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.

The American Lawyer is the country’s leading monthly magazine for lawyers and has served as the standard by which the nation’s most important lawyers measure themselves for 25 years.

Earlier this year, Massachusetts lawmakers lobbied for a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage which would strictly define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, though it would leave existing Massachusetts same-sex marriages intact. While the recognition of the 26 marriage certificates does not actually change the legal status of the marriages, Patrick's decision has been heralded by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) as a move toward treating same-sex couples equally to heterosexual couples. Patrick's order was criticized, however, by the Massachusetts Family Institute which said Patrick was "placing his personal preference above the law."

Massachusetts is currently the only US state to recognize same-sex marriage, after a November 2003 state high court ruling, and more than 8,000 same-sex couples have since been wed there.

Apple could face significant fines if found in violation of EU antitrust laws. The company has two months to respond to a letter from the European Commission containing questions about its iTunes sales practice in Europe. Last year, France passed legislation allowing French regulators to force Apple to make its iPod player compatible with songs downloaded from other Internet music stores, and downloads from its iTunes service compatible with other players. Similar legislation has been proposed in Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Poland.