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North Korea Threatens Merciless Attacks
Headline Topics |
2009/06/17 09:02
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North Korea today warned that it would launch a merciless attack if provoked by the US and its allies, hours after President Barack Obama described the state's nuclear and missile programmes as a grave threat to the world.
If the US and its followers infringe upon our republic's sovereignty even a bit, our military and people will launch a one hundred or one thousandfold retaliation with [a] merciless military strike, the state-controlled Minju Joson newspaper said.
The newspaper described Obama as a hypocrite for supporting a nuclear-free world while making what it claimed were frantic efforts to develop new nuclear weapons at home. The nuclear programme is not the monopoly of the US, it said.
Russia, which shares a border with North Korea, quickly responded that any missile heading for Russian airspace would be promptly shot down. We will see it and shoot it down, the deputy defence minister, Viktor Popovkin, said, according to Interfax.
The North Korean warning came as reports in Japan and South Korea said the regime could be preparing to test launch two long-range ballistic missiles, possibly in retaliation against sanctions agreed by the UN security council at the weekend.
The security council imposed stiffer measures as punishment for North Korea's controlled nuclear explosion last month, including a ban on all weapons exports from North Korea and the import of all but small arms.
The security council also called on member states to stop and search North Korean ships suspected of carrying nuclear and ballistic weapons technology.
Obama said today that every effort would be made to enforce the sanctions. While he repeated his offer of negotiations, Obama said that belligerent, provocative behaviour that threatens neighbours will be met with significant and serious enforcement of sanctions that are in place.
A South Korean newspaper reported that North Korea had started withdrawing money from bank accounts in Macau to prevent it from being frozen under UN sanctions.
North Korea has responded to UN action by threatening to conduct more missile launches, enrich uranium and weaponise all its plutonium. There are also fears that it is preparing to carry out another nuclear test, its third since October 2006.
Reports in South Korea said a train capable of transporting intercontinental ballistic missiles had been spotted arriving at a launch site in Musudan-ri on the north-east coast, weeks after it had taken a missile to a newer site in the north-west.
Any tests would be likely to involve an improved version of the Taepodong-2 missile, which has a theoretical range of 4,800 km, enough to put it within striking distance of Alaska. In previous tests the missile has either failed or fallen harmlessly into the Pacific ocean.
A senior US military official warned this week that North Korea could pose a real threat to the US west coast in three to five years if its missile development continued unchecked.
It does not include how long it takes to build that warhead, General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told a senate hearing on missile defence. And that assumes a lot of luck on their part in moving forward.
North Korea's rhetorical outbursts serve two purposes: to intimidate its enemies and whip up support for the regime at home.
The country's leader, Kim Jong-il, is consolidating his position as he prepares to hand over power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
Today North Korea denied Japanese media reports that Jong-un had flown to Beijing earlier this month to meet the Chinese president, Hu Jintao.
The Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Jong-un, 26, had told Chinese officials he held a senior position in the ruling Korean workers' party and had been officially anointed to succeed his ailing father, who suffered a stroke last summer. |
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Court says judges must avoid appearance of bias
Headline Topics |
2009/06/08 16:17
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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that elected judges must step aside from cases when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias.
p
By a 5-4 vote in a case from West Virginia, the court said that a judge who remained involved in a lawsuit filed against the company of the most generous supporter of his election deprived the other side of the constitutional right to a fair hearing./ppJust as no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, similar fears of bias can arise when — without the consent of the other parties — a man chooses the judge in his own cause, Justice Anthony Kennedy said for the court./ppWith multimillion-dollar judicial election campaigns on the rise, the court's decision Monday could have widespread significance. Justice at Stake, which tracks campaign spending in judicial elections, says judges are elected in 39 states and that candidates for the highest state courts have raised more than $168 million since 2000./ppJudicial elections have become more expensive, more negative and more subject to influence by special interest groups, said Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of Massachusetts, president of the Conference of Chief Justices./ppThe West Virginia case involved more than $3 million spent by the chief executive of Massey Energy Co. to help elect state Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin. At the same time, Massey was appealing a verdict, which now totals $82.7 million with interest, in a dispute with a local coal company. Benjamin refused to step aside from the case, despite repeated requests, and was part of a 3-2 decision to overturn the verdict./ppThe coal company, Harman Mining Co., and its president, Hugh Caperton, took the case to the high court./p |
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Delaware Supreme Court gives OK to sports betting
Headline Topics |
2009/05/29 03:57
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The Delaware Supreme Court says a proposed sports betting lottery does not conflict with the state constitution.
