China Mobile Communications Corp., owner of the world’s biggest phone company by subscribers, settled a lawsuit filed by a customer alleging the carrier abused its market position to charge users fees.

Zhou Ze, a lawyer with the Beijing Wentian Law Firm who sued China Mobile under the nation’s new anti-monopoly law, said today the company agreed to pay him 1,000 yuan ($146). He had originally asked for 1,200 yuan for the two years worth of 50 yuan monthly fees he was charged.

China Mobile’s lawyer, Xue Junfu, of the Beijing Jinde Law Firm said the payment was acknowledging the company’s gratitude for Zhou’s suggestions, not a reimbursement. The settlement agreement and Zhou’s withdrawal of his lawsuit was announced by Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court Oct. 23.

Rainie Lei, Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for China Mobile Ltd., the company’s mobile-phone unit, declined to comment on the case.

China Mobile, which had 508.4 million subscribers at the end of September, cut call fees and raised handset subsidies to attract 15.24 million users in the third quarter as it expands in lower-income rural areas to fend off mounting competition from China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd.

In a separate case on Oct. 23, Shanghai’s No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court dismissed an abuse of dominance case filed by Beijing Sursen Electronic Technology Co. Ltd. against Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. and Shanghai Xuanting Entertainment Information Technology Ltd., according to London-based law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.

An appeals court has upheld the conviction of British lawyer David Mills for accepting a bribe to lie in court to protect Silvio Berlusconi.

The decision Tuesday is a potential embarrassment for the Italian premier, whose trial in the same corruption case is expected to restart soon following an Italian high court's ruling that a law granting immunity to Italy's highest public officials is unconstitutional.

A lower court found Mills guilty of corruption in May and sentenced him to 4 1/2 years.

The judges ruled that Mills received $600,000 to give false testimony in two 1990s trials to shield Berlusconi and his Fininvest holding company from charges relating to the purchase of U.S. film rights.

A man who sneaked a bag of his feces into a San Diego courtroom during his home-invasion robbery trial, smeared it on his lawyer and threw it at jurors has been sentenced to 31 years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Frank Brown on Monday sentenced Weusi McGowan for robbery, burglary and two assault charges stemming from the feces-flinging incident during his January trial.

McGowan, who attorneys say suffers from mental illness, had asked for a mistrial because he believed jurors had seen him in restraints when he entered the courtroom.

Several days after his request was denied, McGowan pulled out a bag of excrement he had hidden in his clothing, rubbed it on his lawyer and tossed it at the jury, hitting one juror's computer case.

The parents of a southern Minnesota teenager who once fled the state to avoid chemotherapy went before a judge Monday and asked for the court's role in the case to end, saying they are following the advice of doctors and making sure their son gets the best medical care.

Daniel Hauser, 13, is undergoing radiation treatments for childhood Hodgkin's lymphoma. He finished chemotherapy in early September, and his father said there is no sign of cancer.

"In all reality, he's been in remission for quite some time already," Anthony Hauser said in a telephone interview Monday. "I hope he stays in remission — that's No. 1. And hopefully we can live our lives normally again."

During a hearing in Brown County District Court, Judge John Rodenberg said that as long as no new issues arise, he would close the case after Daniel completes his 12 recommended sessions of radiation — which are expected to end Nov. 6, according to Joseph Rymanowski, an attorney for the parents.

Ohio is struggling to find medical professionals willing to advise the state on the best way to put condemned inmates to death.

Attorney General Richard Cordray says in a court filing that ethical and professional considerations are deterring doctors and others from offering advice about lethal injection.

Executions are on hold in Ohio while the state develops new injection policies following a Sept. 15 execution that was stopped because the inmate had no usable veins.

Cordray's concerns came in a filing in U.S. District Court Friday.

He says his office has reached out to judges, police and lawmakers for help trying to find medical professionals willing to talk to the state.

He also says five lawmakers he didn't identify have agreed to try to find medical staff to help.

The years-long scandal of Hwang Woo-suk, a former Seoul National University professor charged with fraudulent stem cell research, reached the end of its first chapter yesterday as the court handed down a suspended sentence of two years.

"Though Hwang fabricated the DNA photographs in his 2004 paper and the stem cell charts in his 2005 paper, he cannot be seen as having thus defrauded his sponsors or the public," said the ruling judge of the Seoul Central Court yesterday. The scientist received 2 billion won ($1.7 million) in research funds from corporations by displaying his seemingly successful research papers.

"The money was voluntarily donated by the corporations, regardless of the contents of Hwang's papers," ruled the court.

The prosecution and the court, however, decided that the scientific authenticity of Hwang's papers was to be judged by scientific circles and not by the court.

The scientist was also declared guilty of embezzling part of the money for personal use and illegal egg cell-trading by using borrowed name accounts, said the court.