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doctor, face, Jackson, manslaughter, Michael, to, trial

Michael Jackson doctor to face manslaughter trial

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:06 am

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A judge ordered Michael Jackson’s personal doctor to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges for allegedly killing the singer with an overdose of powerful sedatives.

Conrad Murray denied the charges, saying he was just treating the pop icon for insomnia when he died in June 2009.

AFP file – File picture shows Conrad Murray

Murray also had his license to practice medicine in California suspended.

The doctor will be arraigned on January 25, the Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled after six days of pre-trial hearings in which evidence was presented that Murray tried to cover up evidence of drugs he gave the star immediately before his death.

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Source: SGGP

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Indonesian, Over, rock, sex, stands, Star, trial, videos, web

Indonesian rock star stands trial over web sex videos

In Uncategorized on November 22, 2010 at 10:08 am

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first, Guantanamo, Obama, opens, trial, under

First Guantanamo trial under Obama opens

In Uncategorized on August 11, 2010 at 7:20 am

Guantanamo Bay’s youngest detainee, Canadian Omar Khadr, became the first person to face trial before a military tribunal since President Barack Obama took office.

Khadr, who was captured by US troops in Afghanistan at the age of 15, faces life in prison for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier during the siege of an Al-Qaeda compound in the eastern city of Khost in July 2002.

He denies throwing the grenade and his lawyers say the prosecution’s case is founded on confessions extracted by torture during eight years of detention, initially at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and later at Guantanamo.

Khadr appeared in the courtroom dressed in Western clothing and a tie, as deliberations began in choosing a jury of military officers to hear the case of the 23-year-old who has spent more than a third of his life in US detention.

Speaking after the hearing, Khadr’s Canadian civilian lawyer Denis Edney said his client had “glowed” when he glimpsed his reflection in a window. “It’s the first time in eight years he’s been able to feel human,” Edney explained.

Khadr, the last remaining Westerner at Guantanamo, is alleged to have been trained by Al-Qaeda and joined a bomb-making network organized by Osama bin Laden.

Seriously wounded in Afghanistan, including losing vision in his left eye, Khadr has so far refused Washington’s offer of 30 years in prison — including 25 in Canada — in exchange for a guilty plea.

His US military lawyer Jon Jackson and military prosecutors must select at least five officers for the jury in the trial, which is expected to last at least three weeks at the US naval base on the southeastern tip of Cuba.

On Monday, Jackson sought the withdrawal of statements that Khadr made at Bagram and at Guantanamo, insisting they were made under duress.

But military judge Patrick Parrish ruled in a pre-trial hearing that Khadr’s alleged confessions can be heard, angering the defense team which labeled the decision “disgraceful.”

At the start of Tuesday’s court proceedings, an official read out five charges against Khadr, including murder, espionage and material support for terrorism.

The judge instructed the 15 officers being interviewed that as jury members they should reach their conclusions “beyond a reasonable doubt” but that they would not need to rely on “mathematical certainty.”

Prosecutor Jeff Groharing then posed questions to the potential jurors, highlighting the legal controversies at the center of the Khadr case: “Does anyone consider it unfair to use statements the accused made?” he asked them.

“Does anyone find it inappropriate to try somebody eight years after the facts?” he went on. “Do you think it’s inappropriate to try a juvenile for a serious crime?”

Khadr’s attorney, a lieutenant colonel, stressed that he would “zealously” question officers during the trial and immediately sought to introduce doubt into the case against the defendant.

“Has anyone heard of an incident where somebody makes a statement to a law enforcement officer that turns out to be false?” Jackson asked. “It is a scientific fact that memory gets worse over time. Everybody agree with that?”

Khadr’s case was one of two underway Tuesday. A hearing to determine sentencing for Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, 50, a former Bin Laden bodyguard who pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to provide material support to terrorism, began later in the day in a separate courtroom.

Khadr’s trial is the first to be heard since the tribunals, created by former president George W. Bush, were revamped last year by the Obama administration and Congress to give greater rights to defendants.

Since 2001, four men have been convicted of terrorism-related charges in Guantanamo trials, two of whom pleaded guilty, while US federal courts have sentenced some 200 extremists over the same period.

