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  The legal definition of terrorism risks criminalising legitimate freedom of expression, according to the UK's terror watchdog. David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has recommended narrowing the definition in the Terrorism Act 2000. In his annual report, Anderson said the breadth of the UK terrorism definition was graphically illustrated in the David Miranda case , partner of the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald.   Last August, Miranda was detained at Heathrow airport for nearly nine hours while he was bringing Greenwald computer files of intelligence documents. In February, the high court concluded that Miranda's detention, under schedule 7 of the act, had been lawful because disclosure of the material he was carrying came within the definition of terrorism — a definition that was always intended to be "very wide",…

  Barclays Plc (BARC) saw the number of U.S. shares traded in its dark pool decline for a second week after it was sued by New York for allegedly lying to customers.   About 66 million U.S. shares were traded in the dark pool in the week of June 30, down 66 percent from about 197 million in the previous week, according to data from the Financial Industry Regulation Authority. The drop follows a 37 percent decline from 312 million in the previous week, data show.   Barclays lied to customers and masked the role of high-frequency traders as it sought to boost revenue at one of Wall Street’s largest private trading venues, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a complaint filed June 25. Barclays Chief Executive Officer Antony Jenkins, in a…

  Así lo ha asegurado el juez de la Audiencia Nacional, Javier Gómez Bermúdez, en su conferencia 'El tiempo pasa, la impunidad permanece. Cambios en la doctrina jurisprudencial universal en España', dentro del curso de verano de la Universidad de Málaga (UMA) organizado por Amnistía Internacional y titulado 'Los derechos humanos en la encrucijada'. En su intervención, ha enfatizado en que, en su opinión, el ámbito de la justicia universal "deberían ser sólo los crímenes universales".   Gómez Bermúdez se ha referido a que la justicia universal debería actuar sólo ante cuatro clase de crímenes –aparecidos en el Estatuto de Roma–, el genocidio, los crímenes de lesa humanidad, los crímenes contra la humanidad, y el delito de agresión.   Al tratarse de delitos cometidos por los propios estados, "difícilmente va a…

O plenário da Câmara aprovou nesta terça-feira (15), por 270 votos a favor, sete contra e três abstenções, a indicação do consultor legislativo do Senado Bruno Dantas para a vaga de ministro do Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU). Ex-conselheiro do Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ), Dantas ocupará a cadeira do ministro Valmir Campelo, que se aposentou em abril. O nome de Bruno Dantas já havia sido avalizado pelo Senado em abril. Para que ele possa tomar posse na corte de fiscalização, a indicação de seu nome precisa ser promulgada pelo Congresso Nacional. Com apoio dos senadores da base do governo, Dantas venceu outros dois candidatos para a vaga, que foi aberta após aposentadoria de Valmir Campello. Também disputavam o cargo o consultor legislativo Fernando Moutinho (indicado pela oposição) e o…

  A man who committed "appalling and horrific" murders is not entitled to remain anonymous while he seeks rehabilitation, the court of appeal has ruled.   Three judges said double murderer X, who stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her lover to death in 1996, should not be allowed to keep his identity secret from the press and the public.   It emerged some time after the judgment that X still cannot be named while he seeks to take his case to the supreme court for a final ruling.   X said he was entitled to anonymity because he is a hospital patient receiving treatment for mental illness.   The question of him remaining anonymous arose when he challenged a decision refusing him unescorted leave in the community, which is a key step to…

  Former Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) salesman Shigeru Echigo received a 10-month suspended jail sentence in Tokyo for bribing a pension-fund executive to buy investment products.   The Tokyo District Court today sentenced Echigo, 37, to the prison term, which was suspended for three years. Prosecutors sought one-year imprisonment after the defendant admitted to the bribery charges at a court hearing in April.   Following a criminal investigation, prosecutors said Echigo spent about 900,000 yen ($8,800) entertaining a pension-fund executive on 15 occasions in 2012. Echigo argued that he was following the instructions of his managers and such conduct at the German bank’s Japan brokerage unit was widespread.   Tokyo District Court Chief Judge Akira Ando said Echigo can’t be strongly blamed for the offenses because his bosses remained silent and failed to stop them. At…

  The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently issued a ruling that could debilitate the ability of the judiciary to serve as an independent arbiter of federal agency action. Ostensibly titled SEC v. Citigroup, the case actually pitted both the enforcement agency and the mega-bank against an outspoken judge from the Southern District of New York, Jed Rakoff. At issue in the case was whether Judge Rakoff had been correct in delaying judicial confirmation of a consent decree entered into by both parties.   The proposed consent decree related to alleged malfeasance by Citigroup, which, according to the SEC, negligently misled investors while earning a tidy profit of $160 million in the process. Citigroup marketed to investors a billion-dollar fund called Class V Funding III, asserting that the fund's portfolio…

  Safeguards surrounding GCHQ's collection of vast quantities of online data are inadequate and do not conform to the law, a tribunal hearing complaints about mass surveillance has been told.   The groundbreaking case against the monitoring agency and the government at the investigatory powers tribunal (IPT) is the result of revelations by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden.   It has been brought by Privacy International, Liberty, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and a number of other overseas human rights groups.   Matthew Ryder QC, for Liberty and other human rights groups, told the tribunal: "Our challenge is against the legal framework which we say is inadequate and not in accordance with the law.   "Tempora is a UK alleged government programme [which] involves the collection of vast amounts of information flowing through fibre-optic cables…

  Federico Buenrostro, the former chief executive officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, pleaded guilty to steering $14 million in placement fees to a former board member in exchange for cash bribes and gifts.   Buenrostro, who headed the country’s biggest pension fund from 2002 to 2008, entered his plea today in federal court in San Francisco. He admitted to conspiring to commit bribery and defrauding the U.S. and the state of California for his efforts on behalf of Alfred Villalobos, an ex-board member who brokered a $3 billion investment by Calpers in funds managed by Apollo Global Management LLC. (APO)   Calpers had $288 billion under management as of March 31.   Buenrostro gave Villalobos access to confidential information on Calpers investments and advised the board to make financial decisions that would benefit…

  There is no emergency that justifies rushing this urgent new "security" bill through parliament in the last few days before its summer break but it could nevertheless prove a major opportunity to bring the relentless rise of the surveillance state under democratic control.   The opportunity lies in the fact that in order to ensure the continued access of the police and security services to the personal internet and phone-use tracking data held by the telecoms companies, they have had to concede important privacy and civil liberty safeguards.   The aim of the emergency bill is to shore up powers signed off in 2009 that forced the internet and phone companies to keep for 12 months a wide range of billing data for email, text, internet and phone use including who is communicating…