Party to debate media laws at conference after demands for new newspaper code in wake of phone-hacking scandal Heavy fines large enough to change media executives’ behaviour should be imposed on errant newspapers by a new independent press regulator, the Liberal Democrats are to propose. An emergency motion, due to be published on Wednesday and discussed at party conference next week, calls for the fines to be large enough to act as a real deterrent, and change the culture of newspapers in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at News International. The fines would be imposed on newspapers that breached the terms of a new newspaper code. They would also be required be put corrections in more prominent positions than at present. In line with proposals from the information commissioner, the Lib Dems are also proposing that reporters found guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act on unlawfully obtaining material should be subject to custodial sentences. A previous attempt to make journalists liable to prison sentences was blocked following strong private lobbying by newspaper groups. Nick Clegg’s party is also proposing that competition authorites should be able to intervene on issues of media plurality not just at the point of a takeover, but also when a newspaper group is gradually increasing its shareholding in a company or its market share. The Lib Dems regard the phone-hacking scandal as one of the issues on which they can claim to be apart from the other two main parties, since they have always had strained relations with News International titles. The motion – which is certain to be passed – will give the party probably the most developed policy of the main three on future media ownership laws. The party is keeping an open mind on whether the new regulator superceding the Press Complaints Commission should be statutory, but recognises that a regulator with powers to impose large fines will probably need some form of legislitive backing. One model being examined by the Liberal Democrats is to follow the example of solicitors, where the Legal Services Board has legal powers to oversee the work of the Solicitors; Regulatory Authority, which is appointed by the Law Society and capable of fining solicitors or striking off firms. The conference motion deplores the “illegal and intrusive behaviour of those journalists and private investigators who have been complicit in phone hacking, especially where the bereaved or victims of crime have been targeted”. It also condemns “the gradual erosion of safeguards on media plurality and independence over the last 30 years, and the failure of previous governments, the police and the Press Complaints Commission to take effective action to address this”. The new regulatory body would be required to “impose appropriate sanctions against proprietors, editors and journalists guilty of breaching the code; such as financial penalties that are large enough to act as a deterrent, and the power to ensure that apologies and retractions are given due prominence”. It also calls for a strengthening of the rules on fit and proper ownership, to ensure corporations as a whole are held to account and not just senior individuals within them. Don Foster the Liberal Democrat culture spokesman said: “We can’t continue having periodic crises of confidence in the media. “This motion outlines a broad vision of what media regulation should look like. It seeks to establish Lib Dem priorities without prejudicing the Leveson inquiry’s eventual findings. “We have heard enough empty condemnations from politicians who used to be in bed with press barons. Now is the time to talk about fundamental reform.” Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrat conference 2011 Phone hacking News International Newspapers & magazines Media law Press Complaints Commission Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Interim Libyan leader pleads for unity as tensions rise between factions
September 13, 2011 No Comment
Mustafa Abdul Jalil battles to quell row between Islamists and secularists amid fears internal split could derail rebuilding effort Libya’s interim leader is facing a battle between conservative Islamic groups and secular figures as he struggles to unite multiple competing factions. Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), sought to quell anxiety over festering internal divisions in his first speech in Tripoli on Monday night. He told a crowd of about 10,000 people that sharia law should be the main source of legislation in Libya, but added: “We will not accept any extremist ideology We are a Muslim people, for a moderate Islam, and will stay on this road.” Splits have emerged in the country’s new leadership between Islamist conservatives and more secular figures, some of whom have long lived in exile or once had ties with Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. There are concerns that rising tensions could derail rebuilding efforts after six months of civil war. “Abdul Jalil is trying to keep the peace, and it’s a struggle between both sides, between the two powerful camps,” an official close to the NTC told the Associated Press. “He’s trying to maintain a balance between the two camps, and keep the international community happy. It’s very difficult.” Prominent Islamist figures include Abdul Hakim Belhaj, a former member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a militant organisation that long opposed Gaddafi. He is now the commander of the Tripoli military council, which has called for the resignation of Mahmoud Jibril, the US-educated acting prime minister. Regional differences