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Guatemala AG ousted amid corruption allegations
International |
2010/06/11 03:17
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Guatemala's Constitutional Court has removed the new attorney general amid allegations of corruption. The ruling means Conrado Reyes must hand the reins of the Attorney General's Office back to an interim top prosecutor who was in charge before his nomination. On Monday, the chief of a U.N. commission responsible for battling corruption and crime in Guatemala resigned and accused Reyes of having a history of ties to organized crime. Reyes denies the allegations. But he promised Thursday night to comply with the court's ruling and cede office. A commission will now repeat the process of compiling a list of candidates from which President Alvaro Colom will choose a new attorney general. |
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EU court rejects challenge to cell phone cap
International |
2010/06/08 05:13
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The European Union's highest court rejected a challenge Tuesday by four British cell phone companies to a Europe-wide price cap on fees for using a phone abroad. The British branches of Vodafone, Telefonica O2, T-Mobile and Orange had argued against the EU's imposing maximum price limits for "roaming" charges or extra fees for making or receiving calls outside the user's home nation. The European Court of Justice dismissed their arguments, saying the EU's executive commission did not abuse its powers when it fixed limits for roaming fees across the 27-nation bloc in 2009. Europeans have long complained about high roaming fees they were being charged. "That high level of retail charges had been regarded as a persistent problem by public authorities and consumer protection associations," the court said in a statement. It said the average level of roaming charges in the European Union was euro1.15 ($1.37) per minute, more than five times the actual cost that telecommunications companies paid to transfer the calls to each other. The court also backed the maximum price set by EU regulators, saying they had carefully examined the economic impact. |
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UK court dismisses insider dealing case
International |
2010/06/03 06:52
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Britain's regulator lost its first criminal case for insider dealing on Thursday as a jury acquitted a lawyer and a finance director of wrongdoing and a second lawyer had charges against him dropped. The Financial Services Authority had charged Andrew King, a finance director, and lawyers Michael McFall and Andrew Rimmington with eight counts of insider dealing during the 305 million pound ($450 million) takeover of biotech firm NeuTec Pharma by Swiss drugmaker Novartis. But in a blow to the regulator, the jury dismissed the charges against McFall -- a former partner at law firm McDermott Will & Emery -- and King, the former finance chief at NeuTec. Rimmington, a former partner at law firm Dorsey & Whitney, was discharged by the judge half-way through the trial for personal reasons. His brother had been assaulted and killed and the FSA said it was not pursuing him separately.
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Gunman kills 5, wounds 25 in northwest England
International |
2010/06/02 07:40
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A taxi driver described as quiet but friendly went on a shooting spree across a picturesque rural area of northwestern England on Wednesday, killing at least five people and wounding 25 before apparently turning the gun on himself. Officers found a body believed to be that of 52-year-old suspect Derrick Bird in woodland near the Lake District village of Boot, Cumbria police said. A gun was found alongside the body. "I regret to report that a number of people have been shot and that at least five people have died," Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons. "I can confirm that a body of a gunman has been found by police." Police said that as well as the deaths, 25 people were wounded in shootings in the small town of Whitehaven and nearby Seascale and Egremont, about 350 miles (560 kilometers) northwest of London. The BBC reported there had been shootings in 11 locations, not all of them fatal. Witnesses described seeing the gunman driving around shooting out the window of his car. Barrie Walker, a doctor in Seascale who certified one of the deaths, told the BBC that victims had been shot in the face, apparently with a shotgun. Witness Alan Hannah told the Whitehaven News that he saw a man with a shotgun in a car near a taxi stand in Whitehaven. Photos showed a body, covered in a sheet, lying in a street in the town.
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Australia takes Japan to court over whaling
International |
2010/05/28 09:47
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Australia said Friday it will challenge Japan's whale hunting in the Antarctic at the International Court of Justice, a major legal escalation in its campaign to ban the practice despite Tokyo's insistence on the right to so-called scientific whaling. Japan's Foreign Ministry called the action regrettable at a time when 88 member-nations of the International Whaling Commission were discussing a proposal that could allow some limited whaling for the first time in 25 years. "We will continue to explain that the scientific whaling that we are conducting is lawful in accordance with Article 8 of the international convention for the regulation of whaling," said Japan's Foreign Ministry Deputy Press Secretary Hidenobu Sobashima. "If it goes to the court, we are prepared to explain that." Japan, Norway and Iceland, which harpoon around 2,000 whales annually, argue that many species are abundant enough to continue hunting them. They are backed by around half of the whaling commission's members. Australia has declared the southern seas a whale sanctuary and has long lobbied for an end to whaling there. The government says Japan's hunt is in breach of international obligations, but has declined to release any details of how it will argue its case before the court in The Hague. The whaling commission has proposed a plan that would allow hunting without specifying whether it is for commercial or other purposes — but under strict quotas that are lower than the current number of hunted whales. Commission Chairman Cristian Maquieira expressed optimism Thursday in Washington that the issue could be resolved at a meeting next month in Morocco. But senior U.S. official Monica Medina said the current proposal would allow the hunting of too many whales, signaling difficult negotiations ahead.
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Taylor prosecutors want Naomi Campbell to testify
International |
2010/05/20 05:56
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Prosecutors trying former Liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes at a U.N.-backed court asked judges Thursday to subpoena supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify about being given uncut diamonds by Taylor. Special Court for Sierra Leone Prosecutor Brenda Hollis filed a motion saying Taylor allegedly gave Campbell diamonds at a reception in South Africa in September 1997. Taylor denies prosecutors' allegations that he provided arms and ammunition to brutal rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war in exchange for so-called blood diamonds. Campbell's testimony would provide "direct evidence of the accused's possession of rough diamonds from a witness unrelated to the Liberian or Sierra Leone conflicts," Hollis said in the motion. She adds that Taylor "denied ever having possessed rough diamonds and the evidence clearly contradicts his testimony on this central issue."
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Honduras drops World Court case against Brazil
International |
2010/05/19 05:56
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The U.N.'s highest court says Honduras has dropped a case accusing Brazil of meddling in its internal affairs by allowing ousted President Manuel Zelaya to stay at one of its embassies in 2009. The International Court of Justice, widely known as the World Court, said Wednesday that Honduras asked to withdraw the case on April 30 and the request was granted May 12. An intermim administration that came to power in Honduras after a coup filed the case back October 2009 while Zelaya was holed up at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Brazil then viewed Zelaya as Honduras' lawfully elected president. Zelaya now lives in the Dominican Republic and is trying to negotiate a reconciliation that recognizes current Honduran President Porfirio Lobo.
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