Law Blog rounds up the morning’s legal news: Bitcoin ruling: A federal court ruled that the IRS can serve digital-currency-services company Coinbase with a “John Doe summons” that seeks detailed information on its customers’ transactions from 2013 to 2015. [WSJ] Community policing: Gary, Ind., is among six cities in a program that fights crime by asking officers […] (via WSJ)
In this Feb. 25, 2014 file photo, theSamsung Galaxy S5 is displayed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014. Leading tech companies are increasingly nudging consumers to use their own fingers, faces and eyes as digital key to unlock phones and other gadgets. But there are downsides: Hackers could still steal your fingerprint, or its digital representation. And police may have broader […]
Gold has suffered its worst month since mid-2013, as the election of Donald Trump, the rising dollar and increased expectations of a US rate rise combined to send prices down 8.1 per cent in November. The fall to $1,173.20 per troy ounce marked the steepest monthly sell-off since June 2013, when the precious metal lost 11 per cent in the wake of the so-called taper tantrum. November’s […]
Pursglove would soon learn, however, that navigating this offshore archipelago is not easy. In any given year, trillions of dollars sit safely in the offshore financial world, effectively stateless, protected by legions of well-compensated defenders and a tangle of laws deliberately designed to impede creditors and tax collectors. Even the United States government finds it challenging: A special Internal Revenue Service division known as the “wealth squad,” […]
To our complete shock, the Government Accountability Office has released a report blasting the Education Department’s understanding of basic mathematics and accounting concepts after finding the department drastically underestimated the costs of Obama’s student loan forgiveness programs. The 100-page report entitled “Federal Student Loans: Education Needs to Improve Its Income Driven Repayment Plan Budget Estimates” found that taxpayers could be on the hook for $137BN of student […]
By Jonathan Stempel and Nate Raymond | NEW YORK NEW YORK Billionaire Steven A. Cohen’s former hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP will pay $135 million to settle a lawsuit by investors in the drugmaker Elan Corp, who said they lost money because of insider trading by one of his portfolio managers. The preliminary class-action settlement with SAC, now known as Point72 Asset Management LP, was filed […]
Two conservatives in Congress have proposed allowing donors to give unlimited amounts of money to federal political candidates, a long-sought measure given fresh energy with the imminent Republican control of Congress and the White House. A measure reintroduced on Wednesday by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina would toss […] (via WSJ)
Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people, Dispenser of India’s destiny. Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha, Of the Dravida and Odisha and Bengal; It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas, mingles in the music of Jamuna and Ganges and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea. They pray for thy blessings and sing […]
India’s millions of Bollywood-mad movie goers will soon start a trip to the cinema with a mandatory dose of patriotism. The country’s Supreme Court said in an order Wednesday that all movie theaters should play the national anthem with an image of the Indian tricolor on the screen before the start of any feature film. All those present in the hall “are obliged to stand up to […]
By Alex Dobuzinskis A Somali immigrant who injured 11 people in an attack at Ohio State University may have been inspired by Islamic State and the late al Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an FBI official told a news conference on Wednesday. The Islamic State militant group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attack a day earlier at the Columbus campus. Al-Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone […]
Law Blog rounds up the morning’s legal news: Wisconsin recount: A Wisconsin judge refused to order local election workers to conduct the state’s upcoming presidential recount completely by hand. [AP, Reuters] Market-manipulation trial: A rare market-manipulation trial begins in a Manhattan federal court, as one of the biggest U.S. futures traders enters a risky showdown […] (via WSJ)
In this Wednesday, June 22, 2016, file photo, a driver uses her mobile phone while sitting in traffic in Sacramento, Calif. The government wants smartphone makers to lock out most apps when the phone is being used by someone driving a car. The voluntary guidelines unveiled Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, are designed to reduce crashes caused by drivers distracted by phones. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) The government […]
