We are taking a system designed for the Alexander Graham Bell era of rotary telephones and modernizing it for the era of Steve Jobs and the Internet future he imagined. We are reaffirming for the digital age the fundamental American promise of opportunity for all. We are furthering our national goal of connecting the country to wired and wireless broadband. And we are helping put America on its proper 21stcentury footing, positioning us to lead the world in a fiercely competitive global digital economy. Infrastructure has always been a key pillar of American economic success, with telephone and other infrastructure connecting consumers and businesses, facilitating commerce, and unleashing innovation. Broadband is the indispensible infrastructure of our 21stcentury economy.

The FCC has faced controversy when it comes to regulating the Internet. Verizon and MetroPCS [JURIST reports] filed challenges in January out of concern over the FCC's broad authority under its new net neutrality rules. Last year, US Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) [official website] introduced legislation [JURIST report] intended to block the FCC from implementing its National Broadband Plan [official website; materials]. The Freedom for Consumer Choice Act would remove the FCC's ability to declare the actions of a communications provider illegal unless there was a clear showing that the practice causes harm to consumers and will not be corrected by market forces. A month earlier, the FCC opened a new proceeding [JURIST report] to identify the legal approach that will best support its efforts to develop universal access to "high quality" Internet broadband services. A previous court ruling found that the FCC lacks the power to enforce net neutrality [JURIST report]. Net neutrality is thought by supporters to be essential to the goal of an open flow of information over the Internet regardless of the amount of revenue generated by the information.

In September, Private Andrew Holmes, 21, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to murdering a teenage Afghan civilian that he knew was unarmed. Holmes was the second soldier to plead guilty of five who have been charged with murder as part of a plot contrived with fellow soldiers to kill Afghan civilians which took place between January and May of last year in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. In May, US Army prosecutors charged a sixth soldier [JURIST report] for his involvement in a murder plot that led to the deaths of three Afghan civilians. Bram was the sixth soldier from the 5th Stryker Brigade to be charged in connection with the three Afghan deaths, which took place between January and May of last year in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.

How was the amount of the proposed judgment determined? In particular, what calculations went into the determination of the $95 million penalty? Why, for example, is the penalty in this case less than one-fifth of the $535 million penalty assessed in SEC v. Goldman Sachs & Co. Why should the Court impose a judgment in a case in which the S.E.C. alleges a serious securities fraud but the defendant neither admits nor denies wrongdoing?

This is not the first time that Rakoff has questioned settlements between the SEC and major financial corporations. In February 2010 he accepted a settlement [agreement; JURIST report] agreement between the SEC and Bank of America after twice rejecting it [JURIST report; JURIST report] as unfair to investors. This is also not the first time the SEC has taken issue with Citigroup's dealings with investors. In July 2010 the two sides reached [JURIST report] a settlement in regards to the SEC's claim that Citigroup misled investors about it's exposure to sub-prime mortgage-related assets. That agreement penalized the company $75 million. It was also rejected in August 2010 when a federal judge demanded to know how it was reached and why the investors were forced to bear the majority of the cost, but not the majority of the executives. The settlement was approved [Reuters report] October 2010.

In March, Garzon filed a petition [JURIST report] with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website], challenging the 2010 charges of abuse of power. In that case, Garzon is charged with politically motivated corruption in his investigation of crimes committed under the Franco dictatorship [BBC backgrounder], in violation of the 1977 Amnesty Law, which affords amnesty for Franco-era crimes. The charges are based on Garzon's 2008 order [JURIST report] for certain government agencies, the Episcopal Conference, the University of Granada and the mayors of four cities to produce the names of people buried in mass graves, as well as the circumstances and dates of their burial. His petition follows the September 2010 decision of the Criminal Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court, which unanimously confirmed [JURIST report] a lower court order that Garzon abused his power and must face trial. Garzon is widely known for using universal jurisdiction [AI backgrounder; JURIST news archive] extensively in the past to bring several high-profile rights cases, including those against Osama bin Laden and former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Today, because of a Congress that was willing to once again waive the statute of limitations and to appropriate $1.25 billion to help further redress the historic discrimination against African-American farmers, the Court is pleased to approve the settlement agreement proposed by the Moving Plaintiffs, and endorsed by the United States, a fair, reasonable, and adequate.

The farmers faced many procedural challenges over the past 12 years in pursuing their cases before the settlement was finally approved by the Senate last November and signed into law [JURIST reports] by President Barack Obama. The settlement was reached [JURIST report] with the USDA in February 2010, but the Senate failed seven times [JURIST report] to fund it. In May 2008, then-president George W. Bush vetoed a bill [JURIST report] which would have allowed the farmers to file suit after missing the original filing deadline. A month later, Congress voted to override [JURIST report] this veto, and the bill passed.

