The justices will hear arguments later this year over the convictions of Black, the former chairman and chief executive of the Hollinger International media company, and two other former executives in connection with payments of $5.5 million they received from a Hollinger subsidiary.

The men argued that they did not commit fraud because they did no harm to the company.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld the convictions, but the nation's appeals courts are divided on the central issue undergirding their convictions.

At issue is the reach of a federal fraud statute that was originally aimed at prosecuting public officials.

Black and former executives John A. Boultbee and Mark S. Kipnis argue that the $5.5 million actually represented management fees that the subsidiary owed to the executives.

Hollinger once owned the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Telegraph of London, the Jerusalem Post and hundreds of community papers across the United States and Canada.

All of Hollinger's big papers except the Sun-Times have now been sold and the company that emerged changed its name to Sun-Times Media Group.

Black, a member of the British House of Lords, has so far served more than a year of his sentence at the federal prison in Coleman, Fla. He had asked President George W. Bush for a pardon before Bush left office in January.

The justices declined Monday to get involved in a dispute between the Canadian Pacific Railway and residents of Minot, ND. The Minot residents want to sue the railroad over a 2002 derailment that sent a cloud of toxic anhydrous ammonia farm fertilizer over the city. One man died trying to escape the fumes and others were treated at hospitals for eye and lung problems.

In 2006, a U.S. district judge ruled that federal law protected Canadian Pacific from claims stemming from the derailment. After Congress changed the law the same year, the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the claims could be pursued.

Mitchell "Ed" Karam of Troy, a 76-year-old developer, appeared in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday, nearly a week after he was named in two indictments. The indictments describe schemes to manipulate sports events by paying a jockey and former Toledo basketball and football players.

He was joined in court by Kashif Payne, 24, of Chester, Pa., who left the basketball team in November 2007. Not-guilty pleas were entered on behalf of both men.

Karam often covered his face with his hands as he waited for his name to be called.

"We contest the charges," defense lawyer Brian Legghio said outside court. "We're going to examine the evidence very closely."

The evidence includes phone calls secretly recorded by the FBI, involving Karam, co-defendant Ghazi "Gary" Manni of Sterling Heights, jockey Ricardo Valdes and Toledo players.

Authorities say Karam and Manni bet $407,000 on Toledo basketball games in 2005 and 2006 and paid players to shave points to control the final score. Seven ex-players — three in football and four in basketball — have been charged.

New York's top court ruled Tuesday that police cannot place GPS trackers on suspects' vehicles without first getting a court warrant showing probable cause that the drivers are up to no good.

The Court of Appeals split 4-3 on the issue, with the majority saying the tracker that state police planted on Scott Weaver's van for 65 days starting in 2005 violated his constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

The ruling overturned both the trial court and a midlevel appeals court. Weaver has been free on bail.

"The massive invasion of privacy entailed by the prolonged use of the GPS device was inconsistent with even the slightest reasonable expectation of privacy," Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wrote.

Judges Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, Eugene Pigott Jr. and Theodore Jones Jr. agreed.
They rejected the argument that the satellite tracking device was essentially the same as common police surveillance of vehicles.

An appeals court has rejected a lawsuit against a gunmaker over a 1999 shooting rampage at a San Fernando Valley Jewish center.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles ruled Monday that a federal law shielding gunmakers from suits over criminal use of their products was constitutional.

White supremacist Buford Furrow wounded five people, including three children, at a Jewish community center in Granada Hills. He later killed a postal carrier.

Furrow pleaded guilty and got life in prison.

Relatives of victims sued Georgia-based Glock Inc., RSR Wholesale Guns Seattle and a Chinese manufacturer. Monday's ruling said Glock and the Seattle dealer were immune. The case against China North Industries Corp. can proceed.

All appeared quiet at Demjanjuk's home in the Cleveland suburb of Seven Hills as his wife tended to her lilac bush and an unidentified man visited Saturday, one day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers delivered the notice.

It is the most recent development in a complex 32-year case linking Demjanjuk (pronounced dem-YAHN'-yuk) to World War II atrocities. An arrest warrant in Munich accuses the native Ukrainian of 29,000 counts of accessory to murder at Sobibor in Nazi-occupied Poland, one of the infamous, horrific sites of the Holocaust.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens had refused Thursday, without comment, to deal with the case.

Demjanjuk's son, John Demjanjuk Jr., said there are no plans to appeal to another Supreme Court justice. He said such a move might be seen as a delay tactic, a claim made by the U.S. government about other Demjanjuk appeals.

Hsu, 58 years old, pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan.

"I would use later investments to pay off earlier investments, so as to create the impression that my investment strategy was operating properly when, in fact, it was not," Hsu said. "I knew what I was doing was illegal,"

Jury selection is scheduled on the four remaining counts of campaign finance fraud in his case beginning Monday.

Hsu faces up to 20 years in prison on the mail and wire fraud charges.

Alan Seidler, Hsu's lawyer, said Hsu made the plea without having a plea agreement with the government.

Prosecutors had alleged Hsu falsely represented to investors that his companies - Components Ltd. and Next Components Ltd. - were in the business of extending short-term financing to companies and promised short-term, high-return investments.

Between 1997 and August 2007, the government claims Hsu convinced investors to entrust him with at least $60 million in a Ponzi scheme. After repaying some investors their principal and interest, Hsu allegedly swindled other investors out of at least $20 million, prosecutors said.

During his plea, Hsu said the scheme began in 1999.

Prosecutors also have alleged Hsu, in order to raise his public profile, pressured some investors between 2004 and 2007 to individually contribute thousands of dollars to candidates for president and Congress whom Hsu supported.

In some cases, Hsu allegedly reimbursed investors for making political contributions with proceeds from the scam, prosecutors said.

In 2007, Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign agreed to return $850,000 in funds raised through Hsu. Clinton, who was running for president at the time, has since been named U.S. Secretary of State.