Leading Sunday's legal news, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a multi-billion dollar trust fund formed to benefit those injured by diet drugs has been the target of a massive fraud. Lawyers for the $3.75 billion trust said thousands of fraudulent claims have been filed by lawyers across the country with the help of cardiologists. More than eight times the 8,300 expected claims were filed after the fund was established by the manufacturer of diet drugs Pondimin and Redux that led to heart damage. The Inquirer has more.

In other legal news Sunday...

• Guantanamo spy cases evaporate
  The Washington Post reports: "Last September, top officials of the Navy prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told a military judge in Florida that the prison's Muslim chaplain, Army Capt. James Yee, would soon be charged with mutiny, sedition, espionage, spying and aiding the enemy -- crimes that could lead to his execution. ... Instead, Yee will face much less serious charges, such as mishandling classified materials and adultery, when the case against him resumes at a hearing at Fort Benning, Ga., scheduled for Feb. 4."
  
  
• Kazaa owner gets OK to sue record labels
  Reuters reports: "A U.S. federal court has cleared the way for Kazaa file-sharing software owner Sharman Networks to sue the entertainment industry for copyright infringement, Sharman said on Friday."
  
  
• Northern Virginia looks to be next stop for sniper case
  The Washington Post reports: "Behind-the-scenes preparations are underway for convicted snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo to be tried next in Northern Virginia courtrooms."
  
  
• Group backs off DVD encryption lawsuit
  AP reports: "In a rare retreat, a film industry coalition has dropped its trade secret court battle against a San Francisco computer programmer who in 1999 posted on the Internet code that cracks movie copy-protection technology."
  
  
• SEC mulls new disclosure rules
  The Financial Times reports: "US regulators are frustrated that companies are not making more financial disclosures and are watching the year-end reporting season to decide whether new rules are needed."

In international legal news...

• Iran hard-liners veto election bill
  AP reports: "Iran's hard-line Guardian Council has vetoed a bill that sought to reverse the disqualification of thousands of reformist electoral candidates, a leading legislator said tonight."
  
  
• U.S. lawmakers make landmark Libya visit
  AP reports: "The sight of the white jet taxiing down the tarmac today — the first U.S. military plane to touch down in Tripoli since 1969 — left no doubt that a pariah state was coming in from the cold after renouncing its nuclear weapons program."
  
  
• African rights court's slow start
  BBC News reports: "An African human rights court is due to come into force today following its ratification by the required number of African Union countries."

Every day, JURIST's editors at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law review thousands of developing stories from the wire services, newspapers and broadcast media in the US and abroad, selecting the latest legal news worth thinking about. That's all for now. Check back Monday for the next legal news brief on JURIST's Paper Chase.

On January 25, 1971, Charles Manson and three women of his "family" were convicted of murder and conspiracy for the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate. Learn more about the trial of Charles Manson from Professor Douglas Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.