being touted as relief for the millions of consumers
beset with unwanted e-mail. But careful readers will notice that the law
is not called the "Can't-Spam" Act. There's a good reason: The law is little
more than an instructional guide for how to keep pumping out millions of
e-mails per hour while avoiding legal liability." -By
Ray Everett-Church -CNET/News
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Court
to enter fray over energy-policy task force: Supreme
Court will hear case alleging that industry leaders played a key role that
must be disclosed." ... "The US Supreme Court delivered a victory to the
White House Monday by agreeing to enter the long-running dispute over whether
Vice President Dick Cheney must publicly disclose details about the Bush
administration's energy policy task force." ... "The Supreme Court's decision
to take up the case is important for both political and constitutional
reasons. Even if a majority of justices rule against the White House, the
Supreme Court action could help the administration keep the task force
information under wraps for several more months and perhaps until after
the 2004 election, analysts say." -By Warren Richey
-CSMonitor
- 
-
- Execution
News - "Analysis:
Putting Saddam on trial: The Iraqi Governing Council
intends to put Saddam Hussein on trial by an Iraqi court." ... "It is determined
to resist calls for an international tribunal. Saddam Hussein could face
the death penalty. It has been suspended by the occupation authorities
but could be reinstated by an Iraqi government." ... "That in itself would
be controversial. Britain, as a coalition partner, objects to execution
on principle. But Iraqis may want it." ... "The British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw said that Iraqis would "express a strong preference" for a trial
in Iraq. International law, he said, also called for a domestic trial in
such cases if possible." ... "The United States is firmly behind the Iraqi
desire to try Saddam Hussein themselves" -By Paul
Reynolds -BBC/News
- 
- GENETICS
- "DNA
meets Death Row: Testing guilt and the system." ...
"Inside a walk-in freezer in a Richmond, Calif., laboratory sits a tiny
vial that holds one-fifth of one drop of a 20-year-old sperm sample. It
is forensic DNA evidence extracted from the body of a brutally murdered
young bride, evidence that no one is permitted by law to touch, evidence
that-if tested-could determine whether an innocent man was executed in
Virginia 11 years ago." ... "Since DNA “fingerprinting” began to revolutionize
criminal forensics in the late 1980s with precise identifications, it has
freed more than 130 convicts, 12 of whom have walked off death row. But
in other cases, prosecutors have successfully blocked the testing of DNA
before an execution and then fought posthumous tests just as vigorously."
-By Lois Romano with contributions by researchers
Lucy Shackelford and Alice Crites -WashingtonPost
- 
-
-
- "Prosecutors
get delay in case against ex-chaplain." ... "The
criminal proceedings against Captain James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, charged with mishandling classified data,
fell into confusion and stalled as prosecutors asked for extra time to
determine whether documents found in Yee's luggage when he was leaving
the base were, in fact, classified." ... "The hearing was postponed Tuesday
until Jan. 19 to give the prosecutors time to review the documents that
set off a major investigation into whether Yee was a spy, a contention
from which the government has since distanced itself." -By
Neil A. Lewis -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
- "War
Crimes Court Established for Iraq." ... "Iraq's U.S.-appointed
interim government established a war crimes tribunal Wednesday to try former
members of Saddam Hussein's regime, and two U.S. soldiers were killed and
four wounded in a northern city." ... "Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, president of
Iraq's Governing Council, said the new tribunal will cover crimes committed
from July 17, 1968 the day Saddam's Baath Party came to power until May
1, 2003 the day President Bush declared major hostilities over."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
-
- ELECTION
2004 -
- "Supreme
Court upholds 'soft money' ban." ... "A sharply divided
Supreme Court upheld key features of the nation's new law intended to lessen
the influence of money in politics, ruling Wednesday that the government
may ban unlimited donations to political parties." ... "Those donations,
called "soft money," had become a mainstay of modern political campaigns,
used to rally voters to the polls and to pay for sharply worded television
ads." ... "The new rules have been in force during the early stages of
preparation for the 2004 elections for president and Congress."
-AP via -CNN
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Campaign
Finance Law's Key Parts Upheld." ... "The U.S. Supreme
Court on Wednesday upheld the two key parts of landmark campaign finance
law designed to curb the influence of money in politics, a ruling affecting
the 2004 and future presidential and congressional elections." -By
James Vicini -Reuters
via -Wired
- 
- Water
- "High
Court Rules For Va. Over Md. In Water Dispute: Potomac
Battle Dates Back Centuries." ... "The Supreme Court yesterday settled
a centuries-old dispute over control of the Potomac River in favor of Virginia,
ruling that Maryland has no right to regulate the commonwealth's withdrawals
of drinking water from the river." ... "By a vote of 7 to 2, the justices
essentially affirmed what a court-appointed special master had already
decided: that although an 1877 arbitration decision affirmed Maryland's
sovereignty over the entire riverbed, it also preserved Virginia's rights
to extend water-intake pipes into the middle of the stream -- and Virginia
had not forfeited those rights by submitting to some Maryland regulation
in recent years." (1, 2)
-By Charles Lane and Maria Glod with contributions
by Craig Whitlock -WashingtonPost
-
-
- 
- 
- 
-
"Rigging
election boundaries: When does it go too far? The
Supreme Court Wednesday takes up a case on political gerrymandering that
could affect districts across the US." ... "Now, for the first time in
17 years, the US Supreme Court has taken up a case to determine whether
at some point political gerrymandering becomes so egregious as to violate
safeguards in the Constitution." ... "There are alternatives to heavily
partisan gerrymandering. Four states -Arizona, Iowa, New Jersey, and Washington
- use commissions to draw congressional districts. But the combination
of increasingly detailed census information and mapping software has made
gerrymandering too attractive to party leaders." -By
Warren Richey -CSMonitor
- - 
-
- "Effects
of Pennsylvania remap case may ripple to Texas: High
court to hear arguments on whether state's lines too partisan." ... "Along
the banks of the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, there's a street
called Lincoln Avenue in a town called Charleroi. And improbable as it
seems, the future of Texas politics could reside there." ... "On one side
is the home of Frank Mascara. On the other is the rest of the U.S. House
district he used to represent. Such craftsmanship cost Mr. Mascara and
three other Democratic congressmen their jobs last year." ... "The Supreme
Court has never thrown out a redistricting plan on the grounds of partisan
gerrymandering. But it will hear arguments Wednesday on the Pennsylvania
map, and the implications could be huge for Texas, whose own new districts
are under assault in federal court this week." -By
Todd J. Gillman -DallasNews.com
-
-
- "Exceptions
to Miranda rule: Are they constitutional? The Supreme
Court hears three cases this week that could clarify the scope of defendant
rights." ... ""You have the right to remain silent. If you give up this
right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of
law; you have a right to counsel ..."" ... "Although such warnings have
become widely known, they have remained a source of controversy within
the law-enforcement community ever since the US Supreme Court endorsed
the practice in the 1966 landmark case Miranda v. Arizona. This week, the
US Supreme Court takes up three cases all dealing with police attempts
to bypass the Miranda warnings at crucial stages of an investigation."
-By Warren Richey -CSMonitor
- "Justices
sympathetic to execution appeal: Criticize prosecutors
in 1980 Texas trial." ... "Even conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia, a staunch death penalty supporter, couldn't help the lawyer for
the state of Texas on Monday to defend the conduct of prosecutors during
a 1980 capital murder trial." ... "In the end, it appeared to be a very
good day for Delma Banks Jr., one of the country's longest-serving death
row inmates and whose execution the high court halted with 10 minutes to
spare earlier this year." ... "The justices will decide Banks' case by
next summer." -By Patty Reinhart
-HoustonChronicle.com
- "Bush
Signs $400B[illion] Medicare Overhaul Bill." ...
"Overall, the new law will carry out the most extensive changes since Medicare's
creation in 1965. It adds a prescription drug benefit beginning in 2006.
At the same time, it encourages insurance companies to offer private plans
to millions of older Americans who now receive health care benefits under
terms fixed by the federal government. Leading Democrats have charged this
would lead to the destruction of the Medicare program as it was designed
at its inception during the Johnson administration."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "No
Exams Required: Pharmacist Nailed for Online Drug Sales."
... "Francine Haight will never forget the day she found her son Ryan,
a high school senior, lifeless, in his bed." ... "It turned out that some
of the drugs that killed the La Mesa, Calif., teen on Feb. 12, 2001 came
from nationpharmacy.com, a Norman, Okla.-based Internet drug store owned
by pharmacist Clayton Fuchs, who also ran other similar Web sites." ...
"In October, a federal jury convicted Fuchs, 33, on six felony offenses
including conspiracy to dispense a controlled substance, operating a continuing
criminal enterprise and money laundering. Prosecuted under the Drug Kingpin
Statute, he faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Feb.
11." (1, 2,
3)
-By Greg Hunter -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- Civil
Liberties News
- "Outkast
Denied By U.S. Supreme Court In Rosa Parks Case."
... "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition by Outkast and
their record labels asking the court to intervene in a lawsuit involving
civil-rights icon Rosa Parks and the rap duo's Grammy-nominated single
bearing her name. The move clears the way for Parks to sue Outkast for
what she claims is false advertising." -MTV.com
/ News
-
-
-
- "Arizonans
to visit Cuba base: McCain, Flake to inspect Guantanamo."
... "Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake will make separate visits
next week to the U.S. detention center where suspected terrorists are being
held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." ... "The trips by the two Republican lawmakers
from Arizona come as the government, under increasing domestic and international
pressure, moves toward releasing 100 or more prisoners and putting others
on trial in military courts after as long as two years." -By
Billy House and Jon Kamman -azcentral.com
-
- -
-
- "Guantanamo
Bay Detainee Is First to Be Given a Lawyer: Move
Is Sign That Australian Alleged Al Qaeda Fighter May Be Tried by Tribunal."
