Vatican: No jurisdiction over journalists in leaks case ADVERTISING Vatican: No jurisdiction over journalists in leaks case VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican court declared Thursday it had no jurisdiction to prosecute two journalists who wrote books based in part
Vatican: No jurisdiction over journalists in leaks case
VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican court declared Thursday it had no jurisdiction to prosecute two journalists who wrote books based in part on confidential documents exposing greed, mismanagement and corruption in the Holy See, ending a trial that drew scorn from media rights groups.
The court did convict a Vatican monsignor and an Italian public relations expert for having conspired to leak documents, but cleared them of having formed a criminal association to do so. A fifth defendant, the monsignor’s secretary, was absolved of all charges.
The verdict was an embarrassment to Vatican prosecutors, who had accused journalists Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi of conspiring and putting pressure on the three other defendants to get the information. Prosecutors had accused the three of forming a shady, secretive criminal organization that conspired to reveal confidential Vatican documents.
In the end, the president of the four-judge tribunal, Judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre, asserted the Vatican had no jurisdiction over the journalists and ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to show that any such criminal organization existed.
Explosion on Taiwan train injures 21 people
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — An explosion engulfed a Taiwanese commuter train car in flames late Thursday, injuring 21 people, some of them seriously, Taiwan’s official news agency said.
Taiwanese police said they suspected the blast in the capital of Taipei was caused by an explosive in the train car, the island’s Central News Agency reported.
The explosive appeared to be 15 to 20 centimeters (6-8 inches) long and looked like a firecracker, the news agency said, citing the director of Taiwan’s National Police Agency, Chen Kuo-en.
Police bomb squad chief Lee Tzu-wen told local television networks that investigators found “a 15 centimeter-long, broken metal tube stuffed with explosive material inside a black backpack” that they believed caused the blast.
Lawmaker claims victory in close Australian election
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A senior government minister claimed victory on Friday in Australia’s knife-edge election, although the official result could be days away and the opposition did not concede defeat.
Christopher Pyne, the government leader in the House of Representatives, said his conservative Liberal Party-led coalition would form a majority government following the weekend election or a minority government with the support of independents.
He said the government had won 74 seats in the House of Representatives and was likely to win another three as vote counting continued. The government needs at least 76 seats to form a majority in the 150-seat chamber.
“We’ve won again. That’s our sixth victory out of eight in the last 20 years,” Pyne told Nine Network television.
“You’d have to say that we are an election-winning machine in the Liberal Party,” Pyne added.
But the center-left Labor Party opposition has not conceded that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will form a government.
“We need to let the Australian Electoral Commission complete its work, but if you’re a betting person, you’d have to say it’s more likely that the Turnbull government, probably a minority government, a very unstable minority government, will be returned,” Labor Party Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
The Australian Electoral Commission put the coalition ahead in 74 seats, Labor in 71, and the minor parties and independents in five. Mail-in and absentee votes that are still being counted days after Saturday’s vote are favoring the conservatives.
