Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko ordered Ukraine's interior ministry troops to come under his command Friday as a new crisis over Yushchenko's Thursday dismissal of the country's top prosecutor escalated, but Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych and Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko defied the move, calling it unconstitutional. Yushchenko said the decree was necessary "given yesterday's events in [...]

The US Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility has expanded its investigation into whether department aides illegally made hiring decisions based on consideration of applicants' political beliefs, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. The move follows Wednesday's testimony to the House Judiciary Committee by former DOJ aide Monica Goodling , where she admitted making [...]

Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison filed a lawsuit Thursday to test the constitutionality of a new Kansas law restricting protests at military funerals . The law, signed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius last month, will not take effect until it is upheld as constitutional by the Kansas Supreme Court or a federal court. Morrison's lawsuit, filed [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the fraud convictions of Adelphia Communications founder John J. Rigas and son Timothy J. Rigas on all but one count Thursday, reversing and acquitting the defendants on one lesser count of bank fraud. The defendants argued that the fraud convictions should be reversed because the [...]

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) , an independent government council tasked with investigating alleged abuses of human rights in Mexico, issued a report Thursday criticizing the Mexican federal government's response to a May 2006 teachers' strike that escalated into an uprising in the Mexican state of Oaxaca , saying that the federal government's intervention [...]

The US Senate has scheduled debate and a vote on a resolution expressing the Senate's lack of confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for mid-June. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) said Thursday that 26 Democratic senators join him in co-sponsoring the no-confidence resolution. A decision whether to recruit Republican co-sponsors will be made next week. [...]

The US Congress passed the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 Thursday, raising the federal minimum wage for the first time in almost a decade. The provision was introduced as an amendment to the Iraq War Supplemental Budget , and will raise the current minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $5.85 an hour within [...]

An Oklahoma bill barring the use of public funds to pay for abortions passed into law Thursday after the deadline for the governor's veto expired at midnight Wednesday. The bill bars the use of public money to fund most abortions, but does include exceptions for cases of rape or incest if the victim reports the [...]

The US House of Representatives passed two measures Thursday that would require stricter regulation of lobbying practices. The Lobbying Transparency Act , which passed 382-37 , would amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require more stringent disclosure of bundled contributions given by a lobbyist to a lawmaker. Currently, donors who bundle their contributions [...]

Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, passed by the US House of Representatives, May 24, 2007 . Read the full text of the bill . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.