have also come to the fore, with rivalry between Tripoli and Benghazi and complaints from cities such as Misrata that their sacrifice is not being fully acknowledged. In his speech, Jalil also emphasised that women had played an important part in the revolution and would continue to do so. “Women will be ambassadors,” he said to cheers from women and girls in the crowd waving flags. “Women will be ministers.” Many of the women were dressed in the red, black and green of the revolution. Senior European officials negotiating with the leadership in Tripoli say it is drawing up ambitious plans to turn the country into the “beacon” of the Arab and Islamic worlds, but faces a lengthy and dangerous bout of infighting between rival factions. Agostino Miozzo, an Italian doctor and veteran of humanitarian emergencies who is the EU’s international crisis manager, emphasised that the leaders of the NTC were determined to resist international pressure and to decide the fate of their country themselves. “Tripoli seems to be moving fast towards normality, but they [the NTC] need time to fight the internal political struggle,” Agostino said, after spending more than a week in Tripoli establishing contact with the new rulers. “We have no idea of the southern part of the country. That will be most problematic in the coming months. This part is totally out of control.” European officials working on Libya and in regular touch with the new regime say they have been surprised by the resolve of the NTC to reject international pressure and to take its own decisions. The revolutionary leaders have compiled a “black book” of Gaddafi cronies, relatives and loyalists who can expect retribution for their roles under the dictatorship, but they are anxious to avoid the Iraq “de-Ba’athification” disaster. The vast majority of the Libyan army officer class, including those still fighting the NTC in places such as Sirte, should be incorporated into a post-Gaddafi military. Jalil has told Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, that “very few” army officers have been blacklisted. The NTC is using mobile phone messaging to urge bureaucrats in Tripoli to return to their desks. “They are requesting all staff professionals and all officials to the level of under-secretary of state to go back to work,” said Miozzo. As well as ongoing challenges from Gaddafi loyalist forces in parts of the country, the new leadership is riven by friction between Islamists and secularists, and tribal and regional tensions. Libya Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi David Smith Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …President Obama sent his proposed jobs legislation to Congress today and as promised, it is fully paid for. From Monday’s press briefing with Jay Carney and White House Budget Director Jack Lew: This is a standalone bill. It has the investments in growth and jobs, and it has some provisions that pay for it. By raising the target of the joint committee what we’re saying is Congress should pass the jobs bill now with the pay-fors, and when the joint committee reaches its decisions later in the fall, it can then either put in new offsets to pay for it, and that would trigger the pay-fors in the bill off, or it can do the original target of $1.5 trillion and then the pay-fors that are in the jobs bill will stand. So how does that work, exactly? Well, the White House is calling for them to “pass this bill right now.” They sent the bill to Congress. The bill has all of the jobs provisions he outlined in his speech last Thursday, along with two different pathways to pay for it. The first one is to increase the supercommittee targets. The second is to propose specific pay-fors which will trigger if the supercommittee does not meet the targets. Those are, according to Lew, the following: First there’s a limit on itemized deductions and certain exemptions for individuals who earn over $200,000, and families earning over $250,000. That limitation raises roughly $400 billion over 10 years. There is a provision that would treat carried interest — that’s the interest earned by investment fund managers — as ordinary income, rather than taxing it at the capital gains rate. And that would raise $18 billion. There are a number of oil and gas provisions, which, collectively, raise $40 billion. That would — with the enactment of these provisions, would treat the oil and gas industry like other industries, taking away the special preference. And finally, the corporate jet depreciation rule is changed. Right now corporate jets are depreciated over five years; commercial over seven. It would treat commercial and corporate jets the same, at five years. That raises $3 billion. In the aggregate, these provisions actually raise $467 billion. It intentionally overachieves because these are based on our estimates internally. When the Congress estimates tax provisions, and we estimate tax provisions, they rarely are pinpoint-accurate to the same number. Sometimes they’re higher; sometimes they’re lower. And it just built in a cushion so that as we go through the process of having the scoring done on the Hill, we’ve built in a cushion for the differences that happen. But we do believe we’ve overachieved, which would leave a bit of excess. I don’t know if this bill will pass in any form. There’s a systemic problem in the House of Representatives that may kill it. But we have an opportunity here. This bill, with few exceptions, is a progressive model for moving forward. It doesn’t touch Medicare or Social Security. It pays for tax preferences and other expenditures with tax hikes on the rich. These are