10 things you need to know today: April 27, 2012

(Image credit: REUTERS)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. CHARLES TAYLOR FOUND GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES

The warlord–turned–Liberian president was convicted of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity on Thursday. An international tribunal ruled that Taylor was guilty of arming and supporting violent rebels in Sierra Leone that committed mass atrocities during the country's 11-year civil war, which left more than 50,000 dead and many others brutally mutilated. Taylor is the first head of state to be convicted by an international war crimes court since the second world war. The court, which has no death penalty or life sentence, will announce Taylor's punishment next month. [Associated Press, New York Times]

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Defying Obama's veto threat, the House passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act by a 248-168 vote on Thursday. The measure urges companies and the government to voluntarily share information about cyber threats, and gives them the legal immunity to do so. The Obama administration has strongly opposed the bill on the grounds that it doesn't do enough to protect the country from cyberattacks, and that it would threaten consumer privacy by allowing personal data to be shared too freely. [Bloomberg]

The Senate voted 68-31 on Thursday to renew the Violence Against Women Act. The bill seeks to get more funding for the law and expand the protections for immigrants and same-sex couples. Democrats say that GOP resistance to the law's expansion is evidence of the Right's "war on women." Republicans argue that they do not oppose the law, and say that Dems are loading it with "hot-button political issues" in order to make them look bad in an election year. [CNN]

"What is obvious and indisputable is that the Kofi Annan plan has failed," says Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). "We are talking about economic sanctions and diplomatic sanctions when we should be helping these people as we helped the people of Bosnia," McCain noted, advocating for armed intervention by the U.S. Derek Chollet, President Obama's nominee to be assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, agreed with McCain that the cease-fire had fallen apart. [Bloomberg]

In a sign that the federal government could be ready to take Google to court over possible antitrust violations, regulators have hired a prominent outside lawyer, Beth A. Wilkinson, who played a lead role in the conviction of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. While no formal decision has been made about bringing a case against Google, Wilkinson's hiring is seen as a sign that the investigation is intensifying and the likelihood of a big court case is increasing. Google competitors allege that the company abuses its search engine popularity by unfairly ranking search results. [New York Times]

The e-tailing giant has blown away analysts' estimates for the first quarter, reporting a 34 percent rise in revenue, to $13.18 billion, from the same period a year ago. Amazon's net income dropped by 35 percent as it spent big on the Kindle Fire and a new shipping center, but even that number was better than analysts expected. The company's shares soared nearly 15 percent in after-hours trading. [New York Times]

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