The US Senate voted 90-8 late Wednesday to approve a lobbying reform bill pushed through in the wake of a corruption scandal centering on former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff , who was sentenced to a prison term Wednesday in an unrelated Florida fraud case. Under the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006 , lawmakers [...]
The UN Security Council Wednesday agreed on a statement demanding that Iran immediately suspend its nuclear enrichment program. The statement, which is not legally binding, seeks a report on the extent of Iran's compliance from the International Atomic Energy Agency within 30 days. Watch recorded video of the reading of the statement by the current [...]
AP is reporting that Ahmed Omar Abu Ali has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush . Abu Ali faced a possible life sentence following his conviction last November. Abu Ali's sentencing had been delayed to give lawyers in the case time to investigate whether [...]
The UN Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to allow UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to open formal negotiations on the establishment of a tribunal to try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . The UK- and US-sponsored Resolution 1664 calls on Annan to negotiate an agreement with the Lebanese [...]
A Maryland judge ruled Wednesday that DC sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad can represent himself during his upcoming trial on six counts of first degree murder related to the three-week series of shootings in the Washington, DC area in October 2002. Earlier this week, Muhammad sent a handwritten letter to Judge James L. Ryan asking [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Bustillo v. Johnson and Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon , a pair of consolidated cases that could expand the Miranda rights of foreign nationals. The cases involve two convicted foreign nationals – a Honduran and a Mexican – who claim their arresting officers' failure to notify them of [...]
Former Assistant US Attorney Richard Convertino and US State Department Regional Secretary Officer Harry Raymond Smith III were indicted before a Detroit federal grand jury Wednesday on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and making false declarations in connection with a botched 2003 terrorism trial. Convertino was the lead prosecutor in a case against North [...]
Serbian officials Wednesday asked Carla del Ponte , chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to bear in mind the country's "complex political situation" as she arrived in Belgrade for talks two days before issuing a report to the European Union on the country's co-operation with the court. In the wake [...]
United Nations officials and armed peacekeepers took former Liberian President Charles Taylor into custody Wednesday in Monrovia after he was transported to Liberia following his capture by Nigerian officials in an attempt to flee the country. Taylor disappeared from his villa Monday in the southeast Nigerian city of Calaban where he spent the last two [...]
Wire services are reporting that a federal judge in Florida has sentenced former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff to five years and 10 months in prison on two conspiracy and fraud charges stemming from falsification of documents to procure a loan for the 2000 purchase of SunCruz Casino by Abramoff and his partners. Abramoff and co-defendant [...]