... "An Australian detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba last night
became the first prisoner there to be given a lawyer, a strong indication
that he is on track to be the first alleged al Qaeda fighter in detention
to go before a military tribunal, according to informed sources." ... "But
a source said Muslim adventurer and former cowboy David Hicks may never
be tried before one of the special military courts because the U.S. government
is working on a plea bargain with him. He has been accused of associating
with al Qaeda and other terrorist groups." -By John
Mintz -WashingtonPost
-
- Tucson
News - "High
court clears Raytheon in refusal to rehire worker:
Drug user accused Tucson [Arizona] plant of bias." ... "[U.S. Supreme Court]
Justices ruled 7-0 that a Raytheon Co. plant in Tucson has a legitimate
reason to refuse to rehire workers who break rules, including former employees
with addictions." ... "But the court dodged the more significant question,
whether the more than 5 million workers with substance-abuse problems have
workplace protection under the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act."
-By Gina Holland -AP
via -azcentral.com
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Colo.
justices overturn voter districts: Redistricting
case could influence 2004 national elections." ... "In a decision that
could have national implications, the Colorado Supreme Court threw out
the state’s new congressional districts Monday because the GOP-led Legislature
redrew the maps in violation of the constitution. The General Assembly
is required to redraw the maps only after each census and before the ensuing
general election — not at any other time, the court said in a closely watched
decision. A similar court battle is being waged in Texas."
-AP via -MSNBC
- 
- Free-Speech
- "Texas
court to rule: Can fiction be libel?" ... "Shortly
after a Texas county judge had 13-year-old Christopher Beamon jailed for
five days for writing a Halloween essay about the shooting of a teacher,
the Dallas Observer parodied the news item with a fictional account of
its own." ... "In a satirical piece, the same judge, Darlene Whitten, was
portrayed jailing a 6-year-old girl for writing a book report on Maurice
Sendak's children's classic "Where The Wild Things Are," said to contain
"cannibalism, fanaticism, and disorderly conduct."" -By
John C. Ryan -CSMonitor
- 
-
-
- "Officer
charged with Guantanamo security breach." ... "Col.
Jackie Duane Farr is the fourth man assigned to intelligence operations
at Guantanamo Bay accused of mishandling classified information." ... "Until
recently, Farr was director of the intelligence collection operation in
the so-called Joint Interrogations Group, said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, a
Guantanamo spokeswoman. The group has teams of interrogators and analysts
who weekly question about half of the 660 prisoners being held at Camp
Delta, a sprawling prison camp for captives taken in Afghanistan in the
War on Terror." -By Carol Rosenberg-Miami/Herald
-
- "Battle
lines are drawn in Chrysler's 'takeover' case." ...
"When Kirk Kerkorian (pictured) steps into the witness box on Monday or
Tuesday, the billionaire casino magnate will make an extraordinary claim:
Daimler-Benz, Germany's oldest carmaker, tricked him into selling his stake
in Chrysler, one of the biggest names in US automobile making, on the cheap."
... "He is seeking $1.2bn in damages, with a possibility of $3bn in punitive
damages." -By James Mackintosh
-FT.com
- "Turkish
Court Charges 9 in Bombings Probe: Turkish Court
Charges Nine Suspected Accomplices in Suicide Bombings Probe, Defense Lawyer
Says" ... "The charges came just five days after the bombings of the British
consulate and a London-based bank in Istanbul. Fifty-seven people, including
the bombers, died in those attacks and the bombings of two synagogues in
the city on Nov. 15." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Ex-Security
Trust CEO faces charges: Federal regulators order
that bank be shut down." ... "New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed
felony charges Tuesday against the former chief executive of Security Trust
and two other ex-executives, while U.S. regulators ordered that the company
be shut down." ... "The complaint alleges that former CEO Grant Seeger
as well as William Kenyon, Security Trust's former president, and Nicole
McDermott, formerly senior vice president of corporate services, acted
as middlemen and helped hedge funds engage in late trading of mutual funds."
-By Luisa Beltran
-CBSNews /MarketWatch
- "US
regulators shoot to kill in fund probe." ... "Federal
regulators are to close down Securities Trust, an Arizona-based company
accused of mutual fund fraud, in the first action of its kind against a
tainted institution." -FT.com
- "House
Approves Antispam Bill: First nationwide antispam
law expected by year's end." ... "Lawmakers are one step closer to enacting
the first nationwide antispam law. The House of Representatives on Saturday
overwhelmingly approved a bill that would fine spammers who violate restrictions
on unsolicited commercial e-mail." ... "The Controlling the Assault of
Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act was approved by
a vote of 392-5. The move follows the U.S. Senate's approval
of its version of the CAN-SPAM Act in October with a 97-0 vote." -By
Rita Chang and Laura Rohde -IDG.net
via -PCWorld.com
- 
-
- "US
to review police body armor: Justice Dept.
to assess reliability of material that's used in vests." ... "One day after
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against
the manufacturer of a popular bulletproof vest, the United States Department
of Justice has launched an intensive review of the reliability of police
body armor, which officials say may lose strength over time and potentially
put police officers' lives at risk." ... "The review will focus on vests
made with the bullet-resistant material called Zylon, manufactured by the
Japanese-based company Toyobo." -By Jared Stearns
-Boston/Globe
-
- Civil
Liberties News
- "Court
reviews 'combatant' label: US power is debated
in case of detainee in 'dirty bomb' plot." ... "A federal appeals court
yesterday sharply questioned the Bush administration's decision to classify
a US citizen suspected in an alleged "dirty bomb" plot as an enemy combatant,
thus denying him access to legal counsel." ... "A member of the three-judge
panel
called placing Jose Padilla in military custody a "sea change in the constitutional
life of the country." US District Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr. said the
result could lead to changes that "have been unprecedented in civilized
society."" -By John J. Goldman-LAtimes
via -Boston/Globe
- -
"14
states fight EPA maneuver that weakens Clean Air Act."
... "More than a dozen state attorneys general yesterday sought to block
the federal government from implementing a rule change they argued would
lead to more air pollution from the nation's power plants." ... "They want
to block the EPA's loosening of Clean Air Act regulations that would allow
older power plants, refineries, and factories to modernize without having
to install expensive pollution controls. "If these rules go into effect
even temporarily," said New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer,
"utilities will get the green light to spew forth pollution and violate
the clear meaning of a statute that has for decades protected the quality
of the air that we breathe."" -By Devlin Barrett
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- Sniper
- "Sniper
John Muhammad guilty on all counts." ... "John Allen
Muhammad faces the death penalty after being found guilty Monday of capital
murder and terrorism for his role in the sniper-style shootings that terrorized
the Washington, D.C., area last fall." ... "The Virginia jury returned
the decision after only a few hours of deliberation. Mr. Muhammad, 42,
was found guilty of all four counts, including conspiracy and using a firearm
in a crime." -By Oliver Moore
-GlobeAndMail
-
- "Yemeni
court frees 92 militants: A court in Yemen
has freed 92 Muslim militants, including some suspected of having links
with al-Qaeda." ... "Yemeni judge Hammoud al-Hatar told the court the prisoners
had repented and promised not to attack embassies in the capital, Sanaa."
... "Mr al-Hatar said the president had decided to release them "in light
of the results of a dialogue through the committee of ulemas, [Islamic
scholars]"." ... "A further 54 al-Qaeda suspects who surrendered to the
authorities have been pardoned by the president, the agency said."
-BBC/News
- 
- 
-
- Civil
Liberties News
- "U.S.
calls him a Qaeda pawn; ex-deportee calls himself a victim."
... "Maher Arar has been back from Syria for five weeks now, with his wife
and two children in their simple [Canadian] apartment, earnestly pleading
to all who will listen that he is an innocent casualty of the Bush administration's
war on terror." ... "As Arar tells it, U.S. officials detained him on circumstantial
evidence during what was supposed to be a brief stopover at John F. Kennedy
International Airport in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. Within days, they
packed him off to Syria, where, he says, he was locked in squalor and tortured
for nearly a year. Though he holds dual Canadian and Syrian citizenship,
he had not lived in Syria for 16 years." -By Clifford
Krauss -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
Sniper-
"Malvo
pleads innocent." ... "Sniper supsect Lee Boyd Malvo
pleaded innocent to murder Monday as his trial was opening in the slaying
of an FBI analyst shot to death during the three-week sniper spree in the
Washington, D.C., area last fall." ... "The 18-year-old responded, "Not
guilty," in a clear voice each time when asked for his plea to two counts
of capital murder and to one count of using a firearm in a felony." -By
Adrienne Schwisow -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Federal
judges in New York, San Francisco halt abortion ban."
... "With the ink barely dry on legislation banning a controversial abortion
procedure, federal judges in San Francisco and New York yesterday put a
halt to the measure and set the stage for the most important legal tussle
over abortion rights in three decades." ... "The judges found that the
congressional ban on the procedure — known medically as "intact dilation
and extraction" but referred to by opponents as "partial-birth abortion"
— is likely to be unconstitutional because it provides no exceptions for
a woman's health, thus running afoul of a 2000 Supreme Court ruling that
struck down a similar Nebraska statute. President Bush signed the latest
ban into law Wednesday." -By Howard Mintz -Knight
Ridder via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
- "Washington
State Man Admits to 48 Murders." ... "A truck painter
pleaded guilty on Wednesday to strangling 48 drug addicts and prostitutes
to death -- in a killing spree known as the Green River murders -- and
said in a confession, "I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping
them straight."" ... "Gary Leon Ridgway, 54, said in a confession read
by a prosecutor in open court that he murdered the women because he hated
prostitutes and knew that they would not be missed." (1, 2)
-By Chris Stetkiewicz-Reuters
- Microsoft
News - "Probable
last gasp on Microsoft antitrust case still matters."
