3 NY officers indicted in groom shooting

A grand jury has indicted three of five New York City police officers involved in the shooting death of a groom hours before his wedding, one officer's attorney and their union president said Friday.A person with knowledge of the case said the other two officers were not charged, according to The Associated Press.An official announcement of the grand jury's decisions will be made at 11 a.m. Monday, the Queens district attorney's office said.But attorney Steven Worth said Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper were indicted by the grand jury. Worth represents Michael Carey, who he said was not indicted. Paul Headley is the fifth officer.Earlier, attorney Paul Martin had told CNN that his client, Cooper, had been indicted."I'm disappointed. ... I'm shocked," Martin said.Neither attorney was able to say what the exact charges are.The president of the officers' labor union disagreed with the grand jury's decision."I do not think that the actions of the officers rise to the level of criminality," said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association. In the early morning of November 25, hours before his wedding, Sean Bell, 23, and friends Joseph Guzman, 31, and Trent Benefield, 23, were at Bell's bachelor party at Club Kalua, a strip club. The five officers were at the club, undercover, investigating complaints of prostitution.Guzman, Benefield and other members of the bachelor party say they were on their way home after the party when the officers began firing unprovoked.The officers' lawyers and the New York Police Department say that Bell and his friends were retrieving a gun from a parked car after arguing with another patron, and that Bell's car struck one of the officers and an unmarked police minivan before police opened fire.The officers fired 50 rounds: Headley fired one, Carey three, Cooper four, Isnora 11, and Oliver 31, which means he stopped to reload before continuing to fire.The men who were shot were not armed.The incident brought cries of police racism. Bell was black, as are his two wounded friends. Three of the officers are black; the other two are white. All five officers were placed on administrative leave.The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been acting as a spokesman for the families of the shooting victims, called the indictments an important step against police violence, according to AP."The only way you make sure it doesn't happen again is you stop it, and you punish it and you send a signal that we live in a society where laws have to be respected," he said, according to AP. "So there is no joy, no vengeance, no party here."Palladino said the officers had acted in good faith based on a perceived threat to public safety."The message that's being sent now is that even though you're acting in good faith and pursuant to your lawful duties, there is no margin for error."Palladino told CNN that he heard from several sources that a last-minute witness testified in front of the grand jury Thursday.The witness, a 55-year-old man, works overnight near the strip club. Palladino said the man walked into a Queens precinct station Wednesday and told detectives he was an eyewitness to the shooting.Palladino said the witness told detectives that there was a fourth man in addition to Bell and his two friends, and that the fourth man fired one or two shots at the police officers. He also said he saw police officers shooting at the car in which Bell and his friends were sitting, according to Palladino.On Friday, an attorney for Bell's parents said the credibility of the witness was at issue."There is a word for an individual who tells two different stories on two different occasions about the same event. I believe that word is a liar," Peter St. George Davis said.On Thursday, Sharpton called on Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the new witness' credibility.Sharpton told reporters that the witness' behavior is "suspect" because when the man was first interviewed by the Queens district attorney, he did not say he saw the shooting. The fact that he came forward with that information to the NYPD instead of the district attorney's office, with whom he had already spoken, "smells of high heaven," Sharpton said.District attorney spokesman Kevin Ryan said his office does not comment on grand jury proceedings.

International court of Justice part 1

Since the very existence of an international arbitral tribunal results from the will of the parties, it is not surprising that those parties should have a large say in the drawing up of its rules of procedure. The PCIJ, on the other hand, whose composition and jurisdiction were decided before any disputes were submitted to it, felt it proper to present parties with a pre-determined body of rules governing its and their conduct during proceedings. Its founders and its first members had available to them for this purpose sundry precedents in the practice of arbitral tribunals and of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, but they also to a large extent had to break new ground. They had to devise a procedure capable of satisfying the sense of justice of the greatest possible number of potential litigants and of placing them on a footing of strict equality. It was necessary for the Court to gain their confidence and, reciprocally, to have confidence in them. The Court accordingly sought to combine simplicity and an absence of formalism in the rules laid down with flexibility in the manner of their application. The PCIJ managed to achieve a rough balance between the various requirements it had to meet, and this balance has been preserved by the ICJ, which has acted with extreme prudence in changing the rules laid down by its predecessor.