There are now about 180 detainees left at Guantanamo, but the administration has yet to lay out a definitive timetable for closing the controversial facility.

Obama came into office pledging to shutter the prison within a year, but was unable to meet that deadline amid difficulty repatriating some detainees and determining how and where to detain and prosecute others.

Source: SGGP

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Blood, Campbell, diamond, in, Naomi, testify, to, trial

Naomi Campbell to testify in blood diamond trial

In Uncategorized on August 5, 2010 at 7:21 am

Supermodel Naomi Campbell was set to testify in a war crimes court Thursday about a so-called “blood diamond” gift from Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, charged with murder, rape and enslavement.

After a lull in media interest in Taylor’s three-year-old trial, dozens of journalists from around the world were set to descend on The Hague to hear the British beauty’s evidence about the alleged late-night gift.

Prosecutors of the Special Court for Sierra Leone have called Campbell, 40, to the stand in a bid to disprove the former Liberian president’s claim that he never possessed rough diamonds.

They say that Taylor, 62, had men deliver a so-called “blood diamond” to Campbell’s room after the two met at a celebrity dinner hosted by then South African president Nelson Mandela in 1997.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell (pictured) is to testify in a war crimes court about a so-called blood diamond gift from Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, who is charged with murder, rape and enslavement

He allegedly took the diamonds to South Africa “to sell … or exchange them for weapons”.

Taylor, accused of seeking to “take political and physical control of Sierra Leone in order to exploit its abundant natural resources … diamonds”, has denied the claims.

Campbell’s former agent Carole White and actress Mia Farrow, who both attended the dinner, are to testify about the gift next Monday.

White claims she was present when the diamond was delivered, while Farrow says Campbell told her about it the next morning over breakfast.

The feisty model has herself refused to talk to prosecutors, citing fears for her family’s safety, which prompted them to get a court subpoena for her testimony.

She risks up to seven years in jail for failure to appear.

Taylor’s trial opened in The Hague in June 2007 on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the 1991-2001 Sierra Leone civil war that claimed some 120,000 lives.

He is accused of receiving illegally mined diamonds in return for arming rebels who murdered, raped and maimed Sierra Leone civilians, cutting off their limbs and carving initials into their bodies.

Taylor’s lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths, has described Campbell’s testimony as “nothing but a cheap publicity stunt”. More than 200 journalists from around the world had sought accreditation for Thursday’s hearing.

The court has granted an order sought by Campbell that she not be photographed arriving for her testimony or departing afterwards.

The municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg, meanwhile, said it had closed off a street on one side of the court hosting the trial, and will reserve parking in another for media satellite trucks.

Extra staff will regulate traffic, which is expected to be “very, very busy” around the court building, a spokesman said.

Campbell’s testimony, due to start at 9:00 am (0700 GMT), should take “one to two hours”, excluding cross-examination, prosecutor Brenda Hollis has told AFP.

Source: SGGP

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a, finally, from, HIV, Microbicide, positive, results, trial

HIV: Finally, Positive Results from a Microbicide Trial

In Uncategorized on July 21, 2010 at 3:21 pm

The HIV prevention world is abuzz with excitement following news of the first clinical evidence that a vaginal gel – known as a microbicide – can help to prevent sexual transmission of HIV infection.

A study by the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) found that a vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral (ARV) drug tenofovir was 39 percent effective in reducing a woman’s HIV risk when used for about three-quarters of sex acts and 54 percent effective when used more consistently. It also halved the incidence of genital herpes infections.

“Tenofovir gel could fill an important HIV prevention gap by empowering women who are unable to successfully negotiate mutual faithfulness or condom use with their male partners,” said Quarraisha Abdool Karim, one of the lead investigators of the study and associate director of Caprisa. “This new technology has the potential to alter the course of the HIV epidemic, especially in southern Africa where young women bear the brunt of this devastating disease.”

More than half of new HIV infections in Africa occur in women and girls. The CAPRISA study findings are likely to revive flagging morale among researchers disappointed by two decades of failed efforts to develop a female-controlled method of HIV prevention.

“We are giving hope to women. For the first time we have seen results for a woman-initiated and controlled HIV prevention option,” Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS, said in a statement. “If confirmed, a microbicide will be a powerful option for the prevention revolution and help us break the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic.”

