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Group Sues U.S. to Reveal Terms of WTO Online Poker, Gambling SettlementTue, May 20th, 2008 @ 12:00am Public Citizen, a U.S. national non-profit public interest organization, announced it has filed a lawsuit yesterday to force the Bush administration to make public the details of its offer accepted by the European Union to bind more sectors of the U.S. economy to World Trade Organization (WTO) jurisdiction as part of the settlement relating to a WTO ruling against the U.S. ban on online poker and Internet gambling. After a Feb. 2007 WTO ruling against the United States for failing to make U.S. gambling laws comply to WTO treaties it had previously signed, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced instead of complying with the ruling it would take the unprecedented step to remove the gambling sector from WTO treaty coverage. By doing so, WTO rules were triggered requiring the U.S. to negotiate compensation for other WTO members, such as the European Union, Canada, Antigua, Macao and Costa Rica, who claimed they would be adversely affected by the U.S. withdrawal of online gambling from WTO treaties. USTR REFUSES TO REVEAL DETAILS OF DEALS Although it announced that deals had been reached with the European Union and other WTO claimants, the USTR has refused to release the details of its compensation agreements. In December, the USTR provided a hint at the scope of the deals by revealing that they involved new U.S. WTO commitments for "warehousing services, technical testing services, research and development services and postal services relating to outbound international letters." Earlier this year, freelance writer Ed Brayton filed an official Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to discover exactly what concessions were made with the European Union, Canada and Japan. Brayton, who frequently writes for the Michigan Messenger, is a fellow with the Center for Independent Media and has written extensively about U.S. online gambling restrictions and their effect on international trade. The USTR denied Brayton's request and his administrative appeal, contending that the settlement was properly "classified in the interest of national security". Public Citizen is representing journalist Ed Brayton, and through their Litigation Group has filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit asks the court to find that the USTR is illegally withholding the settlement agreement and to order the agency to provide Brayton a copy of the agreement. "Americans have a right to know what kinds of trade concessions the U.S. government is granting other countries, especially when those deals have a significant impact on domestic policy and may be worth billions of dollars," said Bonnie I. Robin-Vergeer, a Public Citizen attorney. "The Bush administration's decision to withhold the agreement under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has more to do with its desire to prevent public and congressional scrutiny of the settlement before it is enshrined in a new WTO schedule than it does with national security," she added. "FOIA requires the agreement's release." To view a copy of the complaint filed, click here. CONGRESS HAS ASKED FOR DETAILS TOO In addition to Brayton's request, a formal request was also made by Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) asking for full disclosure of the concessions granted without Congressional approval. "The issue will be whether the USTR abused its authority by granting new market access to the EU without first securing the consent of the trade committees in Congress," said Nao Matsukata, formerly Director of Policy Planning for USTR Robert Zoellick and now a Senior Advisor for Alston & Bird, LLP. "Ultimately, this could invalidate the deal with the EU and cause various WTO Members to revisit the issue of fair compensation from the United States." Read Related Articles:
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World Series of Poker: Ante Up for Africa The Ante Up for Africa Charity Tournament is one of the biggest poker charity events of the year. This charity tournament supports the refugees from the Sudan region of Darfur. After nine hours of play, Alexander (Alex) Bolotin was crowned the champion of the Ante Up for Africa tournament and won $177,730 for his first place finish.
World Series of Poker Event 56: Matt Hawrilenko Takes Down Bracelet and $1 Million The $5,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em event was the last event to be held at the World Series of Poker 2009 before the famous Main Event starts. Event number 56 saw 928 players register for their chance to win the last bracelet to be offered this summer. The next bracelet of the Series will not be awarded until November when the Main Event final table wraps up. Adding to the excitement of this event, there was a total prize pool of over $4.3 million, and the winner of the event was guaranteed to come out a millionaire.
World Series of Poker Event 54: Tony Veckey Wins Event 54 sold out in a hurry as 2,818 people gobbled up all of the seats for the last low buy-in No Limit Hold''m tournament of the World Series of Poker. This was a new event added to satisfy the enormous public demand for this level of event. $1,500 from each of the entrants produced a prize pool of $3,846,570, with payouts down to 297.
