New Delhi, Nov 20 The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a plea to ban idol immersions in water bodies across the country, saying restrictions would militate against the fundamental right of a section of citizens to profess and practice the religion of their choice.

A bench of Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Justice J. M. Panchal dismissed the plea against idol immersions in water bodies, brushing aside petitioner Salek Chand Jain's fervent plea that the age-old practice was polluting rivers and other water bodies beyond redemption.

The Hague - British-born lawyer Richard Harvey was appointed defence counsel for former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in Karadzic's war crimes trial, an international court in The Hague announced on Friday.

In its decision to appoint Harvey, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Karadzic, 64, refused to pick a particular lawyer on the list presented to him.

Rawalpindi, Nov. 20 : The Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench has asked the government to reach an out-of-court settlement with nuclear scientist Dr. A Q Khan with regard to his security.

Hearing an intra-court appeal by the federal government on restoring Khan’s security protocol, the court observed that it would be in the national interest to resolve the issue amicably, failing which it would take a decision on November 23.

Hanoi - Prosecutors will ask for the death sentence for a college student who confessed to slitting her wealthy ex-boyfriend's throat with a fruit knife on Valentine's Day, state media reported Thursday.

The Hanoi People's Procuracy filed murder charges Wednesday against the student, 22-year-old Vu Kim Anh, and requested the maximum penalty of death, the state-run newspaper Lao Dong reported. The trial is due to begin next month.

The Defence ministry has put its foot down on a lieutenant general’s promotion as deputy chief of army staff, as he is being investigated in a land scam case in Bengal.

The ministry scrapped the posting of P. K. Rath, who is facing a Court of Inquiry (CoI) for his role in granting a no-objection certificate (NOC) for land allotment to a ‘dubious’ educational society near Siliguri.

The inquiry found that the educational institution had falsely claimed to be affiliated with Ajmer-based Mayo College to obtain the NOC for 70 acres. The certificate was required as the land was located close to the military station.

London, Nov. 19 : A soccer hooligan has been asked to pay 120,000 pounds as a fine for his pitch invasion at a European Championship qualifier between Denmark and Sweden.

A Copenhagen court ruled Ronni Noervig was responsible for losses the Danish football federation suffered after the match was called off and Sweden awarded a 3-0 win, The Sun reports.

Drunken Noervig tried to attack German referee Herbert Fandel in June 2007 for giving a late penalty to Sweden with the score 3-3.

Ranchi, Nov 19 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will question former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda here today over an alleged Rs 2,000 hawala transaction case.

A team of ED officials will question Koda along with two of his associates Sanjay Chowdhary and Binod Sinha.

According to sources, Koda would be questioned and confronted with documents seized during the nationwide Income Tax searches on him and his associates, which began on October 31.

The Hague - For the first time in 10 years, a US delegation is attending the annual meeting of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Wednesday.

Stephen Rapp, the US' new war crimes ambassador and former chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in The Hague, is heading the US delegation, which has observer status at the meeting.

The last time the US participated in talks about the ICC was in 1998, during final negotiations for the Statute of Rome, which established the court.

London, Nov 17 : A law that banned women from wearing trousers in Paris is still in effect, it has emerged.

The rule forbidding women from dressing like men—by wearing trousers— was first introduced in 1800 by the city’s police chief and has survived repeated attempts to repeal it.

The 1800 rule stipulated than any Parisienne wishing to dress like a man "must present herself to Paris'' main police station to obtain authorisation".

New Delhi, Nov 16 Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh has approached the Supreme Court for restoration of pre-paid mobile connections in Kashmir, which were banned by the central government over security concerns.

An apex court bench of Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B. S. Chauhan Monday sought the central government's stand on the issue of restoring prepaid mobile telephony in Jammu and Kashmir within two weeks.

New Delhi, Nov 16 The Supreme Court Monday dismissed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's plea challenging an Allahabad High Court decision to entertain a lawsuit seeking revival of a corruption case in the multi-crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam.

A bench of Justice V. S. Sirpurkar and Justice B. Sudershan Reddy dismissed Mayawati's plea saying that the apex court cannot stop high courts from entertaining lawsuits.

Geneva/Tripoli - Two Swiss businessmen detained in Libya since the summer of 2008 are "terrified" of leaving their country's embassy in Tripoli, a newspaper Friday quoted the wife of one as saying.

Speaking to the Swiss daily Le Matin after Libyan Foreign Ministry official Khalid Keim said Max Goldi and Rashid Hamdani would be put on trial for visa violations and tax evasion, Rashid's wife, Bruna, said the two seemed "more afraid," in her conversations with them.

Cairo - The family of slain Egyptian pharmacist Marwa el- Shirbini plans to sue the German court where she was killed, an Egyptian newspaper reported Friday.

The family, saying there was advanced warning of Alex Wiens' planned attack, would charge that the court failed to provide protection for the pregnant mother-of-one, the report said.

Hamdi Khalifa, the lead lawyer on the case, told al-Masry al-Youm that security at the court was "woefully inadequate."

No further questions need to be entertained under the Right to Information Act on the wealth details of the Supreme Court judges posted on its website, Delhi High Court observed on Thursday.

But the court said the 1997 resolution passed by the Supreme Court judges for declaring their assets was binding on them as it was part of the self-regulatory mechanism for the judiciary.

“There is no obligation to give further information under RTI other than what is on the website. What can be disclosed is only the information with the Chief Justice of India,” it said.

Harare - The defence team of Zimbabwean politician Roy Bennett on Thursday asked the High Court judge in his terrorism case to recuse himself, saying they feared bias.

Bennett's lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told reporters the defence team had asked Judge Chinembiri Bhunu during a hearing in his chambers "whether he could hand over to another judge".

Bhunu said he would give his answer Monday, she said.

Sydney - An 88-year-old Australian citizen accused of killing a Jewish teenager in his native Hungary in 1944 learned Thursday he had lost his legal battle to prevent extradition to face a war-crimes trial in Budapest.

The Australian government approved the extradition of Charles Zentai, giving Hungarian authorities two months to arrange his surrender into their care.

Zentai denies an accusation from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre that he participated in the fatal beating of 18-year-old Peter Balazs in Budapest in 1944.

Islamabad, Nov. 12 : The Pakistan Supreme Court has been told that disgraced nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan’s name does not figure in the Exit Control List (ECL).

During a hearing on a complaint filed by Dr. Khan challenging his movement restrictions, Acting Attorney General of Pakistan (AAG) Shah Khawar informed the three-member Supreme Court bench that Dr. Khan was not on the ECL, The Dawn reports.

Copenhagen - A Danish student journalist who was detained in Iran a week ago for allegedly working illegally returned to Denmark Wednesday following his release.

Niels Krogsgard, who is studying at the University of Southern Denmark, was arrested in Tehran on November 4 at a protest rally against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

He told reporters at Copenhagen Airport that while in detention he was questioned about his sources in Iran.

Krogsgard, along with fellow Danish student, Henrik Fallesen, had been in the Islamic republic doing research for an essay on Iranian politics.

He said they planned to complete the essay.

Beijing - Amnesty International on Wednesday criticized China for its "hasty" execution of nine people convicted of murder, arson and other violent crimes during ethnic rioting in the far western province of Xinjiang in July.

Washington, November 11 : The man accused of trying to extort money out of comedian David Letterman over his sexual affairs with female staffers has asked a New York judge to dismiss the case.

Letterman confessed having bedded a number of his female co-workers and issued a public apology to his wife Regina Lasko on his ‘Late Show with David Letterman’.

He approached authorities telling them that he was being blackmailed to pay 2 million dollars to keep the information out of the public domain.