The U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division will investigate a white Oakland police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man on a crowded train platform, a case reminiscent of the racially charged 1992 police beating of Rodney King.

The federal government said it will step in after officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted Thursday of a lesser involuntary manslaughter charge, touching off angry protests that damaged stores and netted dozens of arrests.

The justice department's civil rights division will conduct the review along with the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco and the FBI, said spokesman Alejandro Miyar, who declined further comment. The investigation will determine whether the case warrants federal prosecution

Federal officials planned to begin their review at the conclusion of the state's case against Mehserle, who still faces sentencing. The next hearing was set for Aug. 6.

The Los Angeles jury's verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year's Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.

A federal appeals court is set to hear the Justice Department's bid to delay a judge's decision to overturn a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium.

A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday from lawyers on both sides of a lawsuit filed by companies that oppose the Obama administration's temporary drilling ban.

The Interior Department says it halted new permits for deepwater projects and suspended drilling on 33 exploratory wells to protect the Gulf of Mexico from another environmental disaster while it studies the risks of deepwater drilling.

The government is asking the 5th Circuit panel for an order that would keep the moratorium in place while they appeal last month's ruling.

A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty to writing and posting on a white supremacist website a poem threatening the assassination of President Barack Obama.

Johnny Logan Spencer Jr. of Louisville entered an open plea — admitting guilt without a deal with prosecutors — Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Louisville.

The 28-year-old Spencer's sentencing is set for Nov. 2. The charge carries a maximum of five years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Stephan M. Pazenzia said in an affidavit that Spencer wrote and posted the poem, titled "The Sniper," on a page called NewSaxon.org.

The poem describes a gunman shooting and killing a "tyrant" later identified as the president, setting off panic.

A judge ordered Australian band Men at Work on Tuesday to hand over a portion of the royalties from their 1980s hit "Down Under," after previously ruling its distinctive flute riff was copied from a children's campfire song.

But the penalty — 5 percent of the song's royalties — was far less than the 60 percent sought by publishing company Larrikin Music, which holds the copyright for the song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree."

"Kookaburra" was written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition, and the song about the native Australian bird has been a favorite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada.

Sinclair died in 1988, but Larrikin filed a copyright lawsuit last year. In February, Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobson ruled Men at Work had copied their song's signature flute melody from "Kookaburra."

On Tuesday, Jacobson ordered Men at Work's recording company, EMI Songs Australia, and "Down Under" songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, to pay 5 percent of royalties earned from the song since 2002 and from its future earnings. A statute of limitations restricted Larrikin from seeking royalties earned before 2002.

The WTO on Wednesday dealt the European Union a painful blow in a transatlantic trade row over multibillion dollar subsidies for US and European aircraft, ruling some state support for Airbus illegal.

Rival US airplane manufacturer Boeing claimed a "sweeping legal victory" and said it would require Airbus to repay four billion dollars in illegal subsidies, a claim disputed by the European aerospace giant.

Bringing to a head one of the most bitter trade disputes between the two trading powers, the World Trade Organization disputes panel upheld parts of a US complaint in the marathon legal battle.

In a 1,200-page ruling made public for the first time, the global trade referee said EU states should halt some aid for the development and export of Airbus airliners.

It notably accepted three out of seven claims by Washington that key launch aid amounted to export subsidies, which are illegal under WTO rules.

A federal appeals court ordered a new trial Thursday for the former chief marketing officer of one of the nation's biggest food products distributors, saying errors by a judge make it necessary to dissolve the conviction and the seven-year prison term that followed.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the new trial for Mark Kaiser after concluding that the trial judge erred in his instructions to the jury in November 2006, resulting in a flawed trial.

Kaiser, 55, of Ellicott City, Md., has been free on bail since he was sentenced three years ago to seven years in prison.

A lawyer for Kaiser did not immediately return a telephone message for comment. Prosecutors also did not immediately comment.

Kaiser was convicted of securities fraud, conspiracy and false filing after prosecutors said he and others enhanced their own bonuses by boosting the company's earnings $800 million from 2000 to 2003 by reporting fake rebates from suppliers.

Kaiser worked for U.S. Foodservice Inc., a former subsidiary of supermarket giant Royal Ahold NV. Ahold sold U.S. Foodservice Inc. in 2007 to a group of buyout firms led by KKR & Co. LLP. Defense lawyers argued at trial that Kaiser was kept in the dark about any financial misdeeds that occurred at the company.

Netherlands-based Ahold's U.S. properties include the Stop & Shop and Giant supermarket chains. U.S. Foodservice is one of the largest distributors of food products in the country, providing to restaurants and cafeterias.

The Supreme Court won't stop a lawsuit that accuses the Vatican of transferring a priest from city to city despite repeated accusations of sexual abuse.

The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from the Holy See, the legal name for the Vatican.

The Vatican wanted the federal courts to throw out the lawsuit that seeks to hold the Roman Catholic Church responsible for moving the Rev. Andrew Ronan from Ireland to Chicago to Portland despite the sex abuse accusations.

Sovereign immunity laws hold that a sovereign state — including the Vatican — is generally immune from lawsuits.

But lower federal courts have ruled in this case that there could be an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act that could affect the Vatican. A judge ruled there was enough of a connection between the Vatican and Ronan for him to be considered a Vatican employee under Oregon law, and that ruling was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Sacramento.

According to court documents, Ronan began abusing boys in the mid-1950s as a priest in the Archdiocese of Armagh, Ireland. He was transferred to Chicago, where he admitted to abusing three boys at St. Philip's High School.

Ronan was later moved to St. Albert's Church in Portland, Ore., where he was accused of abusing the person who filed the lawsuit now under appeal. Ronan died in 1992.