He later threatened to force an early presidential election if the president does not rescind the order dissolving parliament.

About 2,000 supporters of the Ukrainian prime minister streamed into the Ukrainian capital Tuesday to protest the president's order to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

Yanukovich's supporters expanded a tent camp outside the parliament while the president's supporters announced plans to setup a stage in Independence Square.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed the decree Monday and called a parliamentary election to take place on May 27.

The decree went into effect when it was published in the country's official gazette, though Yanukovich had urged the president to hold back from publishing the decree amid fears of deepening the country's ongoing political strife.

Lawmakers from Yanukovich's parliamentary coalition have appealed for a ruling by the constitutional court on the legitimacy of the president's order, the Interfax news agency reported.

The president and the prime minister were to hold discussions on the crisis on Tuesday afternoon.

First of all, the decision of the Supreme Court we take very seriously. It's the new law of the land. And secondly, we're taking some time to fully understand the details of the decision... My attitude is, is that we have laid out a plan that will affect greenhouse gases that come from automobiles by having a mandatory fuel standard that insists upon using 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels by 2017, which will reduce our gasoline usage by 20 percent and halt the growth in greenhouse gases that emanate from automobiles. In other words, there is a remedy available for Congress. And I strongly hope that they pass this remedy quickly.

Bush, who opposes mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions, also reiterated his belief that rapidly developing countries such as China and India must do more to control pollution. Scientific research suggests that man-made greenhouse gases contribute to global warming.

Efforts to establish national emissions limits have gained traction in Congress since the Democrats became the majority party. Last month, former CIA director John Deutch recommended in a report to international civic leaders that the United States enact an EU-style cap-and-trade program among other measures to control greenhouse gas emissions. In January, a coalition of US businesses and environmental groups called for federal legislation to limit emissions. Overseas, the British government last month introduced a draft environmental bill that could control greenhouse gas emissions through 2050.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) ranked the United States in 53rd place last October in its fifth annual Worldwide Index of Freedom. RWB mentioned Wolf's imprisonment among other factors contributing to the United States' slip of nine places in the rankings since the previous year.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted new privacy rules for telephone and wireless companies on Tuesday aimed at strengthening safeguards against pretexting, the disclosure of personal telephone records to unauthorized individuals. The new rules include carrier authentication requirements, additional notice requirements, and annual certification requirements. Commenting on the new rules, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a prepared statement that the regulations significantly strengthen existing safeguards by requiring express consent before a carrier can give a customer’s phone records to other parties for marketing purposes.

In January, President Bush signed into law new federal legislation to protect telephone consumers from pretexting. The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006 was approved by the US Senate in December in response to the Hewlett-Packard corporate spying scandal that broke last summer.

A federal jury on Monday convicted Mark Cocchiola and Steven Venechanos on 38 counts that included conspiracy, bank fraud, securities fraud, mail and wire fraud.

Cocchiola founded of the Paterson-based company; Venechanos was its chief financial officer and corporate secretary.

"These were corrupt businessmen," U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said in a statement. "They bankrupted a company that was in reality a myth built on phony sales. They were driven by unbridled greed without a thought to the investors they charmed with their illusion of Suprema's success."

Cocchiola, 51, of Englewood Cliffs, and Venechanos, 48, of New Milford, could face dozens of years in prison and millions of dollars in fines when sentenced July 10 by U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler. The heaviest penalties are for the 17 bank fraud charges, each of which carries up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Cocchiola and Venechanos were indicted in July 2005. They were convicted following an eight-week trial in which the jury deliberated eight days.

The former controller of Suprema, along with a former manager and four former customers, pleaded guilty to charges including securities fraud and food adulteration charges.

Suprema was liquidated after filing for bankruptcy protection in March 2002.

Prosecutors said that Suprema used the illusion of its growth to conduct a series of secondary stock offerings, netting Suprema millions from investors. Meanwhile, Cocchiola got over $2.5 million, and Venechanos over $1 million, from selling their holdings.

Prosecutors also said that in the second half of 2001, nearly 20 percent of Suprema's reported inventory was imitation cheese that had been relabeled as higher-priced real cheese.

Caniaveral pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of simple assault on a juvenile in October. In doing so, he admitted to intentionally touching the girl, who was sleeping in the window seat covered by a blanket.

The U.S. Attorney's office reports that Caniaveral first stroked the girl's arm with his hand, then he touched her on the stomach below the navel. The tip of his fingers reached below the waist of her pants, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

The girl awoke during the incident, according to the U.S. Attorney's office, and she alerted a flight attendant.

"I laud the victim's courage in reporting and pursuing this case," said Schools. "Too often this type of attack is not reported or not punished."

The incident, which was investigated by the FBI, took place on a Philippine Airlines flight to San Francisco from Manila.

A Baltimore man who attended an Islamist guerrilla training camp in Pakistan pleaded guilty in New York to a terrorism charge.

Mahmud Faruq Brent, 32, faces up to 15 years in jail at his July 10 sentencing, The Washington Post reported.

Brent, who is also known as Mahmud Al Mutazzim, was scheduled to go on trial April 24 with two other defendants. His lawyer, Hassen Ibn Abdellah, told the Post Brent didn't plan to testify against the other defendants.

Brent pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to conspiring to aid a group on the U.S. terrorism list, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, by attending one of its training camps. He was arrested in 2005 and has admitted attending the camp in 2002, the Post reported.

Federal officials tied Brink, an Ohio native and former Washington taxi and ambulance driver, to Seifullah Chapman, a member of what prosecutors called the "Virginia jihad network," the Post said. Chapman was sentenced to 65 years in prison on charges that included conspiring to support Lashkar-e-Taiba.