Jury selection began in Chicago Wednesday in the US federal trial of Canadian-born media mogul Conrad Black , the former chairman of media company Hollinger International – now Sun-Times Media Group Inc. – who faces 17 counts of fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering and tax evasion related to the $2.1 billion sale of several hundred [...]
Giovanni Di Stefano : "The defence counsel team for Taha Ramadan have filed with the IHT the appeal in the re-sentencing of Mr Ramadan which substituted life imprisonment to that of the death sentence. I have also taken the steps at requesting President Talabani under the extenuating circumstances to commute the sentence of death to [...]
The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled against granting medical marijuana plaintiff Angel Raich injunctive relief preventing federal law enforcement officials from enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) against her. Raich suffers from scoliosis, a brain tumour, chronic nausea and other ailments that have not responded to conventional medical treatment. In [...]
US President George W. Bush vowed Wednesday to increase efforts to reform US immigration laws and crack down on illegal drug trafficking during a press conference in Merida, Mexico, with new Mexican President Felipe Calderon . Bush pledged to work with lawmakers across party lines, but noted that immigration issues are sensitive and can inflame [...]
A California state judge on Wednesday dropped the felony charges against four defendants in the Hewlett-Packard (HP) pretexting scandal after the defendants pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of fraudulent wire communications and agreed to complete 96 hours of community service and pay restitution by September. The four defendants, including former HP CEO Patricia Dunn [...]
A federal judge on Wednesday held Sudan liable in the 2000 al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole , and moved the civil trial of a suit brought by families of seventeen US sailors killed in the bombing to the damages phase. AP quoted US District Judge Robert Doumar of the US District Court for the [...]
Lawyers boycotted courts across Pakistan Wednesday for a third day in a continued effort to protest Friday's suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for unspecified misconduct. The nationwide strike by Pakistani lawyers was coupled with rallies held in Karachi and other urban centers. Pakistan Bar Council President Qazi Anwar told AFP that starting Thursday [...]
Zimbabwe prosecutors failed to appear in court on Wednesday to prosecute opposition presidential hopeful Morgan Tsvangirai , arrested at a protest in Harare Sunday, leaving him free to return home. On Monday, Tsvangirai's lawyer and party officials said he was beaten while in police custody; he appeared in court Tuesday with a large gash on [...]
Senator John McGee : "We are a nation of immigrants. Legal immigrants have played, and continue to play, an integral and welcome role in our country's growth and development. But the key word is "legal." In the last 15 years, "illegal immigration" has become a baffling problem that puts enormous financial and social pressure on [...]
China uses the same strict organ donation procedures when accepting organs from executed criminals as any other organ donations, an anonymous senior Chinese Supreme Court official told the state Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday. The court official said that China only harvests organs from executed criminals when either the criminal or their family consents, and [...]
