For the first time, a trial is scheduled to open in U.S. federal court this week over whether a U.S. company is accountable for alleged human-rights transgressions committed overseas. The case, in Birmingham, Ala., involves mining company Drummond Co. and its alleged collaboration with Colombian paramilitaries in 2001 to kill three mining-union leaders near a Drummond mine in La Loma, Colombia. Drummond has denied any role in the deaths of the union leaders. [also refers to ExxonMobil, Bridgestone-Firestone, Unocal]