Trump lawyers to appeal tax return decision to Supreme Court

08:14, November 09, 2019

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  Trump asks Supreme Court to block New York subpoena for his tax returns

  (Photo: Xinhua)WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- US President Donald Trump on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to block a subpoena demanding his accounting firm to turn over eight years of his tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, multiple media outlets reported.Attorneys for the president asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to let Trump keep his tax returns secret. Its thought to be the first time that a US presidents personal financial dealings have made their way to the nations top court.Local media expected the case to determine whether any US president has blanket criminal immunity while in office.

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  Australia’s highest court will hear Cardinal Pell’s appeal

  Cardinal George Pell arrives at the County Court in Melbourne, Australia, February 27, 2019. (Photo: AP)Australia’s highest court agreed Wednesday to hear an appeal from the most senior Catholic to be found guilty of sexually abusing children, giving Cardinal George Pell his last chance at getting his convictions overturned.The decision by the High Court of Australia comes nearly a year after a unanimous jury found Pope Francis’ former finance minister guilty of molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the late 1990s, shortly after Pell became archbishop of Australia’s second-largest city.The 78-year-old was sentenced to six years in prison in March and is no longer a member of Francis’ Council of Cardinals or a Vatican official. The Victoria state Court of Appeal rejected his appeal in August.Pell is in a Melbourne prison, where a newspaper reported last month that he had been given a gardening job. He did not attend the High Court in Canberra to hear the decision on Wednesday.SNAP, an abuse victims’ support group, described the court’s decision as a blow to clergy abuse victims and to the Australian criminal justice system.“We are disappointed that Cardinal George Pell and his lawyers will have yet another opportunity to attack and re-victimize the former choirboy,” SNAP spokesman Steven Spaner said in a statement.Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, which represents church leaders in Australia, hoped the appeal would be resolved quickly.“This will prolong what has been a lengthy and difficult process, but we can only hope that the appeal will be heard as soon as reasonably possible and that the High Court’s judgment will bring clarity and a resolution for all,” Coleridge said in a statement.The Vatican said it trusted the Australian legal system and noted in a statement that Pell had always maintained his innocence.“At this time, the Holy See reaffirms once again its closene...

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  Schools, colleges shut in Indian states following supreme court's sensitive verdict

  NEW DELHI, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Schools and colleges have been shut till Monday across several Indian states as a precautionary measure in the wake of an apex courts final verdict regarding the sensitive title suit of a piece of land on Saturday.File photo: VCGA five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India is scheduled to pronounce its verdict during the day.Two communities -- Hindus and Muslims have been fighting the legal case since 1950 claiming the ownership of the piece of land in Ayodhya town of Uttar Pradesh.While the Muslims claim there was a mosque at the place which was demolished in 1992, the Hindus claim that a temple dedicated to Lord Ram existed at the place as it is believed to be the deitys birth place.The legal cases sensitivity could be gauged from the fact that around 2,000 people had died in violent clashes between the two communities across the country after the demolition of the mosque - Babri Masjid in December 1992.To avoid any untoward incident after Saturdays court verdict, the Indian government has deployed around 4,000 security personnel across the state of Uttar Pradesh.Media reports said a tight security has been deployed across the nation, and a strict vigil being kept on social media platforms to check the spread of any misinformation. Educational institutions have been closed in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and India-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, according to media reports.Late on Friday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to the countrymen to accept the apex courts verdict and maintain peace and harmony. He said that whatever the Supreme Court decides, it should not be seen as loss or victory for any party.