A prominent human rights activist and her co-accused cannot be tried — now or in the future — on terror charges because they were beaten and tortured in jail, Zimbabwe's Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said the court was issuing a permanent stay of prosecution in the case of Jestina Mukoko and eight other defendants because their constitutional rights had been violated.

Such a ruling from judges appointed by longtime President Robert Mugabe could signal a new willingness on his part to meet demands for reform from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his partner in the country's troubled unity government. But in a country that seems to lurch from promising to perilous from day to day, trends are hard to spot.

Innocent Gonese, a member of parliament from Tsvangirai's party, said the judgment could be "the beginning of good things to come, politically," but added that scores of other party activists remain jailed or face charges.

Richard Smith, a South Africa-based human rights activist, said the ruling could show an emerging streak of independence among judges known for taking orders from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

Like most law firms, K&L Gates LLP faces headwinds. The recession has cut demand for many corporate legal services, including work on mergers, real estate and corporate finance. In turn, profits at firms across the country have plummeted, forcing many of them to fire attorneys, freeze salaries and shut offices.

Peter Kalis, chairman of the 1,800-lawyer K&L firm, has felt the pain first hand. He cut costs sharply this year, including firing about 40 attorneys and 200 other staff members.

But the 59-year-old West Virginia native -- a Rhodes Scholar, Yale Law School graduate and clerk for Supreme Court Justice Byron White -- hasn't curtailed his expansion ambitions.

In the last two years, he has overseen mergers with firms in Chicago, North Carolina and Texas, and he has opened offices abroad, including in Singapore, Frankfurt and Dubai. His Pittsburgh law firm now ranks among the nation's largest, with 33 offices around the globe.

And Mr. Kalis shows no signs of slowing down. "Downturns can present extraordinary growth opportunities," he says. "But if you are lost in navel gazing and you don't have your head beams on high looking down the road, you'll miss the opportunities."

A lawyer for Zacarias Moussaoui has told a federal appeals court in Virginia that the Sept. 11 conspirator is entitled to a new trial.

Moussaoui is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to helping plan the 2001 terrorist attacks. But his lawyer told a three-judge panel Friday that the plea was unconstitutional because his trial lawyers had to undergo a national security background check, which restricted Moussaoui's right to choose counsel.

Moussaoui also claims he was denied helpful evidence. A federal prosecutor said Moussaoui decided to plead guilty before that evidence could be provided.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals first heard Moussaoui's appeal in January but ordered new arguments when a panel member retired before the case could be decided.

Major publishers accused Google Thursday of "brutally" exploiting France's literary heritage as they launched a court challenge to the Internet giant's drive to scan digital copies of books and put extracts online.

Publishing house La Martiniere, the French Publishers' Association and authors' group SGDL asked a Paris court to fine Google 15 million euros ($22.09 million) and 100,000 euros for each day it continues to violate copyright by digitizing their books.

The trial caps a three-year challenge to what publishers say is the web giant's 2005 plan to create a massive online library without prior approval.

"It's an anarchic way of brutally stockpiling French heritage," Yann Colin, the publishers' lawyer, told the court.

"Digitizing is reproduction," he added. "Once it is digitized, you can't undo it."

Colin argued that the case, which targets Google's French unit, should be tried under local law as the publishers, scanned works and authors were French.

The publishers also argue that Google's massive profits are "parasitic," as they were generated from sponsored links which are presented to web surfers searching for copyrighted books.

A federal appeals court on Thursday tossed out a $5 million verdict against protesters who carried signs with inflammatory messages like "Thank God for dead soldiers" outside the Maryland funeral of a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the signs contained "imaginative and hyperbolic rhetoric" protected by the First Amendment. Such messages are intended to spark debate and cannot be reasonably read as factual assertions about an individual, the court said.

A jury in Baltimore had awarded Albert Snyder damages for emotional distress and invasion of privacy. The 2006 funeral of Snyder's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in Westminster, Md., was among many military funerals that have been picketed by members of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas.

Albert Snyder's attorney, Sean E. Summers, said he and his client were disappointed.

Property rights advocates who fought to keep the city of New London from taking homes by eminent domain say the city's failure to develop the land is poetic justice. But city officials say the land's fate was victim of the bad economy.

Susette Kelo and six other homeowners fought for years to keep New London from taking their homes. The city won the right to buy the land in a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 2005.

Officials hoped for more than 3,000 new jobs in the development. But today, there's only a state park and a handful of new jobs.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert on Friday made his first court appearance on charges of graft, vowing he would prove his innocence.

As the first Israeli premier to face criminal charges in court, Olmert acknowledged at the arraignment hearing in Jerusalem that he understood the charges against him. He is not scheduled to enter a plea until later this year.

Olmert resigned under pressure last September but has insisted on his innocence and told journalists on Friday he was confident the trial would vindicate him.

"I am innocent, and I am certain the court will clear me of any suspicions," he said. "It is not an easy day for me; for the past three years I have been the target of an almost inhuman defamation campaign."

The court decided it will start hearing testimony on February 22 and will hold three sessions a week.

Olmert, who turns 64 on Wednesday, was charged in August with three counts of graft.