... "On Tuesday, an appeals court in Washington heard arguments that the
so-called ``remedies'' for what everyone agrees were illegal acts were
not adequate to punish the crime or prevent its recurrence. The state of
Massachusetts and two technology trade organizations asked the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to tell U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
to stiffen her order that, by virtually all accounts, has led to almost
no change of behavior on Microsoft's part." ... "Robert Bork, formerly
a judge on that appeals court, argued on behalf of the trade groups, calling
the infamous settlement with the Justice Department ``utterly inadequate,''
according to news reports." -By Dan Gillmor
-MercuryNews-BayArea
-
- "Federal
Judge Blocks New Abortion Law for Some Doctors."
... "A federal judge in Nebraska on Wednesday blocked a new anti-abortion
law from being enforced against some doctors and their affiliates, minutes
after it was signed by President Bush." ... "Citing constitutional concerns,
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf issued a temporary restraining order barring
U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft and the Justice Department from enforcing the
new law banning so-called partial birth abortions against four doctors
who practice in or are affiliated with practices in more than a dozen states."-Reuters
-
- Microsoft
News - "Web
patent critics spotlight old technology." ... "If
Web technologists can find the right example, they believe they can help
set aside a federal jury's recent finding that Microsoft had violated a
patent held by tiny Web developer Eolas Technologies. The so-called '906
patent describes a way that a Web browser can call up a separate application
from within a Web page." ... "Eolas gained international attention with
its $521 million patent infringement victory over Microsoft, a judgment
that has focused the attention of the software industry in a way few other
patent cases have. Microsoft has already detailed plans to change its Internet
Explorer browser, which could force countless Web developers to rewrite
their Web pages." -By Paul Festa-CNET/News
- "Russian
stocks plunge after Yukos arrest By Ivar Simensen."
... "The Moscow stock market plunged more than 10 per cent on Monday after
the arrest of the head of Yukos, the oil major, prompted fears about investing
in the country - just one week after the market hit an all-time high."
... "The arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Yukos chief executive, on
Saturday morning and the seven charges brought against him by the Kremlin,
ranging from tax fraud to theft against the state, rattled investor sentiment."
-By Ivar Simensen -FT.com
- "Senate
votes unanimously for do-not-spam list: A registry
would block unwanted e-mail solicitation." ... "The Senate voted unanimously
Wednesday to · build on the new do-not- call registry's success
by adopting a plan for a national do-not-spam list to block the tidal wave
of e-mail solicitations for everything from get-rich schemes to pornography
that threatens to engulf the Internet." ... "But the effort faces an uncertain
future in the House and the marketing industry pledged to fight the creation
of an anti-spam registry -- even if it is technically feasible." -By
Edward Epstein -SFGate.com
-
- -
"Senate votes
to ban abortion practice: Body, 64-34, joins
House in barring controversial ‘partial birth’ procedure." ... "The Senate
on Tuesday voted to ban the practice that critics call partial birth abortion,
sending President Bush a measure that supporters and foes alike said could
alter the future of U.S. abortion rights. A court challenge is certain."
... "Years in the making, the bill imposes the most far-reaching limits
on abortion since the Supreme Court in 1973 confirmed a woman’s right to
end a pregnancy." -AP
via -MSNBC
- 
- "Targets
of File-Sharing Lawsuits Warned: Recording
Industry Sends Out Warnings Before Next Wave of Lawsuits Over Illegal File
Sharing." ... "The record industry's trade group has warned 204 people
suspected of illegally swapping music over the Internet that it plans to
file lawsuits against them." ... "The letters give the recipients 10 days
to contact the RIAA to discuss a settlement and avoid a formal lawsuit.
The RIAA declined to identify the individuals, but said they were sharing
an average of more than 1,000 songs on their computers."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "A
Young Hacker Buys Options, Borrowing an Investor's Identity."
... "A Pennsylvania youth has been accused of a complex scheme to unload
worthless stock options by hacking into another investment account and
using it to buy the securities from him." ... "According to court filings
yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors
in Boston, Van Dinh, 19, a college student, used a singular blend of computer
crime, securities fraud and identity theft to dump stock options in Cisco
Systems last July, about a week before they were scheduled to expire
and cost Mr. Dinh as much as $100,000." -By John Schwartz
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
-
-
- "Evicted
Diego Garcia Residents Lose Case." ... "Hundreds
of people who were evicted from an Indian Ocean island chain 30 years ago
to make way for a U.S. military base have no right to return home or get
compensation, a British judge ruled Thursday." ... "Still, Judge Duncan
Ouseley at London's High Court said he was ``acutely conscious''
of the position of at least some of the claimants from the Chagos Islands.
They were removed from the British territory between 1967 and 1973 to make
way for the U.S. base on the island of Diego Garcia." ... "``It does appear
that, in the absence of unexpectedly compelling evidence to the contrary,
at least some claimant Chagossians could show that they were treated shamefully
by successive U.K. governments,'' he said. " -By Michael
McDonough -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "House unit
votes for sanctions on Syria: As White House
ends opposition, test for Arab ties is seen." ... "The House International
Relations Committee voted 33-2 for the Syria Accountability Act, which
demands that Damascus halt support for terrorism, end any programs to develop
weapons of mass destruction and withdraw its troops from Lebanon." ...
"The full House, where 275 of 435 members co-sponsored the bill, is expected
to pass the measure next week. The bill also has strong bipartisan support
in the Senate, where the Foreign Relations Committee is planning to examine
the measure this month." -By Brian Knowlton
-IHT.com
- 
-
- Tucson
News - "Limits
of disability act tested: The high court considers
Wednesday whether a former addict should be afforded employment protections."
... "Would a company that refuses to rehire somebody who says he's overcome
his drug and alcohol addiction be guilty of violating the Americans With
Disabilities Act (ADA)?" ... "That is the question the US Supreme Court
takes up Wednesday in an Arizona case with major implications for companies
with zero-tolerance hiring and firing policies." ... "The case stems from
a lawsuit filed by Joel Hernandez, a 25-year employee of the Hughes Missile
Systems Company in Tucson." -By Warren Richey
-CSMonitor
-
-
-
- "White
House stops blocking Syria bill." ... "Rep. Eliot
Engel, D-N.Y., the chief author of the Syria Accountability Act, says he
was told on Friday that the legislation had been put on the calendar for
a vote Wednesday by the House International Relations Committee. The measure
has support from a majority in both the House of Representatives and the
Senate." ... "The legislation had been blocked by the White House in the
run-up to the Iraq war while the administration sought to blunt Syrian
opposition to overturning Saddam Hussein's regime." -By
Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
-
-
-
- "Panel
Fires Shot Across FCC's Bow: Stevens Amendment
Maintains Cap on TV Networks' Size." ... "The Senate Appropriations Committee
dealt another potential setback to the Federal Communications Commission's
new media ownership rules yesterday, adding an amendment to a spending
bill that would prevent the agency from raising its cap on the size of
large broadcast television networks." ... "The Senate action follows similar
action by the House in July, in defiance of a threatened presidential veto.
It comes one day after a federal appeals court issued an emergency stay
preventing the new rules from taking effect until the court hears briefings
and conducts a review of the rules' merits." -By Frank
Ahrens -WashingtonPost
-
- "Consensus
to fix power grid, but no unity on how: Blackout
has led to calls for more regulation and for Congress to pass long-delayed
energy bill." ... "The worst blackout in US history has moved improvement
of the nation's electrical grid to the top of Washington's fall policy
agenda." ... "Congress is already planning a range of hearings into what
went wrong, while administration officials are calling again for passage
of the mammoth energy bill now plodding through the legislative process."
... "But agreement about the issue's importance doesn't mean consensus
about what should be done. The politics of electricity are so complicated
they make, say, Medicare reform look routine by comparison." -By
Peter Grier and Faye Bowers with contributions from Gail Russell Chaddock
-CSMonitor
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
Vows To Crush The Mouse That Roared." ... "A federal
jury ruled that Microsoft should pay tiny Eolas Technologies and the University
of California $521 million for infringing on their patent for sending software
applications over the Internet. But Microsoft, as is its habit, insists
that the jury verdict is not the end of the story but the beginning, that
it did nothing wrong and even if it did that the remedy is out of whack
with the wrong. This is what Microsoft often says after losing a trial
and before the inevitable appeals." -By Dan Ackman
-Forbes
Karl
Rove - 
Gordon
Smith - 
Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- 
River
- 
Animals
- 
Agricultural
- Corporation
- Government
- 
Hatch
Act - 
Law
- 2002
Election - 
WVa
- California
- Portland
- 
Oregon
- "Oregon
Water Saga Illuminates Rove's Methods With Agencies."
... "In a darkened conference room, [Republican President Bush] White House
political strategist Karl Rove was making an unusual address to 50 top
managers at the U.S. [United States] Interior Department. Flashing color
slides, he spoke of poll results, critical constituencies -- and water
levels in the Klamath River basin." [The Klamath River runs from Oregon
into California] ... "At the time of the meeting, in January 2002, Mr.
Rove had just returned from accompanying [Republican] President Bush on
a trip to Oregon, where they visited with a Republican senator facing re-election
[2002]. Republican leaders there wanted to support their agricultural base
by diverting water from the river basin to nearby farms, and Mr. Rove signaled
that the administration did, too." ... "Three months later, Interior Secretary
Gale Norton stood with [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith in
Klamath Falls and opened the irrigation-system head gates that increased
the water supply to 220,000 acres of farmland -- a policy shift that continues
to stir bitter criticism from environmentalists and Indian tribes." ...
"Though Mr. Rove's clout within the administration often is celebrated,
this episode offers a rare window into how he works behind the scenes to
get things done. One of them is with periodic visits to cabinet departments.
