Gov. Chris Christie approved a law firm with expertise in federal transit issues to help challenge a $271 million tab the federal government says the state owes for a canceled rail tunnel.

Christie's office said the governor had signed off Thursday on the selection of the Washington, D.C., firm of Patton Boggs. Rodney Slater, who served as U.S. transportation secretary under President Bill Clinton, and former Republican U.S. Sen. Trent Lott are among the partners.

"We're delighted to have been engaged by the state," said Stuart Pape, the firm's managing partner. The firm, which has an office in Newark, is assessing its strategy, Pape said.

Christie killed the $8.7 billion tunnel from New Jersey to New York City on Oct. 27, citing potential cost overruns that he said could add $2 billion to $5 billion or more to the price.

The federal government and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey each contributed $3 billion to the project, while New Jersey's share was $2.7 billion. The state and Port Authority were responsible for overruns.

Christie is fighting a bill for the return of federal money already spent on engineering and construction of the tunnel. The Nov. 24 bill from the Federal Transit Authority seeks payment within 30 days.

"It's not surprising that the same federal transit agency that had no clear way to pay for cost overruns of a project already hurt by poor planning and inequitable cost sharing is relying on bureaucratic power plays to wring even more money out of New Jerseyans," Christie said in a statement Thursday.

The US Supreme Court, which five years ago struck down laws preventing wine makers in one state from selling directly to customers living in another, could be poised to dip its collective toe into the wine vat again.

The top US court will soon decide whether to hear a challenge to a Texas law which says that wine retailers are not allowed to engage in cross-border commerce with individual consumers -- even if wine producers are.

The issue is being brought to the high court by those who argue that consumers have the right to buy the wine of their choosing even if it comes from an out-of-state merchant.

Tom Wark, executive director of the Specialty Wine Retailers Association (SWRA), said there are 37 states with such laws on the books similar to the one his group is fighting in Texas.

"If I can't find the wine that I want in my local store, I can go online and probably find that wine being sold from somewhere in another state, but I can't have it shipped to me," Wark told AFP.

He said his group -- founded under the banner "wine without borders" -- is hoping that the Supreme Court will make a similar finding to one it reached in a celebrated 2005 case that overturned state liquor laws which gave preferential treatment to in-state wineries.

Mohammad Reza Sadeghnia, a purported Iranian government agent who pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hitman to kill a broadcaster critical of the Iranian regime, is a fugitive from justice after missing a Los Angeles court date.

Sadeghnia, 43, was granted permission to travel to his native Iran earlier this fall to visit his ailing father and apparently never returned. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear at Tuesday's hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, deputy district attorney Ron Goudy said.

Sadeghnia's name appears among the trove of U.S. government documents recently posted by the WikiLeaks website. A confidential Jan. 21 diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in London says Sadeghnia admitted being an Iranian agent and conducting surveillance on two anti-Iranian government broadcasters — London-based Voice of America commentator Reza Nourizadeh and Jamshid Sharmahd, who runs Los Angeles-based radio programming for opposition group Tondar.

Sadeghnia, who lived for years in Ann Arbor, Mich., was arrested in July 2009 by police at a hotel near the Los Angeles airport. Prosecutors say he tried to hire a hitman to kill Sharmahd for $32,000. The man rejected the offer, police said, and agreed to testify against Sadeghnia, who pleaded guilty.

Wikileaks struggled to stay online Friday as corporations and governments moved to cut its access to the Internet, a potentially crippling blow for an organization dedicated to releasing secret information via the web.

The American company that hosted the website wikileaks.org stopped late Thursday after cyber attacks threatened the rest of its network. WikiLeaks responded by moving to a Swiss domain name, wikileaks.ch -- and calling on activists for support. Two companies host the Swiss domain name, one of which is in France. The other is in Sweden.

On Friday, the French government moved to ban WikiLeaks from French servers.

Industry Minister Eric Besson says it's "unacceptable" for French servers to host the site, which "violates the secret of diplomatic relations and puts people protected by diplomatic secret in danger."

In Friday's letter to the CGIET -- a government body that is part of the Finance Ministry involved in information technology among other industries -- Besson asked what legal steps could be taken to ban WikiLeaks from French servers.

He added that French servers who have hosted the site must first be made to understand the "consequences of their acts and secondly be made to take responsibility for them," suggesting possible legal fallout.

The law firm of Cunningham, Mitchell & Rocconi welcomes two attorneys, Elizabeth "Sissy" Rankin and Roman Hankins.

Rankin returns to the firm after serving as a General Sessions and Juvenile Court judge in Montgomery County.
Hankins returns to his hometown after graduating from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with a bachelor of business administration degree and a doctor of jurisprudence.

"We are very honored to have both Sissy and Roman join us," said Jack Mitchell, senior partner of the firm, in a news release. "Sissy's experience as a judge brings additional value to the litigation practices of our firm, and we are excited about Roman's potential after graduating UT with honors."

Larry Rocconi, another partner of the firm, sees additional opportunities for growth with the new hires. "We have been very fortunate in this economy to have an active practice and loyal clients. By getting Sissy back and bringing Roman on board, we can continue to provide existing and new clients with a high level of service in a timely fashion."

Rankin and Hankins said they share in the enthusiasm at Cunningham, Mitchell & Rocconi. "When my term as General Sessions judge ended, I knew that I wanted to come back to a strong law firm with a great reputation, both among lawyers and the community as a whole. I'm proud to be back with these gentlemen."

Struggling U.S. movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.(MGM) said Thursday its restructuring plan has been approved by a federal bankruptcy court, allowing it to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

Under the new plan, the company's lenders will exchange nearly five billion U.S. dollars in outstanding debt, including accrued interest and fees, for most of the equity in MGM. Spyglass Entertainment Partners Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum will become the company's new owners.

The approval is expected to end turmoil and uncertainty that have plagued the movie studio for 18 months.