LawPedia® - Today at Law

The Day at Law: Tuesday - August 8, 2006 - JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Lebanon's plan to send 15,000 troops to south Lebanon an "interesting step". Israel wants a strong international force to join the Lebanese troops before it will agree to withdraw from Lebanon. Monday - August 7, 2006 - WASHINGTON - Lebanon's prime minister Fuad Saniora won strong support from Arab states to plead his case at the United Nations for a full Israeli withdrawal. From his ranch in Crawford, Texas, President Bush said he expects that Hezbollah and Israel will not agree with all aspects of a Mideast cease-fire resolution, but commented "we all recognize that the violence must stop." As Israeli attacks on Hezbollah targets take a high toll of civilian casualties, the effect has been to draw Hezbollah support from otherwise moderate Arab states. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support last Thursday for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon as the first phase in ending the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Rice met with President Bush in Crawford, Texas over the weekend, before their joint press conference this morning. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger expressed support for Rice, but cautioned that the immediate crisis should not divert US attention to the larger issue of Iranian nuclear status. Kissinger suggested that the US could regain its role as the intermediary in the region, however cautioned that diplomacy over Palestine was only part of a larger concern with Iranian assertion of power in the region. Friday - July 7, 2006 - MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party (PAN - Spanish: Partido Acción Nacional) won the official count in Mexico's disputed presidential race Thursday. His opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador refused to concede and said he would fight the results in court. Obrador blamed fraud for his narrow loss in the vote count and called on supporters to fill Mexico City's main square on Saturday with a show of force. Wednesday - July 5, 2006 - HOUSTON, Texas - Kenneth Lay, the founder of Enron Corporation, died of a heart attack Wednesday at his house in Old Snowmass, Colorado. Lay was 64, and had been convicted on May 25 along with former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling of defrauding investors and employees about Enron's financial strength in the months before the company filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2001. Lay was also convicted in a separate non-jury trial on charges related to his personal finances of bank fraud and making false statements to banks. Both Lay and Skilling were scheduled to be sentenced October 23. Lay faced decades in prison, as does Skilling. Wednesday - April 26, 2006 - TOKYO, Japan - Japanese police have arrested disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, and other key figures in a growing scandal over earthquake-vulnerable buildings. Aneha has admitted to using falsified data on quake resistance for up to 100 condominiums, hotels and other buildings to cut costs. Aneha, 48, has already been stripped of his architectural qualifications, while his wife committed suicide last month. Police also arrested Kimura Construction Co president Moriyoshi Kimura, 74, and Akira Shinozuka, 45, the head of the firm's Tokyo branch, on suspicion of submitting falsified financial reports to the government. Kimura Construction, which is based in southern Kumamoto prefecture, filed for bankruptcy protection in December with liabilities of 5.7 billion yen (47.5 million dollars), according to the company's lawyer. Friday - March 31, 2006 - LOS ANGELES, California - California Courts will be closed today with a Court Holiday in Honor of César Chávez Day. César Estrada Chávez (March 31, 1927–April 23, 1993) was a Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader, and activist who founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. Chávez led a strike of California grape-pickers on the historic farmworkers march from Delano to the California state capitol in Sacramento. The UFW encouraged all Americans to boycott table grapes as a show of support. The strike lasted five years and attracted national attention. When the US Senate Subcommittee looked into the situation, Robert Kennedy gave Chávez his total support. This effort resulted in the first major labor victory for US farm workers. Chávez birthday on March 31 has subsequently become a holiday in California and Texas. In both Arizona and Colorado, the date is an optional holiday. Thursday - March 16, 2006 - TOKYO, Japan - On Thursday, the Tokyo District Court denied a request for bail filed by Takafumi Horie, 33, the former president of disgraced Internet portal Livedoor Co. The court also rejected a bail request submitted by current Livedoor Co. executive Fumito Kumagai, 28. The court granted bail requests filed by three other ex-executives, Ryoji Miyauchi, Fumito Okamoto and Osanari Nakamura, all 38, who had been arrested together with Horie. Police raided Livedoor in early January 2006 on suspicion of violating securities laws. Horie and the three other executives released on bail were arrested later in January and indicted on charges of using stock swaps and stock splits to artificially inflate stock prices, and giving false information about earnings of a subsidiary. Police arrested Kumagai in February. Thursday - March 9, 2006 - TEXARKANA, Arkansas - Google Inc. announced Wednesday that it has agreed to pay up to $90 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the online search engine leader overcharged thousands of advertisers who paid for bogus sales referrals generated through a ruse known as "click fraud." The proposed settlement would apply to all advertisers in Google's network during the past four years. Any Web site showing improper charges dating back to 2002 will be eligible for an account credit that could be used toward future ads distributed by Google. Part of the $90 million settlement will be used to cover the fees of lawyers who filed the case last year in Arkansas state court in Miller County for Lane's Gifts and Collectibles on behalf of all Google advertisers. The proposed