all ideas that an overwhelming majority of people in this country support , regardless of party. However, Republicans are showing weakness. The conciliatory tone taken after the jobs speech was uncharacteristic, even if it’s most likely an act. After three years of just saying no, they’re suddenly all teary-eyed over bipartisanship . Awwww. That new love of bipartisanship wouldn’t have anything to do with their drop in the polls and hostile town hall meetings over the summer, would it? Yet, their professed new love of bipartisan action hasn’t swayed the White House this time around. The President responded to those calls for compromise, love and bipartisanship by saying they should pass the whole bill, right now. Jay Carney repeated that theme in his press conference today: I’m going to — before I go straight to questions, I’m going to respond to a couple of things here. Tricia, on yours, the President believes the United States Congress should, upon receiving the American Jobs Act, pass it. He is submitting a bill that, by the estimate of any economist on the outside whose PhD is worth the value of the paper it’s printed on, would say creates jobs and grows the economy by incentivizing the private sector, by putting more money in Americans’ pockets, by putting teachers back to work, putting construction workers back to work, police and firefighters. And he believes the American Jobs Act should be passed by Congress. There’s only one way I see for this battle to be won. It’s going to be up to all of us to be out in the street (with correctly spelled signs, please) calling for the bill to be passed right now, as it is. Even then, it’s doubtful it will pass, but it will at least draw a sharp distinction between who is acting on behalf of the people and who is acting on behalf of the wealthy people and corporate interests. Ezra Klein sees it this way: The GOP might be working to showcase a more conciliatory tone in public, but that new tone does not mean they’re willing to talk taxes. Michael Steel, spokesman for Speaker John Boehner, e-mailed a quick, and negative, reaction to the White House’s announcement: “This tax increase on job creators is the kind of proposal both parties have opposed in the past. We remain eager to work together on ways to support job growth, but this proposal doesn’t appear to have been offered in that bipartisan spirit.” But perhaps the point of the proposals isn’t to attract GOP support that, in all likelihood, will never come. Perhaps the point is to force the GOP to make a difficult choice: either come back with offsets the White House can accept in place of these policies, or try to explain why keeping taxes low on the rich is more important than helping the jobless. All in all, these pay-fors make me less optimistic that much of the jobs package will pass, though my guess is they will make a lot of liberals more optimistic that the White House is finally willing to wage a public campaign on behalf of its policy ideas. Jobs are a universal concern right now. From CEOs to factory workers, jobs are evaporating with nothing to replace them. The President has proposed a good first step. I understand the Progressive Caucus plans to announce augmented proposals to his, which I will be writing on when they are released. As I understand it, they will layer even more opportunities for jobs onto the AJA in a complimentary fashion. Without pressure on these stubborn, selfish Republicans to step up for the people they represent, they’ll think it’s perfectly fine to behave just as they have so far and cater to their corporate overlords. It’s time they heard some other voices in their districts, in their states, and across the country. I like the White House’s approach on this. It would seem they’re listening to progressives more carefully. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t have concerns about the separate deficit reduction package they’re sending next week, but this bill, as proposed, would be good for the country and a step toward an improving economy.
Continue reading …Rick Perry in the spotlight as Texas sets to work on controversial executions
September 13, 2011 No Comment
Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate faces appeals for clemency in two highly charged death row cases • Amanda Marcotte: Rick Perry executes justice, Texas-style Rick Perry, the frontrunner to become the Republican candidate in next year’s presidential election, has just hours left to prevent a man being put to death in Texas in a case in which the jury was told the prisoner was a danger to the public – and should therefore be executed – because he was black. Duane Buck is one of four men scheduled to die by lethal injection in Texas , where Perry is governor, over the next eight days – an exceptional rate even in this execution-happy state. At Buck’s sentencing hearing, the jury that set his punishment was informed by a psychologist that black people had a higher rate of violent behaviour, a statement used by the prosecution as its key argument against giving him an alternative penalty of life imprisonment. On Tuesday night, another hotly contested case is scheduled to reach its climax with the execution of Steven Woods, who was sentenced to death for a double murder, even though an alleged accomplice later confessed to having pulled the trigger. How Perry reacts to the demands for commutation and clemency in these two highly controversial cases will give an indication of how he proposes to deal with the death penalty issue, which has welled up in the presidential race for the first time. Perry, as governor of Texas, has presided over more