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Iraqi court resumes trial of Saddam lieutenant
International | 2008/05/20 06:46
An Iraqi court has resumed hearing the case against Tariq Aziz and seven other former regime officials who face charges in the 1992 execution of dozens of merchants.

Aziz, 72, is the former deputy prime minister and one of Saddam Hussein's best-known lieutenants. He walked into the court Tuesday using a cane.

The other defendants include Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali. He already was sentenced to death in another case.

They are facing charges stemming from the 1992 executions of 42 merchants accused by Saddam's government of profiteering when the country was under strict U.N. sanctions. They face the death penalty if convicted.



Japan court rejects US nuclear carrier suit
International | 2008/05/11 08:34
A Japanese court Monday rejected a lawsuit demanding a halt to harbor work to accommodate a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that is to be based south of Tokyo starting in August, a court spokeswoman said.

The suit by 635 plaintiffs aimed to stop the deepening of the harbor in Yokosuka, site of the U.S. naval base where the nuclear-powered USS George Washington is to be deployed, replacing the aging diesel-powered USS Kitty Hawk.

The carrier has sparked protests among Yokosuka residents who fear it poses a health danger. Many in Japan, the only country to be attacked by nuclear weapons, are also sensitive about any military use of nuclear technology.

Yoshie Ueki, a spokeswoman for the Yokohama District Court, said the court turned down the suit. She did not provide any further information about the case.

The plaintiffs had argued the harbor work, which began last year, would spread pollution, kill fish and damage the livelihoods of fishermen. They also argued the warship would threaten people in surrounding areas with possible radiation leakage should an accident occur.

But presiding Judge Tsuyoshi Ono rejected their claims, saying the harbor work posed no danger to nearby residents, according to Kyodo News agency.

The deployment of the USS George Washington marks the first time a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered vessel will be permanently based in Japan. The move is part of the U.S. military's effort to modernize its forces in East Asia — an area of potential flash points with North Korea or China.

Nuclear-powered warships have visited Japanese ports hundreds of times since 1964, and the United States has provided firm commitments to Tokyo regarding their safe use of Japanese harbors.

The United States has about 50,000 troops stationed in Japan under a mutual security pact.



Court ruling gives hope to Alzheimer's sufferers
International | 2008/05/02 03:36
More patients could get access to Alzheimer's drugs on the NHS after two drug companies won a landmark court victory.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) -- the body that controls the prescription of new drugs -- must be more transparent about how it calculates the cost-effectiveness of new treatments.

In a ruling delivered Thursday, the judges found the process by which NICE decided to restrict Alzheimer's drug Aricept to patients with a moderate version of the degenerative brain disease "was procedurally unfair".

They added that NICE should release a full version of the cost-effectiveness model used to produce guidance for the drugs.

NICE had decided in 2004 that the drugs, which cost about £2.50 a day and slow down the progress of the disease, are not cost-effective for patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's. This decision was upheld by a court in 2007.

Drug companies Eisai Ltd and Pfizer Ltd, which challenged the NICE decision, welcomed the Court of Appeal's ruling, saying it brought new hope for Alzheimer's patients.

Nick Burgin, managing director of Eisai, said: "We believe that this decision represents a victory for common sense. As soon as we have reviewed their cost-effectiveness calculations we will submit any new findings to NICE.

"We hope that this action will ultimately restore access to anti-dementia medicines for those patients at the mild stages of Alzheimer's disease."

NICE chief executive Andrew Dillon said: "We will be considering very carefully the findings and the implications for the time it takes us to provide advice to patients and the NHS on the use of new treatments.

"It is important to recognise that we have not been asked to amend or withdraw our current guidance on the use of these drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease: the drugs continue to be recommended only for people with moderate Alzheimer's disease."

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society said: "Today's decision is a damning indictment of the fundamentally flawed process used by NICE to deny people with Alzheimer's disease access to drug treatments."

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting around 417,000 people in the UK.



Intl. Court unseals warrant for Congo militia leader
International | 2008/04/29 08:52
The International Criminal Court has published an arrest warrant for a Congo militia leader wanted for allegedly using child soldiers.

The court says Bosco Ntaganda conscripted child soldiers to fight in the Ituri region of eastern Congo from July 2002 until December 2003.

The court's prosecutor says Ntaganda is still at large in the Congo.

Prosecutors say he is chief of staff of a "political-military group" commanded by rebel Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu province.

Tuesday's statement alleges that Ntaganda is a former ally of Thomas Lubanga. Lubanga was the first suspect taken into custody by the Hague-based court and is due to go on trial in late June for allegedly using child soldiers.



Chinese Police Clash With Tibet Protesters
International | 2008/03/14 05:57
Violent protests erupted Friday in a busy market area of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, as Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans clashed with Chinese security forces. Witnesses say the protesters burned shops, cars, military vehicles and at least one tourist bus.

