Earlier this month, a French appeals court sentenced another former ETA leader, Jose Antonio Urrutikoetxea, to seven years in prison for association with a terrorist organization. In March, the Spanish National Court [official website, in Spanish] sentenced [JURIST report] Arnaldo Otegi, a former leader of ETA's political wing Batasuna [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], to two years in prison for promoting terrorism. The court held that comments made by Ortegi in a 2005 speech praised the terrorist acts committed by other ETA members. The court also disqualified Otegi from holding public office for 16 years. Otegi faces additional charges that could result in up to 30 years in prison.

In August, German prosecutors charged a former Rwandan mayor with genocide [JURIST report] relating to his involvement in the Rwandan genocide. According to prosecutors, Onesphore Rwabukombe [Trial Watch profile] allegedly coordinated three massacres [AFP report] in which more than 3,700 Tutsis, who had sought refuge in a church, were killed. In June, a Finnish court convicted former Rwandan pastor [JURIST report] Francois Bazaramba on charges of genocide and murder and sentenced him to life in prison. Canadian prosecutors announced in November that a second suspect had been charged [JURIST report] under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act [text, PDF]. The first man charged under the act was Desire Munyaneza. In October, he was sentenced to life imprisonment [JURIST report] for war crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide. Munyaneza was convicted [JURIST report] in May 2009 of seven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes under the act.

Black originally faced 17 counts of fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering and tax evasion. He was accused [indictment, PDF] by the US government of diverting more than $80 million from Hollinger International and its shareholders [JURIST report] during Hollinger's $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers. In July 2007, Black was convicted of mail fraud and obstruction of justice and sentenced to 78 months in prison. The court of appeals initially rejected Black's appeal, holding that § 1346 may be applied in a private setting regardless of whether the defendant's conduct risked any foreseeable economic harm to the victim. The Supreme Court granted certiorari last year to determine the scope of the "honest services" clause, and held that Black had properly objected to the jury instructions at trial concerning the honest service doctrine and remanded the case to the circuit court for an opinion consistent with the judgment in Skilling v. United States [JURIST report]. Black is also currently facing charges before the US Tax Court for failure to pay nearly $71 million in taxes [Bloomberg report]. He denies being obligated to pay the taxes because he is not a US citizen.

In June, the US Senate [official website] defeated a resolution [materials; JURIST report] aimed at limiting the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act [materials]. The US Supreme Court [official website] affirmed the EPA's ability to regulate carbon emissions under the Clear Air Act in its 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report]. In its ruling, the court held that if the EPA could show a link between greenhouse gas emissions and public health and welfare, then the act gives it the power to regulate emissions. The EPA announced last December [JURIST report] that it had found that greenhouse gases "threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations," and that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to greenhouse gas pollution. The EPA first announced its proposed finding [JURIST report] in April before undertaking a 60-day public comment period. Some have suggested that the EPA findings have allowed Congress to avoid the political fallout [JURIST comment] that could come from passing tough climate legislation. AB 32 was first signed into law [JURIST report] by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.

Pinochet himself was implicated in the disappearances, but he died in 2006 without ever facing trial. In July, the Chilean Supreme Court released a report detailing the secret fortune of Pinochet, estimating it at over $20 million. This report joins another on Pinochet's hidden assets released last September [JURIST report]. That report concluded that Pinochet amassed USD $25,978,602 in accounts held outside of Chile, of which $20,199,753 is suspected to have been embezzled from official funds. The September report also concluded that the funds were accumulated [Los Tiempos report, in Spanish] over the period from 1973 to 2004, when a US Senate sub-committee investigation first uncovered the accounts [JURIST report]. Victim advocates say the report supports allegations that Pinochet was the recipient of bribes and had other unlawful sources of income.

Nokia is not the only competing corporation to have taken legal action against Apple over alleged patent infringements. Last week, a judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] dismissed a patent infringement lawsuit [JURIST report] by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen against Apple and 10 other companies. Patent holding company NTP filed suit [JURIST report] in July against Apple and Google, among other smart phone makers, related to the use of e-mail systems utilizing technology patented by NTP. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) [official website] launched an investigation [JURIST report] in June into allegations by HTC Corp [corporate website] accusing Apple of patent infringement on certain portable electronic devices.

Our strategy begins with the number one concern for all Americans right now -- and that's improving the economy and creating jobs. ... So to help spur the economy, we've boosted investment in roads throughout the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Reservation Road Program, and we've offered new loans to reach reservations with broadband. ... Another important part of our strategy is health care. We know that Native Americans die of illnesses like diabetes, pneumonia, flu -- even tuberculosis -- at far higher rates than the rest of the population. ... We're [also] rebuilding schools on tribal lands while helping to ensure that tribes play a bigger role in determining what their children learn. ... We're also working to improve the programs available to students at tribal colleges. And I'm confident that if we keep up our efforts, that if we continue to work together, that we will live up to the simple motto and we will achieve a brighter future for the First Americans and for all Americans.

The US is the last member state of those in opposition to sign the declaration. Last month, Canada endorsed [JURIST report] the declaration citing [statement] encouragement from community leaders and other countries' experiences in reversing its position on the document. The Canadian government described the move as one intended to strengthen relationships with indigenous communities. In April, New Zealand endorsed [AFP report] the declaration, as did Australia [JURIST report] in 2009.

In June, the trial of 33 retired and active naval officers began [JURIST report]. The officers were accused of attempting to overthrow the government and establish military rule in another plot planned by a group called Ergenekon [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The group allegedly planned to assassinate prominent members of Turkey's Christian and Jewish minority groups, blame Islamic terrorists for the deaths and use this to delegitimize the the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) [party website]. Prosecutors in the case will attempt to link the 33 defendants to a plan to detonate a bomb in an Istanbul museum and the deaths of a Catholic priest, Protestant missionaries and journalist Hrant Dink. The investigations have strained relations between the religiously-inclined government and the secular military, which has been responsible for four coups in the last 50 years. Since the founding of the modern republic in 1923, the military has regarded itself as the defender of the secular legacy of founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [Turkish News profile].