This high profile corruption charge comes as Croatia comes close to EU membership, hoping to join in July 2013. Sanader was indicted in September for corruption. The country's Bureau for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK) alleged Sanader received a pay-off [JURIST report] of more than 3.6 million kuna (nearly USD $695,000) from Austria's Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank in exchange for the country entering into a loan agreement to receive 140 million Austrian Schillings (USD $14.7 million) in order to place the bank in the Croatian market. Sanader was extradited [JURIST report] to Croatia in July in order to face these charges after he was arrested in Austria last December. Sanader argued that it would be impossible to receive a fair trail in Croatia, but he dropped it after media speculation [JURIST report] suggested the appeal could harm EU Croatia's accession.

Relations between the EU and Ukraine appeared to be strengthening [PR Newswire report] as Ukraine was setting itself up for potential EU membership. However, conflict arose earlier this month when Tymoshenko was officially convicted of abusing her power when she signed a gas agreement with Russia that was alleged to have violated Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine [text]. Tymoshenko has filed a complaint [JURIST report] with the European Court of Human Rights [official website] calling the allegations politically engineered and contrary to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) [text, PDF]. Separate charges of abuse of power were combined [JURIST report] in February with other charges of corruption that claim Tymoshenko bribed Supreme Court judges. Earlier this week, prosecutors reopened another case [Reuters report] against Tymoshenko on charges of embezzlement.

The Lithuanian probe is not the first time that Zubaydah has urged countries to examine the often controversial methods of the US rendition program. In December 2010, Zubaydah asked Polish prosecutors [JURIST report] to investigate his alleged abuse at a secret CIA prison in Poland, where he claims he was the victim of enhanced interrogation techniques. Likewise, in April 2007, the alleged al Qaeda loyalist denied ties to terrorism [transcript] and asked a US Combatant Status Review Tribunal [JURIST report] to investigate his claims of torture. Zubaydah was transferred to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report] in September 2006 as one of 14 "high value" terror suspects [DNI profile], and has remained there since.

There are currently several health care appeals pending before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the US Chamber of Commerce [official website] filed an amicus brief [text, PDF] asking the Supreme Court to agree to resolve the deepening legal conflict [JURIST report] over the constitutionality of PPACA. In addition to the appeal of the Eleventh Circuit's decision, earlier this month both the state of Virginia and Liberty University appealed a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which dismissed their challenges for lack of standing [JURIST reports]. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the law in June, and that ruling was also appealed [JURIST reports] to the Supreme Court by the Thomas More Law Center [advocacy website]. The Supreme Court is likely to rule on the issue next summer.

On Sunday, Libyan transitional Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril [official profile] declared the country's official liberation [JURIST report] from the regime of Gaddafi and set a schedule for establishing a new government. Jibril made the announcement in front of thousands of supporters celebrating in the city of Benghazi, the location of the NTC and where the first uprisings sparked the Libya conflict eight months ago. The declaration of liberation came three days after Gaddafi's capture and death [JURIST report] at the hands of opposition forces in his hometown of Sirte. The NTC has formed a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding Gaddafi's death, after pressure [JURIST reports] from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website], rights groups including Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] and international governments. An autopsy has confirmed that Gaddafi died from a gun shot wound to the head [AP report], but interim Libya leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil [official profile] has suggested that Gaddafi may have been killed by his own supporters [AP report] to prevent him from implicating them in any crimes under his regime. Gaddafi's death marks the latest milestone in the Libya conflict, which began in February [JURIST report] as part of a wider protest movement, commonly referred to as the "Arab Spring," that had spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

In August, a judge ordered [text, PDF] that a group of women seeking to recover damages from Wal-Mart must file their lawsuits by October 28 [JURIST report]. In June, the US Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF] in Wal-Mart v. Dukes [Cornell LII backgrounder] that the group who filed the original claim did not meet the requirements for class certification [JURIST report]. The original case was filed in 2001 by female Wal-Mart employees [class website] who contended that Wal-Mart's nationwide policies result in lower pay for women than men in comparable positions and longer waits for management promotions than men. Wal-Mart appealed to the Supreme Court in August 2010 after the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld class certification [JURIST reports] in April of that year. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit originally ruled against Wal-Mart's appeal of the class certification in February 2007, then issued a new opinion [text, PDF] in conjunction with its decision in December 2007. Wal-Mart appealed [JURIST report] to the Ninth Circuit in 2005, arguing that the six lead plaintiffs were not typical or common of the class. The certified class, which in 2001 was estimated to comprise more than 1.5 million women, includes all women employed by Wal-Mart nationwide at any time after December 26, 1998. It would have been the largest class action lawsuit in US history.

Poland is not alone in its pursuit to remedy crimes committed during the Holocaust. German prosecutors announced earlier this month they intend to reopen hundreds of investigations [JURIST report] involving former Nazi death camp guards. In addition, Germany's recent trial and conviction [JURIST reports] of Nazi guard John Demjanjuk [NNDB profile; JURIST news archive] may have emboldened Poland. In September, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] at The Hague began hearing arguments [JURIST report] from Germany and Italy, which is seeking damages from Germany for crimes committed by Nazis during World War II.