The trials by 15 members of the banking industry including Barclays Bank NatWest Lloyds

The trials by 15 members of the banking industry, including Barclays Bank, NatWest, Lloyds Bank, the Halifax and Abbey National, will test cards which use a chip embedded in the face of the card to store the data usually held on the black magnetic stripe on the back. During the tests, more than 100,000 new cards will be issued, and 600 retailers be given equipment able to read the chips directly. Some of it came from the estates of people who had died while the rest was taken from damages awards to a girl with cerebral palsy and a building worker injured falling off scaffolding. To conceal some of his dishonesty he “cooked the books” with fictitious documents and a forged letter, Southwark Crown Court was told. The lawyer hung his head as Judge George Bathurst-Norman told him he had effectively been trying to “milk the kitty dry”.”No matter how severe the problems of cashflow, no solicitor has the right to keep his practice afloat at the expense of his clients,” Judge Bathurst-Norman said.. LEGAL NOTE: – Searchlight magazine has said that Lewis Ruskin has no connection with the magazine as he had claimed. A top solicitor, whose charity work repeatedly brought him into contact with the late Princess of Wales and the Duchess of York was jailed for 18 months yesterday for plundering clients’ accounts of more than pounds 218,000.
Lewis Ruskin, 58, founder of the anti-racist magazine Searchlight, used the cash to keep his ailing practice afloat.

We do not need a separate criminal justice system for alleged `political’ crimes.Questions should be asked as to whether people who are suspected of bombing of killing for political reasons should have less rights than those motivated by greed We need a fair criminal justice system for all.”. I find it offensive that she is pontificating about issues which should be dealt with in the talks.” Changes in anti-terrorist legislation were “clearly a ransom paid to keep the IRA at the table”, he added.John Wadham, director of Liberty, urged:”The PTA and the EPA should go, full stop. But the concession came just a fortnight after the IRA bombed Canary Wharf, and a couple of months later, Labour was embarrassed by a backbench rebellion over its decision to abstain on a Bill to give police new powers to stop and search for terrorist devices.Within days, however, Mr Straw declared that another key provision in the PTA, allowing for exclusion orders from the UK mainland, went “a stage too far” when dealing with people who had not been convicted of any offence.Spokesmen for the Northern Ireland Office and the Home Office confirmed yesterday that the Government was looking at the future of the PTA as well as the 1973 Emergency Provisions Act, which includes the power of internment and other Northern Ireland security measures.Ken Maginnis, the Ulster Unionists’ security spokesman described Ms Mowlam’s remarks as disturbing, saying: “It appears [she] has no concept of the importance of the talks process if she is determined to pre-empt every aspect of that process by vague but disturbing utterances. Terrorists are changing their tactics and the Government wants to see what lessons can be learnt from elsewhere when drafting new laws, Mo Mowlam, the Northern Ireland Secretary said yesterday.
Ms Mowlam told BBC Radio Five Live that the Government would look at how Europe and the United States were responding to terrorism. “The Prevention of Terrorism Act should go and we should look at new legislation that responds to new forms of terrorism. That is what we will be looking at in the weeks and months ahead.”In fact, Labour’s lengthy opposition to the annually renewable Act – which allows police to arrest people and question them for up to seven days without charge – was reversed last year when Jack Straw, then shadow home secretary, and Tony Blair recommended for the first time in 15 years that Labour MPs abstain.

A revised Prevention of Terrorism Act – possibly ending extended questioning without charge – was signalled yesterday by Mo Mowlam, the Northern Ireland Secretary, 24 hours after announcing plans to end internment, writes Patricia Wynn Davies, Legal Affairs Editor This has prompted an angry response from the Unionists. This follows the successful development of a similar site in Australia earlier this year.. Ticketmaster hopes to co-operate with Intel to create representations of venues the length and breadth of the United States.In addition to virtual reality graphics, a range of services will be on offer to subscribers, including listings and entertainment news. Everything from Broadway shows to sporting events and rock concerts will be covered, said Ticketmaster.A Web site for the UK is currently in the pipeline, and the Los Angeles office is co-operating with London staff to develop an Internet ticketing service which will augment the existing call centre by the end of this winter. America’s leading ticket ordering service, Ticketmaster, has teamed up with Intel to develop the technology to take the risk out of advance booking.

A new online service to be launched next spring will offer buyers “point of view” ordering – a chance to see how close seats are to the stage.
The system will be linked to Ticketmaster’s existing Web site, Ticketmaster Online. With over 1.3 million users every month, it is already one of the most frequently hit sites in the US. “The success of Ticketmaster Online, which now sells over $3m worth of tickets per month, inspired the creation of this new service, which will help us meet the growing demand for computer-based ticketing,” said Fredric Rosen, president and chief executive officer.Work is currently under way on producing sophisticated 3D virtual interiors of theatres, concert halls and stadiums around the country. No more paying through the nose for what turn out to be lousy seats at the theatre. Instead, customers will soon be able to “scout out” venues in advance, roaming through three dimensional virtual reality seating charts to take their pick of the choicest spots.