A former Chinese corruption official was executed on Thursday for accepting more than 4.7 million USD in bribes. Zeng Jinchun, a chief inspector for the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in the central province of Hunan, accepted bribes in return for mining contracts and job promotions over a decade, ending in 2006. In addition [...]
Officials from the United Nations on Thursday urged all parties to the disputed presidential election in the Ivory Coast to honor the country’s commitment to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing under the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document . Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide Francis Deng and Edward [...]
The Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow on Thursday sentenced former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev , to six additional years in prison, extending their imprisonment to a total of 14 years. The imposition of the maximum possible sentence has stoked international criticism of what has been viewed by many [...]
Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav was convicted of two rape charges on Thursday, following his decision to rescind an earlier plea bargain. A Tel Aviv court found him guilty of assaulting a female employee of the Tourism Ministry during his time as Minister, and two women at the President’s Residence during his time as President. [...]
The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights announced Tuesday that the US government has refused to provide legal cooperation to Polish prosecutors investigating whether Saudi terror suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was tortured in a secret CIA prison in Poland. According to the letter sent by Polish prosecutors to the Helsinki Foundation, the US government denied the [...]
Both houses of the Kazakhstan Parliament on Wednesday agreed to hold a referendum proposing to extend the term of President Nursultan Nazarbayev to 2020, bypassing two presidential elections. Nazarbayev’s current term is set to expire in 2012 . If he continues to rule until 2020, Nazarbayev will have been in power in the country for [...]
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Tuesday filed an amended patent infringement complaint against Apple, eBay, Google and eight other corporations claiming the companies misappropriated technologies patented by Allen’s now defunct Interval Research Corporation and currently held by Interval Licensing, LLC. The original lawsuit was dismissed earlier this month for vagueness by a judge for the [...]
China’s chief administrative authority, the State Council, released a report on Wednesday outlining steps to fight corruption and build a cleaner government. The report recognizes that corruption remains a concern and states the aims of the Chinese government are to build a perfect system of punishment and prevention of corruption with more resolutions and powerful [...]
A federal judge has ruled that US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials must provide representation to two mentally disabled immigrants who are challenging deportation proceedings. The ruling was a landmark decision in immigration proceedings as, unlike criminal courts, immigration courts are not required to provide defense attorneys to indigent defendants. Judge Dolly Gee of [...]
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an insider trading complaint against unknown investors in Martek Biosciences Corp. , claiming that the investors purchased an unusually large number of call options in Martek in the two weeks preceding the December 21 announcement that DSM planned to purchase Martek. The SEC’s complaint, filed last week [...]
