Two U.S. senators seek sanctions on Syria
The United States would hit Syria with sanctions against trade as long as it continues a violent crackdown on protesters under sanctions proposed by two U.S. senators.
The bill, to be released by Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, would require U.S. President Barack Obama to identify violators of human rights and call for reform and protection of prodemocracy demonstrators. It would also block any financial aid and property transactions in the United States involving Syrian leaders involved in the crackdown on protests.
The sanctions measure, to be proposed this week, would also prohibit the sale of high technology and telecommunications to Syria by any companies if the technology could be used for what the senators call censorship or human rights abuse. Visas to the United States would also be denied.
The 10-month uprising against Syria’s President Bashar al Assad has turned increasingly militarized and chaotic as more frustrated regime opponents and army defectors arm themselves and fight back against government forces.
EX-WOOLWORTHS EMPLOYEES WIN $100M PAYOUT
A shopworkers union says that an employment tribunal has awarded nearly £68 million (over $100 million) in compensation to 24,000 former Woolworths employees.
The Usdaw union said that it had won the compensation after successfully arguing that the bankrupt retailer’s administrators broke the law by failing to consult with the union before firing its employees. The money amounts to 60 days’ pay for each worker.
Woolworths closed all of its 800 British outlets in 2009 after being unable to find a buyer for the business.
DEXIA SUES JPMORGAN ON MORTGAGE SECURITIES
Jpmorgan, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, was sued over mortgage-backed securities sold to Dexia because the loans underlying the securities were allegedly riskier than promised.
Dexia accused Jpmorgan and companies it acquired — Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual — of “egregious fraud,” saying they created and sold mortgage bonds backed by loans that they knew to be “exceptionally bad.”
Dexia, the Brussels-based French-belgian lender, said the complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court, involves about $1.7 billion of mortgage securities. Dexia suffered “substantial losses” because mortgages were of poorer quality and the risks of default and losses were much higher than represented, according to the complaint.
POLISH GOVERNMENT WEBSITES DISRUPTED
Several Polish government websites appear to have been attacked by a group opposing the country’s support for a treaty aimed at protecting international intellectual property rights.
The websites, including that of the Parliament and the prime minister, were inaccessible or unusually slow Sunday. It was an apparent sign that they had been subjected to denial of service attacks, which flood sites with traffic in a bid to make them unresponsive.
The disruptions came after Anonymous, a loose collection of online activists, vowed to wage “a full scale attack on Poland’s government” to protest its plans to sign the treaty, known as the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA.
U.S. DEFENDS USE OF WIRETAP EVIDENCE IN RAJAT GUPTA INSIDER TRADING CASE
U.S. prosecutors opposed a bid by former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta to block use in his criminal case of wiretap evidence obtained from the cellphone of convicted inside trader Raj Rajaratnam.
Six different judges authorized the wiretaps because they are particularly appropriate in investigating insider trading, which requires communication and is often difficult to detect and prove beyond a reasonable doubt, the government said in a filing opposing Gupta’s request to suppress the evidence.
NYC LAWYER SENTENCED FOR TAX EVASION
Kenneth Heller, a disbarred New York maritime lawyer, has been sentenced to 45 days in jail for using an offshore
account to hide income from U.S. tax authorities. Heller, 82, who pleaded guilty in June to three counts of tax evasion for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan. The parties agreed that the amount of taxes Heller avoided was between $400,000 and $1 million. Heller, who faced as long as 15 years in prison, has cancer, memory loss and other physical and mental problems, according to a defense filing in which his lawyers asked that he not be imprisoned.
UBS
U.K. APPROVES TV ADS FOR ABORTION CLINICS
Britain’s broadcast advertising body has given the go-ahead for private abortion clinics to advertise their services on television.
The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice says there is no justification for barring private clinics that offer post-pregnancy services, including abortions, from advertising on television. Nonprofit post-pregnancy services are already allowed to advertise on television, and their for-profit counterparts are allowed to advertise in all other media.