Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday criticized the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) for ruling in favor of presidential hopeful Leopoldo Lopez, thereby allowing him to run for office. A Venezuelan anti-corruption official had barred Lopez from running for office after conducting a corruption investigation in 2005. Chavez called the IACHR ruling politically motivated [...]
An Egyptian court on Sunday convicted Zohair Garanah, the former tourism minister under the Hosni Mubarak regime, on corruption charges. As a result of the guilty verdict, the court sentenced him to three years in prison . The conviction of Garanah, a businessman before joining Mubarak’s cabinet, closely followed that of Ahmed Ezz, who was [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that the national rate of violent crime decreased by 13 percent during 2010. The announcement stemmed from statistics in the annual National Crime Victimization Survey , which consists of self-reported information and is complied by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to estimate the rates and level of [...]
US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Thursday ordered a stay of execution for Duane Buck, a convicted murderer in Texas, pending a determination on whether to grant certiorari in the case. Buck’s appeal is not arguing his innocence, but rather improper practices during his sentencing hearing. A clinical psychiatrist testified that Buck, a black [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday struck down a City of Redondo Beach anti-day laborer ordinance as an unconstitutional restriction on speech. The ordinance prohibited individuals from standing on a street or highway to solicit “employment, business, or contributions” from passing motorists. The city argued that the purpose of the [...]
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Friday filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the validity of the state’s newly passed Marriage Equality Act . The initial complaint , filed by New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) and other groups in the Seventh Judicial District of the New York State Supreme Court , [...]
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday that the effects of global warming are not covered by a standard liability insurance policy. The AES Corporation , a power company, is facing a suit, Kivalina v. Exxon Mobil Corp., for its contributions to global warming. AES expected that its insurance company, Steadfast, would defend this suit as [...]
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced on Friday that the government will propose legislation to ban burqas and other face coverings. The proposal is being submitted in cooperation with conservative politician Geert Wilders and the Party for Freedom . The government contends that the proposed legislation does not represent a restriction on religious freedom but [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday opened the confirmation of charges hearing against accused war criminal Callixte Mbarushimana . Mbarushimana, former leader of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) , is charged with 13 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) [...]
US President Barack Obama signed the America Invents Act into law on Friday. The Senate approved the bill earlier this month , and the House of Representatives approved the bill in June . The act represents the first change to the American patent system since 1952 . Major differences include changing the patent system from [...]
