El Salvador court hears arguments in abortion case

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador's Supreme Court heard opening arguments Wednesday in a landmark abortion case in which a woman suffering from kidney failure and lupus has not been allowed to terminate a pregnancy in which the fetus is given no chance of surviving.

The Central American country's laws prohibit all abortions, even when a woman's health is at risk. At present, the woman and any doctor who terminated her 23-week pregnancy would face arrest and criminal charges.

Supporters gathered outside the court building where the case of the 22-year-old woman, who for privacy reasons has been identified only as "Beatriz," is being heard. Court spokesman Jaime Marinero said the five-justice panel had begun hearing arguments but it was not known when it would issue a ruling.

Beatriz is described as in fragile health. "She is pretty bad," said her mother, Delmy.

Her daughter suffers from lupus, a chronic immune disorder, and kidney failure, and medical experts say the pregnancy is a threat to her health.

Ultrasound images, meanwhile, indicate the fetus is developing with only a brain stem, a condition known as anencephaly. Most babies born with anencephaly live only a few days.

The government's Health Ministry has said it supports Beatriz's request for an abortion on health grounds. But the government's Legal Medicine Institute contends her illnesses are under control and says the pregnancy should be allowed to continue.

A medical committee at the maternity hospital where Beatriz has been treated said the baby wouldn't survive and recommended terminating the pregnancy, saying the woman's health "will certainly get worse as the pregnancy advances."

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling on Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes to stand up for the woman's rights.

"The president should take immediate measures so that Beatriz can terminate a pregnancy that is putting her life at serious risk," the group's Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, said in the statement.

El Salvador's attorney general for human rights, Oscar Luna, said that "in reality, what should prevail above all are human rights — in this case, the right to life."

"We support protecting the rights of the mother, and this does not imply opening the door to on-demand abortion," Luna said.

The Yes to Life Foundation, a Salvadoran group that opposes abortion, has said the woman should wait to see if there were any medical procedures available to induce an early delivery.

Regina de Cardenal, the head of the foundation, said the case is being used to press for legalized abortion in El Salvador.

View the original article here

Kenya court: 2 Iranians guilty of terror plot

May 1 (Reuters) - Post position for Saturday's 139th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs after Wednesday's draw (listed as barrier, HORSE, jockey, trainer) 1. BLACK ONYX, Joe Bravo, Kelly Breen 2. OXBOW, Gary Stevens, D. Wayne Lukas 3. REVOLUTIONARY, Calvin Borel, Todd Pletcher 4. GOLDEN SOUL, Robby Albarado, Dallas Stewart 5. NORMANDY INVASION, Javier Castellano, Chad Brown 6. MYLUTE, Rosie Napravnik, Tom Amoss 7. GIANT FINISH, Jose Espinoza, Tony Dutrow 8. GOLDENCENTS, Kevin Krigger, Doug O'Neill 9. OVERANALYZE, Rafael Bejarano, Todd Pletcher 10. PALACE MALICE, Mike Smith, Todd Pletcher 11. ...

View the original article here

Top court sends Rios Montt trial to new judge

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's highest court on Tuesday ordered that the genocide trial against one of the Central American country's former dictators be taken over by a judge who wants the proceedings to go back to square one.

A spokesman for the Constitutional Court, Martin Guzman, said the case of Efrain Rios Montt now goes back to Judge Carol Patricia Flores, who last week ordered that the proceedings start over at a point before the retired general was charged with genocide.

Rios Montt, 86, is accused of responsibility for the deaths of 1,771 Mayan Indians killed during military offensives by the dictatorship that he headed from March 1982 to August 1983. The operations, during a U.S.-backed war against leftist guerrillas, were part of a "scorched earth" campaign aimed at wiping out support for the rebels.

The trial against Rios Montt and Jose Rodriguez Sanchez, 68, a former high-ranking member of the military chiefs of staff, had been nearing closing arguments last week when Flores intervened.

Flores had handled the case in its pre-trial stage, but was taken off the case in February 2012 by an appeals court after the defense filed a complaint saying she was biased against the defendants. She was reinstated last week by the Constitutional Court, then ruled that all actions taken in the case since she was first asked to step down in November 2011 were null.

Neither Rios Montt's lawyers nor attorneys for the plaintiffs returned calls from The Associated Press seeking comment on Tuesday's action.

Many speculated that Flores' ruling was politically motivated in the much-disputed trial, which is the first genocide case against a former president in Latin America. In weeks of testimony from dozens of victims, soldiers and experts, even current President Otto Perez Molina had been implicated in the massacres.

The move caused an international outcry. Before the high court's decision was announced Tuesday, the United Nations special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, urged Guatemalan authorities to bring justice for the victims and their families.

"I appeal to judicial authorities to act responsibly and to prevent any interference, obstruction or manipulation of justice, which would seriously undermine the credibility of the justice system in Guatemala," Dieng said in a statement.

"The victims of the atrocities committed during the civil war in Guatemala, as well as their families, have been waiting many years for justice. I hope they don't have to keep waiting. Justice delayed is justice denied."

About 500 Ixil Mayan Indians arrived in the capital to show their support in favor of Rios Montt in buses with banners that read "Do not shame the Ixil with that idea of genocide, because that's a lie."

The demonstrators arrived from Nebaj in the state of Quiche, an area where some of the worst massacres were carried out by the army.

The trial against Rios Montt started in March after courts dealt with more than 100 complaints and injunctions filed by the defense. Since then, the court has heard the harrowing testimony of dozens of people who survived the military offensive.

View the original article here

Venezuela court chief: no ground for vote recount

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's Supreme Court president says there is no legal basis for the vote-by-vote recount that opposition candidate Henrique Capriles is demanding, suggesting his petition can be rejected when filed.

Capriles alleges Sunday's election was stolen from him through widespread abuses. He has not yet formally filed a request for a recount with the National Electoral Council, which on Monday ratified the 50.8-to-49 percent victory of Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez's anointed successor.

