In its landmark decision three years ago, the European Commission found Microsoft violated the EU competition law for abuse of its dominant position and fined the company a record 497 million euros (685 million U.S. dollars).

In addition, the U.S. software giant was also required to provide a new version of Windows operating system without its own media player program, and to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation, allowing its competitors to interoperate with its Windows PCs and servers.

Microsoft then contested the Commission's 2004 ruling at the European Court of First Instance.

The Commission imposed on Microsoft last July another fine totaling 386.5 million U.S. dollars, based on the finding that the company failed to fully respect its 2004 ruling, which Microsoft said it will also appeal.

Instead, the Atwoods' home was sold at a sheriff's auction in 1997 to American Land Investments because of the delinquent bill. The couple have won several court challenges since then and hope to withstand one more appeal over the property.

The State Tax Commission eventually nullified the 1997 sale, but when the Atwoods tried to sell the house in 2002, they discovered that American Land Investments had sold the property rights to Jamie Land Co., which then sued the Atwoods.

James A. Lindsay II, the company's president, said his rights were violated when the tax commission didn't inform him of its decision.

Without a clear title, the couple couldn't sell the house. Then in 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck. Dolores Atwood said they didn't have insurance, and because of the title, they didn't qualify for federal rebuilding help.

"I don't know how much more I can endure," said Atwood, 69, who lives in a FEMA trailer in front of the still-damaged home north of Slidell. Her husband, 71 and on a respirator, lives with relatives. She said the couple had been through "seven years of emotional hell."

In May 2006, a judge ruled that the property title belongs to the Atwoods. Last month, a state appeals court panel upheld the decision. Jamie Land asked the court to rehear the case, but that request was denied last week.

Now, the company plans to ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to take up the case. Lindsay said he doesn't want the Atwoods to suffer, but "I have rights too," adding that the commission gave him no notice when it annulled the tax sale.

"I don't owe him 50 cents," Delores Atwood said, "not with what he's put me through."

A Kremlin spokesman has promised a "targeted" response to Britain's expulsion of four Russian diplomats, raising the stakes in a dispute over the murder probe of a former KGB spy.

Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko briefed reporters in Moscow Tuesday, a day after Britain announced the explusions. Grushko told the Itar-Tass news agency to anticipate the Russian government's response to Britain's "provocative" move "in the very near future."

Grushko said it would be a "targeted and appropriate" response, but would not give further details other than to add that Russia's action would take into account "the interests of ordinary people and businessmen."

Analysts have said it is likely Russia will reciprocate by evicting British diplomats in Russia, but that they will stop short of hitting back at British business interests in Russia — a move that could be costly for both countries.

Meanwhile in London, a spokesman with the Foreign Office told reporters that "no reprisal on behalf of Russia would be justified."

The diplomatic row is rooted in the British investigation into the slaying of former KGB spy and fierce Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned by the radioactive isotope polonium-210 while dining at a London hotel on Nov. 1, 2006.

British prosecutors believe that Andrei Lugovoi, another former KGB agent who met with Litvinenko that day, is a prime suspect and they want him extradited to stand trial in London.

But Russia has refused to co-operate, arguing that it is against its constitution to extradite citizens wanted for crimes in foreign nations.

In retaliation, Britain's Foreign Ministry announced Monday that it was ordering four Russian diplomats to leave London to show the country is serious about prosecuting Lugovoi for what British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called a "heinous" crime.

"This response is proportional and it is clear at whom it is aimed," Miliband said Monday.

Britain has reportedly sent a list of four names threatened with expulsions to Russian officials, but Russia said it would wait for Britain to follow through with the expulsions before acting.

Amy Cheng and Fredric "Ric" Cohen today announced the formation of Cheng Cohen, LLP, a Chicago-based firm specializing in corporate, franchise, technology and business litigation.

With more than 30 years of combined experience, the lawyers at Cheng Cohen work with companies of all sizes as dedicated outside general counsel or corporate counsel. Cheng Cohen creates legal strategies that protect clients without losing sight of the company's business objectives. The firm also handles all types of business and commercial litigation from simple contract disputes to complex class actions.

In addition, Amy Cheng and Ric Cohen's extensive franchise experience positions Cheng Cohen as one of the best franchise law firms in the Country. Both Cheng and Cohen have been named "legal eagles" by Franchise Times.

Amy Cheng concentrates her practice in domestic and international commercial transactions, general corporate, and franchise, licensing and distribution law.