executions than any other US official in modern times. Perry was questioned about his enthusiasm for the death penalty at a televised Republican debate last week. When the TV moderator put it to him that his state had executed 234 prisoners since he became governor in 2000, the Republican studio audience cheered . Perry said he had never lost any sleep worrying that some of those individuals might have been innocent. “I’ve never struggled with that at all,” he said. When asked how he felt about the audience applauding so many deaths, he replied: “I think Americans understand justice.” Lawyers for both Buck and Woods are engaged in frenzied last-minute lobbying to Perry and to the courts to try to put off the executions. If their efforts fail, Woods’s execution on Tuesday night will be followed by Buck’s on Wednesday night. Buck, 48, shot and killed Debra Gardner, his former girlfriend, and a friend of hers, Kenneth Butler, in a drunken explosion of jealousy in July 1995. His guilt is not in dispute, but the testimony presented to the jury at his sentencing is. At the hearing, a psychologist, Dr Walter Quijano, was called by the defence and testified that he did not believe Buck would be a future danger as the murders had been a one-off crime of passion. But under cross-examination, the prosecution pressed him about Buck’s ethnicity as an African-American. “You have determined that the … race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons. Is that correct?” the prosecution asked. “Yes,” replied Quijano. The prosecution later exhorted the jury to make their decision on the basis of Quijano’s testimony. The jury found that Buck did pose a future danger of violence, and put him on death row. In 2000, the then attorney general in Texas, John Cornyn, admitted that the racial testimony of Quijano had wrongfully been allowed to prejudice sentencing in seven separate cases. Six of those cases were reheard as a result, but, in a legal oversight, Buck’s never was. Buck’s lawyer, Katherine Black, is petitioning Perry to commute his execution to allow resentencing . “This case violates the US constitution and undermines our moral values. A person has a right to be sentenced based not on the colour of their skin,” the petition reads. Further pressure has been brought to bear on Perry by a senior Texas lawyer who acted as prosecutor in Buck’s original trial. Linda Geffin has written to Perry calling on him to delay the execution. “It is inappropriate to allow race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice system,” she wrote. Steven Woods, 31, who will die barring a last-minute stay of execution, was one of two men accused of murdering Ronald Whitehead and Bethena Brosz in a drugs turf war in May 2001. Woods was brought to trial in August the following year. The prosecution alleged that he had planned and carried out the shootings, and he was convicted and sentenced to death. Three months later, his alleged accomplice, Marcus Rhodes, who had cut a deal with prosecutors, was given a life sentence, despite having confessed that he had personally carried out the shootings. Rhodes was given life imprisonment, while Woods remained on death row. Amnesty International has issued an urgent action alert , accusing Texas of treating Woods unfairly in a case “where one defendant receives a death sentence and another who pled guilty to personally shooting the two victims receives a life sentence”. Mary O’Grady, a specialist in death row based in Austin, said that under the so-called “law of parties” in Texas, death penalties can be inflicted even on those who did not pull the trigger. Being present at a murder, knowing that an accomplice intended to kill, is sufficient. “A lot of people with no blood on their own hands get executed in Texas,” O’Grady said. The prospects of Perry granting clemency for Woods are not great. The governor has only once in 11 years shown clemency to a death row inmate unless forced to do so by the courts. “When it comes to death row, Perry is completely unfeeling and unemotional,” said Ray Hill, who runs the Execution Watch website and radio show in Texas. “It never strikes him that he should value the lives of those who are accused, even wrongfully.” Next week two further executions are scheduled, of Cleve Foster on Tuesday and Lawrence Brewer on Wednesday. Texas Rick Perry United States US elections 2012 Race issues Republican presidential nomination 2012 Human rights Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
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Sean Duffy targeted Facebook tribute pages and posted videos on YouTube taunting the dead victims and their families An internet troll who posted videos and messages mocking the deaths of teenagers, including a girl hit by a train, has been jailed. Sean Duffy, 25, targeted Facebook tribute pages and posted videos on YouTube taunting the dead and their families. Among his victims was Natasha MacBryde, 15, who died instantly when hit by a passenger train near her home in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. The day after Natasha’s death in February, Duffy posted comments including “I fell asleep on the track lolz” on the Facebook tribute page created by her brother James, 17. Four days later he created a YouTube video called “Tasha the Tank Engine” featuring her face superimposed on to the front of the fictional engine. Duffy, who is unemployed and did not know any of his victims, pleaded guilty to two counts of sending malicious communications relating to Natasha. He asked for three other cases of Facebook trolling – posting offensive messages on the internet – to