World Series of Poker Event 52: German Jorg Peisert Wins Jorg Peisert from Dusseldorf, Germany won the inaugural Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em event at this year's World Series of Poker. Peisert outlasted 853 other players who put up $3000 to play in this No Limit Hold'em event. The total prize pool was $2,357,040 and 81 players took home a cut. 81st place took home $5,892, but the lion's share, $506,800, went to Peisert. On the final day, Peisert started in 6th chip position and worked his way up to a chip juggernaut, eliminating players and collecting chips along the way. Notable players who cashed in this tournament include, Eric 'Rizen' Lynch (12th), An 'The Boss' Tran, Mike 'The Mad Genius of Poker' Caro (23rd), and Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari (24th).
World Series of Poker Event 53: New Orleans Resident David Halpern Wins David Halpern from New Orleans, LA won the $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or Better Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Halpern outlasted 467 other players to win $159,048 for winning the tournament. Halpern has already cashed once this year (Pot Limit Omaha), but this is his first WSOP bracelet. The $657,455 prize pool was spread out amongst 48 players who cashed. Halpern battled William Kohler for over three hour heads-up. Battled is a strong word, as both players seemed enamored of each other and even went to dinner together during the break. They traded the chip lead back and forth until Kohler seized it for good. Other notable players who cashed includes Chad Brown (4th), Matt Savage (5th), Andy Bloch (23rd), and Norman Chad (32rd).
World Series of Poker event 49: David Bach Wins $50K HORSE Event The 2009 $50,000 HORSE event attracted 95 of the world's best poker players. The number of entrants decreased from the previous year which attracted 148 entrants. As play began, player's speculated as to the reason why the numbers decreased so dramatically. Was it the economy? Was it Scotty Nguyen's drunken tirade last year? Many believed that it was ESPN's unfortunate decision to not televise this year's final table. Even though the field decreased, the players still had a full five days of play. 87 players would be eliminated on the way to a star studded final table. After 20 hours of play, David Bach was proclaimed the winner of the 2009 $50,000 HORSE event. He took home the bracelet, the Chip Reese Memorial trophy, and the $1,276,806 first place prize.
World Series of Poker Event 55: Abe Mosseri Wins First WSOP Bracelet Abraham Mosseri from New York City won the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball (Limit) event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Mosseri outlasted 257 other players to win $165,513 and the accompanying gold bracelet. This is Mosseri's first WSOP bracelet and third cash. This was his 2nd final table of this year's Series. Mosseri and others amassed a prize pool of $593,400. Only 24 players got a piece of it though. Mosseri ended Day 1 in 13th place with 39,100 in chips. By the end of Day 2, Mosseri was the chip leader with 447,000. Mosseri maintained his chip lead through most of the day. It would come down to him and Masayoshi Tanaka, who started the day with second most chips. Tanaka had the lead as heads up began, but it was meant to be for Mosseri who played aggressively and caught cards at the right time to eventually eliminate Tanaka. Notables at today's final table included three time bracelet winner John Juanda (4th), Blair Rodman (5th) and Nam Le (9th). Daniel Negreanu cashed in 16th and Hasan Habib finished in 18th.
World Series of Poker Event 51: Carsten Joh Wins Sold Out NLHE Event Carsten Joh defeated a sellout crowd to win his first bracelet in the penultimate $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event of 2009. Joh beat Andrew Chen heads up to bring home Germany's first bracelet of the Series. The event began with a largely amateur crowd, and the big names that made it to Day 2 quickly found themselves on the sidelines. Men Nguyen, Tony Cousineau, and Matt Brady outlasted most of the field but failed to make it to Day 3.
World Series of Poker Event 50: Greg 'FBT' Mueller Wins 2nd '09 Bracelet The $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout should put to rest any questions about the skill required to play Limit. By the time the event was down to two players, it was a heads up match between the owners of the last two Limit bracelets awarded at the WSOP. Greg 'FBT' Mueller defeated Marc Naalden to win his second bracelet of the year, making him the fourth person to claim more than one in 2009. Naalden now has 1st and 2nd place finishes in Limit tournaments this year. He also cashed in a Mixed Hold'em event.
World Series of Poker Event 48: Brandon 'any2cantu' Cantu Wins After finishing runner-up at a final table a week ago, Brandon Cantu got a second chance to win a second bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split event. This time, Cantu closed the deal in a tough heads up match with Lee Watkinson and picked up the WSOP gold. Brandon 'any2cantu', known for his creative and sometimes loose style of play, was as shocked as everyone else when he turned over Aces more than ten times on Day 2. "This is the hottest streak I've ever been on in my life," he told Phil Hellmuth, who was eliminated in 14th place. By the time the field was narrowed to 25 players, Brandon had nearly 25% of the chips in play. |
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