Judge Luisa Morales said Wednesday that Venezuela's voting system is so automated that a manual count doesn't exist. But technically, a recount is possible as a paper receipt is issued for every vote cast.

Morales is the same judge who issued a controversial decision in March that Maduro effectively became president the moment Chavez died.

View the original article here

Venezuela high court chief: No basis for recount

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's Supreme Court president said Wednesday there is no legal basis for holding a vote-by-vote recount that opposition candidate Henrique Capriles is demanding for the disputed presidential election.

It was the latest indication that the governing system left behind by Hugo Chavez when he died of cancer last month has no intention of agreeing to Capriles' request. He claims Sunday's election was stolen from him.

Capriles has not formally filed a request for a recount with the National Electoral Council, which on Monday ratified Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's anointed successor, as the winner. The council says Maduro won with 50.8 percent of the vote to Capriles' 49 percent.

Judge Luisa Estela Morales, the Supreme Court chief, said Venezuela's voting system is so automated that a manual count doesn't exist. Technically, however, a recount is possible as paper receipts are issued for every vote cast and can be checked against tallies done by each voting machine, voter registries and centralized records.

"This presumed instigation to a manual count has angered many Venezuelans," said Morales, whose court, like all of Venezuela's national government institutions, is packed with Chavista loyalists. What was unusual about her statement is that it was impromptu, unrelated to any specific court case.

Morales is the same judge who issued a controversial decision three days after Chavez's March 5 death saying that Maduro effectively became president at the moment of his mentor's passing. That enabled Maduro to be sworn in the same day as acting president.

Analysts say Capriles has few options, given Maduro's solid hold on all the levers of power, including the loyalty of the military high command. On Tuesday, Capriles canceled a big protest march he had called for Wednesday after Maduro responded by telling his backers to take to the streets, too.

"Whoever goes out into the street tomorrow is playing the government's game," Capriles said. "The government wants there to be deaths in the country."

Edgard Gutierrez, an independent Venezuelan political consultant, said that given the lack of an institutional solution to the dispute, Capriles' supporters "are going to become disenchanted" if he doesn't summon them into the streets to protest.

Capriles has presented a series of allegations of vote fraud and other irregularities that he contends easily add up to more than Maduro's 262,000-vote winning margin about of 14.9 million votes cast. In addition, the electoral council says about 100,000 votes from abroad had not been counted by Wednesday, and Capriles got about 90 percent of such overseas ballots in the October presidential election won by Chavez.

Capriles' list of alleged irregularities includes:

— Government backers forced his observers out of 283 polling places at which 722,983 votes were cast, and the lack of witnesses raises the possibility of fraud, including double voting.

— Menacing packs of government supporters turned pro-Capriles voters away from the polls.

— There were 3,535 damaged voting machines, representing 189,982 votes.

— Voting rolls included 600,000 dead people.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday reiterated Washington's call for a recount. He declined to say whether the U.S. would refuse to recognize a Maduro presidency without one. Panama and Paraguay are the only other foreign governments to demand a recount.

All day Tuesday, Maduro and his ruling circle filled Venezuela's airways with a steady drumbeat of attacks on Capriles. They called him a coup plotter and accused him of inciting post-election violence by "neo-Nazi gangs" that the government said claimed seven lives and injured 61.

Maduro further charged that the violence was being bankrolled and directed by the United States.

It was not clear, however, whether the violence was as serious as Maduro claimed. Venezuela has an average of more than 40 homicides daily, one of the highest rates in the world, and the government offered almost no information on the deaths.

Capriles called the government assault a smoke screen to divert attention from his recount demand.

A number of opposition protests across Venezuela on Monday and Tuesday turned violent, but apparently only after National Guard riot troops and police used tear gas and plastic pellets to keep marchers away from electoral council offices. There were no reports of deaths in those confrontations.

Maduro's government said 15 countries had confirmed they were sending high-level delegations to Maduro's swearing-in Friday. They included Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Haiti, Uruguay and Argentina.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol accused Capriles of numerous crimes, including insurrection and civil disobedience. National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello said criminal investigations should also be opened against two top Capriles aides, Lara state Gov. Henry Falcon and Carlos Ocariz.

The Chavistas have long used a loyal criminal justice system to repress the opposition, human rights groups say. A Capriles campaign aide, Leopoldo Lopez, is currently facing influence-peddling charges in a 15-year-old case that he calls part of an attempt to selectively silence a now-emboldened opposition.

Security analyst Adam Isacson at the Washington Office on Latin America said the rising tension increases chances that the government could arrest opposition leaders. But he said he was more worried about "mob violence against opposition figures, and perhaps pro-government ones, too."

___

Associated Press writers Vivian Sequera, Fabiola Sanchez and Christopher Toothaker contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Kenya Supreme Court: Election was not perfect

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's Supreme Court on Tuesday said the execution of the nation's March presidential election wasn't perfect but that petitions to overturn the result did not prove President Uhuru Kenyatta was illegally elected.

The court had announced its unanimous ruling upholding Kenyatta's election in late March but on Tuesday released its 113-page written decision. The ruling said that petitions by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and civil rights activist Gladwell Otieno do not disclose "any profound irregularity in the management of the electoral process."

Kenyatta beat seven other presidential candidates with 50.07 percent of the vote. That slim margin over the needed 50 percent was challenged by Odinga — who got 43 percent — and civil society groups that complained of anomalies in the voting process.

No major anomalies were found between the total number of registered voters and the total tally in the declaration of presidential election results, the court said.

"Although, as we find, there were many irregularities in the data and information-capture during the registration process they were not so substantial as to affect the credibility of the electoral process," the ruling said.

Kenya held a largely peaceful election process, avoiding a repeat of the chaos that rocked the country following the flawed 2007 presidential election, when more than 1,000 people died in violent attacks.

But the March 4 election did not go smoothly. An electronic voter ID system intended to prevent fraud failed for reasons yet to be explained by the electoral commission. Vote officials instead used manual voter rolls.

