AP is reporting that the US House has approved the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 by a vote of 302-126 . The legislation, designed to make it harder for those in debt to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and already passed by the Senate , will now go to President Bush [...]

Russian prosecutors filed new murder charges Thursday against former Yukos security chief Alexei Pichugin . Last month, Pichugin was convicted of organizing a double murder and was sentenced to 20 years in jail . In the charges filed Thursday, Russian prosecutors accuse Pichugin of staging a murder in 1998 and plotting two attempts to murder [...]

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has dismissed three complaints from the 2004 presidential race involving Ralph Nader and the anti-John Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth . The three complaints include one alleging that interest group Citizen Works made illegal campaign contributions to Nader's presidential campaign for letting it use its office space for [...]

The Justice Department in conjunction with the US Marshals Office announced Thursday that more than 10,000 fugitives, many wanted for violent crimes, were arrested over the last week as part of a coordinated nationwide effort led by the marshals. Operation Falcon involved officers from 960 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies who took part [...]

Former top Senate staff lawyer Thomas Griffith won bipartisan support Thursday from the Senate Judiciary Committee , putting him in line to become the first of President Bush's second term appellate nominees to be confirmed. The Committee voted 14-4 to send Griffith's nomination for a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the District [...]

A group of amateur hockey players in Canada called the "Wednesday Nighters" has filed a claim in Ontario Superior Court to determine whether who can play for the Stanley Cup , the trophy traditionally awarded to the winner of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs. The amateurs are asking the court to clarify the terms [...]

Democratic Sen. Thomas Carper , of Delaware, has placed a hold on the nomination of Stephen Johnson as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency . A spokesman for Carper said Thursday that the senator would exercise his power to block the nomination. All senators have the power to place a hold on a confirmation vote [...]

AP is reporting that the Oregon Supreme Court has nullified 3,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples last year. The decision reverses a court of appeals decision upholding the licenses. Oregon voters approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages in the state in the November 2004 election, but the marriage licenses at issue in the [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia warned former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic Thursday that he must speed up his attempt to call world leaders, including former President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to testify at his war crimes trial. Milosevic has indicated that he would like [...]

Leading Thursday corporations and securities law news, ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay filed a motion with US District Court Judge Sim Lake asking for his trial on personal bank charges be moved to next year. Lay opposes the prosecutors with the Enron Task Force proposal for the trial to start in May or June. Prosecutors had [...]