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Bush calls on Congress to promote new fuels
Legal Career News |
2007/04/04 02:40
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President Bush urged Congress on Tuesday to adopt his proposed targets for alternative fuel use as a way of combating greenhouse gas emissions a day after the US Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that the Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate automobile emissions. Speaking at a Rose Garden press conference, Bush said: First of all, the decision of the Supreme Court we take very seriously. It's the new law of the land. And secondly, we're taking some time to fully understand the details of the decision... My attitude is, is that we have laid out a plan that will affect greenhouse gases that come from automobiles by having a mandatory fuel standard that insists upon using 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels by 2017, which will reduce our gasoline usage by 20 percent and halt the growth in greenhouse gases that emanate from automobiles. In other words, there is a remedy available for Congress. And I strongly hope that they pass this remedy quickly. Bush, who opposes mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions, also reiterated his belief that rapidly developing countries such as China and India must do more to control pollution. Scientific research suggests that man-made greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. Efforts to establish national emissions limits have gained traction in Congress since the Democrats became the majority party. Last month, former CIA director John Deutch recommended in a report to international civic leaders that the United States enact an EU-style cap-and-trade program among other measures to control greenhouse gas emissions. In January, a coalition of US businesses and environmental groups called for federal legislation to limit emissions. Overseas, the British government last month introduced a draft environmental bill that could control greenhouse gas emissions through 2050. |
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Videographer Wolf Freed After Record Time In Jail
Court Feed News |
2007/04/03 22:46
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US District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California approved the release Tuesday of jailed video journalist and blogger Josh Wolf, who was imprisoned for 226 days, longer than any other journalist, for refusing to testify before a grand jury. The judge agreed to Wolf's release after he complied with a subpoena and turned over footage he took in 2005 of a San Francisco demonstration protesting the 2005 G8 Summit. Wolf also published the previously-unreleased video footage on his website Tuesday. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has repeatedly called for Wolf's release and issued a statement Tuesday welcoming news that Wolf was to be freed. Reporters Without Borders (RWB) ranked the United States in 53rd place last October in its fifth annual Worldwide Index of Freedom. RWB mentioned Wolf's imprisonment among other factors contributing to the United States' slip of nine places in the rankings since the previous year. |
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FCC order strengthens pretexting regulations
Legal Career News |
2007/04/03 22:36
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted new privacy rules for telephone and wireless companies on Tuesday aimed at strengthening safeguards against pretexting, the disclosure of personal telephone records to unauthorized individuals. The new rules include carrier authentication requirements, additional notice requirements, and annual certification requirements. Commenting on the new rules, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a prepared statement that the regulations significantly strengthen existing safeguards by requiring express consent before a carrier can give a customer’s phone records to other parties for marketing purposes. In January, President Bush signed into law new federal legislation to protect telephone consumers from pretexting. The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006 was approved by the US Senate in December in response to the Hewlett-Packard corporate spying scandal that broke last summer. |
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Alameda man gets prison for groping girl
Criminal Law Updates |
2007/04/03 20:51
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An Alameda man will spend seven months in prison for groping a 14-year-old girl he was sitting next to on a flight home from the Philippines last July, U.S. Attorney Scott Schools announced today. Benjamin Caniaveral, 48, was sentenced today in San Francisco federal court by Judge William Alsup and must report to prison by the end of the month. Caniaveral pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of simple assault on a juvenile in October. In doing so, he admitted to intentionally touching the girl, who was sleeping in the window seat covered by a blanket. The U.S. Attorney's office reports that Caniaveral first stroked the girl's arm with his hand, then he touched her on the stomach below the navel. The tip of his fingers reached below the waist of her pants, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. The girl awoke during the incident, according to the U.S. Attorney's office, and she alerted a flight attendant. "I laud the victim's courage in reporting and pursuing this case," said Schools. "Too often this type of attack is not reported or not punished." The incident, which was investigated by the FBI, took place on a Philippine Airlines flight to San Francisco from Manila. |
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Ex-city cab Guilty Plea In New York Terror Case
Court Feed News |
2007/04/03 20:45
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A Baltimore man who attended an Islamist guerrilla training camp in Pakistan pleaded guilty in New York to a terrorism charge. Mahmud Faruq Brent, 32, faces up to 15 years in jail at his July 10 sentencing, The Washington Post reported. Brent, who is also known as Mahmud Al Mutazzim, was scheduled to go on trial April 24 with two other defendants. His lawyer, Hassen Ibn Abdellah, told the Post Brent didn't plan to testify against the other defendants. Brent pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to conspiring to aid a group on the U.S. terrorism list, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, by attending one of its training camps. He was arrested in 2005 and has admitted attending the camp in 2002, the Post reported. Federal officials tied Brink, an Ohio native and former Washington taxi and ambulance driver, to Seifullah Chapman, a member of what prosecutors called the "Virginia jihad network," the Post said. Chapman was sentenced to 65 years in prison on charges that included conspiring to support Lashkar-e-Taiba. |
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Second pet fool lawsuit filed in LA
Class Action News |
2007/04/03 19:32
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The second lawsuit to be filed in L-A Superior Court in a week over contaminated pet food comes from a Los Angeles-area woman whose eight-year-old purebred Samoyed named Sammy died of kidney failure after eating an I-A-M-S meal. Kelly Finestone filed the suit yesterday against Ontario, Canada-based Menu Foods Incorporated and Petco Animal Supply Stores Incorporated of San Diego. Finestone alleges negligence and strict liability. Her lawsuit states that she bought the dog for twelve-hundred dollars, then spent three thousand dollars on veterinarian bills after he got sick. It cost five-hundred dollars to cremate him. The lawsuit also alleges Fineman suffered emotional distress and a loss of companionship after her dog's death. Her lawsuit does not specify the amount of additional general and actual damages she is asking for. She is also looking for others to join in her lawsuit. |
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