Civil disobedience in Greece finds a new reason to continue

Greece_civil_disobedienceGreece is again facing a fresh round of civil disobedience on part of the citizens as they feel infuriated on the engagement of the monitors of IMF and the EU into their national sovereignty. Although guaranteed by the Prime Minister, George Papandreou, to provide necessary breathing space, it has been looked upon with suspicious eyes and to provide too much sovereignty of Greece to its international creditors. Angered  Greeks are asking how much say they will have in their own affairs after the EU made clear that monitors would be relocated to Athens to supervise the economy to help clear its debts and also to rebuild and restructure it . On Friday, the Greek citizens carried “Merkel = Hitler” banners, some burned German flags, and disrupted national parades commemorating Greece’s entry into the Second World War. The civil disobedience movement first began when the Greeks refused to pay road taxes and also the ministries and government buildings being taken over by them through strikes and protests.

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Tata Motors Challenges Calcutta High Court Singur Issue

legal_challengeThe land acquisition controversy in Singur by the Tata Motors began way back in 2006. The said acquisition was for setting up a manufacturing unit for Tata’s Nano car. The acquisition aggravated the peasants and the landowners of the said area. They claimed that the employment opportunities projected by the industry were not in par with the benefits that their land provided to them. It was a clear indication that the farmers and the localities were against the land acquisition. However subsequent to these rampant protests Tata Motors scraped the Singur project and shifted the plant to Sanand in Gujarat in 2008.

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US Sues South Carolina over Immigration Law

immigration_lawThe US Department of justice filled a court injunction against an immigration law in South Carolina on Monday by saying that the measure passed in South Carolina this summer is unconstitutionally pre-empts federal authority. But the United State constitution forbids South Carolina from supplanting the federal government’s immigration regime with its own State-specific immigration policy.

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Govt Mulling over Right to Reject Option

right_to_rejectWith what might be seen as another major victory for team Anna, the Government is considering implementing the option of Right to reject in the coming polls. The Election Commission accepting the demand of team Anna has written to the Law Ministry asking to implement the option of Right to reject in future polls. The commission will ask law ministry to suitably amend poll rules and allow introduction of a button in the electronic voting machines that gives voters the option of none of the above. However there would be no need to amend the existing election laws in the country and a change could be made through a executive order. Under Sec 49 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 does allow the voter to access the Right to reject option, but it violates his privacy as the voter needs to present in physical form in the pooling booth to do so. Converting this option into electronic form will ensure that the voter remains anonymous.

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Legal Hurdles over Lavasa city

lava_flowsThere is a lot of hue and cry over the Lavasa hill city project in Pune Maharashtra. There has been many issues of violations of laws, but the environment minister Jairam Ramesh has strongly came up to say that complete clearance to this city has not been granted by the environment ministry. According to him there are 5 pre conditions which need to be fulfilled by the project authority.  A large scale agitation is being carried out by the National Alliance of Peoples Movement led by Medha Patkar; their agitation is backed by many documentary evidences obtained through RTI. There has been a large scale violation of the environmental laws in this area. There has been violation of the hill station regulation laws as well.  The land here has been acquired by the company from the tribal through middlemen which is strictly prohibited by the law. And not only that the company has acquired ceiling lands as well which were distributed to the land less tribals out here in the Lavasa hill area.

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Oracle Vs Google Patent Infringement Trial

google_vs_oracleThe allegations put forth by Oracle against Google were expected to be put under trial before the Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California from October 31st, 2011 onwards. Unfortunately due to the fact that the District Judge was entrusted with the trial of a high profile criminal case, the Oracle-Google trial has been postponed to a later date. However the Judge failed to mention the next start date of the trial. It has been hinted that the trial might start only in 2012. The Judge stated that the trial is expected to happen in three phases of which the first phases will be concerning the copyright and patent violations and the defenses thereto. He also hinted that owing to his busy schedule, the trial might even get entrusted to another Judge.

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US Supreme Court to look into Bad Pleading

Anthony Cooper shot a woman in Detroit in 2003 and then received a really bad legal advice. Because all four of his bullets had struck the victim below her waist, his lawyer said, Mr. Cooper could not be convicted of assault with intent to murder. Based on that advice, Cooper rejected the plea bargain that was for a sentence of four to seven years. He was convicted, and is serving 15 to 30 years.

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