The Supreme Court has struck down a California law that bans the sale and rental of violent video games to children. In a 7-2 vote, the justices ruled that the law was unconstitutional and that it violated the free speech rights of children.

A federal judge granted a request to block parts of Georgia's immigration law.

The AP reports:

Judge Thomas Thrash on Monday blocked parts of the law that penalize people who transport or harbor illegal immigrants. He also blocked provisions that authorize officers to verify the immigration status of someone who can't provide proper identification.

Cigarette makers must pay to help smokers in Louisiana quit their habit, as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by tobacco companies in a landmark class-action case.

By refusing to throw out a $270 million jury award, the high court put an end to a case that began in May 1996, when some 500,000 smokers in Louisiana filed a class-action suit against tobacco companies.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Major League Baseball recently nixed a TV deal for the Dodgers that team owner Frank McCourt said would provide financial stability for the team. The bankruptcy filing appears to be a last ditch effort by McCourt to keep baseball from seizing the Dodgers — one of the most storied teams in sports.

Owner: MLB Forced Us To This Point

Both Serena and Venus Williams were eliminated from Wimbledon's singles tournament Monday, ending a streak of success at the grass event.

Their exit means that for the first time since 2006, neither Williams sister will play in the Wimbledon women's final.

Here's part of a Newscast report NPR's Philip Reeves filed from London:

Me: So what's this?

Dave Mosher: A state-of-the-art, baseball-catching robot.

Me: A what?

DM: A robot that catches baseballs without a glove. And when I say balls, that's what I mean: this guy can catch two bare-handed — at the same time!

Me: You don't need to catch two balls in baseball.

DM: Germans built this robot...

Me: Ah...

DM: Anyway, you've got to see this...

Me: Wow!

Upset that a planned high-speed railroad line would disrupt their mountainous environment, around 2,000 demonstrators gathered late Sunday for a protest that erupted into violence early Monday. More than two dozen police officers were hurt, along with four protesters, according to reports.

The demonstrators say that the planned train line, and the extensive tunnels it requires, would damage the Susa Valley, near Turin. The plans call for drilling through nearly 33 miles of mountain. Monday's clash came as workers prepared to drill into the mountainside.

Charter schools are taxpayer-funded schools that are overseen by their own independent boards. Because of their independence, they are allowed to do things that traditional public schools cannot do. School administrators can experiment with things like the length of the school day and the makeup of each school's curriculum.

Google draws over 1 billion visits to its websites each month, making it the world's largest Web property. But what it might do with that market share has helped Google become federal regulators' target in a massive antitrust investigation.

It is not illegal for a company to have a monopoly — what experts say is illegal is how a company uses its monopoly.

Beginning in January of 2012, Australia plans to introduce plain cigarette packaging. As the New York Times reports, legislation, which is expected to pass through the Australian Parliament easily in July, would mandate that cigarettes be sold in green packets without any logos.

The move comes just a week, after the U.S. introduced nine graphic labels companies will have to place at the top of cigarette boxes. Big tobacco is not happy.