By Isabel Coles and Saif Hameed | MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq The United Nations issued a fresh warning on Wednesday about the humanitarian situation in eastern Mosul where the U.S.-backed Iraqi army is locked in heavy fighting with Islamic State militants. More than six weeks into the offensive against Islamic State’s last major city stronghold in Iraq, the army is trying to dislodge militants dug in among […]
Ulster Bank Parent RBS Fails Bank of England Stress Test “Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)(RBS.L) will cut costs and sell assets to boost capital levels, it said on Wednesday after failing this year’s Bank of England stress test, which warned of a “challenging” outlook for Britain’s financial system. The state-backed lender rushed out a statement following the announcement to say it would take a range of actions, including […]
While the attacks are currently targeting Tor users, the publication of the exploit code allows anyone to use it, potentially putting all Firefox users at risk. Image: Mozilla Users of online anonymity network Tor are facing a new attack that uses nearly identical code to a Firefox exploit used by the FBI in 2013. Tor co-founder Roger Dingledine says Mozilla is working on a patch for Firefox […]
Part of the reason for Donald Trump’s triumph in the US election was that, as he would say, his cyber was the strongest. In the first social media election, Trump rallied a world’s worth of hackers and extreme digital natives to his side. If he can keep that anarchic crowd on board, he’ll not only have the world’s best cybersecurity, he’ll have a cyber army. […]
Submitted by Kelli Sladick via Tenth Amendment Center, During the last eight years, the Obama administration failed to live up to its promise reverse the Bush era’s mass surveillance of American citizens. In fact, it was expanded and justified. If you were silent, the sweeping power controlled by the president may not be on your radar for the right reasons. While there is a deep fear resonating, […]
Replicas of R$100,00 banknotes are hung on a clothesline during a protest of the national union of prosecutors against money laundering in Brazil, at the Esplanade of Ministries in Brasilia March 18, 2015 (Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino). The Brazilian Federal Revenue Secretariat (SRF) has some good news to cheer: a big haul of fines and taxes from assets held offshore by Brazilians. The deadline for filing under Brazil’s equivalent […]
GENEVA/BAGHDAD: A fleeing seven-year-old child was among dozens more civilians allegedly executed by the Daesh group in Mosul in recent weeks, the UN said on Tuesday.Since the battle to retake the last Daesh bastion in Iraq began six weeks ago, the United Nations rights office has reported hundreds of alleged execution-style killings by Daesh, stressing that some of the purported atrocities have not been definitively confirmed.The most […]
State laws used to criminally prosecute disruptive public-school students may be unconstitutional, the Department of Justice is arguing in court papers. The Justice Department is largely siding with the American Civil Liberties Union in the group’s federal lawsuit that seeks to strike down two South Carolina statutes, including its so-called “disturbing schools” law. The statute makes […] (via WSJ)
Submitted by Giuseppe Macri via InsideSources.com, The Obama administration’s revolving door with Google has been anything but subtle over the last eight years, and a new report from a government watchdog out this week shows the Silicon Valley giant hoped to extend that relationship to what many expected would be a Hillary Clinton presidency. According to Campaign for Accountability, a non-profit government watchdog, that door was already […]
I’m willing to bet that self-driving cars are not high on president-elect Donald Trump’s list of policy priorities in his first 100 days in office. He’ll likely be so overwhelmed with the immediate demands of his office and squaring his campaign promises with his party’s often-competing agenda that federal regulation of autonomous vehicles will be on the backburner for a while. But with autonomy accelerating […]
For six and a half years, Donald Trump battled fraud allegations against his now-defunct Trump University, claiming it duped students into thinking they’d get personal access to the real estate mogul and the secrets to his success. After both sides vowed to go to trial, the litigation settled for $25 million the week before Thanksgiving, days before a trial was set to begin in San Diego. As part of the […]
BRASILIA Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse thousands of demonstrators protesting against cutbacks to social programs outside Brazil’s Congress on Tuesday as Senators prepared to vote for a 20-year cap on federal spending. Protesters burned three cars, smashed windows on government buildings and threw rocks at police on the ministry-lined central esplanade of Brasilia, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene. Around 10,000 […]
