• MiMIC Journal

US geologist loses China appeal over 'spy' conviction

The eight-year jail sentence of a Chinese-born American geologist has been upheld by a Chinese court. US Ambassador Jon Huntsman urged China to "immediately" release Xue Feng, following a hearing in which Mr Xue appealed against the conviction. He was convicted last July, after a two-and-a-half year trial, on charges of stealing state secrets. His case is one of many in which ethnic Chinese with foreign passports have been jailed on similar charges.

China warns US over Clinton's web freedom call

China has warned the US not to use calls for internet freedom as an excuse to meddle in other countries' affairs. The foreign ministry comments came after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced an initiative to help dissidents around the world get past government internet controls. Since Clinton's speech, comments about it have been removed from China's popular Twitter-like microblog sites.

Beijing introduces tough property restrictions

Chinese officials in Beijing have introduced tough property restrictions in the capital amid growing concerns over a property bubble. Permanent residents will be limited to buying two apartments; others will be restricted to just one property. The new restrictions show the authorities are determined to cool down the capital's property market.

China says M.&A. Rules Not About Controlling Overseas Investments

New rules for vetting merger and acquisition deals based on national security concerns do not imply that Beijing is tightening control over foreign direct investment, the country's economic planning agency said on Wednesday.

Suits drive up securities cases

A spike in lawsuits against Chinese companies that have listed on U.S. exchanges contributed to a rise in securities-fraud cases in 2010, according to a new report.

• Law Firm Marketing

An overlooked way to grab media attention and become an industry expert

by Tom Trush

Over the weekend, I was lurking around LinkedIn and came across a discussion in a local business owners group. 

A business development manager wanted ideas on how to get customers for his start-up. He stated, "Companies do not want to talk to you unless you have established a customer base ... even though we have services that are needed and great staff."

The way his statement was phrased I couldn't help but wonder if he would have an easier time attracting customers if his attention was on his prospects. Statements such as "established a customer base," "services that are needed" and "great staff" are dead giveaways that his focus is on his company. 

From a marketing perspective, these traits do little to set you apart from your competition. "Services that are needed" and a "great staff" are especially common claims any company can make.

But by focusing attention on delivering value and educating prospects, you can provide proof for these types of claims -- even if you own a start-up. Furthermore, by demonstrating and distributing knowledge that addresses prospect problems, you meet people's desire for information without human interaction. 

One overlooked marketing piece that gives you a perfect opportunity to share knowledge is a press release. Now, you may believe press releases are only for corporate giants. Worse yet, you might be hesitant to write a press release because you believe you have nothing newsworthy to announce.  

Get over these misconceptions immediately! 

Prior to pursuing my business full-time at the end of 2004, I worked as an editor and newsroom supervisor at a newswire for nearly 6 years. I've edited and distributed thousands of press releases -- and many were not-so-cleverly disguised pitches from companies hoping to land a feature article or segment on the news.

Although features are always a possibility, here's a little-known secret that will increase your chances of appearing in the media as an expert:

Make yourself known as someone who shares knowledge.

Simply pay attention to writers/editors who cover topics related to your industry and volunteer yourself as a source You can do this by contacting them or regularly sending out press releases that describe tips or strategies you can offer to their audiences. 

Here's an example of press release I recently sent out to volunteer myself as a source (feel free to use it as a template for your own press releases) -

As someone who regularly writes for publications, I promise you developing article ideas is effortless when compared to tracking down qualified sources who can provide valuable insight.

-----

© Trey Ryder

FREE LAWYER MARKETING ALERT:  If you'd like to receive Trey Ryder's weekly Lawyer Marketing Alert, send an e-mail to [email protected]. Write "Subscribe LMA" in the subject line and write your name and e-mail address in the body of the message.