After the polls closed, results were to be sent electronically to Nairobi, where officials would quickly tabulate a preliminary vote count in order to maximize transparency in light of the rigging allegations that dogged the 2007 vote. But that system failed, too. Election officials have indicated that computer servers overloaded but haven't fully explained the problem.

Odinga's lawyers had argued that the switch from electronic voter identification to manual voter roll was stage-managed to allow inflation of Kenyatta's votes to take him past the 50 percent threshold. The Supreme Court said Kenya's electoral commission had no choice but to turn to the manual registers, though it had major weaknesses.

The court recommended an investigation into the acquisition of the computer systems that failed during the voting process. The court said there was questionable conduct by members of the electoral commission during the acquisition of the systems, and that prosecution of the suspects could be in order.

View the original article here

Somalia leader: Foreigners aided attack on court

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's prime minister said Monday that several experienced foreign fighters took part in the most serious Islamic extremist attack on Mogadishu in years, while other officials indicated the explosive devices were more advanced than normal, a possible indication of greater involvement by al-Qaida.

Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said the presence of foreign fighters during Sunday's two-hour assault on the Supreme Court complex showed that the attack was international in nature. He ordered an investigation into the attack, which included six suicide bombings and two car bombs.

The Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the two-hour barrage. Al-Qaida announced a merger with al-Shabab early last year, but the group has been plagued by internal tensions between nationalist Somali fighters and foreign fighters.

Most of al-Shabab's recent bomb attacks have been small and ineffective. Sunday's was far deadlier than normal.

"We are concerned about the foreign involvement in this attack and this is why we are working so hard with our international partners on security and intelligence sharing. Once again we see that terrorism is an international problem," Shirdon said in a statement. He did not specify the nationalities of the foreign fighters.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday condemned the attacked, and in a statement said they "underline their willingness to take action against those whose behavior threatens the peace, stability or security of Somalia."

The death toll has risen to 35, including the nine attackers, according to a member of parliament. The prime minister said 29 died; it wasn't clear if that total included the attackers.

Al-Shabab boasts several hundred foreign fighters, including those with from the Middle East with experience in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Al-Shabab also recruits fighters from Somali communities in the United States and Europe.

Two Western officials who spoke to The Associated Press suggested that Sunday's attack may have had broader participation by al-Qaida fighters than more recent suicide bombings in Mogadishu.

One official said the explosive devices were more sophisticated — and numerous — than normal, while a second official said there are signs that al-Qaida is trying to assert itself in Somalia more than in the past. Both officials work on Somalia issues but both demanded anonymity because neither was authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Dahir Amin Jesow, a Somali legislator who heads a security committee in parliament, said Monday that the death toll stood at 35 and that it could rise even further because of the number of wounded. The interior minister said Sunday that nine attackers died, including six who detonated suicide vests.

Shirdon said the victims would be honored with a state funeral.

Al-Shabab once controlled almost all of Mogadishu. African Union and Somali forces pushed the militants out of the city in 2011, but the fighters have continued to carry out bomb attacks.

Inside Madina Hospital on Monday, bleary-eyed nurses walked from room to room to assist the wounded. Nurse Amal Abdi said he has been up since Sunday to attend to victims.

"There are many horrific wounds in the hospital, so there's no time for rest for us," Abdi said as she pushed a wounded man on a stretcher into an operating room.

One of the survivors from Sunday's barrage was the country's chief justice, who stepped out of the besieged court complex and angrily yelled at soldiers, according to an AP reporter who witnessed the exchange. The country's deputy attorney general was not so lucky.

"I was sitting in my office when the men entered and started fighting and killing," said Sheikh Hassan Abdinur, the deputy attorney general, who lay in a hospital bed Monday with bandages on his stomach and hands and a tube connected to his nose. "It was beyond my imagination. There is no safe place."

Abdirashid Hashi, the deputy director of the Mogadishu-based Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, said the attack shows that al-Shabab can strike the government at will and that the group can come quite close to "decapitating" a vital government arm. The Supreme Court was in session when the attack occurred.

The attack "will force the government to revisit its priorities," Hashi said by email. "Because if it fails to provide security to the citizens in the capital, it will have difficulties justifying its demands in extending its writ to other parts of the country."

Hashi noted that Somalia's intelligence agency and foreign governments had predicted a major al-Shabab attack. Britain's Foreign Office released a statement on Friday saying it believed a terror attack was imminent.

Mogadishu, a seaside capital with whitewashed buildings and pristine beaches, is recovering from decades of war that left the city largely in ruins. Government troops — former militia members — have played a key part in ousting militants from towns near Mogadishu.

But the militants continue to carry out a steady stream of insurgent attacks. In mid-March an al-Shabab suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a civilian bus near a convoy carrying Mogadishu's intelligence chief. Seven people died; the intelligence chief was wounded.

Earlier in March a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a seaside restaurant, killing himself and one diner. A similar attack in February killed only the bomber.

"They are inhumane," Nurto Abdi, a mother whose son's legs were seriously wounded by shrapnel in Sunday's attack, said as she sat close by him. "The so-called national army always gives them the chance. They must declare it publicly if they cannot protect us, because even civilians are legitimate targets now."

___

Straziuso reported from Nairobi, Kenya.

View the original article here

Somali official: 9 gunmen killed in court attack

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's interior minister says that nine militants attacked Mogadishu's Supreme Court complex and that all have been killed.

Abdikarim Hussein Guled said that six of the attackers detonated suicide vests and three others were shot and killed during Sunday's assault on the court complex in the Somali capital.

The attack — the most serious in Mogadishu since al-Shabab militants were forced out of the city in August 2011 — lasted several hours and involved running battles with security forces.

Guled said he couldn't immediately provide an overall death toll that included government officials and civilians.

View the original article here

US couple who kidnapped kids to appear in court

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Florida parents charged with kidnapping their boys after losing custody and fleeing to Cuba by sailboat are facing a judge for the first time since they were forcibly returned from the island nation.

