It was the busiest merger day since August. BT stock has almost doubled since a Oct. 7 low. If the merger goes through it would be a reversal of the landmark 1911 anti-trust decision which broke up Standard Oil. In the late 1980s the CIA payroll was at least 22,000 employees but is down to maybe 16,000 today. The ruling held that the crimes alleged were international in nature that could never be normal acts undertaken in the functions of a head of state.
Former sovereigns have narrower immunity than sitting rulers.
British Home Secretary Jack Shaw originally had until December 2nd to decide whether or not to block Pinochet's extradition. A Chilean plane was waiting near London as the Law Lords announced their decision. In that sense it is a novel ruling in a peacetime context. And that one is more questionable. The result of this ruling is that the torturers of the 21st century can tremble in a way that those of the last half century since Nuernberg have had no worries at all.