be taken into consideration when he appeared before magistrates in Reading, Berkshire. Jailing him for 18 weeks, the chair of the bench, Paul Warren, told him: “You have caused untold distress to already grieving friends and family. “The offences are so serious only a custodial sentence could be justified.” He went on to say that the case served as an illustration of the “harm and damage” that malicious use of social networking sites could do. Duffy was also given a five-year antisocial behaviour order to prohibit him from creating and accessing social network sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Bebo and Myspace. He will also have to inform police of any phone he has or buys that comes with internet access. The court heard that Duffy has Asperger’s syndrome and lived a “miserable existence” drinking alcohol alone at his home in Reading. Joanne Belsey, prosecuting, said Duffy’s series of online attacks began following the death of 16-year-old Hayley Bates, from Staffordshire, who died in a car crash in September 2010. Duffy defaced pictures of her, adding crosses over her eyes and stitches over her forehead. One caption underneath a picture of flowers at the crash site read: “Used car for sale, one useless owner.” He then went on to focus on Lauren Drew, a 14-year-old who died from an epilepsy attack at her home in Gloucester in January. Duffy posted offensive and upsetting images relating to her death and for Mother’s Day created a YouTube video with a picture of a coffin saying “Happy Mothers Day”. Public schoolgirl Natasha MacBryde was his next target. She killed herself after she was sent a message by an anonymous bully on a social networking website. She had also been teased by members of an all-girl clique at school. Duffy set up a fake tribute page on Facebook called Tasha the Tank Engine. On the official memorial page set up by her brother James he wrote: “I fell asleep on the track lolz,” and posted images of her with text saying she was spoilt. Other trolls joined the abuse. Duffy’s final target was Jordan Cooper, 14, from Washington, Newcastle upon Tyne, who was stabbed to death. Duffy created a group called “Jordan Cooper in pieces” with a profile picture of a knife with blood dripping off it. A further YouTube video was also made which contained pictures of his eyes crossed out and slashes across his face. Duffy’s lawyer Lance Whiteford said: “In terms of mitigation there is none. I cannot imagine the trauma and anxiety caused to the families of these horrible, despicable offences.” She said his condition meant he was not aware of the effect he was having on his victims. Duffy had been cautioned for a similar offence in 2009 and Whiteford said he lived an isolated life and had himself been bullied at school and work. Speaking outside court, Natasha MacBryde’s father, Andrew, said: “He is a disturbed individual who caused the maximum of grief for his own satisfaction. “I think he must be a very lonely man who unfortunately tried to get attention through the most disgusting way possible. “In a way I feel sorry for him and I think he needs some sort of counselling as it is obviously very odd behaviour. “I hope his sentencing shows other trollers that they are not anonymous and they will be caught if they continue their vile games.” He said he had not been able to watch the Tasha the Tank Engine video as it was too distressing. Following the sentencing, Lauren Drew’s father Mark spoke of the devastation it caused her family as they struggled to come to terms with her death: “We were already having a hard time. Lauren was my only daughter and I worshipped the ground she walked on and this person was hiding behind a computer. “He caused devastation to us and other families; for so many people. It hurts but he sits behind a computer with no feeling.” Drew called for the operators of social networking sites to take more responsibility for their content: “The web is a wonderful thing if used right but as you can see in this case it was used wrongly. These days children live on Facebook, it’s their lives and they’re just so vulnerable.” After the hearing police said they would continue to track down offenders like Duffy. Det Ch Insp James Hahn, of Thames Valley police, said: “Clearly this has been a very emotive case, that has caused additional distress and suffering for families who have been trying to cope with the loss of loved ones. “Malicious communication through social networking is a new phenomenon and unfortunately shows how technology can be abused. However, our investigation shows that offenders cannot hide behind their computer screens.” Crime Social networking Facebook Internet YouTube Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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Lawyers have called for British troops responsible for the ‘violent assault’ to be charged with murder and other crimes British troops who contributed to the death of Baha Mousa should be brought to justice, his father has said, while lawyers acting for his and other victims’ families have called for the soldiers responsible to face charges of murder, war crimes offences and misconduct in public office. The call for prosecutions follows publication last week of a damning report on the fate of Mousa, 26, an Iraqi who had been arrested in Basra shortly after the invasion in 2003. The public inquiry concluded that there had been an “appalling episode of serious gratuitous violence” meted out by members of the 1st Battalion the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment (1QLR). Mousa’s father, Colonel Daoud Mousa, speaking through an interpreter, said