By Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressman who has been blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng's main champion in Washington said people working for New York University have tried to keep him from meeting Chen, barging into a meeting on Capitol Hill and pulling Chen out on one occasion. U.S. Representative Chris Smith, an outspoken supporter of Chinese dissidents since the 1980s, described repeated instances of various people he says were from NYU interfering in his attempts to meet with Chen. ...

BOSTON (Reuters) - The trial of James "Whitey" Bulger on Thursday turns back to evidence of the 19 murders the alleged mob boss is accused of committing or ordering while he ran the ruthless Winter Hill crime gang in the 1970s and '80s. Family members of some of Bulger's alleged victims may take the stand to identify photos of their murdered relatives. Three days of testimony from star witness John Martorano - the first of Bulger's former lieutenants to take the stand - included chilling details of hits the now 72-year-old confessed killer described carrying out with Bulger. ...

By Colleen Jenkins WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - North Carolina's governor, hoping to resume executions in his state, on Wednesday signed the repeal of a law that has allowed death row inmates to seek a reduced sentence if they could prove racial bias affected their punishment. The Racial Justice Act, the only law of its kind in the United States, had led to four inmates getting their sentences changed to life in prison without parole after taking effect in 2009. ...

By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of a newly revived federal privacy oversight board pledged on Wednesday to be "as transparent and public as possible" as the board reviews recently exposed U.S. government secret surveillance programs. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which has been largely dormant since 2008, held its first full-fledged meeting on Wednesday after the Senate confirmed David Medine as its chairman last month. The meeting was behind closed doors to review classified information about the vast and controversial Internet and phone monitoring ...