The court in western Rhineland-Palatinate state said Wednesday that the woman was sent a letter in May 2007 asking that she supply evidence to support continued payments for her daughter.

After she failed to respond, she was notified in July 2007 that the money was being cut off and given a month to appeal. Only in September did she reply and supply the requested documents, telling authorities — who threw out her appeal because it was too late — that she had a phobia of official correspondence.

The woman, who was not identified by the court, said "she had already suffered many financial disadvantages" as a result of leaving mail lying around or throwing it out, a court statement said.

It added that she sought to justify her actions by saying that "she was and still is petrified of the contents of official letters." She said she had long considered seeking psychological treatment, but had been too ashamed to follow through.

The court rejected the woman's case, saying it was a long-term problem, she would have had plenty of time to seek help from her daughter or others.

The Federal Court's three judges decided unanimously Monday that Anwar would be allowed to appeal earlier court verdicts dismissing his contention that then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fired him unlawfully, according to his lawyer, Karpal Singh.

Anwar, who now leads a strong opposition coalition, was fired in 1998 after falling out with Mahathir. Instead of becoming the next prime minister, as was widely expected at the time, he ended up in prison, convicted on sodomy and corruption charges he said were trumped up.

Anwar asked the courts to reinstate him, claiming Mahathir had acted unconstitutionally by dismissing him without the approval of the king, the country's titular ruler. But a high court and subsequently an appeal court dismissed his case.

Senior Djiboutian officials have been implicated in the case and the judge's widow has accused the east African country's president of ordering her husband's murder.

President Ismael Omar Guelleh has denied the charge and in turn accused France of trying to destabilize his country.

In the world court case, Djibouti has argued that France violated two bilateral cooperation agreements by withholding evidence about the death of the magistrate, Bernard Borrel, who was an adviser to the Djibouti Justice Ministry.

Djibouti, which hosts France's largest military base in Africa, also has claimed immunity for two senior officials sought by a French investigating magistrate in the case for allegedly bribing witnesses.

In addition, France has asked to question Guelleh but has conceded the president cannot be summoned against his will.

The Seoul High Court upheld a sentence last year in which it suspended the three-year prison term handed Chung by a lower court.

The latest ruling the 70-year old executive can avoid time in jail as long as he breaks no laws for five years.

Presiding judge Kil Ki-bong said Chung used most of the embezzled funds for his company and "did not seek personal profits" as a reason for suspending the prison term. The judge said Chung's promise to donate personal assets to society was also a mitigating point. Chung has promised to donate 1 trillion won ($985 million) worth of assets to charity in an apparent attempt to seek leniency from the court.

The Seoul High Court was forced to issue a new sentence because prosecutors appealed one aspect of its earlier decision: that Chung deliver lectures and write newspaper articles on lawful business management for the community service portion of his sentence.

In Tuesday's ruling, the high court ordered Chung to do 300 hours of community service in the form of environmental protection and other activities instead of the lecturing and writing.

All but one of 26 Swiss cantons (states) rejected the initiative by the nationalistic Swiss People's Party, while in the overall population 63.8 percent voted against it, according to official results.

The initiative was aimed at overturning a Supreme Court ruling that barred the widely denounced practice in some Swiss communities of subjecting citizenship applications to a popular vote.

"The people clearly said: 'We don't want xenophobia and we want direct democracy to respect basic rights,'" Swiss President Pascal Couchepin said on Swiss television SF.

People's Party lawmaker Hans Fehr said he still believed the requirements for Swiss citizenship should be more stringent.

Earlier in the week the court convicted Vikas Yadav in the abduction and murder of Nitish Katara in 2002. His cousin, Vishal Yadav, was also convicted.

The prosecution said the defendants killed Katara because they did not approve of his relationship with Vikas Yadav's sister, Bharti. The court said Friday the case did not merit the death sentence under Indian law.

A lawyer representing the Katara family, Kamini Jaiswal, told the CNN-IBN news channel she was satisfied with the sentence, while Yadav's lawyer, K.N. Balgopal told reporters they would appeal the conviction.

Vikas Yadav's father, Dharam Pal Yadav, is a wealthy and powerful lawmaker from India's Uttar Pradesh state, notorious for strongmen who dominate state politics using money, power and harassment to further their interests.

The case was seen as a bellwether of the courts' ability and willingness to take on powerful figures who often use bribery and influence to escape punishment.

Katara, then 24, was last seen the night before he was killed, attending a wedding with Bharti. His badly charred body was found later.

In most parts of largely conservative India, romantic relationships without parental approval are frowned upon and even considered an affront to family honor.

The two-acre island hosts a strategic lighthouse that has been a landmark for 150 years and a beacon of safety for hundreds of ships passing daily.

The U.N.'s highest court, however, gave Malaysia ownership of a smaller uninhabited outcropping. Sovereignty over a third disputed cluster of rocks was left to be determined later between the countries when they sort our their territorial waters, the ruling said.

Malaysia had disputed Singapore's rule of the island listed on most maps as Pedra Branca and known by Malaysia as Pulau Batu Puteh.

Singapore, a former British colony, said it inherited the island, which it said was ceded to the British to build the lighthouse in the mid-1840s.

Malaysia said the sultan of Johor, whose ownership of the island was recognized as early as the 1500s, had merely given the British permission to build and operate the lighthouse but had never given up sovereignty.

The 16-member court agreed that Johor, now a Malaysian state, had historical ownership, but said whether it had legally transferred sovereignty was unclear.

It ruled in favor of Singapore's argument that it had exercised sovereign powers over the rock since 1851, with no protest from Malaysia until 30 years ago.