that he would like to see those responsible brought to justice to “show the truth”. He added: “My son died as a result of torture at the hands of British armed forces in Iraq. I saw my son after he passed away. He had a bloody nose and bruised body. There were numerous impact marks on his body as a result of torture. It caused me a great deal of pain and I had a mild stroke as a result.” The family’s solicitor, Phil Shiner, announced he would be writing to the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, and the director of service prosecutions, Bruce Houlder, to urge them to bring charges against the troops involved. Shiner, from Public Interest Lawyers based in Birmingham, called for Corporal Donald Payne, who was found by the inquiry to have violently assaulted Mousa in the minutes before he died, to be charged with murder and manslaughter. Payne became the first member of the British armed forces convicted of a war crime when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians at a court martial in 2006, although he was later acquitted of manslaughter. The long-standing legal principle of double jeopardy prevents people being tried twice for the same crime. But the Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduced exceptions for serious offences, such as murder and manslaughter, when significant new evidence comes to light. The inquiry’s chairman, Sir William Gage, said a number of British officers who could have stopped the abuse, including 1QLR’s former commanding officer Colonel Jorge Mendonca, bore a “heavy responsibility” for the “grave and shameful events”. His report named 19 soldiers who assaulted Mousa and nine other Iraqis detained with him, and found that many others, including several officers, must have known what was happening. Gage found that two 1QLR officers, Lieutenant Craig Rodgers and Major Michael Peebles, were aware that the detainees were being subjected to serious assaults by more junior soldiers. Shiner said prosecutors should consider bringing charges of conspiracy to commit breaches of the Geneva conventions, namely torture and inhumane treatment, and misconduct in a public office against Mendonca and Peebles. Seven members of 1QLR, including Mendonca, faced allegations relating to the mistreatment of the detainees at a high-profile court martial in 2006-07. The trial ended with them all cleared, apart from Payne. The defence secretary, Liam Fox, last week said Mousa’s death was “deplorable, shocking and shameful” and announced he had asked the head of the army, General Sir Peter Wall, to consider what action can be taken against serving soldiers criticised in the report. But Shiner said: “To respond to the very damning Baha Mousa inquiry report by again trying to sweep the horror of what happened under the carpet by administrative action internal to the armed forces would be an absolute disgrace.” One of the Iraqi detainees held and abused along with Mousa told the press conference of his ordeal. Radeef Muslim said through an interpreter: “We were tortured for three days. We were put in stress positions without any rest, we were hooded and beaten. We were deprived of food and water, and it was very hot at the time. “As a result Baha died and I was taken to hospital. I was there for 14 days. As a result of this day, I still suffer from flashbacks, nightmares and psychological issues. To date I am still suffering psychologically. I also would like to see those responsible brought to justice.” Fourteen of the soldiers criticised in Gage’s report are still serving in the army, and two have been suspended in the light of the findings. The Royal Military police are now conducting a review of the evidence given to the public inquiry. Baha Mousa Iraq Middle East Military War crimes Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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The 64th Frankfurt motor show – the biggest in the world – runs until 25 September in Germany
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Major US banks accuse Murdoch and News Corporation of corporate misconduct extending far beyond UK Full text of shareholders’ complaint A prominent group of US banks and investment funds with substantial investments in News Corporation has issued a fresh legal complaint accusing the company of widespread corporate misconduct extending far beyond the phone-hacking excesses of News of the World. The legal action, lodged in the Delaware courts, is led by Amalgamated Bank, a New York-based chartered bank that manages some $12bn on behalf of institutional investors and holds about 1 million shares of News Corporation common stock. Its lawsuit is aimed against the members of News Corp’s board, including Rupert Murdoch himself, his sons James and Lachlan, and the media empire’s chief operating officer, Chase Carey. In the complaint, the shareholders accuse the board of allowing Murdoch to use News Corp as his “own personal fiefdom”. In addition to the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World, the complaint focuses on the controversial business tactics of two News Corp subsidiaries in America, its advertising arm News America Marketing and a manufacturer of satellite TV smart cards called NDS Group Plc. In legal documents, the shareholders allege that the two companies were accused by multiple parties of “stealing computer technology, hacking into business plans and computers and violating the law through a wide range of anti-competitive behaviour”. The complaint draws on several lawsuits and trial transcripts in which the News Corp subsidiaries were prosecuted by rival businesses for