The former head of the tarnished UN Oil-for-Food Program was indicted by US federal prosecutors in New York Tuesday on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Benon Sevan resigned from his post last year and fled to his native Cyprus, from where he is unlikely to be extradited . The indictment alleges [...]
The French National Assembly , the lower house of the French parliament, passed by voice vote Tuesday a bill authorizing the impeachment of a French president but otherwise conferring legal immunity on the person holding that office during his or her term. The bill had languished in parliament after being approved by the French cabinet [...]
The Israeli Ministry of Justice said Tuesday the state prosecutor plans to launch an investigation into allegations that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert impermissibly promoted the interests of two business associates in his capacity as minister of finance during the 2005 state sale of Bank Leumi . Olmert supposedly favored his associates in the sell-off of [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in the consolidated cases of Safeco Insurance v. Burr and GEICO General Insurance v. Edo , 06-00084 and 06-00100, cases in which plaintiffs claim the insurance companies GEICO and Safeco breached the dictates of the Fair Credit Reporting Act when they failed to notify customers that poor [...]
Argentine Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide issued a second international arrest warrant on Tuesday for former Argentine President Isabel Peron , currently living in exile in Spain. The warrant demands that Peron be returned to Argentina for questioning about the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple A), a government-supported death squad. Prosecutors in Argentina believe the Triple A [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday overturned the 22-year sentence of Ahmed Ressam , convicted of attempting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium. The court reversed Ressam's conviction for carrying explosives while committing a felony, one of the nine charges of which he [...]
Attorneys for Marine Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, charged with the killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha , have asked Marine Lt. Gen. James Mattis to launch an investigation into the leak of a Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) report after the Washington Post earlier this month printed photos of Iraqis allegedly killed by Wuterich [...]
Thailand's former ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party went on trial Tuesday on charges of committing election fraud during last year's parliamentary elections by allegedly misusing the independent election commission and illegally paying smaller parties to run candidates against it to satisfy minimum vote requirements. On the eve of the trial, former Prime Minister Thaksin [...]
EU law enforcement officials agreed Monday that a police data-sharing agreement among members states should be expanded to include all 27 member nations. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble made the announcement at the end of two-day meeting of EU justice and interior ministers , the first during Germany's EU presidency . Schaeuble suggested that the [...]
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said Tuesday that Dragan Zelenovic will plead guilty to rape and murder charges stemming from the Bosnian Serb's time as a police officer and paramilitary leader during the Bosnian war. Zelenovic was extradited to the ICTY last year and in July pleaded not guilty to [...]