Joshua and Sharyn Hakken were scheduled for their first appearance in court Thursday on charges of kidnapping, child neglect, false imprisonment, burglary and interference with custody.

Four-year-old Cole and 2-year-old Chase are now with their maternal grandparents, who have legal custody and from whom the children were taken last week. They planned to talk about the ordeal publicly later Thursday morning.

Joshua and Sharyn Hakken arrived with their sons in Florida early Wednesday, accompanied by federal, state and local authorities after being handed over by Cuban officials.

Friends of the couple say they seemed to have a charmed life, doting on their two young boys, buying a comfortable home and building successful careers as engineers. It all derailed last year when police in Louisiana found the family inside a hotel room with drugs, weapons and promises from the parents to take "a journey to the Armageddon."

"This is a train that went completely off the tracks, and I don't have any explanation for how it can go off the track that badly basically in a year and a half. It's very bizarre," said Darrell Hanecki, who employed Sharyn Hakken for nearly a decade at Hanecki Consulting Engineers.

Hanecki said she was an easygoing and relaxed employee who worked from the home they owned in sunny Tampa, Fla., so she could spend more time with the kids. She brought the boys into the office a few times to show them off to her colleagues.

"The kids were really well-behaved. From everything I could tell, she was a great mom. Her kids were definitely her priority," Hanecki said.

He said Sharyn Hakken was pragmatic and responsible, graduating from the University of South Florida in 2008. She occasionally gave advice to Hanecki's daughter, an aspiring engineer, and encouraged her to stay in school and finish her degree.

She resigned in 2011, saying it was too difficult to juggle work with caring for an infant and toddler.

Sharyn Hakken's husband, Joshua, also seemed to show few signs of trouble. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1996 to 1998 but did not graduate, according to academy spokesman Sgt. Vann Miller, who declined to provide further details.

Joshua Hakken also worked as an engineer, employed at one point by Hahn Engineering, Inc. A woman who answered the company's phone Wednesday declined comment. Last year, the couple started their own company, listing Sharyn as president and Joshua as vice president, but it's unclear what type of business it was.

Then, last year, police in Louisiana came upon a disturbing scene in a hotel room: The Hakkens were inside with drugs and weapons, talking about "completing their ultimate journey" and saying they were traveling across the country to "take a journey to the Armageddon," Daniel Seuzeneau, a spokesman for Slidell Police, said in a news release. Their two children were in the room at the time.

After that arrest, the Hakkens lost custody of the boys, who were initially sent to a foster home. Authorities say Joshua Hakken tried and failed to kidnap them at gunpoint from the home.

Last week, the boys' maternal grandparents were granted custody. That's when police say Joshua Hakken broke into the home, tied up his mother-in-law, took the children and eventually set sail for Cuba. Federal, state and local authorities searched by air and sea for the sailboat Joshua Hakken had recently purchased. They were found in Cuba, thanks to a crucial tip from the person who sold the boat to Hakken.

The couple may have believed they could find refuge there, but experts said Cuba had little to gain politically by holding them. The communist island shares no extradition agreement with the U.S., and relations between the two have been icy for decades. But Cuban officials said Tuesday they would hand over the family.

The blinds at the Hakken household were drawn tight Wednesday. An "infowars.com" bumper sticker was pasted on their mailbox, a reference to conservative radio personality Alex Jones' Web site.

A white SUV was in the driveway where neighbors said they usually saw a small boat parked. The boat was such a common presence that it was noticeable when it disappeared last week, said neighbor Simon Castillo.

"I'm just surprised the little thing made it all the way to Cuba," Castillo said.

Other neighbors said they rarely saw the Hakkens in the neighborhood, which some described as not being particularly social.

Lindsay Fleming, who lives two doors down from the Hakkens, recalled last speaking to the Hakkens about a year ago outside their homes during an annual air show put on by nearby MacDill Air Force Base.

Fleming said Sharyn Hakken offered him marijuana in front of her kids.

"They were smoking pot and they offered me some, at least his wife did," Fleming said. "(Joshua) was like, 'Don't do that!'"

The Hakkens were jailed Wednesday at the Hillsborough County Jail on charges of kidnapping, child neglect, and interference with custody, according to the jail's website. Joshua Hakken also was charged with false imprisonment. His bond was set at $154,000. No bond information was listed for Sharyn Hakken.

The public defender's office declined to comment. The couple will not face federal charges, said David Couvertier, a spokesman for the FBI in Tampa.

The children were "happy and sleepy" on a flight back to the U.S., sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said in an email. They and the family dog, Nati, are with their grandparents until child welfare officials can again review the case in light of the abduction.

Their grandfather, Bob Hauser, said at a news conference late Tuesday that he had spoken with the boys before they left Cuba. He and his wife asked the media to leave them alone for 24 hours so they could spend time with their grandchildren.

Nancy Weining, who said she is an acquaintance of the Hausers, called them a "wonderful family." She said the Hausers had lost touch with their daughter and son-in-law after the Hakkens lost custody of their boys.

"I knew they had left them with them and nobody knew where they were," Weining said. "Everybody was looking for them, trying to figure out where they were."

___

Kennedy reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Paul Haven and Peter Orsi in Havana; and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Suzette Laboy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SuzetteLaboy

Kelli Kennedy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kkennedyAP

View the original article here

Zimbabwe court releases 4 aides to prime minister

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe's High Court on Wednesday freed on bail four senior officials from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party accused of illegally collecting information on high level corruption.

Their arrests and detention are widely seen by critics of President Robert Mugabe as political intimidation ahead of crucial elections scheduled around July.

The four were arrested at offices of Tsvangirai's communications unit on March 17. They were denied bail by a Harare magistrate on March 20 on grounds they "impersonated police officers and posed a serious threat to national security." They were ordered to reappear in the same court on April 3.

Police allege the officials, Thabani Mpofu and Felix Matsinde, both former state prosecutors, and Mehluli Tshuma and Warship Dumba on Tsvangirai's staff possessed police files on corruption cases.

