On January 2, 2008, California filed a lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenging the agency's decision to deny the state's request for a waiver that would have allowed it and 16 other states to impose stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards on cars and light trucks. California's Air Resources Board adopted strict greenhouse gas standards in 2004, but it could not mandate them unless the EPA granted a waiver of the more lenient federal Clean Air Act (CAA) [PDF] standards. In February 2008, the EPA issued their official explanation for the rejection and in May 2008 the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that the
On January 2, 2009, a Zimbabwe judge ruled that Zimbabwe Peace Project leader Jestina Mukoko and 31 other activists charged with plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe must remain in jail. High Court Judge Alphias Chitakunye denied a motion for the activists' immediate release, and held that they must remain in custody until they appeared before the Magistrate Court. The ruling followed a lower court rulings that denied bail for the advocacy leader and the other activists pending their appearance before the Zimbabwe Supreme Court. Mukoko played a key role in monitoring and publicizing the wave of violence that hit the country before and after the 2008 presidential elections and