Over the past two years Mr. Rove or his top aide, Kenneth Mehlman -- now
manager of Mr. Bush's re-election campaign -- have visited nearly every
agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data
and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial
races that could be affected by regulatory action." ... "On [January] Jan.
5, Mr. Rove accompanied the president to an appearance in Portland [Oregon]
with Mr. Smith. The president signaled his desire to accommodate agricultural
interests, saying "We'll do everything we can to make sure water is available
for those who farm."" ... "The next day, Mr. Rove made sure that commitment
didn't fall through the cracks. He visited the 50 Interior managers attending
a department retreat at a Fish and Wildlife Service conference center in
Shepherdstown, W.Va. [West Virginia] In a PowerPoint presentation Mr. Rove
also uses when soliciting Republican donors, he brought up the Klamath
and made clear that the administration was siding with agricultural interests."
...
"His remarks weren't entirely welcome -- especially by officials grappling
with the competing arguments made by environmentalists, who wanted river
levels high to protect endangered salmon, and Indian tribes, who depend
on the salmon for their livelihoods. Neil McCaleb, then an assistant Interior
secretary, recalls the "chilling effect" of Mr. Rove's remarks. Wayne Smith,
then with the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, says Mr. Rove reminded
the managers of the need to "support our base."" [note: the Hatch Act prohibits
political activities in federal offices.] ... "A National Marine Fisheries
Service biologist, Michael Kelly, has asked for protection under federal
"whistle-blower" laws, saying he was subjected to political pressure to
go along with the low-water plan and ordered to ignore scientific evidence
casting doubt on the plan. This month, a federal judge ruled the administration
violated the Endangered Species Act in the way it justified the water diversion."
-By Tom Hamburger -WallStreetJournal
via -OregonWild.org
- Civil
Liberties News
- "Agency
Documents Abuse Under Patriot Act: Justice
Department Report Finds 34 `credible' Civil Rights Complaints Under Patriot
Act." ... "Justice Department investigators found that 34 claims were credible
of more than 1,000 civil rights and civil liberties complaints stemming
from anti-terrorism efforts, including allegations of intimidation and
false arrest." ... "According to a report Monday, Glenn A. Fine, the Justice
Department's inspector general, looked into allegations made between Dec.
16, 2002, and June 15 under oversight provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
Many complaints were from Muslims or people of Arab descent who claimed
they were beaten or verbally abused while being detained."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
-
-
- "Trust
Betrayed? School Security Tapes of Kids Undressing
Viewed on Net, Suit Says." ... "A Tennessee school district where security
cameras were installed in a middle school's locker rooms is accused of
allowing images of children changing their clothes to be viewed over the
Internet." ... "The parents of 17 children, ages 10 to 12, have filed lawsuits
in federal and state courts against the Overton County School Board and
Edutech Inc., the company that installed the cameras in the district's
Livingston Middle School. The suits seek more than $4 million in damages."
-By Dean Schabner -ABCNEWS.com
- Civil
Liberties News
- "Unpopular
Hong Kong Bill Derailed After Huge Protests." ...
"In a stunning victory for this city's pro-democracy opposition, Hong Kong's
leader retreated in the face of huge street protests and agreed early today
to delay an internal security bill that critics said threatened civil liberties
in the only corner of China where residents are free to challenge the country's
Communist government." ... "The surprise reversal by the city's chief executive,
Tung Chee-hwa, was announced shortly after 2 a.m., following statements
from Beijing urging Hong Kong officials to pass the measure as scheduled.
Tung himself had promised as recently as Saturday to bring the bill to
a vote this week despite the public outcry, which included a demonstration
last Tuesday that attracted about a half-million people." -By
Philip P. Pan -WashingtonPost
-
- July
4th News
- "The
4th that almost wasn't." ... "Stricter rules and
recent changes to the Homeland Security Act created a jurisdictional feud
between federal agencies, halting fireworks rail shipments for five months."
... "The dispute wasn't resolved until June 6, leaving firework manufacturers
and wholesalers to pay millions in trucking costs to get their wares in
time to put on the traditional displays." ... "The embargo started Feb.
6, the result of a wrangle between Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
(ATF) and the Department of Transportation over which had jurisdiction
over explosives shipments, which the ATF broadly defined to include large
fireworks displays." -By Dee DePass
-StarTribune.com
-
- "Court:
Anonymous P2P no defense: Operators of peer-to-peer
networks cannot escape copyright infringement claims by giving their members
the ability to mask the content that changes hands on their networks, a
federal appeals court ruled Monday." ... "Calling the tactic a form of
"willful blindness," the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld
a lower court's injunction against the Madster file-swapping network that
had ordered the service shut down pending a trial. But, in a mixed decision,
the court also bolstered a key defense argument invoking a comparison between
file-swapping software and personal home video recording." -By
Paul Festa -CNET/News
- 
-
- "2 indicted
in Seoul over payoff to North." ... "Two aides of
former President Kim Dae Jung, who spearheaded a drive for reconciliation
of South Korea with North Korea, were indicted Wednesday on charges of
having transferred a total of $100 million to North Korea as a payoff to
President Kim Jong Il for having agreed to a June 2000 inter-Korean summit
meeting." ... "The prosecutor, Song Doo Hwan, recognized the argument that
the payoff may have been needed to carry out the government's policy, but
said there was no denying the funds were "linked to the summit."" -By
Don Kirk -IHT.com
- 
- 
-
-
- "Switzerland
Blocks Accounts Linked to Liberian Leader (Update1)."
... "Switzerland ordered banks in Zurich and Geneva to block all accounts
linked to Liberian President Charles Taylor following a request for assistance
from a United Nations- backed court investigating war crimes in Sierra
Leone." ... "The request extends to Taylor's relatives, members of his
government, business people and companies, the Swiss Justice Ministry said.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has charged Taylor with crimes against
humanity in connection with the 1996- 2001 civil war."
-Bloomberg
- "ALA
denounces Supreme Court ruling on Children's Internet Protection Act."
... "The American Library Association (ALA) today expressed disappointment
in today's very narrow decision from the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the
Children's Internet Protection Act." ... ""The decision, however, is very
narrow in that Justices Kennedy and Breyer did not join Chief Justice Rehnquist's
opinion, they only joined the judgment," said Judith Krug, director of
the American Library Association s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
"Justices Kennedy and Breyer joined the judgment because they believe adult
patrons need only ask the librarian to please disable the filter
and need not provide any reason for the request. In light of this,
we expect libraries that decide they must accept filters to inform their
patrons how easily the filters can be turned off."" ... "Justice Kennedy's
opinion requires that filtering companies create filters that can be immediately
and easily dismantled to meet the information needs of library users."
... "The American Library Association again calls for full disclosure of
what sites filtering companies are blocking, who is deciding what is filtered
and what criteria are being used. Findings of fact clearly show that
filtering companies are not following legal definitions of "harmful to
minors" and "obscenity." Their practices must change." ... "To assist
local libraries in their decision process, the ALA will seek this information
from filtering companies, then evaluate and share the information with
the thousands of libraries now being forced to forego funds or choose faulty
filters. The American Library Association also will explain how various
products work, criteria to consider in selecting a products and how to
best use a given product in a public setting. Library
users must be able to see what sites are being blocked and, if needed,
be able to request the filter be disabled with the least intrusion into
their privacy and the least burden on library service." ... "The ALA will
do everything possible to support the governing bodies of these local institutions
as they struggle with this very difficult decision." -ALA.org
- American Library Association -ALA.org/oif
- Office for Intellectual Freedom
- "Supreme
Court upholds use of Internet filters in public libraries."
... "A divided Supreme Court ruled today that Congress can force the nation's
public libraries to equip computers with anti-pornography filters." ...
"The blocking technology, intended to keep smut from children, does not
violate the First Amendment even though it shuts off some legitimate, informational
Web sites, the court held." ... "The court said because libraries can disable
the filters for any patrons who ask, the system is not too burdensome.
The 6-3 ruling reinstates a law that told libraries to install filters
or surrender federal money. Four justices said the law was constitutional,
and two others said it was allowable as long as patrons were not denied
Internet access." -By Gina Holland
-AP via -StarTribune.com
- "Supreme
Court preserves narrow use of affirmative action in college admissions."
... "In two split decisions, the Supreme Court today ruled that minority
applicants may be given an edge when applying for admissions to universities,
but limited how much a factor race can play in the selection of students."
... "The high court struck down a point system used by the University of
Michigan, but did not go as far as opponents of affirmative action had
wanted. The court approved a separate program used at the University of
Michigan law school that gives race less prominence in the admissions decision-making
process." -By Anne Gearan -AP
via -StarTribune.com
-
-
- "Judge:
Millions of CD buyers owed money: A judge has
approved a settlement agreement in a music antitrust lawsuit that will
result in more than 3.5 million consumers receiving nearly $13 each." ...
"The lawsuit, signed by the attorneys general of 43 states and territories
and consolidated in Portland in October 2000, accused major record labels
and large music retailers facing competition from discounters like Target
and Wal-Mart of conspiring to set minimum music prices." ... "The defendants
-- Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Distribution, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic
Corp., Universal Music Group and Bertelsmann Music Group, and retailers
Tower Records, Musicland Stores and Transworld Entertainment -- deny any
wrongdoing. Attorneys representing the companies declined to testify in
court." -AP
via -CNN
- "To
stand trial, defendants can be medicated by force:
High court rules that state can use drugs when mentally ill defendant is
facing trial." ... "The US government can forcibly administer mind-altering
drugs to render criminal defendants competent to stand trial, but only
under certain limited circumstances." ... "In a case with potential implications
for those opposed to conventional medical care, the US Supreme Court ruled
6 to 3 Monday that the government's interest in bringing defendants to
trial outweighs an individual's decision to be free from forced medication."
