The Amsterdam District Court on Friday fined oil trading company Trafigura 1 million euros (USD $1.28 million) for shipping hazardous waste to the Netherlands and illegally exporting the waste to the Ivory Coast in 2006. The company chartered a ship, the Probo Koala, to deliver and unload acidic and corrosive fuel refining waste in the [...]

A Honduran judge on Friday dropped two abuse of power charges against ousted leader Manuel Zelaya . Judge Humberto Palacios dismissed the charges because of the amnesty granted to those involved in Zelaya’s removal by the Honduran congress in January. Zelaya still faces other charges including fraud, usurping other institutions’ authority and falsifying documents. Honduras [...]

A wireless communications industry group filed a lawsuit Friday challenging a San Francisco ordinance requiring disclosure of cellular phone radiation emission levels. The complaint, filed by CTIA in the US District Court for the Northern District of California , argues that the ordinance unlawfully interferes with the exclusive authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [...]

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday named the members of its fact-finding mission into the May flotilla incident , in which Israeli forces raided several Turkish ships bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip . The UNHRC announced the formation of the commission in June, shortly after the incident, with the mandate to “investigate [...]

The US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Friday accepted a plea agreement with former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan for his involvement in the juvenile sentencing scandal . Conahan, the former president judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas , pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges for accepting more [...]

The Canadian Supreme Court ruled Friday that damages are an appropriate remedy for violations of a citizen’s rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . The case arose after Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward was mistakenly arrested for making threats against then-prime minister Jean Chretien . Ward was detained and eventually arrested for breach [...]

A Turkish court on Friday ordered the arrest of 102 people, including two serving and three retired military officers, in connection with an alleged coup plot. The 2003 Balyoz Security Operation Plan , or “Sledgehammer” plot, which included plans to bomb Istanbul mosques and provoke Greece into shooting down a Turkish plane in order to [...]

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday suspended an order issued last week directing the release of accused Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo . The court ordered Lubanga’s release after previously ordering a stay in the proceedings until the prosecution complied with a directive to provide certain information to the [...]

US Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced legislation Wednesday intended to block the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from implementing its National Broadband Plan . The Freedom for Consumer Choice Act would remove the FCC’s ability to declare the actions of a communications provider illegal unless there was a clear showing that the practice causes harm to [...]

US Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Wednesday introduced an amended version of the Senate campaign finance bill in order to gain support from moderate Republicans in the hope of increasing the chance of the bill’s passage. The bill, known as the Disclose Act, was developed in response to the January US Supreme Court ruling in [...]