High court judge Chinembiri Bhunu on Wednesday ordered the four to post $500 bail each. He said they should not have been denied bail because they were well-known public figures unlikely to abscond from justice.

In ordering them held in custody, the magistrate "grossly misdirected" her ruling, said the judge.

"The magistrate's conduct betrayed the country's guiding principles on the application of the law and failed to follow laid down procedures of the presumption of innocence of the accused," Bhunu said.

He also said such a ruling is a "serious infringement of rights should the persons turn out to be innocent."

Defense attorney Chris Mhike praised Bhunu's ruling.

"We are encouraged as lawyers to see that there are still moments in the administration of justice when the law is applied as it should be," Mhike said.

Prominent Zimbabwe human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, also arrested by police while trying to represent the four officials, was released on bail Monday after spending eight nights in jail.

Mtetwa and the four officials deny any wrongdoing.

On her release, also on $500 bail, Mtetwa described the arrests as being orchestrated by police and judicial officials loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

"There will be many more arrests to follow as we near elections," Mtetwa said.

This year, police have mounted a series of raids on rights and pro-democracy groups searching for alleged subversive materials and have removed documents and equipment from their offices.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai met for their weekly consultation on Monday where the clampdown was discussed, said Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai's spokesman.

They are to schedule a meeting with police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and "agreed that the behavior of the police was tainting the image of the country and it was creating the impression that the country is not ready for a peaceful poll," Tamborinyoka said.

View the original article here

Vote numbers were changed, Kenyan court told

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Vote totals for Kenya's president-elect mysteriously increased between the time the ballot numbers were announced at some remote polling centers and when they reached the national tallying center in the capital, a lawyer for a civil society group told the country's Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Kenya's six-justice Supreme Court heard arguments from a civil society group and from the legal team of Prime Minister Raila Odinga asserting that the court should invalidate the election commission's declaration that Uhuru Kenyatta won the country's March 4 presidential election with 50.07 percent of the vote.

Kethi D. Kilonzo, an attorney for the African Center For Governance, played a video for the Supreme Court that she said showed Kenyatta's vote totals increased between when some local polling stations publicly announced their counts and when those numbers reached the national tallying center.

One center, in Nyeri Country, said publicly that Kenyatta had won 53,252 votes, Kilonzo said. By the time the national election commission read the result, Kenyatta's total had increased to 55,726, she said. In addition to Kenyatta gaining votes, other candidates, including Odinga, lost votes, she said.

"This is an election offense, altering the result of an election," she said.

Kenyatta cleared the crucial 50 percent mark by only 8,400 votes out of more than 12 million ballots cast, making each vote of his highly valuable. Had he gotten below the 50 percent threshold, Kenyatta and Odinga would have faced one another in a run-off.

Kilonzo told the court it should invalidate all returns from Nyeri, an action that would drop Kenyatta below the 50 percent mark.

Kenya's March 4 election was marred by myriad technical failures, including the failure of an early returns system. Kilonzo said that if the early returns system had worked properly, there would have been no way for someone to alter the ballot returns without it being noticed.

"The electronic transmission of results was not for the benefit of the (election commission), it was for the benefit of the Kenyan people," said Kilonzo, who said the commission seemed to shrug off the failure of the system as a minor technical glitch.

Kenyans across the country have been glued to TV sets this week as broadcasting networks carried the Supreme Court case.

The last time Kenyans voted for president, in late 2007, allegations of rigging to benefit President Mwai Kibaki sent thousands of Odinga supporters into the streets. Violent ethnic clashes lasting two months killed more than 1,000 people. Odinga was eventually named prime minister in a coalition government.

Since then, Kenya has passed a new constitution and upgraded its judicial system, winning praise from international partners and much of the Kenyan public.

The Supreme Court is to decide by Saturday on the petitions by civil society groups and Odinga's legal team. No major violence has been reported surrounding this year's election, but the Supreme Court decision is another potential flashpoint that could spark violence, depending largely on whether Odinga accepts the court's decision, if it rules against him.

The court on Tuesday refused to accept an 800-page affidavit submitted by Odinga's lawyers and denied Odinga access to computer logs of the election commission. Similarly, Kilonzo's side has been denied access to the election commission's voter registrar.

Mugambi Kiai, a Harvard-educated lawyer who runs Kenya's Open Society Initiative, said he thinks the Supreme Court is displaying a mindset of an "old constitutional order" that may base a decision on procedure instead of evidence. He suspects its decisions will keep Kenyatta as president.

"If by their ruling they're seen or perceived to be siding with one party or seen to be favoring one side of the argument, the next 'loser' will not go to the Supreme Court," Kiai said. "This Supreme Court has to be very, very careful. This case, it's not about Railda Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta. It's not. It's about whether in this kind of dispute the next time the 'losing party' will have faith and trust in the Supreme Court."

Kilonzo's group is trying to demonstrate not that Kenyatta didn't win but that constitutional and legal safeguards were so breached that the legitimacy of the election outcome is open to question.

George Oraro, Odinga's lawyer, told the court that variances in the number of registered voters by the electoral commission made it almost impossible to determine how many people voted.

Oraro said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission announced that it had completed a list of persons registered to vote on February 18 as required by the law. However, the electoral commission continued to change the number of registered voters illegally after the deadline, he said.

Oraro said that the changes in the voter registrar could have affected the outcome of the elections taking into consideration Kenyatta surpassed 50 percent by only 8,400 votes.

___

Associated Press reporter Tom Odula contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Kenyan court denies prime minister 2 requests

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

View the original article here

Zimbabwe court frees rights lawyer

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe's top rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, released by a court after eight days in jail for allegedly obstructing justice, said Monday her arrest was a ploy to intimidate human rights activists and pro-democracy groups ahead of upcoming elections expected in July.

A visibly tired Beatrice Mtetwa walked from the High Court in Harare in the company of two colleagues and her lawyer after her release papers took several hours to complete. 

She told reporters she believed she had been targeted by police.

