In a ruling against AT&T Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined that the company must pay fees associated with its pre-paid calling cards. The fees go to local telephone companies to cover costs to connect the call and to federal programs that subsidize rural telephone and Internet service. AT&T tried to avoid the fees [...]

A Mexican judge in the Nuevo Leon Wednesday found a man guilty of drunk driving in the nation's first oral and public trial. In June, Nuevo Leon was the first Mexican state to pass legislation that allows public and oral trials. Under the system currently in place, however, judges usually review files created by the [...]

The Supreme Court of Mexico upheld Wednesday a 30-year statute of limitations and dismissed charges of genocide against ex-president Luis Echeverria . The Court, in a 4-1 vote, held that international law against genocide does not take precedence over Mexico's national statute of limitations. Echeverria is accused of ordering a paramilitary attack on student protestors [...]

Prominent Iranian blogger Arash Cigarchi was sentenced to a 14-year prison term Wednesday for publishing critiques of the government on his online blog and in the international press. Cigarchi was charged with aiding and abetting hostile governments and opposition groups, endangering national security and insulting Iran's leaders. The trial, part of recent crackdown on free [...]

In a bipartisan statement released Wednesday, all 50 state legislatures opposed President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act . The statement , issued by the National Conference of State Legislatures , attacked the education program's unconstitutional extension of federal power in an area traditionally left up to state control and accused the government of coercing [...]

AP is reporting that a Florida judge has extended an emergency stay, keeping Terri Schiavo's feeding tube in place until 5 PM Friday. 10:05 PM ET – Florida Circuit Judge George Greer extended the emergency stay until 5 PM Friday, keeping Schiavo's feeding tube in place for now. The stay was originally set to expire [...]

US District Judge David Hittner denied the Lea Fastow's request for an early prison release Wednesday. Fastow, wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, pleaded guilty last year to willfully delivering a 2000 income tax return which she knew to be fraudulent. Fastow's attorney argued that her one-year prison sentence is twice what people normally [...]

In Wednesday's environmental law news, about 500 Canadian cattlemen, mostly from Alberta, have filed 121 claims under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) seeking at least $325 million in compensation for the May 2003 US decision to halt imports of Canadian beef and cattle. NAFTA's Chapter 11 is intended to protect companies from laws [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has set aside the 1988 child-molestation conviction of a Nevada man, ruling that the 2004 US Supreme Court decision in Crawford v. Washington limiting hearsay statements applies retroactively and statements made by the 6-year-old victim to authorities should not have been introduced at trial. The Second [...]

Former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky will testify Friday in his fraud and tax evasion trial. According to the latest trial update from Khodorkovsky's defense website, the judge presiding over the trial has granted a recess until Friday morning to allow Khodorkovsky and his co-defendant Platon Lebedev more time to prepare for their testimony. In a [...]