Maryland: Newspaper cartoon protested

Students picketed a college newspaper and demanded it apologize for a cartoon that said an American peace activist who was run over by an Israeli bulldozer was stupid.

The publication, The Diamondback at the University of Maryland, in College Park, refused to apologize, citing the First Amendment.

The cartoon, by student Daniel Friedman, showed a woman in front of a bulldozer. The label contained the dictionary definition of “stupidity,” and added another way to define stupidity: “Sitting in front of a bulldozer to protect a gang of terrorists.”

Rachel Corrie, 23, a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., was killed Sunday as she tried to stop an Israeli bulldozer from destroying the home of a Palestinian physician in the Gaza Strip.

Illinois: $10.1 billion ruling made in ‘light’ cigarette suit

A judge ordered Philip Morris USA on Friday to pay $10.1 billion for misleading smokers into believing its “light” cigarettes are less harmful than regular labels.

Philip Morris said it would appeal Judge Nicholas Byron’s decision.

The case in Edwardsville was the first class-action lawsuit in the nation to come to trial alleging a tobacco company committed consumer fraud in its advertising of light cigarettes.

Plaintiffs said Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro Lights and Cambridge Lights cigarettes, knew the light brands were just as unhealthy as regular cigarettes when it introduced them in the 1970s, but marketed them as a healthier alternative.

St. Louis: Court upholds junk-fax ban

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that unsolicited fax advertisements can be banned, a decision hailed as a victory for those annoyed by so-called junk faxes that tie up their machines.

The ruling overturns a decision by a federal judge last year dismissing Missouri Atty. Gen. Jay Nixon’s lawsuit against two companies behind faxed ads. The judge said the state failed to prove that faxed ads were harmful.

In Friday’s ruling, a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that “there is substantial governmental interest in protecting the public from the cost shifting and interference caused by unwanted fax advertisements.”

The lawsuit claimed junk faxes tie up consumers’ machines, waste their paper and unfairly shift the cost of paper, toner and lost fax line availability to unwilling recipients.

China :U.S. citizen sentenced in Falun Gong case

An American linked to the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement was sentenced to three years in prison by a Chinese court Friday after he was convicted of sabotaging broadcast facilities, the government said.

Charles Li of Menlo Park, Calif., also was ordered deported, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Li would have to serve his sentence before deportation.

The charges against Li appeared to be related to the hijacking of Chinese cable and satellite television broadcasts by Falun Gong followers to show videos protesting the Chinese government ban on their group.