alleged misconduct. In the case of News America, the company reached settlements with three separate competitors amounting to $650m. In one trial, involving an advertising company called Floorgraphics, evidence was presented to the jury that News America had broken into its rival’s secure computer systems at least 11 times. The chief executive of News America, Paul Carlucci, was also quoted as having told Floorgraphics: “If you ever get into any of our businesses, I will destroy you. I work for a man who wants it all, and doesn’t understand anybody telling him he can’t have it all.” The complaint says that as Carlucci and Murdoch talk regularly, “it is inconceivable that Murdoch would not have been aware about the illegal tactics being employed by NAM to thwart comptetition”. In the case of NDS, the shareholder complaint refers to lawsuits launched by rivals Vivendi and EchoStar, who accused the company, which News Corp acquired in 1992, of illegally extracting the code of its smart cards used to unscramble satellite TV signals and charge subscribers. In court documents, Amalgamated Bank says NDS posted the Vivendi code on the internet, allowing hackers to break into broadcasts for free and inflicting more than $1bn in damages on its competitor. In a separate case, EchoStar accused NDS of illegally intercepting one of its satellite television broadcasts, and a court injunction was obtained preventing the News Corp subsidiary from “intercepting or receiving, anywhere in the US, EchoStar’s satellite television signal without authorisation”. Jay Eisenhofer, a lawyer representing Amalgamated Bank and its other leading complainants, the New Orleans Employees’ Retirement System and Central Laborers Pension Fund, said the details of the alleged misconduct at News America and NDS were significant as they suggested a wider culture of improper behaviour that went beyond the illegality at the now-defunct News of the World. “These cases establish a pattern of misconduct that extends far beyond the UK subsidiary. It demonstrates a corporate culture that allows this sort of misconduct to take place over a very long period of time.” Eisenhofer pointed out that several members of the News America and NDS boards were also directors of News Corp. The latest complaint from Amalgamated and its co-plaintiffs provides the most detailed and serious allegations yet against News Corp for alleged business improprieties carried out within the US. The company is already under investigation by the FBI, which is looking into suggestions that News of the World reporters tried to gain access to the phone records of 9/11 victims. The justice department is also carrying out a wide-ranging inquiry in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal into News Corp’s corporate behaviour to see whether any US laws were broken. There was no immediate response from News Corp to the allegations. News Corporation Phone hacking Rupert Murdoch James Murdoch United States Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …More Details Emerge in Republican Assault on Post Office and Postal Unions
September 13, 2011 No CommentThe Republican plans to weaken the United States Postal Service are starting to get more and more attention, including Sam Seder’s Majority Report , Thom Hartmann , Nicole Sandler’s radio show and Allison Kilkenny’s brilliant Truthout article : It was only a few years ago that the USPS was considered not only stable, but thriving. The biggest volume in pieces of mail handled by the Postal Service in its 236-year history was in 2006. The second and third busiest years were in 2005 and 2007, respectively. But it was two events: one crafted during the Bush years and another supervised by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, that would cripple this once great institution. Perhaps it was its booming history that first drew Congress’ attention to the Postal Service in 2006 when it passed the Postal Accountability Enhancement Act (PAEA), which mandated that the Postal Service would have to fully fund retiree health benefits for future retirees. That’s right. Congress was demanding universal health care coverage. But it even went beyond that. Congress was mandating coverage for future human beings. “It’s almost hard to comprehend what they’re talking about, but basically they said that the Postal Service would have to fully fund future retirees’ health benefits for the next 75 years and they would have to do it within a ten-year window,” says Chuck Zlatkin, political director of the New York Metro Area Postal Union. It was an impossible order, and strangely, a task unshared by any other government service, agency, corporation or organization within the United States. The act meant that every September 30th, the USPS had to cough up $5.5 billion to the Treasury for the pre-funding of future retirees’ health benefits, meaning the Postal Service pays for employees 75 years into the future. The USPS is funding the retirement packages of people who haven’t even been born yet. We keep being told that email and the Internet have killed the Postal Service and it’s simply not true. Adjusting for the economic downturn, it appears the USPS is busier now than it ever has been before. E-commerce has been a huge boost as all the items people purchase online have to get to people’s homes and the cheapest way to do that is still through the Postal Service. The more details that we find out about this law, the PAEA, the worse it sounds. It passed on a voice vote. Why weren’t any Democrats or progressives in Congress asking questions as to the validity of this bill? Why didn’t they do their