"It is a personal attack on all human rights lawyers but I was just made the first example. There will be many more arrests to follow as we near elections," Mtetwa said. "The police were all out to get me. They wanted me to feel their might and power because I call myself a human rights lawyer and I felt it."

Mtetwa was arrested on March 17 along with four officials from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party. The officials are accused of illegally compiling information on high level corruption and are schedule to appeal for bail on Tuesday. Mtetwa was accused of shouting at police officers who were conducting a search at Tsvangirai's staff offices when she demanded to see a search warrant.

Mtetwa and the four officials deny any wrongdoing.  She said she merely told the police that "what they were doing is illegal, unlawful and undemocratic."

High Court Judge Joseph Musakwa ruled early Monday that Mtetwa was following professional legal procedures when she demanded to see a search warrant from police at the offices of the four officials.

"She was entitled to be appraised of the legality of the search," Musakwa said.

After her release, Mtetwa said she was not well-treated while in police custody. She wasn't allowed to take a bath and was denied access to her lawyers and family.

But she said she will not give up the fight for human rights.

"I will not be cowed," Mtetwa said. "There has to be mutual respect between police and lawyers because we will all be doing our job."

Critics have cited Mtetwa's prolonged jailing as the start of a fresh wave of political intimidation against opponents of President Robert Mugabe by loyalist police and judicial officials ahead of elections.

The European Union said in a statement Monday that European governments were "deeply concerned" by Mtetwa's arrest and the onslaught against civic groups as Zimbabwe prepares for elections to end the shaky and dispute-ridden coalition government.

The European bloc conceded that a referendum vote on March 16 on a new constitution was "credible" and reflected the free will of about 3 million voters who cast their ballots and overwhelmingly accepted the reformed constitution, EU spokesman Carl Skau said Monday.

As a result the EU suspended with immediate effect travel and banking bans on 81 leaders of Mugabe's party. But Mugabe, his wife, military, police and security chiefs and several others key loyalists remain on the ban list.

The restrictions were imposed in 2002 to protest the human rights record, violence, corruption and allegations of vote-rigging by Mugabe's party in past elections.

Regional mediators forged the coalition government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai after the disputed and violent elections in 2008.

So far this year, four rights and advocacy groups have been raided by police searching for alleged subversive materials relating to their activities campaigning for free elections and an end to political intimidation and human rights abuses that have dominated past elections.

Mtetwa had been scheduled to act as lead defense attorney in the trial, resuming Monday, of 29 supporters of Tsvangirai's party charged in the murder of a police inspector in an impoverished township suburb in western Harare.

Most of those suspects were denied bail for more than a year. Defending them, Mtetwa noted that six police officers charged in the assault and murder of a theft suspect received bail within a month of their detention. The officers are still to go to trial in that case nine months ago.

Swaziland-born Mtetwa moved to Zimbabwe in 1983. She has represented key leaders in Tsvangirai's party including its treasurer Roy Bennett, now in self-imposed exile after repeated threats. She has also defended journalists and prominent rights workers, some of whom were tortured, according to evidence in court, and held incommunicado without charge for several weeks late in 2008.

Last week police ignored an earlier High Court order to free Mtetwa and on Wednesday the lower Harare magistrate's court ordered her held in custody to reappear in that court on April 3.

Charges of obstructing justice carry a maximum of two years imprisonment.

The judge said Mtetwa should not have been denied bail because of her "professional standing." He said the police officers conducting the search could have "easily subdued her because she is a woman" if they felt she was hindering them from doing their job.

"She is a lawyer of many years, with a forceful, combative and at times aggressive personality but she remains professional and dignified" when doing her job, the judge said.

Mtetwa is a recipient of an array of awards from international jurists' groups including the American Bar Association over a distinguished career of three decades.

Mtetwa is known for her feisty and outspoken style and for quickly responding to calls for representation around the clock by activists and journalists held by police.

Media freedom groups said her detention, the first time she has been jailed, left independent reporters and rights campaigners fearful of being left without her voice.

The state's Sunday Mail newspaper criticized Mtetwa for thinking she was "untouchable" and said her "stage-managed antics in and outside the courts" earned her "dubious awards" from African and international lawyers groups.

View the original article here

India court upholds actor Sanjay Dutt's conviction

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the weapons conviction of Bollywood leading man Sanjay Dutt and ordered him to report to prison within four weeks in a case linked to the deadliest terror attack in Indian history.

Dutt's failed appeal of his conviction was part of a broader ruling by the Supreme Court on cases stemming from the 1993 bombings that killed 257 people in the financial hub of Mumbai. A total of 100 people were convicted of involvement in the blasts.

The court upheld the death sentence given to Yakub Memon, who is a brother of Ibrahim 'Tiger' Memon, an accused mastermind of the bombings who remains at large. However, the court commuted to life in prison the death sentences given to 10 other men convicted of carrying out the blasts. Some of the men have been in prison for nearly two decades.

Dutt originally had been sentenced to serve six years in prison on the charge of possessing an automatic rifle and a pistol that were supplied to him by men subsequently convicted in the bombings. He served 18 months in jail before he was released on bail in November 2007 pending an appeal in the top court.

The court shaved one year off his sentence Thursday and ordered him imprisoned within a month to finish out the remaining 3 1/2 years of his sentence. Dutt had earlier been acquitted of the more serious charges of terrorism and conspiracy.

The actor's case was part of a sprawling Mumbai bombings trial that has dragged on for 18 years. Dutt maintains he knew nothing about the bombing plot and that he asked for the guns to protect his family — his mother was Muslim and his father Hindu — after receiving threats during sectarian riots in Mumbai.

Dutt's lawyer Satish Maneshinde said the 53-year-old actor would take some time before deciding on his next step.

For now, Dutt will "abide by the apex court's order of undergoing the sentence of 3 1/2 years in letter and spirit," Maneshinde said.

"Three-and-a-half years is not a long period," he said.