Before forming Cheng Cohen, Cheng was a partner with DLA Piper US LLP and its predecessor firms for her entire career. She was a member of DLA's Commercial, Corporate and Franchise & Distribution Practice Groups.

Cheng currently co-chairs the Chicago Chapter of the International Franchise Association's (IFA) Women's Franchise Network and previously co- chaired the Chicago Chapter of the IFA's Franchise Business Network. She has also spoken at and moderated roundtables for conferences and seminars sponsored by the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising and the International Franchise Association.

Ric Cohen is a seasoned litigator, trial lawyer and appellate advocate, who represents clients in state and federal trial and appellate courts across the country and in alternative dispute resolution forums such as arbitration and mediation. Cohen has extensive commercial litigation experience in areas that include contract disputes, antitrust, technology, intellectual property, valuation, and securities actions.

For nearly two decades, Cohen has represented many of the nation's most prominent franchise, licensing and distribution companies in a wide variety of lawsuits from complex multi-forum class action litigation to standard enforcement actions and everything in between.

Before forming Cheng Cohen, Cohen was a partner with DLA Piper US LLP and its predecessor firms for nearly his entire career. He was a member of DLA Piper's Litigation and Franchise & Distribution practice groups, co-chaired the firm's Franchise Litigation practice group, and was the firm's hiring partner.

Cohen has been named to The Best Lawyers in America(R) and The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers and has been selected as a Super Lawyer(R) by "Law & Politics" and "Chicago" magazines, and by his peers as an Illinois Leading Lawyer(R). Cohen is a member of the bars of the United States Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeals for the First, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, and numerous federal district courts across the country, as well as of the Illinois Supreme Court.

AT&T has lost an attempt to block a class-action lawsuit which is suing the carrier for alleged over-charging roaming fees. AT&T, known at the time as Cingular Wireless had tried to argue before Washington State's Supreme Court that the customers had signed a contract which included a clause forbidden the customer from starting a class-action lawsuit, but the court decided that the clause was unfair and sent the case back to the trial court in King County where it began.

The lawsuit was filed back in 2004 against Cingular has claimed that the carrier advertised free roaming in areas covered by AT&T Wireless - which at the time was actually a separate company - but charged customers for the roaming service. It is claimed that Cingular had overcharged customers between $1 and $40 per month.

Public Justice, America's public interest law firm, based in Washington, DC which represented the customers, argued that Cingular's class action ban is "unconscionable" under state law because it forces customers to arbitrate their individually-small claims one-by-one and denies them the option of acting as a group with a common grievance for any reason. Public Justice also argued that federal law does not trump state laws that preclude companies from barring class actions in contract provisions.

"This decision is likely to have a significant influence on the way other courts think about this issue," said Paul Bland of Public Justice, who argued the appeal. "A number of courts around the country are wrestling with this issue right now, and the Washington Supreme Court's opinion is so thoughtful and well-reasoned that it is likely to persuade many other courts to also protect consumer rights."

In striking down the class action ban, the court emphasized that, if Cingular's customers couldn't bring a class action, they would be prevented from pursuing valid claims against the company. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Tom Chambers stated that, if enforced, Cingular's class action ban would "effectively den[y] large numbers of consumers the protection of Washington's Consumer Protection Act."

The court also recognized that class actions are necessary to "strongly deter future similar wrongful conduct, which benefits the community as a whole."

Raised on fear and depression, children of Holocaust survivors say the Nazi terror has crossed generations, and want the German government to pay for their psychiatric care.

On Monday, Israelis who call themselves second generation survivors are filing a class action suit in a Tel Aviv court against the German government to finance therapy.

Thousands of people from Holocaust families are incapable of working, live with an irrational fear of starvation and suffer incapacitating bouts of depression, said Baruch Mazor, the director of the Fisher Fund which is filing the suit.

Mazor said 4 to 5 percent of the 400,000 children of survivors in Israel require treatment. Since many cannot hold steady jobs, they cannot pay for their own treatment, and aid from the Israeli government and health insurance has been inadequate, he said.

The suit seeks to set up a German-financed fund to pay for biweekly therapy sessions for 15,000 to 20,000 people, or about US$10 million (€7.3 million) annually for three years.

It was unclear what standing the Israeli court would have in a damages case against a foreign country.

