Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich pleaded not guilty Wednesday to amended corruption charges. Blagojevich entered the plea in response to eight amended charges, including racketeering, attempted extortion, bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, and conspiracy to commit extortion. Those additional charges allow prosecutors to try Blagojevich without relying on the federal honest …
A court in Myanmar on Wednesday convicted rights activist and US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin, also known as Nyi Nyi Aung, on charges of fraud and forgery. Aung was sentenced to three years in prison for forging an identity card, and one year each for failing to declare foreign currency and immigration violations, to …
The Supreme People's Court of China on Tuesday issued new guidelines for limiting capital punishment in Chinese courts, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The guidelines rely on a policy of "justice tempered with mercy" and instruct courts to issue the death penalty only to those who commit "extremely …
The acting head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti said Tuesday that while conditions are currently stable, the Haitian people must turn in the thousands of prisoners that escaped when the January 12 earthquake destroyed prisons and jails. Edmond Mulet called upon the residents of Haiti to turn over to authorities …
The Office of Immigration Statistics of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report Wednesday estimating that the total number of illegal immigrants living in the US fell to 10.8 million during the year ending in January 2009. The DHS calculates the "unauthorized resident population" by subtracting the number of …
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that strip searching all incoming inmates does not violate the Fourth Amendment and is necessary to prevent illegal substances from entering prisons. San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey had enacted the policy to strip search new inmates in response the rising amount of drugs …
The England and Wales Court of Appeal on Wednesday ruled that the government must disclose the seven previously withheld paragraphs outlining the alleged torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed. In rejecting the government's appeal, the court found that, "publication of the redacted paragraphs would not reveal information which would be …
An Iranian court sentenced one person to death and eight others to prison on Tuesday for their involvement in protests last December. The men were arrested for participating in protests that interrupted the Shia Muslim celebration of Ashura. The unidentified man sentenced to death becomes the twelfth person to receive capital …
Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan will assume the role of president after the parliament voted on Tuesday for him to take over for ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua. Jonathan reluctantly accepted the presidency under the circumstances and asked for the country to pray for Yar'Adua as he continues to battle a heart condition. …