_____________

Tell your friends and colleagues you've read it in Migalhas International

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• Brief News

UN Security Council weighs Kosovo organ trafficking investigation

UN Special Representative to Kosovo Lamberto Zannier on Wednesday requested that the UN Security Council open an independent investigation into alleged incidents of organ trafficking, inhuman treatment and other crimes by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. The request follows shortly after the Council of Europe (COE) called for a similar inquiry last month, and stems from a report authored by COE member Dick Marty indicating that Kosovar Prime Minister Hasham Thaci served as the "boss" of an illegal criminal enterprise that trafficked human organs and drugs during the war. US, British and German ambassadors to the UN expressed reservations about establishing an ad hoc investigatory mechanism, as well as their support for the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) in conducting the inquiry. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, however, argued that EULEX is inadequately equipped to do so, as the allegations include activities throughout Europe and in Asia and Africa.

UK cyber crime costs £27bn a year

Cyber crime costs the UK economy £27bn a year ($43,5 bn), the government has said. The figures, published for the first time, are a mid-range estimate and the real cost could be much higher. They are made up of $34bn of costs to businesses, $3.5bn to government and $5bn to citizens. The government was determined to work with industry to tackle cyber crime. At the moment, cyber criminals are "fearless because they do not think they will be caught."

Jose Padilla lawsuit against Pentagon thrown out in US

A US judge has quashed a lawsuit by an American who said he was illegally detained and repeatedly tortured for three years in a US navy jail. Jose Padilla was seeking to sue current US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, for violating the constitution. He was jailed in 2007 for terrorism-related offences. Judge Richard Gergel ruled that US laws did not offer clear guidelines on the detention of enemy combatants. Any trial, he wrote, would be "an international spectacle with Padilla, a convicted terrorist, summoning America's present and former leaders to a federal courthouse to answer his charges".

Twins' appeal of Facebook pact starts

A court heard the sequel to one of the Web's most storied legal quarrels: whether Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for the influential social-networking site. Facebook argues that the ConnectU founders simply suffer from "settlers' remorse."

Bahrain urged to show restraint after bloody clampdown

Bahrain's foreign minister defended a bloody crackdown on protesters Thursday, saying the government's decision to send anti-riot police to dislodge thousands of people in the capital had pulled the country back from the "brink of sectarian abyss." The Interior Ministry said Thursday that the protests were illegal and that all avenues for negotiations had been exhausted. Washington has urged Bahrain to show restraint in dealing with protesters and called for meaningful reform in the small Gulf state kingdom. Security forces cleared hundreds of demonstrators from a square in the capital Manama on Thursday, leaving four people dead and hundreds injured. Washington is watching with growing concern as unrest and violence spread across the Middle East, threatening its regional interests, BBC state department correspondent Kim Ghattas reports from Washington. Because of its Shia majority, it is seen by other Arab Gulf states as vulnerable to influence from Iran.

Googling for the perfect juror

When picking a jury, lawyers always try to stack the panel with people likely to take their side. Now, some are taking the vetting process to a new level: they're quietly trawling social networks and other sites to ferret out the most intimate details of potential jurors' lives, from their sexual orientation to their income level and politics.

German minister denies plagiarism on PhD thesis

Germany's defence minister has denied newspaper allegations that he committed plagiarism in his PhD thesis. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg got top marks for his 2006 law dissertation from the University of Bayreuth. His thesis - titled Constitution and Constitutional Treaty: Constitutional Developments in the US and EU - was completed in 2006. The Suddeutsche Zeitung claims Mr zu Guttenberg copied, word for word, one passage from a newspaper article and another from a public lecture, without attributing them, while other texts were incorrectly attributed. Spiegel magazine reported that the minister had also used a paragraph from the US Embassy website without attribution. Professor Barbara Zehnpfennig, whose newspaper article was allegedly used in the opening of the dissertation, told German news channel N24 that failing to credit another author "breaks all academic rules". The popular 39-year-old has been a lawmaker in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc since 2002 and is considered a possible future candidate for the top post. 

Has mobile working come of age?