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The opinion was requested by Gov. Jack Markell, who has signed a bill that would make Delaware the only state east of the Rocky Mountains to offer sports wagering./ppIn a 22-page ruling dated Wednesday, the court says the state constitution permits lotteries that have an element of skill, as long as chance is the predominant factor in winning or losing./ppThe justices also say the proposed sports lottery satisfies the constitutional requirement that lotteries be under state control./ppThe NFL opposes the lottery and has said it may challenge the bill in court./p |
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White House wins court fight on e-mail disclosure
Headline Topics |
2009/05/22 09:07
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A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the office that has records about millions of possibly missing e-mails from the Bush White House does not have to make them public.
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The appeals court in Washington ruled that the White House Office of Administration is not an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act, allowing the White House to keep secret documents about an e-mail system that has been plagued with problems./ppDuring its first term, the Bush White House failed to install electronic record-keeping for e-mail when it switched to a new system, resulting in millions of messages that could not be found. The Bush White House discovered the problem in 2005 and rejected a proposed solution./ppA group known as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued to get documents about the office's electronic record-keeping, including reports analyzing system problems, plans to find the missing e-mails and create an improved system and records of any retained messages./ppIn response to court orders in the case, the White House disclosed that it has located nearly 3,500 pages of documents about problems with its e-mail system. But the Bush administration argued in this case for the first time that the office's records are not subject to public disclosure, even though it had responded to hundreds of other FOIA requests in the past decade and even included instructions on its Web site for filing them./p |
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2 convicted killers executed in Okla., Ala.
Headline Topics |
2009/05/15 09:36
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A man convicted of battering his girlfriend's 8-year-old son and stuffing the body in a freezer was put to death Thursday in Oklahoma, while a man in Alabama was executed for fatally stabbing a mother of six.
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Donald Lee Gilson, 48, proclaimed his innocence in the death of Shane Coffman before he was injected in Oklahoma with a lethal combination of drugs./ppI'm an innocent man but ... I get to go to heaven and I'll see Shane tonight, he said in his final statement. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m./ppGilson's parents, sister, a friend and a pastor witnessed the execution, and about a dozen members of the victim's family watched from behind a one-way glass./ppHe became the second person to be executed this year in Oklahoma./ppIn 1998, Gilson was convicted of first-degree murder in Shane's death in 1995. An autopsy showed fractures to the boy's skull, his collarbone, shoulder blades, ribs, legs and spine and a tooth missing from his jaw./ppCourt records indicate that four other children who lived with Gilson and girlfriend Bertha Jean Coffman in a mobile home in Cleveland County showed abuse, and two of the children were emaciated. One of the children told investigators that Gilson beat the boy with a board and then placed him in a bathtub as punishment for going to the bathroom on a rug./p |
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Key player in sports-bribery case appears in court
Headline Topics |
2009/05/15 09:32
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Two former University of Toledo football players charged in a point-shaving scheme were arraigned in federal court Wednesday, including an ex-running back from Canada who is described as a key contact for Detroit-area gamblers.
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Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Adam Cuomo of Hagersville, Ontario, and Quinton Broussard of Carrollton, Texas./ppThe FBI says Cuomo, 31, incriminated himself during an interview in December 2006. Authorities also have recordings of phone calls between him and Ghazi Gary Manni of Sterling Heights./ppIn December 2005, the talk turned to how a reluctant basketball player had agreed to shave points./ppCuomo responded by saying that money will overcome all, FBI agent Stephen Ferrari said in a court document unsealed last month./ppCuomo is charged with conspiring with Manni, Mitchell Ed Karam and others to fix the results of Toledo football and basketball games, from late 2004 through 2006./ppHe met Manni through the owner of a phone shop in Toledo, Ohio, the FBI says./p |
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CSI commander facing lawsuit in Neb. murder case
Headline Topics |
2009/04/28 08:45
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| Less than a week after being indicted for allegedly tampering with evidence in a homicide investigation, a crime scene investigator is being sued in federal court by one of the men who was wrongfully charged in the double-murder case.pOn Sunday, Nicholas Sampson filed paperwork to add David Kofoed, commander of the Douglas County CSI unit, and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to a 2007 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court against the Nebraska State Patrol and the Cass County Sheriff's Office./ppThe amendment says Kofoed violated Sampson's constitutional rights by planting a speck of blood in a car Sampson had driven./ppSampson spent five months in jail after being wrongfully charged in the deaths of Wayne and Sharmon Stock. The couple were found slain in their Cass County farmhouse on April 17, 2006. Both had been shot in the head at close range with a shotgun./ppLaw enforcement involved with the Stock investigation insists that the case against Nick Sampson remains an open case, said Sampson's attorney, Maren Chaloupka. I find that ironic, given that the only person currently under indictment is one of their own./ppKofoed, 52, was charged Wednesday in Cass County Court with evidence tampering and was indicted a day later on four federal charges, including falsifying records./ppHis attorney, Steve Lefler, has said Kofoed may have made some mistakes in the case, but they did not rise to the level of criminal misconduct./p |
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