Funded by the US and South African governments, the CAPRISA trial involved 889 HIV-negative, sexually active South African women who were considered to be at high risk of HIV infection. Half of the women were given vaginal applicators containing a 1 percent concentration of tenofovir gel, while the other half were given a placebo gel. The women were asked to insert a dose of the gel 12 hours before sexual intercourse and a second dose within 12 hours after intercourse.

Over the course of the year-long study, 98 women became HIV positive – 38 in the tenofovir gel group compared to 60 in the placebo gel group. On average, adherence to the gel was over 70 percent, but among women who used the tenofovir gel for more than 80 percent of sex acts the gel provided greater protection from HIV.

“We believe that the most responsible plan of action now is to quickly and efficiently articulate the sequence of steps necessary for confirmation and follow-up of these results, while also aggressively planning for potential roll-out of a licensable product,” Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, said in a statement.

“As exciting as this result is – and as important as it is to follow it up without delay – the reality is that this product will not be available for widespread introduction tomorrow,” Mitchell cautioned. “It is critical to manage expectations while maintaining urgency.”

Source: SGGP

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SocGen trader tells fraud trial bosses ‘encouraged’ him

In Uncategorized on June 9, 2010 at 1:32 pm

Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel testified Tuesday that he was “encouraged” by his bosses to take risks, on the first day of his trial over the multi-billion-euro scandal at the French bank.

The Frenchman is accused of gambling away 4.9 billion euros (six billion dollars) in risky stock market trades and of hiding these actions from his employers at Societe Generale, one of France’s three biggest banks.

In an emotional hearing that several times broke down into squabbling between the lawyers in the room, Kerviel denied he was to blame for reckless trading, insisting his bosses knew the risks he took and backed him.

French alleged rogue trader Jerome Kerviel (R) is surrounded by journalists as he arrives for his trial at Paris courthouse.

Dressed in a dark suit and a pink and blue striped tie, Kerviel answered questions from presiding judge Dominique Pauthe who pointed to psychological assessments showing a “lack of self-control” that led to his risky behaviour.

But the 33-year-old Kerviel responded: “The daily encouragement from my superiors did not stop me. Rather they encouraged me to continue.”

Kerviel risks a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros if convicted on charges of breach of trust, falsifying and using fake documents and entering false data into company computers.

The court must decide whether he is solely responsible for the losses in a case seen as a symbol of the banking excesses blamed for the financial crisis.

Branded a crook by his ex-employer but seen by others as a scapegoat for those higher up, Kerviel faces criminal charges along with civil suits by the bank and other plaintiffs, including employees and shareholders.

Kerviel looked tense and solemn as he stood before the judges at the start of the trial and identified himself as a “single, computer consultant” earning 2,300 euros per month.

He later spoke of the stressful long days working at Societe Generale.

“Every day I would arrive at 7:00 am. Lunch would be a sandwich at my desk,” he said.

Societe Generale revealed in January 2008 that it had been forced to unwind 50 billion euros of unauthorised deals it says Kerviel made.

In a memoir published last month, Kerviel wrote that bosses turned a blind eye to possible breaches of trading limits as long as earnings were high.

He told the court it would be “impossible” to make the trades he did without others knowing, “not for more than a day, in any case”.

His lawyer Olivier Metzner showed the court a projection of the seating plan in Kerviel’s office to illustrate the point and said that bosses could also view his trades via the computer system at any time.

He also projected a spreadsheet recording the transactions of Kerviel’s trading team, saying it showed that his activities were easily traceable. The bank’s lawyers contested this claim.

Societe Generale’s lead lawyer Jean Veil told reporters afterwards that he would show a video that demonstrates how traders did stressful work on several screens and could not be expected to monitor their neighbours’ activities.

Metzner retorted that this was a “fantastical” claim.

“It seems that Societe Generale is either blind, or it doesn’t want to see,” he told reporters.

Bickering broke out several times in the hearing as the combative Metzner questioned Claire Dumas, a senior manager at the bank who was in charge of getting to the bottom of the losses in the days after they came to light.

About 40 witnesses will be called to the stand over the coming weeks including Eric Cordelle, who was Kerviel’s immediate superior at the time. He is due to testify on June 21.

