Voters in Ireland on Saturday approved a constitutional amendment on children’s rights that changes existing wording in the constitution to make certain rights more explicit. The new article focuses on making several case law principles explicitly protected in the constitution. First, the amendment repealed Article 42.5 which outlines the cases in which the state may [...]
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is collecting evidence for possible new war crimes charges against Muammar Gaddafi supporters and opposition groups arising out of crimes committed during last year’s civil war . According to an exclusive Associated Press interview , the ICC is specifically investigating crimes committed by rebel forces against Gaddafi loyalists [...]
HTC and Apple announced Saturday that they have reached a global settlement dismissing all patent lawsuits between the parties. The conflict between the two companies arose after Apple initially filed suit against HTC in the US District Court for the District of Delaware in March 2010 alleging that HTC infringed several of Apple’s patents , [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday urged South Sudan to reverse an expulsion order against a UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) staff member, claiming the government has given no good reason to support the order. Pillay said that since the government has not provided any evidence of serious misconduct by [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Friday preliminarily approved a proposed settlement of $7.2 billion between merchants and Visa and Mastercard , which would be the largest settlement ever made in an antitrust case. This would end a seven-year class action against Visa and Mastercard alleging [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari on Friday in Shelby County v. Holder to determine whether Congress exceeded its authority when it renewed Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . Section 5 requires jurisdictions with a history of preventing minority groups from voting to receive preclearance from the US Department of Justice [...]
Opponents of Washington’s new law legalizing same-sex marriage conceded defeat Thursday in their efforts for a referendum veto. Referendum 74 gave Washington voters the choice to accept or reject the state same-sex marriage legislation, which was signed into law by Governor Christine Gregoire in February. While the referendum was too close to call for most [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that MoneyGram International, Inc. entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ. According to the DOJ, MoneyGram admitted “to criminally aiding and abetting wire fraud and failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program.” From 2004 to 2009, MoneyGram processed thousands of transactions obtained by MoneyGram [...]
The US Supreme Court affirmed a stay of execution late Thursday night for Pennsylvania inmate Hubert Michael. The Supreme Court’s decision affirms the 14-day stay of execution allowed by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit earlier on Thursday. The Third Circuit also requested that US District Judge John Jones III, a judge [...]
Irwin Lipkin, a former controller of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, (BLMIS) pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court Thursday to falsifying records. The full range of charges to which Lipkin has pleaded guilty include conspiracy to commit securities fraud, to make false filings with the Security Exchanges Commission (SEC) , and to falsify [...]