homework on its effects? And what about Postmaster General Tom Donahoe, who has been getting a lot of time on television in recent weeks, arguing for massive cuts to the USPS? What empower meant was to starve the Postal Service and its union. Since that day, Donahoe has abdicated his responsibility as the postmaster general, according to Zlatkin. The APWU’s collective bargaining agreements in the past have included layoff protections, which Donahoe immediately offered up as sacrifice to his Republican masters when he asked to bypass worker protection so he might obliterate 220,000 career positions from the workforce by 2015. “All he’s trying to do is appease that committee. He’s violated a contract he’s signed. He’s violated labor law. From my understanding, by going to Congress and having them change the laws to change our contracts, he’s violating the Constitution of the United States.” In fact, Zlatkin says his local union chapter is so disillusioned with the postmaster’s behavior that they’re putting out a press release to call for his resignation or termination. “He is either a well-meaning incompetent or a duplicitous front man for the people who want to privatize the postal service,” says Zlatkin. And, again, for those who don’t recognize why this is so important, the Postal Service is a vital cog in the American economy and is constitutionally mandated. It particularly benefits the poor: But as Marcy Wheeler explains, there are still tons of people who need the USPS’s services: poorer people, people using a post office box, rural people who live outside delivery areas, eBay-type entrepreneurs, immigrants sending care packages to people from their country of origin and nonprofits. “It’s part of the class war and it’s against the poor and it’s a class war against working people,” says Zlatkin. Of the 34 post offices the USPS is considering closing in New York City, 17 are in the Bronx. The South Bronx district ranks as the poorest Congressional district in America.
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Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were detained for entering country illegally, along with Sarah Shourd who was freed last year Two Americans sentenced in Iran to eight years in jail for espionage and illegally crossing the border are set for release on bail, their lawyer said on Tuesday. News of the deal came after Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, revealed in separate interviews with two US media organisations that Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 29, who had already been held for two years, will be able to return home in the next few days. In an interview with the semi-official Fars news agency, lawyer Masoud Shafii later confirmed Ahmadinejad’s remarks over Iran’s decision to release the two men, saying they are expected to be freed after paying $500,000 (£316,000) in bail money. The pair were arrested by Iranian security officials in July 2009 along with a friend, Sarah Shourd, 33, after walking across an unmarked border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. Last September, in a similar move and with the same amount of bail, Shourd who became engaged to Bauer while in jail, was released on health grounds. “The families of these two Americans and the Swiss embassy which hosts the US interests section in Tehran have been informed of this issue and Bauer and Fattal can leave Iran similar to Sara Shourd,” Fars added. The Washington Post quoted president Ahmadinejad as saying that Bauer and Fattal were granted a “unilateral pardon”. “I am helping to arrange for their release in a couple of days so they will be able to return home,” he told the paper in an interview in Tehran. “This is of course going to be a unilateral humanitarian gesture.” The US network NBC, which also interviewed the president on the same day, said the Americans will be released in two days. Ahmadinejad appears to be crediting himself for their expected release ahead of his visit to New York for the UN general assembly meeting later this month. In August, an Iranian court sentenced the two men each to three years for illegally entering Iran and a further five years for spying for US intelligence services. Their lawyer lodged an appeal against the sentences and Amnesty International said their conviction made a “mockery of justice”. The court’s verdict was at odds with earlier comments made by Iran’s foreign ministry officials who said before the trial that they would be freed. The contrast highlighted a growing rift between Iran’s judiciary, which is close to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Ahmadinejad’s government. It is not clear why Iran has finally decided to grant them an apparent clemency but international pressure and Iran’s isolation in the region could be factors. A deal might also have been made in exchange for the lifting of the travel ban on Fereidoun Abbasi-Davani, the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency. The offer to release the Americans comes two days after Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said Iran is ready to resume nuclear talks with the EU. It might be an attempt by Iran to reduce tensions with the US and other powers involved in negotiations over its nuclear programme. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, said on Monday he was “increasingly concerned” over Iran’s nuclear activities, which the west worries might have military dimensions. Iran says it wants nuclear energy for producing electricity. Iran Middle East United States Saeed Kamali Dehghan guardian.co.uk
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