Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have generally reacted favorably to President Bush's Monday nomination of former federal judge Michael B. Mukasey as the US Attorney General, showing support for Bush's bi-partisan efforts at nominating an independent mind for the nation's top law enforcement officer and paving the way for a relatively smooth confirmation. Many US senators [...]
Robert R. Amsterdam : "In the ongoing case of the Russian government's persecution of my client Mikhail Khodorkovsky, two historical precedents have recently been set: one in Switzerland, and one in the Russian Federation. In the case of Khodorkovsky vs. the Swiss Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, the Federal Tribunal in August issued a decision which, [...]
Closing arguments began Monday in the case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development , a Muslim foundation charged with financing international terrorism by supporting the Palestinian group Hamas . Once the largest Muslim charity in the United States, federal prosecutors shut down the Holy Land Foundation in 2001 and subsequently charged the [...]
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso Monday called on the UK to support the proposed EU Reform Treaty . During a speech to delegates of the UK Liberal Democratic Party , Barroso emphasized that the reform treaty is not simply a retread of the failed EU constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. [...]
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Monday filed a joint lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Merck , alleging that the company misrepresented known dangers associated with arthritis drug Vioxx , causing millions of taxpayer dollars to be wasted. The suit alleges that Merck withheld information regarding the risk of [...]
Three federal judges representing the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Monday appeared dubious during oral arguments in the case of Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Gonzales that the 2006 reauthorization of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act should be found unconstitutional. The plaintiff, a municipal utility district [...]
The German Federal Court of Justice said Monday it has dismissed an appeal made by writer Ernst Zundel to overturn his February conviction for denying the Holocaust. Earlier this year, Zundel was sentenced to five years in prison after the court found him guilty on 14 counts of incitement, libel and disparaging the dead . [...]
US President George W. Bush Monday nominated retired federal judge Michael B. Mukasey to serve as the next attorney general of the United States. Mukasey, 66, retired from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2006 after 18 years – the last six of them as chief judge. He recently [...]
The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh Monday announced the creation of a $1.25 million fund to settle 32 lawsuits alleging abuse or injury by priests. Even though Pennsylvania's statute of limitations barred many victims from filing personal injury claims, the diocese has created the fund and will also offer a program of counseling and healing. Other [...]
China has increased its efforts to stop illegal land transfers and punish government officials responsible for illegal land title transfers, an official from the Law Enforcement and Supervision Bureau under the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources said Monday. While property in China is essentially state-owned, land use titles convey their holders a form of [...]