-By Warren Richey -CSMonitor
-
- "Detroit
Agrees on Monitor for the Police." ... "The Justice
Department and Detroit have agreed to call in a monitor to oversee changes
at the Police Department after years of complaints of misconduct, officials
said today." ... "Lawyers for the federal government and the city plan
to go before a federal judge on Thursday to seek approval of an accord
that will effectively end a 30-month civil rights investigation and establish
a framework for changes. The department will have to overhaul policies
on the use of force, initiate new training, analyze trends in officers'
misconduct and upgrade holding cells, among other measures, federal law
enforcement officials said." -By Eric Lichtblau
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
-
- "Martha
Stewart indicted on securities fraud, obstruction of justice and conspiracy
charges." ... "Martha Stewart, the exemplar of "good
things" who built an empire as an icon of tasteful living, was indicted
Wednesday on securities fraud and obstruction of justice charges that could
result in a prison term." ... "The indictment also charged Stewart with
conspiracy and making false statements and her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic,
with perjury and obstruction of justice." ... "Stewart and Bacanovic pleaded
innocent before a federal judge to all charges." -By
Erin McClam -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Mob
Eyed in Internet Sex Fraud Case: The Mob Is
Behind a Massive Internet Sex Fraud Case, Federal Prosecutors Say." ...
"The $230 million Internet fraud scheme believed to be the largest ever
prosecuted produced a series of recent arrests of alleged members and associates
of the Gambino organized crime family in New York and Florida." ... "According
to documents filed in federal court in New York, the Gambinos' foray into
the lucrative world of Internet porn began in 1996 when the defendants
opened an adult entertainment business based in Manhattan." ... "The sites
offered "free tours" for anyone who presented credit card information as
proof of age, promising in a message, "Your card will not be billed." But
thousands of consumers in the United States, Europe and Asia were still
charged recurring monthly rates of $90 before they realized they had been
cheated, prosecutors said." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Curbs
eased on media ownership: FCC clears way for
more TV, newspaper ties." ... "The Federal Communications Commission yesterday
eased its longstanding restrictions on media ownership, in a landmark decision
that cited the proliferation of Internet and cable news outlets as factors
that had made the old limitations obsolete." ... "On a 3-2 vote that split
along partisan lines, the Republican-controlled FCC lifted a ban on companies
owning a newspaper and television station in the largest 80 percent of
US media markets. And it raised the cap on TV station ownership to allow
companies such as News Corp.'s Fox TV, Viacom Inc., and Disney ABC to own
stations reaching 45 percent of Americans, up from 35 percent." ... "The
FCC vote also will allow companies to own as many as three TV stations
in the largest markets." -By Peter J. Howe -Boston/Globe
- "With
deal and concessions, Ariz. bishop avoids prosecution."
... "Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, the leader of the Catholic diocese in this
city [Phoenix, Arizona] for more than 20 years, has avoided criminal charges
by admitting that he knowingly allowed priests accused of sexually molesting
minors to continue working with children, and by giving up some of his
authority over the diocese, under an extraordinary agreement announced
yesterday by local prosecutors." ... "''I acknowledge that I allowed Roman
Catholic priests under my supervision to work with minors after becoming
aware of allegations of sexual misconduct,'' O'Brien said in a signed statement
that is part of the agreement. ''I further acknowledge that priests who
had allegations of sexual misconduct made against them were transferred
to ministries without full disclosure to their supervisor or to the community
in which they were assigned.''" ... "But if O'Brien was contrite in his
statement, he took a more defiant stance when he met with reporters last
night. ''Have I committed a crime? No . . . I certainly never intentionally
placed a child in harm's way. To suggest a coverup is just plain false,''
he said." -By Michael Rezendes,
-Boston/Globe
- "A
court of civility and controversial conservatism:
The Fourth Circuit's rulings cast a wide influence." ... "Observers say
the court's stances on law and order help explain why the Justice Department
chose to hold prominent post-Sept. 11 terrorist suspects within the Fourth
Circuit's territory." ... "Both alleged 20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui
and American Taliban John Walker Lindh were indicted in a federal court
in eastern Virginia, while Yaser Esam Hamdi and alleged dirty bomber Jose
Padilla are both in military brigs within its jurisdiction. Any appeals
about the detentions land in the Fourth Circuit's dockets, which has so
far shown little sympathy to legal challenges on the issue." -By
Seth Stern -CSMonitor
-
- "Online
divorce grows in popularity, despite skepticism."
... "Offering a simpler and cheaper path to divorce, an ever-growing array
of dot-coms, computer-savvy lawyers and state court officials are encouraging
unhappily married Americans to arrange their breakups online." ... "For
fees ranging from $50 to $300 - a small fraction of what most lawyers charge
even for an uncontested divorce - couples are being provided with the appropriate
forms and varying degrees of help completing them." -By
David Crary -AP
via -StarTribune.com
-
-
-
- "Court leaves
intact secret hearings on [deportation of foreigners]."
... "The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday that it would not review government
anti-terrorism policies that allowed secret deportation hearings for hundreds
of foreigners swept up after the Sept. 11 attacks." ... "At issue was a
policy change made immediately after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The government ordered all immigration hearings closed if the foreigner
was a "special interest" case. The government alone can decide if a case
is of special interest to its war on terrorism."
-AP via -IHT.com
-
-
- "Supreme
Court backs family leave: Justices rule that
1993 U.S. law applies to all state employees." ... "After limiting suits
by disabled and older state employees, the ·
U.S. Supreme Court put the brakes on its drive to expand states' ·
rights Tuesday and allowed state government workers to sue for denial of
unpaid family leave." ... "In a 6-3 ruling, the court upheld the application
of a 1993 federal law, the Family and Medical Leave Act, to 4.8 million
state employees nationwide. Signed by former President Bill Clinton after
earlier presidential vetoes, it allows employees to take up to 12 weeks
of unpaid leave each year to care for a seriously ill family member. The
ruling allows state employees, like private workers, to seek damages against
their employers in federal court." -By Bob Egelko
-SFGate.com
-
-
- "Software
Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy." ... "Some
of the world's biggest record companies, facing rampant online piracy,
are quietly financing the development and testing of software programs
that would sabotage the computers and Internet connections of people who
download pirated music, according to industry executives." ... "The record
companies are exploring options on new countermeasures, which some experts
say have varying degrees of legality, to deter online theft: from attacking
personal Internet connections so as to slow or halt downloads of pirated
music to overwhelming the distribution networks with potentially malicious
programs that masquerade as music files." (1, 2)
-By Andrew Ross Sorkin
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
- "Gangs,
Drugs Boost Chicago's Murder Rate, on Track to Be Nation's Worst."
... "As of Friday, Chicago had counted 179 murders this year, 16 more than
the same time last year." ... "For years, (mayor Richard) Daley and Police
Superintendent Terry Hillard have talked about rearranging beats to put
more officers in the areas with the most crime. However, aldermen who represent
lower-crime areas have resisted any plan that takes police from their areas."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- STEM
CELL NEWS
- "Debating
stem cell 'safe haven': Mass. lawmakers weigh
the benefits, ethics of endorsing research in state." ... "Supporters of
a bill that would make Massachusetts a ''safe haven'' for embryonic stem
cell research yesterday urged lawmakers to pass the measure quickly. But
at a legislative hearing, a handful of opponents warned against crossing
an ethical boundary." ... "In written testimony, Robert Lanza, vice president
of medical and scientific development at Advanced Cell Technology Inc.
of Worcester, said the company is ''exploring the possibility of relocating
to California,'' which has passed a measure similar to that being considered
in Massachusetts. The company previously threatened to move overseas."
-By Jeffrey Krasner
-Boston/Globe
-
-
-
- "Bush
declares victory in Iraq: US President George
W Bush has said the US has prevailed in the Battle of Iraq in a speech
on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln." ... "He explicitly linked
the conflict in the Gulf to the 11 September 2001 terror attacks on the
United States." ... "Earlier, Mr Bush's spokesman Ari Fleischer warned
that the president's speech would not mark the end of hostilities "from
a legal point of view"." ... "There are legal implications to declaring
a war officially ended: under the Geneva Conventions, once war is declared
over, the victorious army must release prisoners-of-war and halt operations
targeting specific leaders." ... "The United States never formally declared
war on Iraq." -BBC/News
-
-
- "4
students to pay fines for 'Napsterlike' sites." ...
"Four college students will pay the major music labels fines ranging from
$12,000 to $17,000 each for sharing music on campus networks, the first
time file-swapping individuals have agreed to pay damages to the music
industry for copyright violations." ... "Students at Princeton, Michigan
Tech and Rensselaer were sued in early April for setting up what the Recording
Industry Association of America called "Napsterlike" internal networks
that shared up to 1 million songs on campus servers. The RIAA asked for
$150,000 a song; the four settled out of court Thursday for $60,000." -By
Jefferson Graham -USATODAY
-
- "Some
fear loss of privacy as science pries into brain."
... "Using magnetic resonance imaging machines that detect the ebb and
flow of brain activity, researchers have become so good at peering into
the workings of the human mind that their work is raising a new and deeply
personal ethical concern: brain privacy." ... "What if scans could be used
to check a soldier for homosexuality? Or a potential parolee for lingering
violent impulses? Or a would-be employee for a susceptibility to major
depression?" ... "Such questions are part of neuroethics, as the field
is called by many participants in the fast-growing discussion of ethical
implications of the explosion of knowledge about the brain." -By
Carey Goldberg -Boston/Globe
-
- Enron
News - "Prosecutors
set to charge more Enron executives." ... "Federal
prosecutors are expected as early as Thursday to bring charges against
additional executives from Enron's Broadband Services division, including
Ken Rice, the former head of the group." ... "The expected charges against
Mr Rice are significant because he was a top lieutenant of Jeff Skilling,
the Houston energy company's former chief executive, and may ultimately
be convinced to help prosecutors work their way up the company's executive
ladder." -By Joshua Chaffin
-FT.com
-
-
- "Recording
industry targets users of Kazaa, Grokster with warnings."
