"A U.S. appeals court on Monday upheld the dismissal of a libel lawsuit by former Army scientist Steven Hatfill against The New York Times Co. over a series of columns he said implicated him in the 2001 anthrax attacks. A unanimous three-judge panel of the appeals court based in Richmond, Virginia, sided with the newspaper over the lawsuit that claimed that columns by Nicholas Kristof published in 2002 defamed Hatfill and caused him emotional distress." [Reuters]

Beginning today, former USA Today reporter Toni Locy, now a professor at West Virginia University, must pay a $500 daily fine for refusing to name the sources in an article about ex-"person of interest" Steven Hatfill, the former Army bioweapons scientist tied to the the 2001 anthrax attacks. Going one crazy step further, the judge insisted Locy make the payments without any support from her bosses, friends, or anonymous supporters. [AFP]