At least part of the case has been withdrawn against Zhao Yan, who works for the NYT in China as a researcher. Zhao has been imprisoned for the past 18 months on charges of fraud and disclosing state secrets to the newspaper.

An excerpt from the NYT story:

His lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said court officials told him on Friday that the decision meant that both charges against Mr. Zhao were being withdrawn. He said his client could possibly be released within days. But a court order on the matter, issued Friday, made no mention of a release date for Mr. Zhao and gave no definitive statement about his status.

Officials with China's Foreign Ministry, who had failed to respond to earlier calls, said late in the evening that "further information" was needed about the "new developments." The ministry declined to say whether Mr. Zhao would be released.

In Washington, the State Department could not confirm that one or both charges against Mr. Zhao had been dropped, said a spokesman, Tom Casey. He said the embassy in Beijing would continue to press for Mr. Zhao's release, "because the charges against him lack merit."

The uncertainty about Mr. Zhao's fate lies in the unusual legal maneuver invoked by prosecutors. Mr. Zhao was supposed to go on trial no later than Monday, his lawyer said. But prosecutors used a procedural clause to ask the court to withdraw the lesser fraud charge, citing a need for more investigation.

Mr. Mo said prosecutors sometimes use this language to request a delay of the trial date. But, in this instance, Mr. Mo said, prosecutors instead asked to withdraw the case. He said Chinese law held that prosecutors could not indict Mr. Zhao again on the same charges, unless they found new evidence.

"They are clearly looking for a reason to end the case," Mr. Mo said.