Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service searched the home of US Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) Monday as part of an investigation into Stevens' relationship with VECO Corp. founder Bill Allen, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to bribing public officials. According to investigators, Allen oversaw an expansive renovation of [...]
The US House of Representatives Monday approved a non-binding resolution , asking Japan to formally apologize for enslaving hundreds of thousands of women in East Asia and the Pacific to serve as "comfort women" for the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The resolution was introduced in January by Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA) and [...]
Russian prosecutors have brought fresh embezzlement charges against exiled business tycoon Boris Berezovsky , a lawyer appointed to Berezovsky's case said Monday. The charges assert that in 1997 Berezovsky took part in a $13 million scheme to embezzle credit funds from SBS-Agro Bank , which he then owned, to purchase real estate in southern France. [...]
Humanitarian and relief non-governmental organizations (NGO) are currently unable to effectively meet the needs of eight million Iraqi refugees as a result of Iraq's poor legal framework, according to a joint report issued Monday by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq . At the moment, there is no permanent registration system for NGOs [...]
The court-martial of the last US Army serviceman charged in the March 2006 rape and murder of a 14-year old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya") began Monday. Pfc. Jesse Spielman, who prosecutors say acted as a lookout during the attack, entered guilty pleas to the lessor charges of [...]
Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts was taken to the hospital Monday after suffering a fall. Supreme Court spokesperson Kathy Arberg said Monday that Roberts fell at his vacation home in Maine and that he went to the hospital as a precaution. Arberg did not provide further details about Roberts' condition. Roberts, 52, [...]
The Iraqi Council of Representatives entered its summer recess Monday despite failing to pass constitutional amendments or legislation seen as essential to the stabilization of Iraq. A representative said that the council, which is scheduled to reconvene September 4, decided to recess because the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had not submitted any constitutional [...]
Five defendants convicted for their roles in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Kurds during the 1988 Anfal campaign have filed appeals with the Appeals Chamber of the Iraqi High Tribunal , Iraqi prosecutors said Monday. The five defendants, two of whom received life sentences and three of whom received the death sentence , [...]
The last two remaining defendants in Ethiopia's criminal treason prosecution of individuals allegedly involved in mass anti-government demonstrations in 2005 have denied association with the opposition party Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and are seeking to be acquitted, defense lawyers said Monday. Daniel Bekele of ActionAid Ethiopia and Netsanet Demissie, the Executive Director of [...]
The Bangladeshi High Court suspended the extortion trial of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed Monday after receiving a motion from Hasina's lawyers challenging the legality of her detention under emergency laws . Hasina's lawyers argued that she cannot be detained under emergency laws declared by the interim emergency government because her alleged offenses originate [...]
