By David R Arnott on World News

  • Russian court postpones dead man's trial as defense, like defendant, fails to show

    Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

    Police officers stand near an empty defendant's cage in a courtroom in Moscow on March 11, 2013. The court postponed the trial of Sergei Magnitsky, a dead lawyer who accused law-enforcement authorities of massive corruption and whose case sparked a dispute between Washington and Moscow.

    Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters

    Flowers lie near the grave of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in the Preobrazhensky cemetery in Moscow on March 11, 2013.

    Journalists crowded into a packed Moscow courtroom on Monday to witness a legal first: the first prosecution of a dead person in Russian history. But the case was postponed as the absence of defendant Sergei Magnitsky — who died in 2009 — was compounded by the non-appearance of his legal team.

    Magnitsky is charged with tax evasion and fraud — similar to accusations that he had leveled against police and tax officials — in a case that sparked a dispute between Washington and Moscow when Congress passed a law named after Magnitsky.

    "The defense team ... believes that they have not yet fully acquainted themselves with the 60 volumes of case materials,"  Judge Igor Alisov said, looking down on the barred cage usually reserved for the accused and the empty seats where Magnitsky's lawyers should have sat. Alisov postponed the trial until March 22.

    -- Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report

  • Dramatic rescues as torrential rainstorm hits Greek capital

    John Kolesidis / Reuters

    A woman is rescued from floodwaters by a man standing on top of her car during heavy rain in the Chalandri suburb, north of Athens, Greece, on Feb. 22, 2013.

    John Kolesidis / Reuters

    The woman had become stuck as water engulfed her car.

    John Kolesidis / Reuters

    The woman is carried to safety after being rescued.

    Pantelis Saitas / EPA

    An employee of the Greek Parliament hangs precariously after falling through the glass roof of the Greek Parliament Hall while trying to prevent rain water leaking into the building, in Athens on Feb. 22, 2013.

    Simela Pantzartzi / EPA

    People stand on a bench at a bus station during a heavy storm in Athens on Feb. 22, 2013.

    A heavy rainstorm in the Athens region on Friday morning flooded streets in the Greek capital and interrupted transport on land and sea. In the suburb of Chalandri, a woman had to be rescued from her car as raging torrents of water engulfed the vehicle.

    A worker at the Greek parliament had to be rescued after she crashed through the glass roof of the building while trying to stop a leak. The woman found herself hanging through a broken panel in the roof and was slightly injured, according to local reports cited by Xinhua.

    -- The European Pressphoto Agency and Reuters contributed to this report

    Heavy rains has caused widespread flooding in Italy and Greece. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.