... "The Recording Industry Association of America, a trade association,
will collect the user names of those it suspects are offering copyright
material with the Kazaa and Grokster file-sharing services, RIAA President
Cary Sherman told reporters during a conference call Tuesday." ... "He
called the effort "educational" and said "there's no enforcement connected
to this."" ... "In a separate action, the RIAA has sued four college students
who allegedly offered more than 1 million recordings over the Internet,
demanding damages of $150,000 per song." -By Alex
Veiga -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- -
- "Judge
rules file-sharing tools are legal: A US federal
judge has reversed many of the recording industry's previous victories
over peer-to-peer services, comparing Morpheus and Grokster software to
VCRs and photocopy machines." ... "In an almost complete reversal of previous
victories for the record labels and movie studios, federal court Judge
Stephen Wilson ruled that Streamcast -- parent of the Morpheus software
-- and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place
using their software. The ruling does not directly affect Kazaa, software
distributed by Sharman Networks, which has also been targeted by the entertainment
industry." -By John Borland with contributions by
Lisa Bowman -CNET/News
-ZDNet.co.ukt>News
- "Georgia
Lawmakers Drop Rebel Cross From the Flag." ... "Ending,
for now, a battle over symbols of history and hate that threatened to bring
racial animosity back to the forefront of Georgia politics, the General
Assembly late Friday adopted a new state flag that does not include the
Confederate battle emblem." ... "The Legislature also set a referendum
for next March in which voters will choose, presumably once and for all,
between the new flag and the one it replaces, which shows postage-stamp-size
depictions of all of Georgia's earlier flags. That composite flag, itself
a compromise, was forced through the Legislature by Gov. Roy Barnes in
2001." ... "Friday night's votes came as a rebuke to Gov. Sonny Perdue,
the Republican who stunned Mr. Barnes in November largely on the strength
of a grass-roots campaign in which advocates of the Confederate battle
flag played the most vocal part. They resented Mr. Barnes for replacing
the flag that flew from 1956 to 2001 — a flag that featured the Rebel Cross
— without first calling a referendum." -By David M.
Halbfinger -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "Right
to Read: Librarians, Booksellers Take on Feds
Over Patriot Act Provisions." ... "The threat, according to booksellers
and librarians, comes from the federal government and a provision of the
USA Patriot Act in Section 215 that authorizes the FBI to obtain "certain
business records" based on warrants from secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act courts, which under changes instituted by USA Patriot do not require
that the government show probable cause." ... "The law, passed by Congress
less than two months after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, also makes
it illegal for a business — including libraries or bookstores — whose client
records are demanded to tell anyone about it, even the person whose purchase
or borrowing records are demanded." -By Dean Schabner
-ABCNEWS.com
-
- "California
should rethink executions, says former Illinois gov.."
... "California should consider halting executions while it takes "an in-depth
look" at whether it administers the death penalty fairly, former Illinois
Gov. George Ryan told state lawmakers Tuesday." ... "Repeated failures
in Illinois' system prompted Ryan to commute the sentences of all his state's
167 condemned inmates before he left office this year." ... "The public
seems to favor the death penalty, "but they want a system that's fair,
just and accurate," Ryan told the Senate Select Committee on the California
Correctional System. "If you're poor and minority, you haven't got a prayer.""
-By Don Thompson -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
-
- "Local
Officials Rise Up to Defy The Patriot Act." ... "This
little city [Arcata, California] (pop.: 16,000) has become the first in
the nation to pass an ordinance that outlaws voluntary compliance with
the Patriot Act." ... "The Arcata ordinance may be the first, but it may
not be the last. Across the country, citizens have been forming Bill of
Rights defense committees to fight what they consider the most egregious
curbs on liberties contained in the Patriot Act. The 342-page act, passed
by Congress one month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with
little input from a public still in shock, has been most publicly criticized
by librarians and bookstore owners for the provisions that force them to
secretly hand over information about a patron's reading and Internet habits.
But citizens groups are becoming increasingly organized and forceful in
rebuking the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act for giving the federal
government too much power, especially since a draft of the Justice Department's
proposed sequel to the Patriot Act (dubbed Patriot II) was publicly leaked
in January." -By Evelyn Nieves-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Under
Fire: Colo. Rep. Criticized for 'Watered Down'
Air Force Academy Rape Inquiry." ... "Stunned victims and members of Congress
are sharply criticizing Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., for altering language
in a bill calling for Air Force Academy leadership to be held accountable
in the upcoming inquiry into the prestigious military institution's sexual
assault scandal." ... "By changing seven words of a relatively small amendment
to the $80 billion Iraq war-costs bill, critics charge Hefley has single-handedly
changed the direction and strength of the upcoming independent investigation."
-By Ed O'Keefe with contributions by Linda Douglass
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Wary
Baghdad police back on the beat." ... "In this war-battered
city, where looters are now plundering bank vaults and private homes after
sacking virtually every government building, the people's security rests
on the sagging shoulders of Colonel Jassem al-Tamimi." ... "The Iraqi police
official returned to his job yesterday, leading his men on joint patrols
with US Marines in an operation that American officials hope will instill
confidence and nudge this city back to a sense of routine." ... "But if
Tamimi and his officers are a barometer of this city's hesitant steps toward
normalcy, Baghdad residents have a lot to worry about." -By
Thanassis Cambanis -Boston/Globe
-
- "11
September inquiry opens: The first public hearing
into the 11 September attacks is under way in New York." ... "The inquiry
- taking place not far from Ground Zero - is hearing accounts from members
of the emergency and security services and relatives of those who died
in the attack." ... "The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks in the
United States was established by Congress late last year." ... "The Bush
administration had for months resisted the creation of such a body, but
was forced to bow to pressure from families of the victims."-BBC/News
-
-
- "Fighting
by the Rules: The Conventions of Conflict Require
Careful Military Planning." ... "When the 3rd Infantry Division was facing
artillery fire from the direction of a school soccer field in southern
Iraq, Col. Lyle Cayce had to make a quick battlefield decision — not a
military one, but a legal one." ... "Cayce and 16 others are unusual members
of the Army's 3rd Infantry. Instead of being charged with fighting, they
are Army lawyers tasked with sorting through the rules and regulations
of war to make sure they're properly carried out on the battlefield." ...
"His job, Cayce told ABCNEWS' Ted Koppel, is a real challenge since Iraqi
forces themselves don't appear to be fighting by the rules." ... "In fact,
accusations of war crimes violations have already flown from leaders of
both sides of this conflict." -Contributions by Ted
Koppel and Amanda Onion -ABCNEWS.com
- -
"Supreme
Court rejects wiretap case: Secret tapings
in war on terrorism at issue." ... "The Supreme Court rebuffed an attempt
yesterday by civil liberties lawyers to challenge the secret wiretapping
that has been one of the Bush administration's main legal weapons in the
war against terrorism." ... "Without saying anything about the constitutional
issues at stake, the court refused a request by four organizations to clear
the way for immediate review of the electronic search powers granted the
government under the USA Patriot Act, which Congress passed after the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks." -By Lyle Denniston
-Boston/Globe
-
- "Ashcroft
accelerates use of emergency spy warrants in anti-terror fight."
... "Since the 2001 terror attacks, Attorney General John Ashcroft has
approved more than 170 emergency domestic spying warrants, triple the number
used in the previous 23 years." ... "The emergency warrants, authorized
under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, permit authorities to
tap telephones and fax numbers and conduct physical searches for up to
72 hours before they are subject to review by the special, secret Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court." -By Curt Anderson-AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
-
- "As
attack on Iraq begins, question remains: Is it legal?
The White House and British legal authorities say the war is justified
under UN Resolution 1441." ... "Of all the international criticisms of
the war that broke out Thursday in Iraq, none cut more deeply into America's
image of itself than the argument that the US-led attack is illegal." ...
"International-law experts are divided on whether Washington has the right
to invade Iraq in the absence of a UN Security Council resolution specifically
authorizing such an assault." ... "But most agree that President Bush cannot
justify the war with his new doctrine of preemptive military action to
forestall the threat that he says Saddam Hussein poses." -By
Peter Ford -CSMonitor
-
- "Fagan
put in charge: He'll be acting chief, mayor
says; D.A. drops case against top [San Francisco] cops." ... "San Francisco
-- One day after prosecutors dropped charges that he conspired to block
an investigation into his son's involvement in a street brawl, Assistant
Chief Alex Fagan Sr. is expected to take over the duties today of running
the San Francisco Police Department." ... "Mayor Willie Brown announced
Fagan's return to the department from unpaid suspension, after District
Attorney Terence Hallinan told a judge Tuesday that he lacked evidence
to support conspiracy indictments against Fagan and Chief Earl Sanders."
-SFGate.com
-
- "SFPD Indictments."
-SFGate.com
-
- "Court
allows asbestos anxiety claims: Railroad workers
fear getting cancer." ... "The Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 vote, ruled yesterday
that workers who become ill from exposure to toxic substances on the job
may seek damages to pay for ''genuine and serious'' fear that they will
someday develop cancer, even if they never do get the disease." ... "The
court's ruling came in a case involving railroad workers afflicted with
a lung disease called asbestosis and are fearful about developing cancer.
Legal analysts said the ruling could lead other courts to widen the ruling
to cover additional illnesses and other industries, such as shipbuilding,
whose workers have cited the health effects of similar exposure to asbestos."
-By Lyle Denniston
-Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Annan
targets U.S. stance: U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said an attack on Iraq would be a violation of the U.N. Charter
if it does not have the support of the Security Council." ..."Asked at
a news conference in The Hague whether an attack would violate the charter,
which sets out the rights and obligations of U.N. member states, Annan
said, "If the U.S. and others were to go outside the council and take military
action, it would not be in conformity with the charter.""