The 1993 bombings were seen at the time as the world's worst terrorist attack, with 13 bombs exploding over a two-hour period across Mumbai. Powerful explosives were packed into cars and scooters parked near India's main Bombay Stock Exchange and other sites in the city. Apart from the 257 dead, more than 720 people were injured in the attack.

The bombings were believed to have been acts of revenge for the demolition of a 16th-century mosque by Hindu nationalists in northern India in 1992. After the demolition, religious riots erupted, leaving more than 800 people dead, most of them Muslims.

The court's ruling on Dutt comes as a blow for Mumbai's film industry, putting several films he was working on in limbo.

Despite his brush with the law and his stint in jail, Dutt's Bollywood career flourished over the past two decades. He gained enormous popularity for a series of Hindi films in which he played the role of a reformed thug who follows the teachings of nonviolence advocate and Indian independence hero Mohandas Gandhi.

Industry estimates said Dutt was currently involved in projects worth at least $20 million.

View the original article here

Zimbabwe court denies bail to human rights lawyer

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A Zimbabwe court refused Wednesday to free on bail the nation's top rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, on charges of obstructing justice after her arrest by police Sunday.

The court ordered her to be held in prison until her next court appearance on April 3, but lawyers said they will immediately appeal the ruling.

The ruling by Harare magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa was "shocking, disappointing and injudicious," said attorney Alec Muchadehama, member of Mtetwa's defense team.

"This is a serious assault on the legal profession in Zimbabwe. The magistrate was wrong and misdirected herself. We are not happy at all about the ruling," Muchadehama said.

A defiant Mtetwa waved at activists and legal colleagues as she was led from the courthouse.

The judgment marked a "sad day" for the rule of law in Zimbabwe, said Irene Petras, head of the independent Lawyers for Human Rights. "Despite what has happened, we need to carry on the fight for justice."

"It is a travesty of justice not founded on fact and law," said Abel Chikomo, head of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum.

The next step is to seek an urgent hearing at the High Court to overrule Gofa's decision, said the lawyers.

Mtetwa appeared at the court in the morning in green prison uniform after spending a third night in jail despite a judge's order to authorities to release her on Monday.

Her arrest, the day after a referendum vote on a new constitution that calls for stronger human rights, prompted an outcry from African and international law organizations. On Sunday, she was representing four officials of the Zimbabwe prime minister's party being searched by police on allegations of illegally collecting information on high level corruption.

The four officials, brought to court in leg irons, were also denied bail Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Mtetwa is a citizen of Swaziland and it is feared she might abscond before her next court appearance and she "might hinder further police investigations by causing commotion and shouting."

Police say that Mtetwa shouted at them during house searches Sunday. Mtetwa says that she merely told police that they were violating her clients' rights by carrying out illegal searches and refusing to produce valid search warrants.

Obstructing justice carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

Mtetwa's prolonged period in jail is seen as a crackdown on critics of President Robert Mugabe. She has represented Tsvangirai and several of his top aides in past cases brought against them. She has also successfully defended journalists and human rights workers against prosecution by the Mugabe government. Mtetwa is the recipient of an array of awards from international jurists' groups including the American Bar Association.

The American Bar Association on Wednesday condemned Mtetwa's treatment in detention and called on Zimbabwean authorities to "cease further harassment of political opponents and their representatives exercising their rights under international law."

"The eyes of the international legal community are on the Zimbabwe government's flagrant and deplorable disrespect for the rule of law, the authority of the judiciary of Zimbabwe, and the government's unwarranted punishment of lawyers trying to protect the rights of Zimbabwe citizens," said Laurel Bellows, president of the American Bar Association.

Mtetwa is a "victim of arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention and must be released immediately," said Noel Kututwa, Amnesty International's southern Africa director. "It's staggering that while Zimbabwe is in the process of adopting a new constitution which provides a stronger bill of human rights, lawyers in the course of their lawful duty are being so blatantly harassed and intimidated."

View the original article here

Somali court overturns conviction of journalist

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's Supreme Court has overturned a widely criticized conviction of a journalist who was sentenced to six months in prison after he interviewed a woman who said she was raped by security forces

Chief Justice Aideed Abdullahi Ilkohanaf said Sunday there was not enough evidence to support an appeals court ruling that reporter Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim offended national institutions. The justice noted the reporter had not published the interview.

The ruling closes a case that human rights groups had described as a politically motivated effort by the state to shut down negative reports about sexual assaults carried out by security forces.

Earlier in March the appeals court dropped charges against a woman who said she had been raped by security forces. A lower court convicted the woman of defaming the government.

View the original article here

Canadian accused of dismembering, eating student appears in court

By Leila Lemghalef

MONTREAL (Reuters) - A Canadian porn actor accused of murdering and dismembering a Chinese student then posting a video online of him eating part of the body appeared in court on Monday as his lawyers sought to close pre-trial proceedings to the press and public.

Luka Rocco Magnotta, deported from Germany after an international manhunt, observed the hearing from a glass enclosure in the packed Montreal court room. During two to three weeks of proceedings, prosecutors will outline the case against Magnotta, 30, and seek to persuade a judge they have enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

Appearing for the first time since soon after his June arrest, Magnotta wore a white T-shirt and light trousers, leaning back in his chair as he listened to legal arguments.

Also in the courtroom was Diran Lin, father of victim Jun Lin, whose dismembered body parts were mailed to schools and political parties in the Canadian capital Ottawa and the Pacific city Vancouver in a crime that shocked Canada and gained international notoriety.

Magnotta, who also worked as a gay escort, is accused of first-degree murder, interfering with a dead body and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

"This is the worst thing a family can endure. We are empty," the Journal de Montreal quoted Diran Lin as saying in an interview ahead of the hearing. "We had so much hope for Jun Lin."

Police say the video, which they believe is genuine, showed a man stabbing his victim to death before dismembering the corpse and then eating part of the body.

