[JURIST] An Italian military court Saturday convicted 10 former SS [backgrounder] soldiers and acquitted 7 others in the 1944 killing of more than 700 people in Marzabotto [Wikipedia backgrounder; Italian Resistence materials], a small town in nothern Iraly. The slaughter, which took place south of Bologna, is considered the worst killing of civilians in Italy during World War II. All of the men on trial [JURIST report] were tried in absentia and are believed by many to be living in Germany. Each of the convicted men received life sentences for murder.

The massacre was committed by retreating German troops from September 29, 1944 to October 5, 1944. During that time, the SS soldiers killed mainly women, children and elderly in a supposed hunt for resistance fighters. AP has more.

[JURIST] Bangladeshi authorities said Saturday they had arrested over 2500 people and raided the homes of several political leaders in a crackdown following Friday's swearing-in of a new interim government [New Age report] facing ongoing civil unrest ahead of elections. A national poll had been scheduled for January 22, but earlier this week Bangladeshi president Iajuddin Ahmed [Wikipedia profile] deferred the vote indefinitely after declaring a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the country and stepping aside as the personal head of the caretaker government required to take office 90 days ahead of a national election.

A member of the Bangladesh Election Commission [official website] confirmed Saturday that the activities of the commission had been suspended [UNB report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Attorney's office in San Francisco said Friday it is conducting a criminal probe into the option backdating practices of Apple Inc. [corporate website], and specifically an option grant given to CEO Steve Jobs in 2001 which was considered one of the largest option packages in corporate history, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Apple originally claimed the 7.5 million stock options were given to Jobs in October 2001 but last month, the company admitted the meeting in which the package was finalized did not take place until December that year. Apple has said that Jobs and the company's current executives were unaware of any backdating [Reuters report], but between the date of the fictious October meeting and the actual meeting in December, Jobs' stock appreciated $20 million dollars [CNN report].

The US Attorney's announcement comes less than two weeks after Apple completed an internal probe [JURIST report] into alleged stock option manipulation by its senior managers, including Jobs. The report purported to clear its executives of any wrong-doing and concluded that Jobs did not "financially benefit" [Miami Herald report] from stock options. The San Jose Mercury News has more.

[JURIST] Somalia's transitional parliament voted Saturday to authorize the government to declare martial law in the troubled east African country. The authorization and the accompanying declaration of a state of emergency [Reuters report] followed Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi's Thursday call [JURIST report] for the parliament to declare three months of martial law in hopes of reestablishing order following the capture of Somali capital Mogadishu from militias seeking to establish Islamic law [JURIST report]. Ethiopian and Somali government forces have been fighting since December 24 against the Somali Islamic fundamentalist movement, which has largely dispersed from urban areas.

On Tuesday, US air strikes targeted wanted FBI terror fugitives [JURIST report], whom the US believes was being sheltered in Somalia by the Council of Islamic Courts [official website, in Somali; BBC backgrounder]. Somalia has endured a lengthy civil war and several rounds of failed peace talks [BBC timeline] since the collapse of its last civilian government in 1991. AP has more.

[JURIST] China and Russia Friday vetoed a proposed UN Security Council [UN backgrounder] resolution [text and statements] demanding an end to political repression and human rights violations in Myanmar [JURIST news archive]. The resolution was jointly sponsored by the United States and Great Britain, but was blocked by the other two major powers on the grounds that it was outside the Council's jurisdiction, as they said Myanmar was not a threat to international peace. Acting US ambassador to the UN Alejandro Wolff [official profile] nonetheless characterized Myanmar as a "contemporary [threat] that the council and the international community needs to address before they become imminent...threats to international peace and security."

South Africa also voted against the resolution, with Indonesia, Qatar, and the Republic of Congo abstaining. China and Russia have consistently declined to support Security Council resolutions it perceives as encroachments to exclusive sovereignty in domestic affairs. In November, a UN committee denounced Myanmar [JURIST report] for continued human rights violations. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been ruled by a military junta since 1988, which took power after crushing a democratic movement led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi [Nobel profile; BBC profile], who remains a political prisoner under house arrest. AP has more. The UN News Service has additional coverage.

[JURIST] President Bush Friday signed into law [press release] new federal legislation seeking to protect traditional, wireless, and internet phone calling consumers by preventing phone companies from selling their private phone records without customer authorization and criminalizing attempts to obtain those fraudulently. The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006 [PDF text] passed [JURIST report] the Senate in December in response to the Hewlett-Packard corporate spying scandal [JURIST news archive] that broke this past summer.

The Act prohibits "making false or fraudulent statements" to phone company employees in an effort to obtain confidential phone records. It also forbids "accessing customer accounts through the Internet" without authorization. Those who contravene the Act can face up to 10 years in prison. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Claude M. Hilton of the Eastern District of Virginia Friday granted a motion for dismissal made [JURIST report] by the New York Times in a defamation suit filed against the paper by Dr. Stephen J. Hatfill [Wikipedia profile], a former US Army germ-warfare researcher who was named a "person of interest" by the FBI [JURIST news archive] in its investigations of anthrax mailings [FBI backgrounder] shortly after the 2001 Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. Hatfill sued [complaint] the Times for libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress after the newspaper published a story stating that the government's decision not to further pursue Hatfill as a suspect was the result of "poor investigation." The Times argued in its dismissal motion that as a public speaker on bioterror, Hatfill was a public figure and therefore had to prove the higher standard of defamation that requires "actual malice." The Times also contended that it did not attribute the attacks to Hatfill, but only reported the status of an ongoing government investigation. Hilton did not issue a detailed written opinion Friday, but that is expected in a few days.

Hatfill's previous suit against the Times and columnist Nicholas Kristof [NYT profile] were previously dismissed in the trial court, which ruled that the columns were an ongoing report about a government investigation and did not constitute libel. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed [opinion text, PDF], ruling that a jury should decide that issue. In March, the Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari [JURIST report] in the case. Hatfill has also sued [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] the government for related claims. The New York Times has more.