-CNN /World
-
-
- "Air
Force Academy Investigated 54 Sexual Assaults in 10 Years."
... "'The Air Force has investigated 54 reports of sexual assault or rape
over the past 10 years at the United States Air Force Academy, the secretary
of the Air Force said today [20030306]."
... "In the last 10 years, two cadets have been charged with rape, Air
Force officials said. One was acquitted, the other pleaded guilty at a
court-martial and was sentenced to seven months in jail. In other cases,
administrative action was taken because there was not enough evidence to
prosecute, Mr. Roche said. More than 1,500 women have attended the academy
in the last decade." (1,
2)
-By
Eric Schmitt and Michael Moss -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- 
-
- 
-
- "A
woman on trial for Rwanda's massacre: Pauline
Nyiramasuhuko is the first woman charged with genocide and using rape as
a crime against humanity." ... "In 1994, in the hills of Rwanda, over the
course of one hundred days, an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and their
Hutu sympathizers were brutally murdered by Hutu extremists. Nine years
later, here at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Ms.
Nyiramasuhuko is one of many high-ranking Rwandan officials finally facing
justice." ... "According to the UN, at least 250,000 women were raped in
Rwanda in 1994. Most are not alive to tell their tales, while others are
dying of AIDS contracted through the rapes. There are, according to aid
organizations, close to 5,000 children in Rwanda today who were born of
the 1994 rapes." -By Danna Harman
-CSMonitor
- -
"'Peace
T-shirt' row sparks protest." ... "Stephen Downs
was briefly detained on Monday, after he refused to take off a T-shirt
saying 'Give a Peace a Chance'." ... "Local security guards at the Crossgates
Mall in Guilderland [New York] called police, and the 61-year-old lawyer
was taken away in handcuffs and charged with trespassing." ... "Mr Downs
said that when the police arrived they tried to convince him he was wrong
in his actions, before making the arrest."
-BBC/News
-
-
- "Web
porn filters go to high court: Case to decide
whether use in libraries violates freedom of speech." ... "Software filters
that Congress wants public libraries to install on computers may protect
children from pornography on the Internet, but they also block large quantities
of information on subjects ranging from health to politics to gays and
lesbians." ... "According to court filings, libraries provide Internet
access to 10 percent of the 143 million Americans who use the Web, and
to a larger share of the nation's poor." -By Bob Egelko
-SFGate.com
-
-
- "Justices
Hear Arguments on Internet Filtering Law." ... "The
American Library Association and other groups are challenging the Children's
Internet Protection Act, or CIPA, a law that threatens public schools and
libraries with the loss of federal technology funding if they fail to install
filtering software." ... "President Clinton signed CIPA in 2000, but a
three-judge federal court panel in May 2002 froze the law after the American
Library Association and other civil liberties groups complained that the
law violates free speech rights. The Bush administration then asked the
Supreme Court to review the case." (1, 2)
-Compiled by Robert MacMillan-WashingtonPost>TechNews
-
-
- "Should
libraries filter out Internet porn? The high
court weighs the protection of children against free-speech rights." ...
"The justices struck down the 1996 Communications Decency Act and remanded
to a lower court a case challenging the 1998 Child Online Protection Act."
... "Wednesday, the high court begins examining whether Congress's latest
attempt in this area, the Children's Internet Protection Act, is impermissible
censorship or a justifiable attempt to shield American youths from harm."
-By Warren Richey -CSMonitor
- Law
Enforcement News - "Police
brass itching to go to trial: Indicted chief
and commanders pin their hopes on grand jury transcripts." ... "With the
San Francisco Police Department shaken by an unprecedented series of indictments,
attorneys for Police Chief Earl Sanders and his command staff say they
are eager to get to trial in hopes of salvaging the reputations of the
department and their clients." ... "The key to their defense will be the
transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictments last
week of 10 police officers, including Sanders, Suhr and five other high-ranking
officers on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice." -By
Harriet Chiang and Jim Herron Zamora -SFGate.com
- "Iranians
arrested for net dating: Dozens of young Iranians
have been detained for "unlawful actions" after using a website to arrange
dates, officials say." -BBC/News
- Law
Enforcement News
- "Calif.
to Review San Francisco Police Scandal." ... "The
state of California will review whether San Francisco's district attorney
overstepped limits in a process that led to an indictment of the chief
of police, an official said on Sunday."-Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
- Law
Enforcement News-
"Indicted
California Police Chief Keeps Job." ... "Despite
being indicted by a grand jury, Chief Prentice E. Sanders of the San Francisco
Police Department remains on the job this weekend, an indication that his
friend and political mentor, Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr., intends to fight
to clear the chief's name." ... "Chief Sanders, who was indicted on Friday
on a charge of conspiring to obstruct justice, was allowed to keep his
post at least until Monday by a unanimous vote of the city's Police Commission."
-By Dean E. Murphy
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
- "Energy
report claims vast cheating of state: Evidence
to feds cites $7.5 billion in overcharges." ... "A report to be delivered
to federal energy regulators Monday will provide new and extensive evidence
backing up claims that a wide range of power companies manipulated California's
energy markets and reaped at least $7. 5 billion in unfair profits, sources
told The Chronicle." ... "Compiled by a team of California lawyers who
have had unprecedented access to internal company records for the last
three months, the report will show that power traders used Enron-style
manipulation strategies to gouge the state during the energy crisis." -By
Mark Martin and Christian Berthelsen -SFGate.com
-
- "Rape
Without Repercussion? Women Say Assaults Are
Not Prosecuted at Air Force Academy." ... "The academy's polished veneer
began to crack in January when Jessica Brakey sent an e-mail to news organizations.
In it, she wrote: "I'm a senior at the Air Force Academy, and since I've
been here I know of many females who have been sexually assaulted, including
myself … Is there anything that can be done? Can your office help us somehow?""
... "John Ferrugia and his investigative unit at ABCNEWS' Denver affiliate
KMGH first reported the story on television. Brakey later told 20/20 the
sordid details of the incident." -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Abortion
protesters grab a victory in court: The Supreme
Court says a racketeering law can't be used to punish protesters. It may
spur more rallies." ... "In an 8-to-1 ruling announced Wednesday, the US
Supreme Court overturned a civil jury's verdict that anti-abortion leader
Joseph Scheidler and the Pro-Life Action Network had violated the civil
racketeering law (RICO) through their aggressive protests and other tactics
employed outside abortion clinics in the 1980s and '90s." ... "The ruling
also lifted a nationwide injunction that had barred the group from engaging
in similar tactics elsewhere." -By Warren Richey and
Linda Feldmann
-CSMonitor
-
- "Four
people, charity charged with sending at least $4 million to Iraq."
... "The four men are accused of using the charity to solicit contributions
from people in the United States, depositing money in central New York
banks and laundering much of it through the Jordan Islamic Bank in Amman."
... "The four men and the charity were charged with conspiring to transfer
funds to Iraq in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers
Act."-AP via
-MercuryNews-BayArea
-
- "Indictment
Ties U.S. Professor and 8 Others to Terror Group."
... "Federal prosecutors brought racketeering charges today against a Florida
professor and seven other people, accusing them of financing and helping
support suicide bombings in Israel." ... "In one of the Justice Department's
longest-running and most controversial terrorism investigations, a 50-count
grand jury indictment unsealed in Tampa relies heavily on expanded prosecutorial
powers granted to the department after the Sept. 11 attacks." ... "The
indictment charges that Palestinian Islamic Jihad [P.I.J.], linked to more
than 100 killings in Israel, has been deeply rooted within the United States
since the 1980's, using American academic and fund-raising groups as fronts."
(1, 2)
-By
Eric Lichtblau with Judith Miller -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- -
- "Shin
Bet takes US lawyer's computer." ... "Israel's intelligence
service confiscated a computer from a controversial American lawyer this
week as he left the country after gathering evidence for a legal action
in the US courts against Ariel Sharon, George Bush and weapons manufacturers."
... "Members of Shin Bet stopped Stanley Cohen as he was flying out of
Tel Aviv on Tuesday and told him to hand over his computer for a routine
security check. They refused to return the machine even when he said he
would rather keep it and not fly." -By Chris McGreal
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- "USF
professor accused of terrorist sympathies, others arrested."
... "A University of South Florida professor previously accused of having
terrorist ties was arrested early Thursday by federal agents, one of several
people arrested in Tampa, Chicago and overseas, authorities said." ...
"The university ... [has] claimed the professor raised money for terrorist
groups, brought terrorists into the United States, and founded organizations
that support terrorism." -By Rachel La Corte
-AP via -Miami/Herald
-
- "Florida's
Sex History Law Looks Set to Be Dumped." ... "A Florida
law requiring some women to advertise their sexual history in newspapers
before placing children for adoption looks set to be struck from the statute
books in the face of widespread opposition." ... "Dubbed the "Scarlet Letter
Law" by critics, the 2001 law applies to women who do not know who fathered
the children they want to put up for adoption." -By
Jane Sutton -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Ashcroft
proposes vast new surveillance powers: Proposed
legislation leaked to the Internet on Friday would criminalize some uses
of encryption, and dramatically increase federal law enforcement's domestic
spying powers." ... "A sweeping new anti-terrorism bill drafted by the
Justice Department would dramatically increase government electronic surveillance
and data collection abilities, and impose the first-ever federal criminal
penalties for using encryption in the U.S." ... "A draft of the Domestic
Security Enhancement Act of 2003 dated January 9th was obtained by the
non-partisan Center for Public Integrity and released Friday. The 120-page
proposal would further expand many of the surveillance powers Congress
granted federal law enforcement in the USA-PATRIOT Act in 2001, while increasing
the secrecy surrounding some government functions." -By
Kevin Poulsen -BusinessWeek/Daily
-
- Microsoft
News - "Lawsuit
challenges Microsoft licensing: A California
woman sues Microsoft, Symantec and others, claiming the companies misled
consumers by requiring them to consent to licensing agreements they haven't
read." ... "Specifically, the suit, which was brought by Cathy Baker, claims
that Microsoft, Symantec, CompUSA, Best Buy and other unnamed retailers
don't allow people to read "shrink wrap" licenses--agreements printed inside
the box or incorporated into the software itself--before they buy a product."