The chaotic scene marked the most violent demonstrations since protests by Buddhist monks began in Lhasa on Monday, the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. The protests have been the largest in Tibet since the late 1980s, when Chinese security forces repeatedly used lethal force to restore order in the region.

The developments prompted the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, to issue a statement, saying he was concerned about the situation and appealing to the Chinese leadership to “stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people”.

By Friday night, Chinese authorities had placed much of the central part of the city under a curfew, including neighborhoods around different Buddhist monasteries, according to two Lhasa residents reached by telephone. Military police were blocking roads in some ethnic Tibetan neighborhoods, several Lhasa residents said.

Meanwhile, the United States Embassy in Beijing warned American citizens to stay away from Lhasa. The embassy said it had “received firsthand reports from American citizens in the city who report gunfire and other indications of violence.”

The Chinese government’s official news agency, Xinhua, issued a two-sentence bulletin, in English, confirming that shops in Lhasa had been set on fire and that other stores had closed because of violence on the streets. But the Chinese news media otherwise carried no news about the protests. The White House responded with expressions of concern, but not direct criticism, although it urged the Chinese authorities to use restraint.

“We believe Beijing needs to respect Tibetan culture, needs to respect multi-ethnicity in their society,” a spokesman, Tony Fratto, said while traveling with President Bush to New York. “We regret the tensions between ethnic groups and Beijing.”

The White House says that the American ambassador in Beijing, Clark T. Randt Jr., had urged restraint in his contacts with the Chinese authorities.

The disturbances appear to be becoming a major problem for the ruling Communist Party, which is holding its annual meeting of the National People’s Congress this week in Beijing. China is eager to present a harmonious image to the rest of the world as Beijing prepares to play host to the Olympic Games in August.



German Court Upholds Incest Law
International | 2008/03/13 05:31
Germany's highest court has upheld a law that makes incest a criminal offense, rejecting an appeal by a man who was sentenced to prison after fathering four children with his sister.

The Federal Constitutional Court said Thursday it has ruled that the state is within its rights to cite "the protection of family order against the damaging effects of incest ... and the avoidance of serious genetic illnesses" in outlawing incest.

The ruling followed a complaint by a 31-year-old man from eastern Germany, who has been identified only as Patrick S. He received a 2 1/2 year prison sentence for incest in 2005 but has been free pending the supreme court ruling.

His sister, Susan K., who is now in her early 20s, was placed under the supervision of social services.

The man had been given up for adoption at age 4 and met his birth-mother for the first time in 2000, at which point he also first met his sister. He and his sister then had four children.

The man's lawyer has argued that there is no reason why two people who love each other should not be allowed to live together — purely because they are siblings.

However, the constitutional court ruled that sexual relations between siblings "do not affect them exclusively, but also can have an effect on family and society, and have consequences for children who arise from the relationship."

The court said one of the judges who considered the case dissented in the Feb. 26 ruling, arguing that the ban was disproportionate.



Another SocGen Trader Taken Into Custody
International | 2008/03/12 08:29
Another trader at Societe Generale was taken in for questioning Wednesday after investigators searched the French bank's offices in connection with a multibillion dollar trading scandal, judicial officials and the bank said.

Investigators are trying to determine whether Jerome Kerviel -- the trader blamed by SocGen for unauthorized trades that cost it nearly $7 billion -- had accomplices, judicial officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Societe Generale spokeswoman Laura Schalk confirmed that investigators searched its offices on Wednesday, taking some records and detaining the employee, whose name she declined to provide. She called the search part of "normal proceedings" in the probe.

Christophe Reille, a spokesman for Kerviel, declined to comment.

A French court is scheduled to rule Friday on whether Kerviel should be freed from a Paris prison during the investigation. Investigators have said they want to prevent him from speaking with any possible accomplices.

Kerviel says he acted alone, but that his bosses must have been aware of his massive risk-taking, and turned a blind eye as long as he was making money for the bank. Investigators are searching for others who could have known about, or participated in, what the bank says was Kerviel's unauthorized activity.

A preliminary internal probe by Societe Generale found no evidence that anyone helped Kerviel hide his positions. The report did say bank officials failed to follow up on 74 warnings about questionable trades, uncovering Kerviel's positions only on the 75th.

Kerviel's lawyer Guillaume Selnet told The Associated Press last week he will be asking why the alerts "didn't provoke any reaction."

Societe Generale says Kerviel forged documents and e-mails to suggest he had hedged his positions.

The bank reported a trading loss of nearly 4.9 billion euros ($7.58 billion) on Jan. 24 from liquidating 50 billion euros ($73 billion) in unauthorized futures positions Kerviel had taken.



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