Twelve plaintiffs on Monday combined to file a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court against Countrywide Financial Corporation alleging widespread fraud that resulted in substantial financial losses. The plaintiffs invested hundreds of millions of dollars with the Bank of America (BOA) subsidiary between 2005 and 2007, believing the purchases of mortgage-backed securities to [...]
The US Courts for the Ninth Circuit announced on Tuesday that Chief Judge Roslyn Silver of the US District Court of Arizona has declared a judicial emergency under the Speedy Trial Act . Judge Silver’s order suspends the time limits set forth in 18 USC § 3161 , which require that a federal criminal trial [...]
A Vietnamese court on Wednesday sentenced former communist official Vi Duc Hoi to eight years in prison for advocating democracy and a multiparty system. Hoi was convicted of violating Vietnam’s national security for information contained in articles he posted on the internet. According to Hoi’s defense lawyer, he was convicted of spreading anti-government propaganda on [...]
UK Home Secretary Theresa May addressed Parliament on Wednesday to announce proposed changes to the country’s anti-terrorism policies, including the controversial use of control orders . Control orders, created by the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2005 (PTA) , impose a variety of legal restrictions on individuals suspected of terrorism-related activity, regardless of the suspect’s [...]
Tunisia’s Justice Minister Lazhar Karoui Chebbi announced Wednesday that the country has issued an international arrest warrant for ousted president Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali . Ben Ali, his wife and other family members face allegations that they illegally transferred money out of the country, possessed unlicensed weapons and incited armed violence. Chebbi said some [...]
The Russian Federation Council on Wednesday voted to ratify the New START treaty , an agreement between Russia and the US intended to reduce nuclear arms in both countries. The upper house of Russia’s parliament unanimously supported the measure, which calls for each country to reduce its nuclear arsenal by about 30 percent. Under the [...]
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) demanded Tuesday that Albania and Kosovo investigate and prosecute alleged incidents of organ trafficking, inhuman treatment and other crimes by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo . In a report , compiled by Dick Marty of the Alliance of Liberals and [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday sentenced former Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani to life imprisonment for his role in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which killed 224 people. Ghailani could have received a minimum of 20 years in [...]
A Peruvian appeals court announced on Monday it has rejected the government’s petition to overturn a lower court’s decision to grant parole to Lori Berenson , a US citizen held since 1995 for collaboration with a Marxist rebel organization. According to Berenson and her lawyer, the ruling was final and cannot be appealed , representing [...]
The UN defended the human rights record of Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon Monday after criticism from Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW released an annual report Monday, which claimed that EU member states and the UN have failed to adequately respond to human rights abuses and violations. The report criticized Ban for not putting pressure on [...]