-By Lisa M. Bowman -CNET
/News via -BusinessWeek
-
- Microsoft
News - "Woman
sues software makers over licensing terms." ... "[Plaintiff
Cathy] Baker bought the Windows XP Home edition upgrade and Norton Antivirus
software at a CompUSA store in San Rafael last month for her first home
computer. When she opened and began to install the software, she was asked
to agree electronically to licensing terms that she found unacceptable.
When she tried to return the software, the store refused to take it back
because the package had been opened, Baker said in the complaint." -By
Kristi Heim -MercuryNews
via -SiliconValley
-
-
-
- "Putin
warns of 'grave error' on Iraq." ... "Russian President
Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that U.S. military action against Iraq without
U.N. consent would be a "grave error," and he hinted that Russia might
use its veto on the Security Council against "unreasonable use of force."
... ""I am convinced that it would be a grave error to be drawn into unilateral
action, outside of international law," he said."
-AP via -AJC
- "Ill.
Islamic Charity Leader Pleads Guilty: Head of Muslim
Charity in Illinois Pleads Guilty to Fraud; U.S. Drops Charge He Aided
al-Qaida." ... "The head of a Muslim charity accused of funneling money
to Osama bin Laden's terror network pleaded guilty Monday to illegally
buying boots and uniforms for fighting forces in Bosnia and Chechnya."
... "As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors dropped charges that Enaam
Arnaout aided bin Laden. But they insisted he committed the offense, and
said they agreed to the plea bargain to secure a conviction and Arnaout's
cooperation while sparing the government the expense of a trial."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Illinois
ex-governor showed clemency to 643 prisoners." ...
"Including the 167 death sentences he commuted days before he left office,
the Republican granted 643 clemency requests during his four-year term,
almost twice as many as his predecessor granted in eight years." ... "Ryan's
unprecedented decision to wipe out every death sentence, reducing most
to life in prison, brought international attention to a state system where
17 people sent to death row had been cleared since capital punishment was
reinstated in 1977." -By Nicole Ziegler Dizon
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- "Net
Providers Must Help in Piracy Fight: Judge
Orders Internet Providers to Help Trace Users Who Illegally Download Music."
... "Internet providers must abide by music industry requests to track
down computer users who illegally download music, a federal judge ruled
Tuesday in a case that could dramatically increase online pirates' risk
of being caught." ... "The decision by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates
upheld the recording industry's powers under a 1998 law to compel Verizon
Communications Inc. to identify one of its Internet subscribers who was
suspected of illegally trading music or movies online." ... "Verizon promised
Tuesday to appeal and said it would not immediately provide its customer's
identity." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Microsoft
News -
- "Apple
Lashes Out at Microsoft Settlement." ... "In reaction
to the Redmond, Wash., software giant's $1.1 billion settlement of a California
class-action case, Apple Computer Inc. Monday night issued a statement
criticizing the settlement proposal." ... "As part of the settlement announced
last Friday, Microsoft pledged to donate two-thirds of the unclaimed funds—in
the form of vouchers—to California schools, with one-third of the unclaimed
funds going back to Microsoft." ... "Apple contends that in these types
of cases, "fewer than 25 percent of customers redeem these types of vouchers."
The Microsoft vouchers are available to customers who purchased Microsoft
software between 1995 and 2001. The vouchers range in value from $5 to
$29, depending on the product purchased." (1, 2)
-By Darryl K. Taft -eWEEK
- "Execution
Possibility Intensifies Spy Trial: Jury Selection
Opens In Landmark Case." ... "On the quiet shuttle from the Dulles International
Airport terminal to its midfield gates, where there's really no place to
run, FBI agents arrested intelligence analyst Brian P. Regan in August
2001 before he boarded a plane to Germany. He faced charges of trying to
sell classified documents to Iraq, Libya and China." ... "The indictment
didn't allege any large security leaks, but Sept. 11 came three weeks later,
and soon Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said Regan should face the death
penalty. With that announcement, Regan became the first espionage defendant
in the United States to face execution since Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
were convicted more than 50 years ago. Jury selection in his trial begins
today." -By Tom Jackman-WashingtonPost
- "Big
setback, and new ire, on death penalty." ... "Most
Americans still believe in the death penalty. But a rising number of them
are asking: Is it used fairly?" ... "The answer, increasingly, seems to
be no." ... "Academic reports have revealed persistent bias. Media outlets
have publicized cases of error-prone defense attorneys, as well as the
potential for new DNA and other evidence to overturn death sentences."
... "This weekend, in the most dramatic move of all, Illinois Gov. George
Ryan emptied out the state's entire death row by handing out reduced sentences
to all 156 inmates. That marks the largest commutation of such sentences
since the United States Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in 1972."
-By Laurent Belsie
-CSMonitor
-
- "Judges
Uphold U.S. Detention of Hamdi: Courts Must Yield
to Military on 'Enemy Combatants,' 4th Circuit Rules." ... "The government
can jail a U.S. citizen captured overseas indefinitely when the military
declares him an "enemy combatant," a federal appeals court said yesterday,
ruling that a Louisiana-born man has been held properly in a Navy brig
without a lawyer or other constitutional rights." ... "The decision by
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in the case of Yaser Esam
Hamdi, who was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan, rejected the
Justice Department's argument that enemy combatants have no right to a
judicial review of their detention and status. But because the Constitution
affords the executive branch the responsibility to wage war, the courts
must yield to the military in making such determinations, the three-judge
panel said." -By Tom Jackman -WashingtonPost
-
- "Norwegian
Hacker, 19, Is Acquitted in DVD Piracy Case." ...
"A three-member panel of the Oslo City Court, including a judge and two
technical experts, ruled that Mr. Johansen had not broken any laws by using
and distributing the software and that he was free to view DVD's he bought
in any fashion he chose. Mr. Johansen has said that the software was intended
to help him play DVD's he already owned on a Linux-based computer, for
which DVD software had not yet been written." -By
Timothy L. O'Brien -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Airlines
ask Congress for anti-strike measure." ... "Airlines,
which lost more than $9 billion last year, are asking Congress to rescue
the industry by rewriting the federal law that governs airline labor relations
to make it harder for unions to strike, according to officials representing
major carriers." ... "The Air Transport Association, the industry's largest
lobbying organization, is urging lawmakers to revise the Railway Labor
Act of 1926, the federal law that regulates the industry's labor relations.
Airlines, which have been struggling to regain profitability, say labor
expenses are their biggest costs. If their employees' ability to strike
is limited by the federal government, it could make it easier for carriers
to win wage and work-rule concessions." -By Sara Kehaulani
Goo and Kirstin Downey-WashingtonPost
-
- "Slain
Woman's Family Fights Internet Brokers: The
family has filed a lawsuit against Docusearch, an Internet information
broker that sold information to the woman's killer." ... "... Amy Boyer,
was 20 when she was shot to death Oct. 15, 1999, by a former high school
classmate, Liam Youens." ... "Invasion Of Privacy." ... "Youens
had paid an Internet information broker to track her down. For the three
years since the murder, Boyer's parents have fought to protect other potential
victims, most recently by suing the broker for negligence and invasion
of privacy." -By Holly Ramer-AP
via -GovTech.net/news
- "He
did it his way: [Minnesot's exiting Governor Jesse] Ventura goes out like
he came in." ... "... he expects to have no future
role in public affairs except as a voter. "I'd rather critique the media,"
he added, "because no one does that, and I think someone should. As of
Monday, you will fear me."" ... "Previous reports have said he might become
a talk show host on MSNBC." ... "According to Ventura's office, he has
chosen 60 district judges from among 1,348 applications, two associate
justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court, five judges of the state Court
of Appeals, two judges for the Tax Court and three for the Workers Compensation
Court of Appeals." ... ""I may be gone," he said, "but they will be presiding
over the state's courts for many years to come."" -By
Conrad deFiebre -StarTribune.com
- -
"Foes
of Abortion Push for Major Bills in Congress." ...
"Galvanized by the Republican takeover of the Senate, opponents of abortion
are preparing a major push for new abortion restrictions in the next Congress,
beginning with a ban on the type of medical procedure they call partial
birth abortion." ... "They say they will also push for some other measures
already passed by the Republican-controlled House, including a bill making
it a crime to evade parental notification laws by taking a minor across
state lines for an abortion and legislation making it a separate crime
to harm a fetus during an attack on a pregnant woman." ... "The latest
stage of the abortion struggle begins at an emotional time for both sides:
Jan. 22 is the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision
that recognized a constitutional right to abortion." (1, 2)
-By Robin Toner -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- CLONING
NEWS
- "[Florida]
Lawyer sues to force state to take custody of baby `Eve'."
... "Coral Gables [Florida] attorney Bernard Siegel on Tuesday filed a
court petition accusing the Clonaid company that claims to have cloned
the baby of abusing her like a ``guinea pig.''" ... "Siegel said he believes
the Broward juvenile court can take jurisdiction of the case because Clonaid,
originally registered in the Bahamas, conducts business over the Internet
in Florida and elsewhere, seeking to charge potential customers $200,000
for each clone." ... "But child-welfare legal experts said the case's viability
will pivot on whether baby ''Eve'' or her 31-year-old American mother have
connections to Florida." -By Jay Weaver and Noah Bierman-Miami/Herald