Mazor said the Tel Aviv suit was a first step aimed at winning recognition that Germany should bear responsibility for the suffering of survivors' children. Armed with that ruling, the plaintiffs would try to negotiate a settlement, or would take their case to a German or an international court, he said.

Since the 1950s, Germany has paid more than US$60 billion (€44 billion) in reparations to concentration camp survivors, families of the some of the 6 million Jewish victims, and to the state of Israel. Much of that money went to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, a New York-based organization that negotiates with Germany and distributes the payments.

Mazor said money handled by the Claims Conference is earmarked for survivors, and their children did not want to detract from those funds.

Instead, they wanted "recognition and responsibility of the German government" for their problems, he said.

The German Foreign Ministry declined comment.

But Germany was likely to see the suit as opening an indefinite channel for future claims, just as the generation that lived through the Holocaust was reaching its end.

The suit claims the second generation grew up "in the shadow of depression, grief and guilt of their parents, which created a powerful inclination among the children for paid and suffering."

Children had a "twisted relationship with their parents" that impeded their development and led to severe psychological problems, the suit claims.

One 58-year-old woman told her story to Israel Radio Sunday, saying the fear of starvation experienced by her parents in Auschwitz, where inmates prized any crust of bread they could obtain, had been passed on to her.

"I have and had obsession over food, especially bread," said the woman. "If you come to my house and open the freezer, loaves of bread fall on you, without any proportion to what I really need."

She declined to disclose her name, but Mazor said she spoke for thousands.

She had no childhood, she said, but felt as if she jumped directly into adolescence. "In our house it was forbidden to exhibit pain or say that you are sad. My father taught us not to show people how we feel, that it is forbidden to show people you are hurt, or that things are hard for you. And this was very, very hard," said the woman.

The feeling conveyed by her father was: "I went through hell, and what you are going through is nothing."

Others of the second generation say they cannot ride buses because it reminds them of the transports their parents took to the concentration camps, or they fear dogs because they were used by the Nazis to control crowds.

Mazor said the Fisher Fund, a charity representing the second generation, held lengthy negotiations with the German Embassy over the compensation claims, but the talks were cut off by the Germans.

A court sentenced 35 opposition politicians and activists to life in prison and denied them the right to vote or run for public office for inciting violence in an attempt to overthrow the government, a judge said Monday.

The prosecution had called for death sentences against the defendants, who included Ethiopia's top opposition leaders and five people charged, tried and convicted in absentia. Another eight defendants facing similar charges were sentenced to between 18 months and 18 years in prison, said Judge Adil Ahmed, reading the sentences on behalf of the three-judge panel.

International human rights groups had widely condemned the trial as an attempt to silence government critics, and opposition leaders have claimed it was politically motivated. In a statement Monday, Amnesty International said it was dismayed at the life sentences.

"On the basis of the information we have, most — if not all — of those sentenced today are prisoners of conscience imprisoned on account of their opinions, who have not used or advocated violence and should therefore be immediately and unconditionally released," Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty's Africa program, said in the statement.

The judges declined to follow the recommendation of the prosecution to hand down the death penalty, Adil said.

"The court has deemed life imprisonment as a comprehensive and sufficient verdict for the actions taken," he said.

All those sentenced to life imprisonment have also been permanently denied the right to vote or run for office. Those given lesser sentences were banned from office for five years.

The judges also ordered the closure of three publishing companies and fined each of them between US$1,700 and US$13,600.

Those facing life imprisonment include the leader of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, Hailu Shawel; Berhanu Nega, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa; former Harvard scholar Mesfin Woldemariam; and former U.N. special envoy and a former professor at Virginia's Norfolk State University, Yacob Hailemariam.

The Federal High Court trial began in December 2005 following postelection violence that erupted during protests over balloting six months earlier.

The opposition won an unprecedented number of parliamentary seats in the 2005 vote, but Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held onto power. The opposition claimed the voting was rigged, and European Union observers said they were marred by irregularities.

Initially, the opposition leaders, journalists and others were charged with treason, inciting violence and attempted genocide. Judges dropped the treason and attempted genocide charges in April and later that month freed 25 prisoners, among them eight journalists.

Since April, a total of 43 people faced four other charges, but only nine chose to put up a defense.

Late last year, Ethiopia acknowledged that its security forces killed 193 civilians protesting alleged election fraud, but insisted they did not use excessive force. A senior judge appointed to investigate the violence had accused the security forces of excessive force.