Appeals court upholds American’s conviction
FLORENCE, Italy – An appeals court in Florence on Thursday upheld the guilty verdict against U.S. student Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend for the 2007 murder of her British roommate. Knox was sentenced to 28½ years in prison, raising the specter of a long legal battle over her extradition if the conviction is confirmed.
Lawyers for Knox and her co-defendant, Raphael Sollecito, vowed to appeal to Italy’s highest court, a process that will take at least another year and drag out a legal saga that has divided court watchers in three nations.
After nearly 12 hours of deliberations, the court reinstated the guilty verdicts first handed down against Knox and Sollecito in 2009 for the death of Meredith Kercher. Those verdicts had been overturned in 2011 and the pair freed from prison, but Italy’s supreme court vacated that decision and sent the case back for a third trial in Florence.
Berliners to decide famous airport’s fate
BERLIN – Voters in Berlin will have their say on plans to build apartments on part of the vacant grounds of the former Tempelhof airport, the hub of the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift.
The airport in the heart of the German capital was built in the 1920s and closed in 2008. Berliners have embraced the vast empty space of its former runways as a kind of anarchic recreation ground.
Officials said Tuesday that campaigners opposing the local government’s housing plans have collected enough signatures to force a binding referendum by June 1.
Berlin has seen large-scale redevelopment since German reunification in 1990.
Associated Press