Blagojevich seeks rehearing on charges
CHICAGO – Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday asked a full federal appeals court to rehear his case, hoping it will overturn more of his 18 corruption convictions than the five that a three-judge panel threw out last month.
Thirty minutes after his lawyers filed the request for a rehearing by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the imprisoned Democrat issued his first public statement since reporting to a Colorado prison three years ago. In it, the two-term governor struck the same defiant tone that he brought to the TV talk-show circuit before his two trials.
Russia seeks approval of its Arctic claims
MOSCOW – Russia has submitted a revised bid for vast territories in the Arctic to the United Nations, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry said in a statement that Russia is claiming more than 463,000 square miles of Arctic sea shelf extending more than 350 nautical miles from the shore.
Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Norway have all been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to hold up to a quarter of the planet’s undiscovered oil and gas.
Rivalry for Arctic resources has intensified as shrinking polar ice is opening new opportunities for exploration.
Russia was the first to submit its claim in 2002, but the agency sent it back for lack of evidence. It submitted a partial revision regarding the Okhotsk Sea in 2013 .
Associated Press
