The German Federal Court of Justice Thursday found Moroccan-born Mounir al-Motassadeq guilty of assisting the men who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on the US. The appeals court overturned a lower court decision acquitting Motassadeq, avoiding a third trial against him. Motassadeq was originally convicted in 2003 on charges that he gave financial backing [...]
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US President George Bush on Wednesday renominated six candidates for federal appeals court judgeships, at least four of whom Democrats have already rejected . Senate rules require nominations to be resubmitted after a recess longer than 30 days, and the judicial nominations will expire if not approved during the current lame-duck session of Congress. When [...]
US Marine Corps Pfc. John J. Jodka III was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in military custody for his role in the murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania last spring. Jodka, one of eight servicemen originally charged in connection with the killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad , pleaded guilty last month to assault and [...]
A federal jury sitting in New Orleans ruled Wednesday that Merck & Co. , makers of the painkiller Vioxx that was withdrawn from the market after it was found to expose users to increased risk of heart attack and stroke, was not liable for damages allegedly caused by the heart attack of a Utah man. [...]
Former Enron accounting chief Richard Causey received a 66-month prison sentence Wednesday for authorizing bookkeeping practices that allowed Enron to defraud investors of billions of dollars. Under the original slate of 35 charges against him, Causey had faced up to 20 years in prison. In December he accepted a plea deal offering a maximum seven-year [...]
Lawyers for Saifullah Paracha , a multimillionaire from Pakistan in US custody at Guantanamo Bay , petitioned a federal court Wednesday to enjoin the US military from performing a cardiac catheterization because the facility there lacks sufficient medical equipment and the backup to ensure his health if something goes wrong. Paracha, who suffered a heart [...]
The High Court of Ireland held Wednesday that the protection of an unborn's right to life under Article 40 of the Irish Constitution does not include the preservation of embryos frozen as a part of infertility treatment. Article 40, Section 3.3 says: The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due [...]
Pakistan's National Assembly , the lower house of parliament, passed the 2006 Protection of Women Bill Wednesday, transferring rape case jurisdiction from religious Sharia courts to civil courts. The bill also classifies rape under the penal code and makes it easier for women in Pakistan to prove rape allegations. Religious leaders decried the legislation, saying [...]
Shaun Hansen, former owner of the telemarketing firm Mylo Enterprises Inc., pleaded guilty to two federal counts of conspiracy to commit interstate telephone harassment on Wednesday for his involvement in the New Hampshire GOP's 2002 phone jamming plot against the state's Democratic Senate candidates. Prosecutors alleged that Hansen was paid $2,500 to make phone calls [...]
US Army Spc. James P. Barker pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in the Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya") area in March. Barker, who will be spared from capital punishment as a result of the plea, agreed to testify against the [...]
