Warlord sentenced to 14 years for using child soldiers
The International Criminal Court gave its first sentence on Tuesday, imprisoning Thomas Lubanga to 14 years for using child soldiers. Lubanga, 51, was convicted in March for recruiting and using children in his Union of Congolese Patriots militia, sending them to kill and be killed while fighting in Congo’s eastern Ituri region in 2002-2003. Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford gave Lubanga three sentences of 13, 12, and 14 years for conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers, but the sentences will be [...]
6 NATO service members killed in Afghanistan
Six NATO service members were killed on Sunday after they were bombed in eastern Afghanistan, a day where a total of 29 people died from roadside bombs and insurgent attacks. The blast was caused by an improvised explosive device, according to NATO. No further details were provided and the dead service members were not identified. The coalition statement reportedly said NATO’s policy is to allow “national authorities” to give details about the service members.
The soldiers’ deaths were the [...]
Libyans cast ballots in historic election
After nearly 1.7 million Libyans, almost 60 percent of the nation’s 2.8 million registered voters, cast ballots in a ground-breaking parliamentary election, officials on Sunday began counting votes. Authorities transported ballot boxes from polling stations around the country to the mail tally center in Tripoli, according to Nuri Khalifa Al-Abbar, the chairman of Libya’s High National Election Commission.
The Libyan election came 17 months after political demonstrations against longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi erupted in two Libyan cities. The demonstrations multiplied, [...]
Former Argentine dictators found guilty in baby-stealing trial
An Argentine court on Thursday found two former dictators, as well as others, guilty of kidnapping infants during the country’s dirty war. Jorge Rafael Videla, who ruled as a dictator between 1976 and 1981, was sentenced to 50 years in prison. He was also sentenced to life in prison in December for human rights abuses during his rule. Videla was among the coup leaders who overthrew then-President Isabel Martinez de Peron in March 1976. General Reynaldo Benito Bignone, was sentenced [...]
6 arrested in London terror raid incidents
Officials in London arrested six possible terrorists, five men and a woman, as part of a months-long international terror investigation. The probe that prompted the arrests on Thursday by armed police has revealed no known connection thus far to the Olympic Games that will begin later in July, although several of the arrests occurred near the main Olympic venue in London, according to intelligence sources and a police statement.
In a statement, authorities said, “Importantly, we are not treating this [...]
2.4 million Syria e-mails unveiled from WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks reported on Thursday that is has began to publish some 2.4 million e-mails from Syrian politicians, government ministries, and companies dating back to 2006. The e-mails range in languages from Arabic and Russian and are derived from the ministries of presidential affairs, finance, information and foreign affairs, and others. The messages “shine a light on the inner workings of the Syrian government and economy, but they also reveal how the West and Western companies say one thing and do [...]
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador demands recount in Mexican presidential vote
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leader of Mexico’s leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, announced on Tuesday that he asked Mexico’s Federal Election Institute for a recount of the ballots cast in Sunday’s presidential election. He was projected as the runner-up in the vote. Lopez Obrador’s demand came the day after he said the vote was “plagued by irregularities.” His declarations echoed comments he made in 2006, when election authorities said Lopez Obrador narrowly lost the presidential race to Felipe [...]
Unemployment in Eurozone rises to record high 11.1 percent
In May, the unemployment rate in the eurozone’s 17 nations rose to a record 11.1 percent, the highest level since the euro launched as a common currency in 1999. Unemployment remained at a steady rate at 10.3 percent in the broader 27 nations that make up the European Union, according to the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, on Monday.
Nearly 25 million people in the EU in May were unemployed. Spain is the home to 5.7 million unemployed [...]
Peña Nieto projected as winner in Mexico’s presidential election
The political party that has ruled the Mexican country for more than 70 years will return to power after election authorities projected Enrique Peña Nieto as the winner in Mexico’s presidential election. With 37.93 percent to 38.55 percent of the votes accounted for, the Federal Election Institute said late on Sunday night that Pena Nieto was in the lead.
Peña Nieto’s projected victory marks a triumphant return to power for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which lost its grip on [...]
News Corp. agrees to split in two units, reports say
The News Corp. board has agreed to divide the corporation into two pieces, with one company encompassing its television and film assets, and the other holding its publishing entities, according to The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp. According to reports, the division will be formally announced on Thursday.
News Corp. would separate the 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcast network, and Fox News Channel from newspapers and book publishing, according to The New York Times and [...]
Cyber espionage threats from foreign governments, reports say
The head of Britain’s domestic spy service said on Monday in a rare public speech that the West is now facing an “astonishing” cyber espionage threat on an “industrial scale” from specific nation states. “The extent of what is going on is astonishing,” said Jonathan Evans, director general of M15, “with industrial-scale processes involving many thousands of people lying behind both state-sponsored cyber espionage and organized cyber crime.”
The United Kingdom, the United States, and several European allies reportedly have a [...]