The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted new privacy rules for telephone and wireless companies on Tuesday aimed at strengthening safeguards against pretexting, the disclosure of personal telephone records to unauthorized individuals. The new rules include carrier authentication requirements, additional notice requirements, and annual certification requirements. Commenting on the new rules, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a prepared statement that the regulations significantly strengthen existing safeguards by requiring express consent before a carrier can give a customer’s phone records to other parties for marketing purposes.

In January, President Bush signed into law new federal legislation to protect telephone consumers from pretexting. The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006 was approved by the US Senate in December in response to the Hewlett-Packard corporate spying scandal that broke last summer.

A federal jury on Monday convicted Mark Cocchiola and Steven Venechanos on 38 counts that included conspiracy, bank fraud, securities fraud, mail and wire fraud.

Cocchiola founded of the Paterson-based company; Venechanos was its chief financial officer and corporate secretary.

"These were corrupt businessmen," U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said in a statement. "They bankrupted a company that was in reality a myth built on phony sales. They were driven by unbridled greed without a thought to the investors they charmed with their illusion of Suprema's success."

Cocchiola, 51, of Englewood Cliffs, and Venechanos, 48, of New Milford, could face dozens of years in prison and millions of dollars in fines when sentenced July 10 by U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler. The heaviest penalties are for the 17 bank fraud charges, each of which carries up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Cocchiola and Venechanos were indicted in July 2005. They were convicted following an eight-week trial in which the jury deliberated eight days.

The former controller of Suprema, along with a former manager and four former customers, pleaded guilty to charges including securities fraud and food adulteration charges.

Suprema was liquidated after filing for bankruptcy protection in March 2002.

Prosecutors said that Suprema used the illusion of its growth to conduct a series of secondary stock offerings, netting Suprema millions from investors. Meanwhile, Cocchiola got over $2.5 million, and Venechanos over $1 million, from selling their holdings.

Prosecutors also said that in the second half of 2001, nearly 20 percent of Suprema's reported inventory was imitation cheese that had been relabeled as higher-priced real cheese.

Caniaveral pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of simple assault on a juvenile in October. In doing so, he admitted to intentionally touching the girl, who was sleeping in the window seat covered by a blanket.

The U.S. Attorney's office reports that Caniaveral first stroked the girl's arm with his hand, then he touched her on the stomach below the navel. The tip of his fingers reached below the waist of her pants, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

The girl awoke during the incident, according to the U.S. Attorney's office, and she alerted a flight attendant.

"I laud the victim's courage in reporting and pursuing this case," said Schools. "Too often this type of attack is not reported or not punished."

The incident, which was investigated by the FBI, took place on a Philippine Airlines flight to San Francisco from Manila.

A Baltimore man who attended an Islamist guerrilla training camp in Pakistan pleaded guilty in New York to a terrorism charge.

Mahmud Faruq Brent, 32, faces up to 15 years in jail at his July 10 sentencing, The Washington Post reported.

Brent, who is also known as Mahmud Al Mutazzim, was scheduled to go on trial April 24 with two other defendants. His lawyer, Hassen Ibn Abdellah, told the Post Brent didn't plan to testify against the other defendants.

Brent pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to conspiring to aid a group on the U.S. terrorism list, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, by attending one of its training camps. He was arrested in 2005 and has admitted attending the camp in 2002, the Post reported.

Federal officials tied Brink, an Ohio native and former Washington taxi and ambulance driver, to Seifullah Chapman, a member of what prosecutors called the "Virginia jihad network," the Post said. Chapman was sentenced to 65 years in prison on charges that included conspiring to support Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The automakers argue in several pending cases that state regulation of greenhouse gases is illegal, because it amounts to regulating the fuel efficiency of cars, which only the EPA can do.

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that greenhouse gases can be regulated as air pollutants. For the EPA to regulate, it must first determine that science shows global warming is harmful to human health and welfare.

But even if the EPA decides greenhouse gases should be regulated to protect public health, the agency could still deny California's long-delayed request to implement its own law by saying that the problem is global and not unique to the state, the paper quoted Harvard University environmental law professor Jody Freeman as saying.

"Even if California prevails, Congress could end up passing weaker national legislation that would supersede the state's," the paper said.

"I think it's a very tough call right now," said Freeman. "I don't think the chances are great, because I think there's reason to believe Congress will act before EPA."

To get a waiver, California must show compelling and extraordinary conditions, Freeman said.

"California is special. It's the only state in the country that can set tailpipe standards separate from federal standards," she said. "Everything depends on that waiver."

California has mandated that its emissions standards for cars would begin in 2009 and pledged to cut global warming emissions nearly 30 percent by 2016.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who broke with President George W. Bush by endorsing California's Democratic-sponsored emissions law, wrote to the president and the EPA a year ago for asking them to grant the state's request to implement its own law.

Kelly Finestone filed the suit yesterday against Ontario, Canada-based Menu Foods Incorporated and Petco Animal Supply Stores Incorporated of San Diego.

Finestone alleges negligence and strict liability. Her lawsuit states that she bought the dog for twelve-hundred dollars, then spent three thousand dollars on veterinarian bills after he got sick. It cost five-hundred dollars to cremate him.

The lawsuit also alleges Fineman suffered emotional distress and a loss of companionship after her dog's death. Her lawsuit does not specify the amount of additional general and actual damages she is asking for.

She is also looking for others to join in her lawsuit.

According to The Liberty Times, HP on Tuesday levelled a law suit before a Texas court, accusing Acer of using five of its patented technologies for the production of PCs. In its law suit, HP demands a cessation of sales of Acer’s computers, laptops, media centres and similar products in the United States.

This more of a rival tactics, said Kirk Yang, an analyst of the Citigroup Investment Research company.

Daniel Chang of the Macquarie Research Equities agrees with such an assessment. We believe that this is only the first step of the HP to fight off a strong rival, by hindering Acer’s growth, he said.

The law suit could prove fatal for Acer, to which the USA is the second biggest market. Its American distributors may not want to take on the risk of selling Acer products in fear of law suits or a court ban whose rescinding could take time.

The USA is credited for around 20 percent of Acer’s incomes. In 2006 the company produced 1.1 million PCs and 311,111 desktop computers and hopes that sales in the US will increase by 25 percent in 2007.

Analysts also warned of the serious competition by Dell Inc. the company’s CEO, Michael Dell, visited Taipei on March 19, where he met with Taiwanese distributors, which caused speculations that Dell planned to order more complete laptop products from local companies.

Such a move would be negative for Acer that completely counts on distributors in the sale of computers, while Dell uses direct sales models.