Faster mobile broadband, smartphones and tablets are all helping staff work outside the traditional office, but can companies cope with the change? A 2010 study, carried out by Cisco systems, found that 45% of IT professionals were unprepared or struggling to implement mobile workforce systems. However, the need to get it right, from both a staffing and productivity standpoint, is apparent. The same Cisco study found two-thirds of employees desire work flexibility, with more than half of respondents claiming they would take a lower-paying job that offered more flexible working. Yet responses to the demand for mobile working are mixed. Organizations are struggling to know which technologies to support. A lot of people  have multiple cellphones or laptops. They have an iPad that is theirs and one that belongs to work. How does the organization decide what it is going to take care of? Trying to set broad policies is less effective than ad-hoc solutions, according to Prof Rockmann. "Let your employees innovate and use the technologies they want to use. Help them do that and don't restrict," he said. The most significant barrier to allowing staff to drive innovation and bring their own mobile devices of choice is security. According to research by Forrester, three quarters of companies in Europe and North America are already using or planning to make use of Apple's iPad. In some cases, the iPad will displace existing laptops. However, the study found that many companies plan to make use of it for tasks where no electronic device is currently involved. Supporters of the cloud-based model claim it is the best way to deal with an ever-changing hardware market. Beyond the technical challenges, there remain simpler, more human, obstacles to mobile working. For some, there is still a stigma attached to those colleagues who shun the office, with a perception that "working from home" is shorthand for "taking it easy". "You find a lot of middle and upper managers don't feel comfortable letting people out of their sight," says Prof Rockmann. The reality, he points out, is quite different: "When employees get more autonomy, they work harder, they are more grateful, they'll stay connected and you can be even more productive."

ICTY suspends Karadzic trial for 6 weeks

The trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday ordered the suspension of the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for six weeks beginning after witness testimonies already scheduled for March. The postponement allows Karadzic to review 32,000 pages and 200 hours of video material that the prosecution sent to him in January. In requesting the suspension, Karadzic alleged that he was prejudiced when he did not have all of the Rule 68 exculpatory material in the possession of the Prosecution before he started his cross-examination of witnesses.

U.S. charges 111 in largest Medicare fraud crackdown

The U.S. government on Thursday charged 111 doctors, nurses and other defendants with Medicare crime schemes that exceeded $225 million in false billings, the largest health care fraud crackdown so far.

Brazilian police arrested over 'vigilante death squad'

Nineteen police officers have been arrested in Brazil on suspicion of belonging to a death squad which has allegedly killed at least 40 people. Federal police accused the men of forming a vigilante group with the aim of "finishing off" criminals.

Chevron hits back in row with Ecuador

US oil giant Chevron says it will appeal against an $8.6bn fine imposed by Ecuador judges, carrying on a long-running row over pollution. Chevron said the case was an "extortion scheme", and accused Ecuador's state-run firm of polluting the country's Amazon region. The legal wrangle has been going on for almost two decades, and has spawned lawsuits in the US and Ecuador. The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, is accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into unlined pits and Amazon rivers between 1972 and 1992. "The oilfields in question have been solely operated by the government of Ecuador's own oil company Petroecuador for the last 20 years," Chevron said.

Stanford files $7.2bn countersuit

Texan billionaire Allen Stanford has filed a countersuit against US prosecutors, accusing them of depriving him of his constitutional rights. The lawsuit claims prosecutors "undertook illegal tactics" in their investigation of Stanford's alleged pyramid scheme that they claim defrauded investors of $7bn.

Federal judge sentences Somali pirate to nearly 34 years

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday sentenced Somali pirate Abduwali Muse to 34 years in prison for the 2009 hijacking of the vessel Maersk Alabama. Muse had originally pleaded guilty in May to hijacking, kidnapping and taking hostages in the matter. Muse has claimed to be a minor at the time of the attack on the Maersk Alabama, an item used by his defense team in an effort to have the sentence reduced. Judge Loretta Preska, unswayed by the defense, imposed a sentence on the high end of the range of possible sentences, saying that such a long prison term was necessary to deter piracy.

