Judge to Hear Arguments Against Health Care Law; France Warned of Threat

A federal judge is hearing arguments Monday in a lawsuit brought by the Virginia attorney general challenging one of the major tenets of the health care reform law.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s suit alleges that the individual mandate — the part of the law that will require nearly every American to purchase health insurance — is unconstitutional.

The Washington Post reports:

[Judge Henry E. Hudson] is not expected to issue a ruling in the case Monday, but he may indicate when he plans to rule. And he will question lawyers for both sides. The tone and substance of the queries may give some indication of how he views the constitutional dispute.

The suit is one of two state-led lawsuits challenging the health reform law. Last week, a judge in Florida [ruled that the other suit](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/10/judge-allows-multistate-health-reform-lawsuit-to-move-forward.html), brought by 20 states and led by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, could go forward. He will hear arguments in December.

France Warned of Terror Threat

Saudi Arabia has warned France it is the target of an imminent al-Qaida attack, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Sunday. He said Saudi intelligence agencies spoke of a threat to Europe, and “France in particular.”

Intelligence sources in North Africa and the United States also contacted France about a potential threat, Hortefeux said. He said he had spoken at length with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The BBC says the information appears to have been released by the government as a warning to the French public that they must remain vigilant and that authorities have been criticized for “scaremongering.”

Report: Facebook Privacy Breach

A Wall Street Journal investigation has found that many of the most popular applications on Facebook “have been transmitting identifying information — in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names — to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies.” The issue affects tens of millions of Facebook users, including people who set their profiles to Facebook’s strictest privacy settings, the Journal reports.