authoritative analysis of saudi legal sector on the cards top law firm ties up with oxford business group to produce unique report

A ground-breaking analysis on Saudi’s legal landscape - which is undergoing significant change - is to be published following a tie-up between a leading law firm and an authoritative UK publisher. The deal, between Riyadh’s Al-Jadaan Law firm and Oxford Business Group (OBG) will see the analysis incorporated into OBG’s forthcoming inaugural edition of ‘Emerging Saudi Arabia 2007’ – which will be a leading guide to the Kingdom’s evolving political and economic trends. Al-Jadaan’s long lasting arrangement with the international law firm of Clifford Chance enables the company to give advice on both local and international issues and uniquely qualifies it to provide insightful observations on the fast evolving Saudi legal sector, crucial at a time when accession to the World Trade Organisation is opening the doors to a new era of international trade activity. “Our joint analysis will highlight the new legislative frameworks and changing laws in relation to how foreign businesses can operate in the Kingdom and will help to create greater international visibility for Saudi Arabia,” said Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Managing Partner of Al-Jadaan Law Firm. “We expect continued legal developments within financial market and banking law, particularly the regulation pertaining to the issuance of Islamic bonds (sukuk), along with legislation regarding property and real estate financing. However, Saudi commercial law is at a crossroads in so many respects: it’s a very exciting time. We look forward to the opportunity of walking OBG’s subscribers through the most relevant developments in Emerging Saudi Arabia 2007,” he said. Al-Jadaan acts for a number of the world’s leading investment and commercial banks and also advices regulatory authorities. It has a team of banking and finance experts and lawyers qualified in common law jurisdictions, seconded by international law firm Clifford Chance. Oliver Cornock, OBG’s Country Editor in Saudi Arabia said: “We are very pleased to have Al-Jadaan law firm as our legal partners. I am confident that working with a respected partner like Al-Jadaan will ensure we have an accurate and insightful guide to the legal side of doing business in Saudi Arabia.” The partnership underscores OBG’s commitment to co-operating with locally-based institutions in compiling its signature series of top level country economic and political assessments. OBG’s hallmark of unrivalled market intelligence combines the publisher’s international expertise with on-the-ground knowledge of world class, locally-based institutions. Senior Country Manager, Michelle Solomon said: “We recognise the value of our partnership with a professional sector leader and believe that the link allows our partners to enhance their brand name internationally as our publications are considered to be among the most prestigious economic intelligence annuals. This informed partnership will deliver a report of world-class standing which will go a long way to ensuring the success of Emerging Saudi Arabia 2007.” Written by a team of OBG’s international analysts, based in Riyadh, the 200 page report is hotly anticipated with pre-publication orders having reached the 70,000 mark. ‘Emerging Saudi Arabia 2007’ will be available in the second quarter of next year. Ends About Oxford Business Group Oxford Business Group (OBG) is a UK-based publishing, research and consultancy services organisation. OBG publishes economic and political intelligence on the markets of The Middle East, Eastern Europe, North and South Africa, and Asia. Through its range of print and online products, OBG offers comprehensive and accurate analysis of political, macroeconomic and sectoral developments, including banking, capital markets, energy, infrastructure, industry and insurance. Written by a team of seasoned analysts, based on the ground for six months, the critically acclaimed series of economic, political and business reports have become the leading source of intelligence on the rapidly developing countries in the regions they cover. OBG’s online economic briefings provide up-to-date in-depth analysis on the issues that matter for thousands of subscribers worldwide. OBG’s consultancy arm offers tailor-made market intelligence and advice to firms currently operating in these markets and those looking to enter them.