Ed Genson told the Chicago Sun-Times for a story published Thursday that testimony from Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett — and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. — would help Gov. Rod Blagojevich's claim that he did no wrong in trying to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Messages left for Genson, the Obama transition team and Jackson were not returned to The Associated Press Thursday.

Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 and charged for allegedly trying to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. He has denied any wrongdoing.

South Korea's opposition parties and thousands of people petitioned the Constitutional Court to try to block U.S. beef from entering the country by claiming the notice violated their constitutional rights.

The nine-member court rejected the petition, saying that measures in the legal notice intended to protect consumer safety could not be ruled insufficient.

The government issued the notice in late June — the final administrative step required to allow shipments to resume — despite weeks of violent protests by South Koreans concerned about the health risks of eating U.S. meat.

South Korea banned American beef in 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was discovered in the U.S.

In November, South Korea's supermarket chains resumed selling U.S. beef from cattle younger than 30 months, believed less susceptible to mad cow disease.

Eating meat products contaminated with mad cow disease is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal human malady.

Pelham Chief Edward Fleury owns COPS Firearms & Training, which promoted the October show where Christopher Bizilj (bah-SEEL') shot himself in the head.

Fleury's lawyer, David Kuzmeski, also entered not guilty pleas on Fleury's behalf to four counts of furnishing a machine gun to a person under 18. Fleury did not appear at the arraignment in Hampden Superior Court.

Fleury could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter and up to 10 years if convicted of furnishing the weapon to a minor.

"We're very disappointed that he's been indicted," Kuzmeski said after the arraignment. "We're optimistic with our defenses. Of course, everybody is just feeling terrible about this accident. Mr. Fleury's sympathies go out to the family."

The boy, from Ashford, Conn., was killed Oct. 26 when he lost control of the 9mm micro submachine gun as it recoiled while he was firing at a pumpkin at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo. Christopher's father was 10 feet behind him and reaching for his camera when the child fired the weapon.

Pelham has appointed an acting police chief while Fleury remains on sick leave until Jan. 6.

District Attorney William Bennett has said Fleury wrongly assured two men who brought the weapon to Westfield Sportsman's Club that it was legal for children to use under Massachusetts law.

The issue was whether $5.2 million transferred from Colombia to the accounts of attorney Ben Kuehne were exempt from criminal prosecution because they were essentially legal fees. Kuehne's lawyers and defense attorneys' groups argued that the conspiracy charge against him violated the Sixth Amendment's guarantee that a person charged with a crime has a right to a lawyer.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke agreed, rejecting the U.S. Justice Department's contention that the payments were not necessary for the defense of Colombian drug baron Fabio Ochoa, who was eventually convicted and sentenced to prison.

"Congress has explicitly exempted from the money-laundering statute transactions necessary to preserve a person's right to representation," Cooke said in a 13-page ruling. "If I were to construe the statutory exemption as the government suggests, the exemption for such transactions would amount to no exemption at all."

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which filed briefs in the case, had argued that the conspiracy charge against Kuehne could deter lawyers around the country from representing numerous clients whose legal fees might stem from questionable sources.

Brian McNamee, who told federal investigators that Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs, contends the pitcher defamed him after McNamee spoke to investigators for former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. The summons, filed in Queens Supreme Court last week, preserves McNamee's right to sue, Richard Emery, a lawyer for McNamee, said Tuesday.

Clemens filed his own defamation suit against McNamee in January after the trainer said in the Mitchell Report that he regularly injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens later told a congressional committee under oath he had never taken steroids.

In the federal case in Texas, McNamee's attorneys say the trainer was forced to talk to investigators under threat of prosecution, rendering him immune from any defamation lawsuit. A federal prosecutor backed McNamee's claim, but a judge has yet to rule on his request to toss the case.

In a case filed Friday, the U.S. said China was violating global trade rules administered by the World Trade Organization in the way it operates a "famous brands" program to promote the sale of Chinese goods overseas.

"There are some different opinions between the two countries on trade and these differences should be solved through equal consultations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news briefing.

"Under the current circumstances with the deteriorating financial crisis, we should be alert to trade protectionism in any forms," said Qin.

The United States could be cleared to impose economic sanctions against China if negotiations between the two nations fail to resolve the dispute and if a WTO hearing panel rules in favor of the U.S.

A notice on China's Ministry of Commerce said Sunday that China has always obeyed WTO rules and opposes protectionism. China will follow the rules of the WTO in dealing with the case, it said.

China's export-dominated economy is feeling the brunt of a drop of demand in its Western markets, with thousands of factories closing in its once-booming southern provinces. Critics say China is not doing enough to stimulate domestic consumption and is still trying to support its exporters, which could bring it into friction with the U.S. and other trading partners.

The Fed's decision means the New York City-based commercial financial services firm will have permanent access to the Fed's emergency loan window and also will be eligible for loans from the $700 billion rescue fund created by Congress on Oct. 3.

CIT Group had been seeking the change in status in an effort to improve its funding options and help weather the severe credit crisis that has hit the financial sector.

"Bank holding company status is expected to provide us increased access to funding and a new platform from which we will serve our middle market and small business clients," CIT Group Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey M. Peek said in a release. "We believe this step should ultimately enhance the value of our franchise."

CIT Group had its credit rating cut by Standard & Poor's on Friday. The company's counterparty credit rating was reduced to "BBB+" from "A-." The new rating is still considered investment grade.

S&P has taken an increasingly pessimistic view on the broader financial services industry which is undergoing a severe credit crunch with billions of dollars of loan losses and the U.S. economy struggling to emerge from a recession that is already the longest in a quarter-century.

The government is trying to counteract the credit crisis by using the bailout program to purchase stock in financial institutions as a way of bolstering their balance sheets and encouraging them to resume more normal lending. In addition, the Fed has made billions of dollars of emergency loans to banks through its discount window.