The US Supreme Court handed down decisions in five cases Wednesday, including Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Transport Association , where the Court held that federal law preempts two provisions of a Maine tobacco transport law requiring special inspection of incoming tobacco packages to prevent purchases from unlicensed retailers who might sell to minors. The [...]
Egyptian police arrested 70 more members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood Wednesday, most of whom were expected to run in upcoming provincial council elections scheduled for April 8 . Egypt's provincial councils administer local municipal government services. These municipal elections were originally scheduled for 2006, but the Egyptian legislature passed a law to delay the [...]
The court-martial of US Army Specialist Christopher P. Shore began in Hawaii Tuesday for charges of third-degree murder in the June 23, 2007 killing of an unarmed Iraqi civilian near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk . Shore originally faced charges of premeditated murder of the unspecified "Iraqi national," but those charges were later reduced. Closing [...]
The resignation of Cuban President Fidel Castro could prompt lawsuits against him in Spanish courts for crimes against humanity, Spanish human rights lawyers indicated on Tuesday. In December, the Spanish Audiencia Nacional dismissed a claim against Castro and Cuban Minister of Tourism Osmani Cienfuegos for genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and terrorism. It was the [...]
Former Rwandan Minister of Youth and Sports Callixte Nzabonimana was arrested Monday in Tanzania on charges relating to Rwanda's 1994 genocide, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said Tuesday. Nzabonimana faces charges of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitements to commit genocide, crime against humanity, and violations of [...]
The US Supreme Court heard consolidated oral arguments Tuesday in Morgan Stanley Capital Group v. Public Utility Dist. 1 , 06-1457 , and American Elec. Power Service Corp. v. Public Utility Dist. 1, 06-1462 . Both cases involve long-term contracts made between energy suppliers and a local public utility during the Western energy crisis of [...]
A federal judge Tuesday refused to block enforcement of an Arizona law that penalizes employers who hire illegal immigrants while opponents of the law appeal their case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and [...]
US District Judge Larry Burns sentenced former US defense contractor Brent Wilkes to 12 years in federal prison Tuesday for bribing now-former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham in exchange for almost $90 million in Pentagon work. Wilkes was convicted in November 2007 of 13 felonies, including money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy. AP has more. The San [...]
A New Jersey civil union law has not been able to effectively ensure that same-sex couples receive the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples because of federal law, according to an official report issued Tuesday by the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission (NJ-CURC) . The New Jersey Civil Union Act requires that employers [...]
Former Russian Atomic Minister Yevgeny Adamov was found guilty in Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court Tuesday of fraud and abuse of office for his involvement in a corruption scheme which misappropriated millions of dollars of US aid designated to upgrade unsafe Russian RBMK nuclear reactors . Adamov and co-defendants Vyacheslav Pismenny and Revmir Frayshut had been [...]