settlement still requires final court approval. Yahoo, which is also named in the suit, said that it intends to fight the lawsuit's allegations. Estimates vary widely on how much click fraud is going on in the $3.8 billion search engine advertising market. Thursday - March 9, 2006 - DALLAS, Texas - Lawyers for Lane's Gifts and Collectibles in the Google litigation used the services of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing. Headed by spokesman Mike Androvett, an attorney and veteran print and broadcast journalist, the public relations firm assists lawyers with public relations, advertising, marketing, and developing positive relationships with members of the news media. The firm believes it is no longer enough to simply present your case in the courtroom in that today the court of public opinion has become an important component of big case litigation for lawyers. March 8, 2006 - NEW YORK - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan made wide proposals on Tuesday for overhaul of the United Nations. Afterwards he discussed his interest in human rights as a very hot issue. Part of Annan's proposal allows for changes in how members of the commissions are apppointed. Privileged members such as the UN security council are politically at odds with the general membership, in particular the economically developing countries. Annan is often asked whether he is a "secretary" or a "general", and his response is that he often has to do both. At least part of Annan's UN intermediary role has been to get others to do what the UN wants them to do do, but believing that it is their own idea to do it. On Iraq, Annan said he has put his rift with the Bush administration over the original intervention "behind us". The Iraq debate and divisions leading to the war were very damaging. The divisions are still there, they are painful but healing. He added that the international community has to do everything possible to contribute to the stability of the region in the Middle East. A successor to Annan will be voted in later this year. Monday - March 6, 2006 - SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun starts a three-nation African tour aimed at boosting relations with Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria. He will hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Tuesday, with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abuja on Friday and with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers on Sunday. Thursday - March 2, 2006 - NEW DELHI, India - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Bush announced Thursday a landmark agreement was concluded on a nuclear deal, with Bush's first visit to India. President Bush arrived yesterday in India on the start of a five-day South Asian trip. On an unscheduled stop, President Bush also made his first visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday and met with President Hamid Karzai. India and the United States had been looking to work out a nuclear pact. Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister said he would not compromise the country's security to seal the deal, but has emphasized the close relationship between India and the United States as the world's largest working democracies. During his visit, Bush's approach with the pact not only was to address energy needs for India, but also important nuclear proliferation issues. Under the accord, elusive until the last minute, the United States would share American nuclear know-how and fuel with India to help power its fast-growing economy. However, India will not sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The Bush accord represents a major shift in policy for the United States, which imposed temporary sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests. Now, India, an overwhelmingly Hindu nation of more than 1 billion people, has the world's second-largest population of Muslims, and there is a sharp need for the US to maintain close relationship. Up to 100,000 protesters had assembled in New Delhi to protest the Bush visit. Bush will also visit President Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan on the next leg of the trip. Monday - February 27, 2006 - BAGHDAD, Iraq - Mortar shells and explosions continue throughout Iraq, amid concerns over a Sunni-Shiite civil war. Iraqi state television announced an unusual daytime curfew starting on Friday, ordering people off the streets in Baghdad and the nearby flashpoint provinces of Diyala, Babil and Salaheddin, where the set off Golden Mosque bombing took place in Samarra. The curfew went until 4 p.m. on Friday, preventing people from attending the week's most important Muslim prayer service. Officials feared that mosques would be a target for attacks stirring more sectarian conflict. Although mosque attacks have declined sharply, sectarian violence went unabated through Sunday. Officials announced they would let vehicles back on the streets at 6 a.m. Monday — in part because shops were running out of food and other basics. Gasoline stations were closed, and people were unable to go to work on Sunday, a regular work day in a Muslim country. Viewpoint on historical Shi'a-Sunni relations. Tuesday - February 21, 2006 - SAN FRANCISCO, California - Late on Tuesday night, California prison authorities postponed indefinitely the execution of condemned killer, Michael Morales, 45. The 24-hour death warrant for Morales expired at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday. State officials now have to go back to the trial judge who imposed the death sentence in 1983 for another warrant. Morales was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, after the United States Supreme Court rejected his stay request earlier on Monday. Then the execution was unexpectedly put off after two anesthesiologists backed out because of ethical concerns, saying they could not comply with a judge's order that a medical professional administer the lethal injection. The Supreme Court had already stayed executions by lethal injection in other cases earlier this year to review the legality of the execution method. The use of medical assistance was to be a new twist in California, but now legal questions will also surround California's method of lethal