Defense Opens Insider Trading Case With Attack on Witness

Insider trading of about $70 million of technology stocks is the reason today, that Anthony Chiasson, co-founder of Level Global Investors and the former portfolio manager of Diamondback Capital Management, Todd Newman is on the trial block among a jury.  The others that were involved in this scandal have pled guilty and are cooperating.  There are two main witnesses in this case that the government are relying on, Jesse Tortora, a former Diamondback analyst, and Spyridon Adondakis, who goes by Sam, a former analyst at LevelGlobal.  It was earlier this year that the 8 wallstreet traders were prosecuted fort their greed filled illegal acts by receiving insider informationto make their trading decisions.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/defense-opens-insider-trade-case-with-attack-on-witnesses/

"Insider trading is the trading of a corporations stocks or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) by individuals with access to non-public information about the company. In most countries, trading by corporate insiders such as officers, key employees, directors, and large shareholders may be legal, if this trading is done in a way that does not take advantage of non-public information."
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insider_trading"


"Rules against insider trading on material non-public information exist in most jurisdictions around the world, but the details and the efforts to enforce them vary considerably. Sections 16(b) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 directly and indirectly address insider trading. Congress enacted this act after the stock market crash of 1929.^[7] The United States is generally viewed as having the strictest laws against illegal insider trading, and makes the most serious efforts to enforce them^{"
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insider_trading}

Blog 12: Abortion Ban Causes Indian Woman Living in Ireland to Lose Her Life

This past week, an Indian woman living in Ireland named Savita Halappanavar was denied a life-saving abortion and died of septicimia as a result. Ireland's laws are very religion-based, and abortion is outlawed in the Catholic country as a result – Dr. Halappanavar was denied the abortion because the fetus' heart was still beating, and fetal death is the only event in which abortion is legal in Ireland. Indian representatives have responded to this event by stating that this turn of events was both a denial of Halappanavar's human rights and a violation of internation law. Ireland is currently investigating these events, and India has asked that Ireland keep communications open and share any and all results and details. Abortions are legal in many circumstances in India, where spokespeople have stated that they cannot honestly say they support human rights if they do not support a mother's choices about her own health and body.

The law in Ireland does actually violate international law views on abortion, which is that it should at least be allowed if the mother's life is at risk. India's vested interest in investigating the case and whether or not the law has been specifically violated in this instance makes a lot of sense under the circumstances. Indian and Irish ambassadors have been speaking and while India's stance on this is fairly aggressive, both sides are being cordial. Since Dr. Halappanavar was an Indian citizen living in Ireland, the legal issues here are delicate as she is not an Irish citizen, so the law could have been unfair to exact upon her. If the investigation does show that it was the lack of abortion specifically that was the cause of her death, legal action may be taken – precedent may end with her family being paid in recompense, though money is no replacement for a family member. Hopefully this will also encourage Ireland's government to think critically about the effects of basing law in religion has on citizens and how loosening up abortion limitations may help save many lives.

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/from-india-pressure-on-ireland-over-abortion-laws/?ref=freedomandhumanrights