UN Court

Minister Vulin: "General Lazarevis is a hero"

Aleksandar Vulin has said that Serbia was "no longer a country that turns its head from its generals-heroes, but one that is proud of them."

Turkish businessmen have experienced a range of hardships since the outbreak of the crisis with Russia, triggered by the downing of a Russian jet by Turkish F-16's on Nov. 24 - including arrest, transportation to Russian internment camps and deportation.

Today's Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Kene? announced his resignation on Dec. 3 over "government pressure" and personal lawsuits against him.

A gun was found inside a toilet at a court in Istanbul's Kartal district on Dec. 1.

The weapon was found inside a black nylon bag by technical personnel who had been called to fix a breakdown in the men's bathroom on the ground floor of the court's B Block.

Three journalists from daily BirGün face up to four years in prison on charges of "insulting the Turkish president" while a columnist from daily Taraf has testified on the same charge.

Argentine ex-president Carlos Menem was convicted on corruption charges on Dec. 1, but as with a previous arms trafficking sentence he will escape prison time thanks to his immunity as a senator.

Menem, Argentina's president from 1989 to 1999, was convicted of masterminding the illegal overpayment of high-ranking officials' salaries.

Bosnian Croat parties have joined their counterparts in the country's Serb-led entity Republika Srpksa in calling for the immediate reform of the Constitutional Court.

They are calling for the three foreign judges on the nine-member court to be removed permanently, saying that it gives the international community too much influence over constitutional rulings.

The failure to implement the agreements negotiated so far is causing continued hardship for both Albanians and Serbs living in Kosovo, says the report published on Tuesday by the BIG DEAL initiative which involves BIRN Kosovo, Internews Kosova and the Advocacy Centre for Democratic Culture from northern Mitrovica.

Sofia City Court (SGS) acquitted the former deputy speaker of the Bulgarian parliament, Hristo Biserov, of all three charges brought against him on Tuesday.

Biserov was charged with tax evasion, undeclared currency deals and undeclared bank accounts held in Switzerland, but was found innocent.

Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, whose top two journalists were arrested last week on charges of espionage and terrorist propaganda, is facing an investigation into its tax accounts, its chief executive said.