The Federal Trade Commission sent refund checks last month to 75,000 people under a settlement with a Texas firm that allegedly charged them for an online list of work-at-home jobs but then often denied them access and refused to give back the fees. Under the agreement, the firm, Abili-Staff, faced a judgment of $3.6 million. But the bulk of that amount was suspended because the company’s owners could not pay it, court records show. So in the end, each person got an average payment of only $9.70. Read full article > >

Continued here:
FTC hard-pressed to secure refunds for job-scam victims

The UK is asked to play a role in “technical discussions” over a proposed new EU fiscal pact despite refusing to sign up to the agreement.

Read the rest here:
UK ‘to observe EU negotiations’

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s meeting Monday with President Obama, their first in-person encounter since October 2009, is supposed to be an occasion to declare the successful end of the war in Iraq and the beginning of a “normal” relationship between two friendly states. Maliki and Obama are likely to reaffirm their commitments to non-military components of the 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement — such as trade, education and investment — and discuss the limited ways in which the United States will continue to assist Iraqi forces after 2011. Read full article > >

Read more:
A new mirage in the Iraqi desert

There was no outward hint of progress — other than the length of the meeting and the agreement to continue the talks.

Excerpt from:
N.B.A. Talks Pause After 16-Hour Marathon Meeting

CAIRO — Activists and politicians on Monday denounced an agreement signed by 13 political parties and Egypt’s interim military rulers over the weekend to avoid an election boycott, saying it runs contrary to the principles of this year’s revolution. Supporters of the agreement, reached after thousands took to the streets Friday to “reclaim the revolution,” said it represented concessions by the military leaders. Read full article > >

Continue reading here:
Egyptian activists angry over deal between political parties, military

You don’t stay president for 33 years without having a few tricks up your sleeve. Despite saying he planned to sign an internationally negotiated deal with his opposition, Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh now dismisses the agreement as a “mere coup…

Read more from the original source:
Yemen President Delays Resignation Deal

UK-Irish Agreement was the high point of former taoiseach’s career

Read more from the original source:
Garret FitzGerald

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister indicated Wednesday that he might ask some U.S. troops to stay in the country beyond a year-end deadline if most of Iraq’s main political blocs support such a decision. Nouri al-Maliki, who has been under pressure from the United States to decide within weeks on a lasting U.S. military presence, said he would call together leaders from the main blocs by the end of this month to begin hashing out a response. “Let us hear the voice of the citizen, the politicians, civil society organizations and probably even the governors’ opinion,” Maliki said. “After having the agreement of the majority, we will submit it to the parliament.” Read full article > >

Link:
Iraq’s Maliki inches toward U.S. troop decision

Mark your calendar for April 25, when lawyers on all sides of the Google Books Settlement will be reconvene to signal how the agreement between Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers may change after a federal judge rejected it last month. It’s unclear exactly what modifications the parties may offer, but they’ll need to do something in light of Judge Denny Chin’s strongly worded judgment. “U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan said the creation of a universal library would ‘simply go too far,’ and he was troubled by the differences between Google’s views and those of everyone affected by the settlement,” the AP summarized . The settlement, originally announced on October 28, 2008 , has drawn objections from all types of groups. And theoretically, there are certainly good objections. Practically, though, my question has always been: who else is paying to scan 15 million books and making them available online? What are the real, not theoretical, alternatives? I’ll be investigating those questions this month in the lead-up to the April 25 court date.

Read the original:
The Next Chapter in the Google Books Saga

The family of Welsh actor Richard Burton say they will honour his agreement with screen icon Elizabeth Taylor and allow her to be buried in the family’s grave.

See the original post:
‘Taylor could be buried in Wales’