Muhammad Salah and Abdelhaleem Ashqar, two of three men indicted in 2004 by a US federal grand jury on charges of engaging in a 15-year conspiracy of providing funds to Hamas, were found not guilty of racketeering Thursday. While the men were exonerated of the most serious crime alleged, they were convicted of lesser charges. Salah, who spent 5 years in an Israeli prison in 1993 after confessing to transporting funds for Hamas, was convicted of obstruction of justice for providing false answers in a civil case involving an American student killed by the terrorist group while in Israel. Ashqar was convicted of obstruction of justice and criminal contempt for his refusal to testify before a federal grand jury after receiving immunity. The third man indicted, Abu Mousa Marzook, is currently living in Syria, and is considered to be a fugitive.

Controversy in the case arose when US District Judge Amy St. Eve closed the courtroom during the testimony of two Israeli security agents who were called to counter Salah’s claims that his 1993 admission to being in Hamas was false, and the product of Israeli torture during his interrogation. In a statement made after Thursday’s ruling, Amnesty International USA, while pleased with the “generally favorable verdict,” remains concerned that “evidence likely obtained by the use of torture even entered the courtroom.”

Opponents of the legislation said the issue was settled in the November election and lawmakers should not have revived it.

This year's bill would allow rape victims to get abortions if they report the rapes to police within 50 days. Doctors would have to confirm the report with police and would have to take blood from aborted fetuses and give that information to police for DNA testing.

In the case of incest, a doctor would have to get the woman's consent to report the crime along with the identity of the alleged perpetrator before an abortion could be performed. Blood samples from fetuses would have to be provided to police in incest cases, too.

Abortions could be done only until the 17th week of pregnancy in cases of incest and rape. The bill carries a tougher maximum penalty for illegal abortions than last year's bill - 10 years in prison instead of five.

It would allow abortions to save women's lives and in cases in which their health would be seriously jeopardized by a continued pregnancy. However, a doctor could perform an abortion only if a doctor from another practice concurs that a woman's health is in jeopardy.

In Utah, a state House committee voted 6-2 on Tuesday to ban abortion, setting the stage for a costly legal battle if the bill clears the Legislature and is signed into law. The committee sent the measure to the full House.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the bill likely is unconstitutional and if it becomes law could be costly to defend against any legal challenges.

Woodcock Washburn, Philadelphia's largest intellectual property law firm, said Tuesday that it has elected two new members to the three-person policy committee that manages the firm.

Partners Joseph Lucci and Steven Samuels will join the committee Feb. 1, joining incumbent member Steven Rocci. They replace two of the firm's most senior partners, Dianne Elderkin and Dale Heist, who are stepping down after having served since 2001.
 
Rocci said the firm's partners felt that it was important that the new committee reflect the makeup of the firm, while also maintaining continuity. The committee will be composed of one senior, one midlevel and one junior partner, representing the firm's various legal and technical practice areas.

Rocci, 52, specializes in patent litigation, counseling and procurement for a wide range of clients, including companies in the software, telecommunications, and Internet industries.

Lucci, 46, specializes in patent litigation, prosecution, interferences and client counseling, particularly in the areas of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Samuels, 40, represents companies in the fields of electronics, computer hardware and software, digital and analog communications, electrical power transmission and business methods.

Rocci said Heist, 58, and Elderkin, 53, will still be involved in firm management, with Heist taking a larger role in business development and Elderkin taking a larger role in the litigation department.

Woodcock Washburn has 90 lawyers. It has offices in Atlanta and Seattle and just moved its Philadelphia office from One Liberty Place to Cira Centre. The firm's clients include Microsoft, Cingular, Du Pont, Johnson & Johnson, Sunoco and Wyeth.

http://www.woodcock.com

If Miller is called to answer the questions and refuses, she could face charges of perjury, as she did in July of 2005 when she was jailed after refusing to reveal sources in conjunction with the federal criminal investigation into the leak of Plame's identity. Miller resigned her post at the Times after her release from the 85-day jail term.

Libby is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the CIA leak investigation.

The HTP Unit will work to enhance the Department’s investigation and prosecution of significant human trafficking and slavery cases, such as multi-jurisdictional cases and those involving financial crimes. The Unit will also engage in training, technical assistance and outreach initiatives to federal, state and local law enforcement and NGOs.

The HTP Unit will be headed by noted anti-trafficking prosecutors who have prosecuted traffickers and freed hundreds of foreign and domestic victims from sex trafficking in brothels and forced labor in fields, homes and factories. Robert Moossy will head up the Unit, and is joined by Chief Counsel Lou de Baca and Special Litigation Counsels Hilary Axam and Andrew Kline, who bring significant anti-slavery experience to this effort and have been leaders in developing the modern victim-centered approach to human trafficking investigations and prosecutions. They will be joined in the coming months by additional federal prosecutors, a victim/witness specialist, and support staff. Attorney General Gonzales has made combating human trafficking a top priority of the Justice Department. In the last six fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, has increased by six-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed, quadrupled the number of defendants charged, and tripled the number of defendants convicted. In FY 2006, the Department initiated 168 investigations, charged 111 defendants in 32 cases, and obtained a record number of convictions totaling 98.

The government alleged that RightCHOICE, which participates in the FEHB Program as part of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan (SBP), passed on excessive costs to the FEHB Program in connection with compensating a preferred provider network of physicians known as “Alliance.” The government contended that RightCHOICE paid higher fees to Alliance physicians for serving patients insured through the SBP than these same physicians were reimbursed for providing the same types of services to patients insured through various other health plans. The government also alleged the physicians passed on these higher rates to the Office of Personnel Management as purportedly “reasonable” costs to the FEHB.

“Today’s settlement demonstrates the United States’ determination to make sure health care providers do not overcharge the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program,” said Peter Keisler, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

The civil settlement resolves claims brought under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Ronald Ekstrand against Wellpoint Health Networks, Inc., the entity into which RightCHOICE merged in January 2002. Mr. Ekstrand will receive $165,750 of the total recovery as his statutory award for his suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, private individuals can bring whistleblower actions for fraud on behalf of the United States and collect a share of any proceeds recovered by the suit as well as attorney fees.

"This civil health care fraud settlement should send a signal to all health care providers who receive federal funds that we are committed to protecting the health care system from fraud or abuse," said Catherine L. Hanaway, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri..

The case was handled by the Civil Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. The case was investigated by the St. Louis offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Personnel Management-Office of the Inspector General.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Wednesday he would let selected members of the Democratic-led U.S. Congress see secret court documents that authorized President George W. Bush's newly revised domestic spying program.

Lawmakers and civil liberties groups called it a significant first step for an administration that in the past often refused to provide information to Congress, but they urged the Bush administration to provide full details about the program.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said he would review the documents and then decide if "further (congressional) oversight or legislative action is necessary."

The administration announced an abrupt end to what had been a 5-year-old warrantless surveillance program on January 17, two weeks after Democrats took control of Congress and vowed to bring the program in line with law. The surveillance program will now be subject to approval from the secret U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Critics had charged Bush overstepped his power after the September 11 attacks with warrantless domestic spying as well as actions such as holding terrorism suspects indefinitely without charges and interrogations that some said amounted to torture.

Democrats had complained that while Bush's fellow Republicans controlled Congress, their requests for information from the president were frequently rejected or ignored.

At a January 18 Judiciary Committee hearing, Democrats and Republicans alike demanded that Gonzales provide details about the agreement the Justice Department had reached with the secret court.