The first witnesses testify at Wednesday’s hearing, which will examine the trading limits Kerviel was supposedly subject to.

Kerviel spent 38 days in custody after his arrest in 2008 and has since started a job at a small IT company in a suburb of Paris.

Trial hearings are set to end on June 25 and the court is expected to take several weeks to deliberate before delivering a verdict.

Source: SGGP

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Vivendi’s ex-boss on trial again for fraud

In Uncategorized on June 3, 2010 at 2:10 am

Jean-Marie Messier pictured in 2009 (AFP file)

PARIS, France (AFP) – Jean-Marie Messier, who boasted he was a “master of the universe” as he transformed Vivendi from a sleepy water utility into a global media giant, went on trial on Wednesday on charges of corporate fraud.

The former Vivendi boss arrived with his wife at the Paris courtroom where he joined Warner Music head Edgar Bronfman Jr and other former Vivendi executives who face related charges in the trial set to last four weeks.

Messier is accused of issuing false or misleading financial statements, manipulating share prices and misusing corporate assets in the 2000-2002 period when the firm went on a massive takeover spree.

At the turn of the century the now 53-year-old was a star of the French business world and was seen as a glittering example of a new spirit of enterprise taking hold in France.

But Vivendi, like many other firms, saw its share price hammered during the collapse of the tech sector and the economic fallout following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

Messier was forced out as CEO and chairman of Vivendi in July 2002 after he gave upbeat reports of the firm’s finances when in reality Vivendi was 35 billion euros in debt after buying companies like Universal film studios.

He now faces up to five years in prison and heavy fines if found guilty of corporate fraud. He and the others on trial deny the charges against them.

In January a New York jury ruled that Vivendi recklessly misled investors about the company’s finances, opening the door to a potential multibillion dollar payout to shareholders.

But Messier was cleared along with his chief financial officer Guillaume Hannezo — who is also on trial in Paris this week — by a jury which had deliberated over two weeks in the shareholder lawsuit.

Vivendi and Messier had been accused of making false statements about company finances between 2000 and 2002, before a collapse of the group’s share price, in the lawsuit charging “recklessly misleading communication.”

The class-action lawsuit brought in US federal court in 2002 had sought as much as 11.5 billion dollars to compensate shareholders.

The Paris trial is the result of a criminal inquiry begun in 2002 after individual French investors lodged a complaint.

Vivendi itself is a civil plaintiff in the case and may decide to seek compensation, its lawyers said.

The charge of misusing corporate assets partly relates to Messier’s failed attempt to award himself a “golden parachute” worth 20.5 million euros when he left the firm.

Five other former Vivendi executives and a former bank executive are on trial alongside Messier.

Bronfman Jr, the heir to one of Canada’s leading corporate dynasties, is on trial for insider trading following Vivendi’s purchase of the entertainment division of Seagram, the Canadian group he inherited.

Messier was fined one million euros — later reduced to 500,000 euros by an appeal court — by the French stock market regulator in 2004 for giving inaccurate financial information about Vivendi.

Vivendi, which sold a controlling stake in Universal to General Electric’s NBC, still controls video game giant Activision Blizzard, Universal Music Group, French telecom giant SFR and entertainment firm Canal Plus along with other operations around the world.

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Source: SGGP

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Australia, concerns, firms, for, foreign, raises, Rio, trial

Rio trial raises concerns for foreign firms: Australia

In Uncategorized on March 30, 2010 at 9:18 am

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia warned on Tuesday that China’s handling of a corruption trial for four Rio Tinto workers had raised serious questions for foreign firms doing business with the emerging power.

A Shanghai court Monday sentenced Australian executive Stern Hu to 10 years in jail after convicting him, along with three Chinese colleagues, of industrial spying and pocketing substantial bribes.

Security personel sit among waiting journalists outside the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. AFP photo

Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd condemned bribery but voiced reservations about the commercial espionage conviction, which was dealt with behind closed doors.

“The trial on the second charge was held in secret with no media and no Australian officials present for it. This has left therefore serious unanswered questions about this conviction,” Rudd told reporters.

“In holding this part of the trial in secret, China I believe has missed an opportunity to demonstrate to the world at large transparency that would be consistent with its emerging global role.”

