Dutch firm weighs settlement in Ivory Coast toxic waste case

A global commodities trading company says it is considering a settlement to legal claims that it is responsible for the deaths of 15 people and thousands of illnesses after 500 tons of toxic waste were dumped in the African nation of Ivory Coast. The Dutch company Trafigura said studies by 20 experts it has hired conclude that the chemicals did not harm anyone

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Commentary: Don’t name ‘person of interest’

The intense public interest surrounding the September 8th disappearance of 24-year-old Yale graduate student Annie Le has, since the discovery of her body last Sunday inside a wall of the laboratory building where she had been working, shifted over to a male lab technician who was described by New Haven Police as a “person of interest.” (CNN) — The intense public interest surrounding the September 8th disappearance of 24-year-old Yale graduate student Annie Le has, since the discovery of her body last Sunday inside a wall of the laboratory building where she had been working, shifted over to a male lab technician who was described by New Haven Police as a “person of interest.” In a formal court of law, the distinction between suspect and “person of interest” is as fundamental as the assumption of innocence prior to evidence of guilt.

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Police: No evidence teen was threatened over Christianity

A Florida law enforcement report has found no credible evidence that a teenager’s father threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity. The 17-year-old girl, Rifqa Bary, ran away from her family in Columbus, Ohio, in July and took refuge in the home of the Rev.

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Afghanistan commission orders partial vote recount

Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission on Tuesday ordered a partial recount of the ballots in the August 20 presidential election. The complaints commission called on Afghanistan’s Independent Elections Commission (IEC) to conduct the audit and recount because of “clear and convincing evidence of fraud in a number of polling stations.” Most of that fraud evidence is an “exceptionally high number” of votes cast in a polling station “in relation to the number of ballots available” or an extremely high number of votes cast for only one candidate, according to the ECC.

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Yearning for Zion: Texas Polygamists Prep for Criminal Trials

As courtroom drama goes, the upcoming trials in the quiet West Texas oasis of San Angelo should be humdingers: a dozen male members of a Mormom polygamist sect have been indicted on a bevy of charges, ranging from bigamy to sex with a child, stemming from a raid last year in which protective service officials removed more than 400 children from the Yearning For Zion compound. The trials are set to begin in October. But as every lawyer knows, this summer’s crop of pre-trial motions, however boring they may sound, will greatly shape the jury verdicts — or any possible plea bargains — by largely determining what is allowed to be used in the trials and what isn’t

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Music a ‘mega-vitamin’ for the brain

When Nina Temple was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2000, then aged 44, she quickly became depressed, barely venturing out of her house as she struggled to come to terms with living with the chronic condition. “I was thinking of all the things which I wished I’d done with my life and I wouldn’t be able to do. And then I started thinking about all the things that I still actually could do and singing was one of those,” Temple told CNN.

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UK Pentagon hacker nears extradition to U.S.

British prosecutors said Thursday they will not seek charges against accused Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon, which puts him one step closer to being extradited to the United States to face charges. The Crown Prosecution Service said its decision comes despite McKinnon’s admission that he broke the law and intentionally gained unauthorized access to computer systems

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