Spain's National Court Jan. 13 convicted five people for their involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings on charges of supporting terrorist groups that planned attacks. The men were indicted in November, along with two other suspects, and were accused of providing money, housing, food, and forged documentation to the suspected perpetrators of the Madrid bombings. The suspects, Moroccan, Algerian, and Turkish nationals, were sentenced to jail terms ranging from five to nine years. Among those sentenced was the group's alleged leader, Omar Nakhcha, who received the harshest term.

Bassin Zim Education & Development Fund, a non-profit organization that provides aid to disaster victims in Haiti as well as supporting long-term agricultural and environmental improvement, has established a special fund for earthquake relief. Their projects work with the Peasant Movement of Papaye (MPP) and other grassroots rural groups towards establishing food self-sufficiency to prevent famine. This work is especially critical following the unprecedented disaster.

Venezuelan authorities backed by soldiers closed a total of 70 of retail outlets for price-gouging after a currency devaluation that triggered a frenzy of shopping but met with favor by international markets. Among the outlets ordered temporarily closed are at least two supermarkets belonging to a Colombian retailer controlled by France's Casino group. President Hugo Chávez announced the devaluation last week, cutting the exchange rate of the bolivar against the dollar by half for oil income and goods deemed nonessential.

The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York filed a superseding indictment Jan. 12 against alleged Somali pirate Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, claiming that he led the takeover of two additional ships. Muse pleaded not guilty to the charges. The 10-count indictment does not provide the identity of the ships involved or details of the events, but prosecutors stated that hostages from one of the ships remain in captivity.

Spanish Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska ruled Jan. 12 that Basque separatist group ETA had tried three times to assassinate former Spanish prime minister José Maria Aznar in 2001. Grande-Marlaska detailed the three assassination attempts as part of a description of the alleged crimes of ETA leader Pedro Maria Olano Zabala, who was arrested in the Basque region last week. The group had allegedly tried three times to use a rocket launcher to fire a missile at Aznar's plane in retribution for Aznar's refusal to accept negotiations with the group, but the launcher failed three times and was finally sent to ETA operatives in France for repair. Rocket launchers belonging to ETA have reportedly been seized in France.

The leader of France's conservative party introduced legislation Jan. 12 that would ban wearing of the burqa in public and make it punishable by 750 euros. Jean-Francois Cope, leader of the Union for Popular Movement (UMP) in the National Assembly, is heading the legislative effort, spurred on by French President Nicholas Sarkozy's announcement in June that those who wore the burqa were not welcome in France. The bill also has the support of some French socialists, as well as that of Prime Minister Francois Fillon. An official commission into the issue is expected to report by the end of January.

David L. Wilson of Weekly News Update on the Americas reports from Port-au-Prince, Jan. 12:

I'm writing from the southern part of Port-au-Prince; I have been in Haiti since last Thursday on a delegation in support of Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP), the Papay Peasant Movement. The earthquake hit less than 12 hours ago, and damage here is extensive. The Olaffson Hotel, where I was waiting to be picked up by Paul from Batay Ouvriye, hasn't had serious damage, but one of the walls in front fell. Street vendors were working there; at least one was injured and taken away. Another was killed. Her body is still lying under the blocks—there's no time to deal with the dead.

Lawyers for former Guantánamo Bay detainee Ahmed Ghailani argued Jan. 11 that the charges against their client should be dismissed. Ghailani's lawyers argued before Judge Louis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that he was denied the right to a speedy trial while being detained for nearly five years in Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secret prisons and later at Guantánamo Bay. (Jurist, Jan. 12)