Anglo-Australian Rio, one of the world’s biggest mining companies, moved quickly to sack the four for their “deplorable” behaviour and said it hoped the case would not affect ties with China, its biggest customer.

But Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the case could raise concerns for foreign companies doing business in China, particularly regarding its definition of commercial secrets.

“There is no clarity from China here as to whether we are dealing with what the international business community… would simply regard as the normal ebb and flow of commercial discussions or commercial information,” he said.

“It was, in our view, a lost opportunity and that’s obviously had repercussions for Stern Hu and the other three employees but it may well have repercussions in terms of the international community’s dealing with China.”

Smith told Sky News that the foreign companies were unlikely to cut off relations with China, where rapid growth is seen as the engine for a global economic recovery, based on the case.

But he said: “We want China to emerge not just economically but as a responsible international citizen.”

Australian business backed the government’s call for greater clarity, with the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry describing the fact that consular officials were excluded from part of the trial as worrying.

“Australian business executives doing business in China need to recognise different political and legal contexts and put in place management infrastructure to deal with these issues,” said the chamber’s Nathan Backhouse. Australian National University academic Ann Kent said the stiff sentences handed to Hu and his colleagues, who face between seven and 14 years behind bars, would serve to remind foreign firms “to be very careful” in China.

“It sends a message to them that they also need to avoid appointing to executive positions in China people who are former Chinese nationals and are therefore very vulnerable to this kind of treatment,” she said.

Rudd added that Australia’s relations with its top trading partner would not be affected by the case, which caused a temporary chilling of ties last year.

“I believe the bilateral relationship will sustain these sorts of pressures,” Rudd said. “We’ve had disagreements with our friends in Beijing before, I’m sure we’ll have disagreements again.”

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Source: SGGP

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at, footage, Grisly, massacre:, Philippine, shown, trial

Grisly massacre footage shown at Philippine trial

In World on January 21, 2010 at 12:59 am

MANILA, Jan 20, 2010 (AFP) – A Philippine politician accused of massacring 57 people displayed no emotion Wednesday as grisly footage was shown in court of the victims’ mangled and bloodied bodies being pulled from mass graves.

The video clips were part of evidence introduced by prosecutors against Andal Ampatuan Jnr, who is charged with murder over the election-related killings in the southern province of Maguindanao in November last year.

Datu Unsay Mayor, Andal Ampatuan Jr. (C)the prime suspect in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province is led by a National Bureau of Investigation agent into a courtroom during the resumption of his trial at the national police headquarters compound in Manila on January 20, 2010 (AFP photo)

Filmed by a local government employee who accompanied police as they retrieved the victims from the mass graves in the two days after the murders, the video showed bloodied bodies, some of which were already decomposing.

As the footage was shown, a sister of one of the female victims broke down and had to be helped out of the courtroom.

A male lawyer representing the victims also rushed out of the silent courtroom, covering his mouth as he headed for the bathroom to vomit.

However Ampatuan Jnr, who has pleaded not guilty, had no visible reaction to the footage, at one point applying liniment to his neck as he stifled a yawn.

“He looked bored. It was like the most ordinary thing to watch,” Lilian de Lima, head of the government’s Commission on Human Rights who was in the courtroom, told reporters.

Prosecutors allege Ampatuan Jnr and about 100 of his gunmen abducted and shot dead the victims to stop a rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, from running against him for the post of Maguindanao governor in May elections.

Mangudadatu’s wife and pregnant sister, as well as at least 30 journalists travelling with them, were among the 57 killed. Mangudadatu’s relatives had been on their way to an election office to register his candidacy.

Police have said Ampatuan Jnr’s father and namesake, the patriarch of the clan who was then governor of Maguindanao, should also be charged over the killings.

Ampatuan Snr and several other clan members were arrested after martial law was briefly imposed in Maguindanao and charged with rebellion.

However no date for his rebellion trial has been set, and prosecutors have yet to lay murder charges against him.

Before the killings, the Ampatuans were close political allies of President Gloria Arroyo, who armed and used them to help contain Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines.

politician accused of massacring 57 people displayed no emotion Wednesday as grisly footage was shown in court of the victims’ mangled and bloodied bodies being pulled from mass graves.