A court in Madagascar on Wednesday convicted former president Marc Ravalomanana of misusing state funds by purchasing a $60 million presidential jet. Justice Minister in the High Authority of the Transition (HAT) transitional government Christine Razanamahasoa announced the decision , saying that the court sentenced Ravalomanana in absentia to four years in jail and ordered [...]
Convicted US district court judge Samuel Kent on Tuesday submitted his letter of resignation to President Barack Obama effective June 2010, after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice charges in connection with the alleged sexual harassment of his secretary and former case manager. The delayed resignation would allow Kent to collect his full current salary [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday upheld a ban on handguns in two Illinois municipalities. The panel of judges affirmed the district court ruling that the incorporation of the Second Amendment into the Bill of Rights as it is applied to the states is a question for the Supreme Court [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has rejected Georgia's system of voter citizenship verification by way of a Social Security and driver's license database. In a letter released Monday, Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King told Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker that the proposed changes are discriminatory. Referring to Section 5 of the Voting Rights [...]
Canadian Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan on Tuesday announced the introduction of legislation to the House of Commons that would allow victims of terrorism to sue perpetrators in Canadian courts. The Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act would allow any individuals who can prove a link between an act of terrorism and Canada to [...]
The Federal Social Court of Western Germany ruled Tuesday that Jewish-German Holocaust survivors as a class are eligible to collect old-age pension benefits. Specifically, the court found that although the work performed by three particular Jewish pension claimants in connection with their concentration camp detentions during World War II was involuntary and not monetarily compensated, [...]
Human rights groups on Tuesday called for the Spanish government to continue prosecuting those who violate international law under the principle of universal jurisdiction , sending a manifesto to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero . The call from more than 100 human rights groups comes less than two weeks after the Spanish Congress [...]
A court in China's Yunnan Province on Tuesday sentenced three executives from a Chinese chemical company for polluting Yangzonghai Lake . Chengjiang Jinye Industry and Trade Company chairman Li Dahong was sentenced to four years in jail and fined 300,000 yuan ($44,000 USD) by the Chengjiang County Basic Level Court, while general manager Li Yaohong [...]
An Iraqi court Tuesday convicted and sentenced an Iraqi man to life in prison for the 2004 kidnapping and killing of British aid worker Margaret Hassan . Ali Lutfi al-Rawi, allegedly a member of a gang that kidnapped and killed Hassan in Baghdad, pleaded not guilty to the charges. After a hearing in Baghdad's Central [...]
A Pakistani court on Tuesday ended the house arrest of the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) , the Pakistani militant group suspected of carrying out the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack . The Lahore High Court said that there was insufficient evidence linking Hafiz Muhammad Saeed or his charity group Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), to the attacks by [...]