Lin's hands and feet were mailed in May to the offices of political parties in Ottawa and to schools in Vancouver. His torso was found in a pile of garbage behind Magnotta's Montreal apartment, and his head was discovered in a Montreal park in July. Lin was a student at Concordia University in Montreal.

Initial arguments revolved around an unusual defense request to exclude the public and the media. The court imposed a publication ban on the evidence presented and said it would decide on Tuesday on whether to ban the public and the media.

"That publication ban which covers all the evidence is more than sufficient to protect the rights of the accused to a fair trial, and there is no need to exclude the public from the courtroom, and the journalists," Mark Bantey, lawyer for media outlets seeking continued access, told reporters.

(Writing by Randall Palmer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

View the original article here

International court case aided Kenyan candidate

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The charges Uhuru Kenyatta faces at the International Criminal Court would have crippled a U.S. or European politician.

Instead, the accusations that he orchestrated murder and rape in Kenya's 2007-08 postelection chaos, along with a cold shoulder from the West, may have helped propel Kenyatta to Kenya's presidency.

Kenyatta on Saturday was named the winner of Kenya's presidential election with 50.07 of the March 4 vote, just surpassing the 50-percent level needed to avoid a runoff. Final results showed him more than 800,000 votes ahead of his nearest rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Odinga is challenging the results, and officials from his party said Monday there's an effort to cover-up cheating that they say handed the election to Kenyatta. The officials said the election commission is ignoring their request to allow them to go through the voter register.

Kenyatta's outright win in a field of eight presidential candidates came despite the ICC charges, and in spite of warnings from the U.S. of "consequences" for the Kenya-U.S. relationship if Kenyatta wins, a sentiment echoed by Britain and some of Europe.

The feeling among many Kenyans is that Kenyatta's win may have come because of those charges and warnings.

"The ICC involvement definitely helped Kenyatta," said Francis Eshitemi, a loan officer in Nairobi who supported Odinga. "Kenyans did not like that. But it is still not a good picture of Kenya that a suspect is going to lead us."

William Ruto, Kenyatta's running mate, faces similar charges for aiding the 2007-08 violence, in which more than 1,000 people were killed in tribal clashes. Back then they supported rival candidates.

Kenyatta's tribe — the Kikuyus — and Ruto's tribe — the Kalenjins — were locked in battle after the 2007 election. In 2007 Ruto backed Odinga politically, and the ICC later accused Ruto of targeting Kikuyus in the Rift Valley. Kenyatta, who supported fellow then President Mwai Kibaki, a fellow Kikuyu, is accused of supporting criminals that organized revenge attacks against the Kalengin.

The ICC charges appeared to push Kenyatta and Ruto together this election, and their combined tribal voting blocs propelled them to a win. The charges by the court in the Netherlands allowed them to both claim persecution from the outside in an "us vs. the world" struggle.

"Without the ICC Uhuru and Ruto would not be running on the same ticket," said Haron Mburu, a taxi driver in Nairobi. "The ICC boosted Uhuru. Kenyans have always had this sympathy formula. Without the ICC charges I don't think Uhuru would have won."

In early February, President Barack Obama made a video urging Kenyans to reject election violence. He said if the country remained peaceful and continued its progress, Kenya would have a strong friend and partner in the U.S., a statement taken by the Kenyatta-Ruto camp as a positive sign for them despite the ICC charges.

But only two days later, Johnnie Carson, the top U.S. State Department official for Africa, held a news conference in which he repeated multiple times that there would be "consequences" if Kenyatta were to win.

Aly-Khan Satchu, an economist and analyst in Nairobi, said the ICC and statements by Carson and similar ones by EU countries were "the defining narrative of this election."

"It allowed Uhuru and Ruto to consolidate their base, to paint themselves as victims of an external conspiracy," Satchu said. "It allowed them to reach outside their base and plug into a very nationalistic, patriotic mood, asking people, 'Look, is this acceptable?'"

An editorial cartoon in the Daily Nation, Kenya's most respected newspaper, showed Kenyatta and Ruto wearing an ICC ball and chain Monday, but the two were kicking the lead-weight ball up in the air with broad smiles.

Even after the election, Kenyatta's and Ruto's team played up the image of outside powers maneuvering Kenyan politics. Their coalition accused the British high commissioner of "shadowy, suspicious and rather animated involvement" in election decisions, a broadside their base loves but one that further strains Kenyatta's relationship with Britain.

Odinga also suffered from an "O'' conspiracy. Most men from his tribe — the Luos — begin their last name with the letter O. Some Kenyans believed he was part of a plan by then-ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and even Obama to indict Kenyatta and make sure he didn't make it to the presidency.

The ICC on Monday dropped its case against Kenyan politician Francis Muthaura. That decision calls into question the case against Kenyatta, who was charged alongside Muthaura as a "co-perpetrator." But prosecutors say they have more evidence against Kenyatta than they did against Muthaura.

___

Associated Press reporter Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands contributed to this report.

View the original article here

News Summary: US wins vs Dotcom in court

BETTER TO EXTRADITE: U.S. prosecutors got a New Zealand court win in their battle to extradite Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three colleagues accused of facilitating massive copyright fraud through the now-defunct online file-sharing site.

THE RULING: An appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that would have allowed Dotcom and the others broad access to evidence in the case against them at the time of their extradition hearing, which is scheduled for August.

APPEAL: Dotcom's lawyer plans to appeal the ruling to New Zealand's Supreme Court.

View the original article here

NY court eyeing Argentine swap offer in debt case

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A New York court has ordered Argentina to explain how it would issue new bonds rather than comply with a $1.3 billion cash judgment to resolve debts unpaid for more than decade.

Two days after the oral hearing in NML Capital Ltd. vs Argentina, the appellate judges asked just how, when and at what interest rate Argentina would pay installments on these new bonds.

President Cristina Fernandez has said she'll never pay the plaintiffs she calls "vulture funds." The compromise offer of a new debt swap was floated months ago by Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino, who said Argentina would pay no more than the same terms 92 percent of Argentina's defaulted debt holders accepted in two previous debt swaps.

View the original article here