injection. Friday - February 17, 2006 - GENEVA, Switzerland - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan endorsed a controversial United Nations human rights report published Thursday in Geneva. The report and Annan recommend that the United States shut down its detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without delay. The report pointed to serious violations which could amount to torture and urged Washington to try or release more than 500 detainees held in legal limbo. The United States had been given an advance copy for comments, which are attached in the report addendum. The Bush administration accused the report of over-reaction and lacking first-hand information, being largely based only on accustations. Bush spokesmen continued to emphasize that intelligence obtained from Guantanamo has been critical to the war on terror, and that these are "dangerous terrorists" in custody. It is likely the legal battle over GITMO will be ongoing. Full text of the 54-page document - [PDF File]. Wednesday - February 15, 2006 - WASHINGTON - Republican and Democratic senators critized Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff on Wednesday as a congressional inquiry found that thousands of Hurricane Katrina's victims could have been spared though better planning and faster action. Chertoff admittted Wednesday that the federal response to Hurricane Katrina fell far short of providing immediate help to the Gulf Coast which could have saved lives. Tuesday - February 14, 2006 - MIAMI, Florida - University of Miami Law alumni and prominent Florida lawyer Francisco ("Frank") Angones, Jr. (JD '76) has been elected President-Elect of the Florida Bar. He will be sworn in as president-elect at the June 2006 Annual Meeting, when President-elect Hank Coxe is sworn in as president. Then in June 2007, Angones will become the first Cuban-born president of the Florida Bar. Mr. Angones practices civil trial, personal injury, commercial torts, and insurance litigation in Miami at the law firm he co-founded, Angones, McClure & Garcia, P.A. Full Story. Wednesday - February 8, 2006 - KABUL, Afghanistan - On Wednesday Afghanistan welcomed a move by Russia, Germany, and the United States to cancel all of the nation's debts. On Tuesday the Bush administration said it would forgive the entire $108 million that Afghanistan owes to the United States, following the procedures of the Paris Club, an informal group of creditor nations including Russia and Germany. On Monday, Russia said it was ready to write off $10 billion that Afghanistan borrowed from the Soviet Union. One week earlier nearly 70 nations and international bodies had pledged $10.5 billion to help Afghanistan improve security, fight poverty and the drug trade. SHANGHAI, China - South China Morning Post reported Wednesday that Bank of China, China's No. 2 lender, will likely launch an 8 billion dollar initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong by May. It was reported the Bank also plans to list in Shanghai. Bank of China's share sale follows a $9.2 billion IPO in October by the state-owned China Construction Bank. China's largest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, or ICBC, is also expected to sell shares by year's end. Monday, February 6, 2006 - SAN'A, Yemen - Sunday, Interpol reported that the USS Cole attack planner Jamal al-Badawi had escaped a Yemeni prison last week. Jamal al-Badawi is an al-Qaida operative sentenced to death for plotting the USS Cole bombing that killed 17 sailors in 2000. He was among a group of 23 convicts who escaped from a Yemen prison last week, after tunnelers had entered the prison from outside. Interpol said in a statement that at least 13 of the 23 escapees were convicted al-Qaida fighters. - TOKYO, Japan - Polls showed on Monday that Japan's prime minister Junichiro Koizumi has lost support after his government has been faced by scandals. A series of scandals and missteps has sliced into support for Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his cabinet, an opinion poll showed on Monday. The race among would-be successors moves ahead toward an autumn leadership contest. Among other things, the government has been under fire for its handling of a two-year-old ban on U.S. beef imports. Friday, February 3, 2006 - JAKARTA, Indonesia - A few hundred militant Indonesian Muslims demonstrated inside the lobby of a building housing the Danish embassy. The protest on Friday was over cartoons that Muslims say insult Islam and the Prophet Mohammad. On Thursday Palestinian militants surrounded European Union headquarters in Gaza, and gunmen burst into several hotels and apartments in the West Bank in search of foreigners to take hostage. The protests spread to Indonesia on Friday. BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's culture minister Uraiwan Thienthong resigned on Friday, amid growing calls for prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to step down. The departure of Uraiwan Thienthong was a blow to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra just ahead of a large anti--government rally. A billionaire telecom tycoon, Thaksin came to power five years ago by promising to fight poverty for farmers. His re-election one year ago gave him an absolute majority in parliament, as the most powerful leader ever elected in Thailand. But Thaksin's popularity has suffered in recent months, Thursday, February 2, 2006 - SINGAPORE - Crude oil prices rose slightly to nearly $67 Thursday, after Mr. Bush's criticism of the American "addiction" to oil. Even though Iran's oil minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh has stated his country will not link its oil exports to the ongoing nuclear dispute, analysts still believe tensions over the issue will prevent any sharp decline in crude futures. Oil supply fears coincide with reduction in Nigerian oil exports due to recent violence against oil companies, while Iraqi production remains hindered by sabotage and a lack of security. Meanwhile, President Bush defended the huge profits of Exxon Mobil Corporation on Wednesday, saying they are simply the result of the marketplace and that consumers socked with soaring energy costs should not expect price breaks. Bush said he wouldn't want it any other way.