AFP - A US appeals court suspended Thursday a ban on state-funding for embryonic stem cell research pending a full appeal of the case, in a major boost to President Barack Obama's administration.

• U.S. appeals court puts on hold stem cell funding ban (Reuters)
  Reuters - A U.S. appeals court granted on Thursday an Obama administration request for a temporary stay that lifts a judge's ban on federal funding of research involving human embryonic stem cells.  More
  
  
• US to fight early release of ex-Ill. gov. Ryan (AP)
  AP - Federal prosecutors say they will oppose former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's attempts to be released early from prison.  More
  
  
• US court lifts ban on state-funding for stem cell research (AFP)
  

  AFP - A US appeals court suspended Thursday a ban on state-funding for embryonic stem cell research pending a full appeal of the case, in a major boost to President Barack Obama's administration.

  
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• Appeals court lets government halt torture lawsuit (AP)
  

  AP - A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit challenging a controversial post-Sept. 11 CIA program that flew terrorism suspects to secret prisons.

  
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• Islamic charity trial goes to Oregon jury (AP)
  AP - A jury will have to determine whether a man's failure to disclose $150,000 on federal tax forms was an effort to smuggle money to Muslim fighters in Chechnya or just an oversight by an accountant.  More
  
  
• Man convicted of torching Calif. woman over drugs (AP)
  AP - One of four men accused of kidnapping and burning a California woman to death over a pound of pot has been found guilty of murder.  More
  
  
• MTV's `Snooki' fined $500 for bothering beachgoers (AP)
  

  AP - Calling her "a Lindsay Lohan wannabe," a judge fined "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi $500 on Wednesday and ordered her to perform community service after she pleaded guilty to disturbing others on a beach in July.

  
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  • U.S. appeals court puts on hold stem cell funding ban (Reuters)
    Reuters - A U.S. appeals court granted on Thursday an Obama administration request for a temporary stay that lifts a judge's ban on federal funding of research involving human embryonic stem cells.  More
    
    
  • US to fight early release of ex-Ill. gov. Ryan (AP)
    AP - Federal prosecutors say they will oppose former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's attempts to be released early from prison.  More
    
    
  • US court lifts ban on state-funding for stem cell research (AFP)
    

    AFP - A US appeals court suspended Thursday a ban on state-funding for embryonic stem cell research pending a full appeal of the case, in a major boost to President Barack Obama's administration.

    
      More
    
    
  • Appeals court lets government halt torture lawsuit (AP)
    

    AP - A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit challenging a controversial post-Sept. 11 CIA program that flew terrorism suspects to secret prisons.

    
      More
    
    
  • Islamic charity trial goes to Oregon jury (AP)
    AP - A jury will have to determine whether a man's failure to disclose $150,000 on federal tax forms was an effort to smuggle money to Muslim fighters in Chechnya or just an oversight by an accountant.  More
    
    
  • Man convicted of torching Calif. woman over drugs (AP)
    AP - One of four men accused of kidnapping and burning a California woman to death over a pound of pot has been found guilty of murder.  More
    
    
  • MTV's `Snooki' fined $500 for bothering beachgoers (AP)
    

    AP - Calling her "a Lindsay Lohan wannabe," a judge fined "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi $500 on Wednesday and ordered her to perform community service after she pleaded guilty to disturbing others on a beach in July.

    
      More
    
    
  • Court won't order California to defend Prop 8 (AP)
    

    AP - California's highest court on Wednesday refused to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's attorney general to appeal a federal ruling that overturned the state's gay marriage ban.

    
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  • CIA rendition: US court throws out torture case, citing state secrets (The Christian Science Monitor)
    The Christian Science Monitor - A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit seeking to hold a government contractor partly responsible for a secret CIA program to whisk terror suspects to undisclosed prisons overseas for brutal interrogations.  More
    
    
  • Jurors told to disregard part of nanny testimony (AP)
    

    AP - The judge in Anna Nicole Smith's drug conspiracy trial told jurors Wednesday to disregard part of a former nanny's testimony because he did not consider it reliable.

    
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  • US court dismisses CIA rendition lawsuit against Boeing unit (AFP)
    

    AFP - A US court dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday against a Boeing subsidiary for allegedly flying terror suspects to secret CIA sites for interrogation, saying the case could have exposed state secrets.

    
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  • Serial killer stalks teens in `Fever of the Bone' (AP)
    

    AP - "Fever of the Bone" (HarperCollins, $14.99), by Val McDermid: When serial crime fiction is done well, readers can drop into any installment and within a few chapters, understand nearly everything about the primary characters and their relationship with one another.

    
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  • `Pretty Little Things' is tale of sexual predators (AP)
    

    AP - "Pretty Little Things" (Vanguard Press, $25.95), by Jilliane Hoffman: Jilliane Hoffman takes the standard "To Catch a Predator" plot — adult male sex offender ensnaring unsuspecting teens by various online chat rooms or social networks — and escalates it to a thoroughly creepy serial killer level.

    
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  • Accused Somali pirate pleads guilty in DC (AP)
    AP - An accused Somali pirate has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy from a November 2008 attack in the Gulf of Aden on a Danish ship carrying cargo from a U.S. company.  More
    
    
  • UK extradition review to scrutinize U.S. requests (Reuters)
    Reuters - Britain said on Wednesday it would review its extradition laws after criticism that treaty arrangements with other nations, in particular the United States, make it too easy to transfer suspects for trial there.  More
    
    
  • Polygamist Prophet Warren Jeffs: One Step Closer to a Texas Court (Time.com)
    Time.com - Looking thinner and frailer, Warren Jeffs is fighting extradition to Texas but all his defense may be able to do is delay  More
    
    
  • Bob Marley's daughter pleads guilty to drug charge (Reuters)
    Reuters - The youngest child of late reggae star Bob Marley has pleaded guilty to a drug charge after police caught her growing marijuana in her Pennsylvania home, her lawyer said.  More
    
    
  • NY man, 90, sentenced in wife's battering death (AP)
    AP - A 90-year-old western New York man has been sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison for battering his wife of nearly 68 years to death with a hammer.  More
    
    
  • Swastikas scrawled in California neighborhood (AP)
    AP - Racist graffiti and swastikas scrawled on garage doors and cars in a Southern California neighborhood are being investigated as a hate crime.  More
    
    
  • Bob Marley's daughter pleads guilty to drug charge (AP)
    AP - The youngest child of reggae legend Bob Marley has admitted growing marijuana in her Philadelphia-area home.  More