"Members of Congress now face a choice: whether they will waste time and provoke an unnecessary confrontation, or whether they will join us in working to do the people‘s business," Bush said. "We have many important issues before us. So we need to put partisan politics aside and come together to enact important legislation for the American people."

Democrats said it was time to heed the mandate of their election sweep last November, which gave them control of Congress. Passage marked their most brazen challenge yet to Bush on a war that has killed more than 3,200 troops and lost favor with the American public.

"By choosing to make a political statement and passing a bill they know will never become law, the Democrats in Congress have only delayed the delivery of the vital funds and resources our troops need," Bush said. "The clock is running. The Secretary of Defense has warned that if Congress does not approve the emergency funding for our troops by April 15, our men and women in uniform will face significant disruptions — and so will their families."

Bush said that to get the votes needed to pass the bill, House Democrats included billions of dollars in domestic and pork barrel spending for local congressional districts, including $74 million for peanut storage and $25 million for spinach growers, that has nothing to do with the war.

The criminal penalties instituted by the legislation are made possible by a landmark European Court of Justice ruling which established that the EU has the right to lay down criminal penalties in the individual member states. The legislation has sparked an outcry in the IT industry, because the draft includes an "aiding and abetting" clause that imposes harsh penalties if infringed material is found anywhere on an IT network. Simultaneously, music industry insiders are concerned that the law might not go far enough in punishing personal infringement and basically legalizes file sharing.

A federal judge on Friday issued a permanent injunction against Internet phone carrier Vonage (VG) for use of rival Verizon Communications' (VZ) patents.

Judge Claude Hilton said an injunction, which followed a jury decision that Vonage had infringed on three Verizon patents, is required because simply providing monetary damages "does not prevent continued erosion of the client base of the plaintiff."

Hilton said he will not enter the injunction for another two weeks while he considers Vonage's request to stay the injunction. Vonage is requesting a stay of either 120 days or until its appeal is heard.

But Verizon lawyer Dan Webb said any of Vonage's business difficulties should not be a factor in determining a stay. Webb said a stay will cause irreparable damage to Verizon because Vonage will continue to lock up the marketplace of Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

Webb said New York-based Verizon has already lost hundreds of thousands of customers to its competitor. Webb said Vonage officials have spent $425 million advertising their product "so they can lock up this emerging market and we can't get a toehold in it."

The lawsuit was filed by KinderStart , a parenting information Web site that claims it was illegally blocked from Google search results.

Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose, Calif., not only dismissed the lawsuit but granted a motion by Google to sanction KinderStart and one of its lawyers.

Fogel said Google can now seek "reasonable compensation" for attorney fees because KinderStart lawyer Gregory Yu filed claims that were factually baseless and did not perform an adequate investigation before filing the lawsuit.

Yu's claim that Google gives higher search placements to companies that pay for that privilege "should not have been made based upon the limited information identified by Yu," Fogel wrote in a ruling issued Friday. "Yu's purported evidence is either double hearsay or hearsay speculation as to the 'mysterious' causes of improvement in a Web site's position in Google's search results. Yu provides no evidence that would support KinderStart's broad attacks on the objectivity of Google's search results."

Judge Fogel said KinderStart's allegation that Google removes Web sites from search results based on political and religious reasons was also baseless.

"KinderStart does not appear to allege that KinderStart itself suffered any discrimination by Google for political or religious reasons," Fogel wrote. "It is true that Yu spoke with a number of people who believe that Google engages in religious or political discrimination, but a reasonable, competent investigation requires more than suspicions or belief. Yu had a professional responsibility to refrain from filing such allegations if he did not have appropriate supporting evidence."

In response to the ruling, Google released a statement from Hilary Ware, the company's litigation counsel: "We always felt these claims were unjustified, because courts have consistently rejected complaints over search engine rankings, so we're pleased that Judge Fogel promptly dismissed this case."

KinderStart may still be considering further action against Google.

A group representing music publishers is suing XM Satellite Radio, saying that XM violates copyright laws by giving users the ability to store and replay songs on certain devices.

The National Music Publishers' Association claimed in a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York Thursday that XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. offers an unlawful music download service that isn't covered by the royalties it pays to music publishers for broadcast rights.

The suit targets an XM service called "XM (plus) MP3," which allows XM subscribers to store songs on portable players and play them back later. The songs remain on the device as long as the customer subscribes to XM.

Like its rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., XM offers dozens of channels of commercial-free music as well as talk and news channels for a monthly fee of about $13. Sirius has agreed to buy XM, but the deal faces a tough regulatory review in Washington.

The music publishers' lawsuit is similar to another filed against XM last year by a group representing major record label companies, the Recording Industry Association of America. That case is still pending.

Like traditional radio broadcasters, satellite radio services must pay the publishers of music and record labels royalties for the right to broadcast music.

XM spokesman Chance Patterson said the lawsuit by the NMPA "simply represents a negotiating tactic to gain advantage in our ongoing business discussions. " He said the suit was without merit.

XM and Sirius were barred from merging under the licenses they were granted a decade ago, but they argue that much has changed since then, including the growth of other audio entertainment choices such as downloads from Apple Inc.'s iTunes stores.

The music publishers group noted in their lawsuit that XM draws attention to the ability of its XM + MP3 service to store and replay music, describing it as a substitute for using an iPod playback device and iTunes to buy music.

Also today, prosecutors asked the Moscow Municipal Court to ban the far-right National Bolshevik Party and suspend the party's activities pending a ruling. The party's leaders said the decision was politically motivated.

Many see the selection of Hong Kong's leader as a farce - the incumbent will almost certainly be picked again Sunday by a committee that usually goes with the choice of China's rulers.

But for the first time since the former British colony returned to Beijing's rule, the election has had a challenger and American-style debates. It also saw the incumbent - veteran civil servant Donald Tsang - promise a specific plan to bring full democracy to China's wealthiest city.

Tsang is expected to coast to re-election by an 800-seat election committee loaded with tycoons, leaders of special interest groups and other elites.

His rival is Alan Leong, a lawmaker and lawyer who believes stable, well-educated Hong Kong is ready for full democracy.

He says Tsang is among those dragging their feet on political reform. Leong insists that when the next leadership vote is held in 2012, Hong Kong should get rid of what's commonly known as the "small-circle election" system and let the public directly elect the winner.

The race also featured the first public debates between leadership candidates. The two men met twice in televised events that yielded spirited argument about a range of issues.

When this former British colony returned to Chinese rule 10 years ago, the Communist leadership in Beijing said Hong Kong could keep its capitalist ways, maintain its civil liberties and be semiautonomous under a "one country, two systems" formula. The city's mini-constitution, or Basic Law, says Hong Kong will eventually gain full democracy, referred to as universal suffrage, but no timeline has been given.