Italy PM Berlusconi to stand trial on abuse of power, underage prostitution charges

An Italian judge on Tuesday ordered billionaire media mogul and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on charges of paying for sex with a minor and abuse of power. Berlusconi allegedly paid 7,000 euros to then 17-year-old dancer, Karima El Mahroug, for sex and later called police to secure her release while she was detained on an unrelated suspicion of theft. Berlusconi has denied any wrongdoing and lashed out at the charges, calling them groundless. Judge Cristina di Censo announced the indictment against the premier, which included approving a request from prosecutors to expedite the trial, which is set to begin on April 6 in Milan. The expedited trial skips the preliminary hearing and is approved in cases with overwhelming evidence. The prosecution has submitted 782 pages of wire taps, intercepted text messages and bank details as part of the case. The trial will be heard by three randomly-selected judges, all women. Berlusconi's legal team has argued that the judge does not have the power to order the trial of the premier.

Brazil bishops attack reality TV

Brazil's Catholic bishops criticize the country's popular reality TV shows, claiming they have a low moral level and are "an abusive and immoral exploitation".

Madoff says banks 'had to know' of fraud

In his first interview for publication since his arrest, Bernard L. Madoff insisted that his family knew nothing about his crimes, but some banks and hedge funds "had to know."

US Senate votes to extend Patriot Act measures

The US Senate has voted to extend controversial surveillance powers granted by the Patriot Act law, put in place after the 9/11 attacks. By a vote of 86-12, the Senate approved a 90-day extension of wiretaps, access to business records and surveillance of terror suspects. The move came one day after the House of Representatives voted to extend the provisions until 8 December. The White House backed the bill, but would have favored a longer extension.

BP says spill settlement terms are too generous

In the eight months since Kenneth R. Feinberg took over the $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, he has been attacked by many of those filing claims and by coastal state politicians who argue that the process is opaque, arbitrary and slow. Many of them have also argued that Feinberg's recently published estimates of future damage to those in the gulf are too optimistic, and thus his offer of compensation in a final settlement is too low. BP is arguing that if anything, Feinberg's proposed settlements are too generous. The planned payments far exceed the extent of likely future damages because they overstate the potential for future losses, the company insists. BP had workers on the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig who could have prevented the missteps that led to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but they were not consulted, the White House oil spill commission said on Thursday.

As online communications stymie wiretaps, lawmakers debate solutions

The lawmakers expressed their concerns at a House hearing devoted to a problem that law enforcement officials call "going dark" — investigators' inability to carry out court-approved wiretap orders when the people who are the targets communicate using services that lack a surveillance capability. The F.B.I. has been quietly laying the groundwork for years for a push to require Internet-based communications services — like Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerry and Skype — to design their systems with a built-in way to comply with wiretap orders. On Thursday, the bureau made its first full airing of the "going dark" problem. "Due to the revolutionary expansion of communications technology in recent years, the government finds that it is rapidly losing ground in its ability to execute court orders with respect to Internet-based communications," F.B.I. said.   

Chances of closing Guantanamo jail very low

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday that prospects for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp were "very, very low" given broad opposition in Congress. The facility has drawn international condemnation for the treatment of detainees.

• Daily Press Review

Thousands attend Bahrain funerals
BBC News, Centrist newscaster, London, England

BAHRAIN: Bahrain mourns Pearl Square protesters amid fears of new unrest
France 24, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France

Bahrain mourners call for an end to monarchy
The Guardian, Liberal daily, London, England

Prosecutors Office vows to crack down on food hoarding
China Post, English-language daily, Taipei, Taiwan

Cong MP booked for making bribery remark against SC judge
India Express, News portal, Mumbai, India

Cyberattack defences in place, PM says
Canadian Broadcasting Centre, Toronto, Ontario

U.S. Ambassador also slams Dominican Republic's embattled education
Dominican Today, Independent daily, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Cop apologizes for 'sluts' remark at law school
Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario

Ugandans voting on Museveni rule
BBC News, Centrist newscaster, London, England

Uganda vote set to extend Museveni's 25-year rule
Mail & Guardian Online, Liberal, Johannesburg, South Africa