WASHINGTON — A federal judge Thursday rebuked the Bush administration for making the “unprecedented” claim that senior White House officials are beyond the reach of congressional subpoena power and ordered two top officials to cooperate with the politically charged probe of U.S. attorney firings. The ruling by U.S. district judge John Bates — appointed to the federal bench by President Bush in 2001 — is believed to be the first time in history that a court has come to the aid of Congress in attempting to enforce subpoenas against the executive branch. Bates’ decision came in a lawsuit by the House leadership, which subpoenaed former White House counsel Harriet Miers and Bush’s current chief of staff, Joshua Bolten.

Sen. Stevens pleads not guilty

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, pleaded not guilty Thursday to seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms by failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from one of his state’s most powerful employers. The U.S. District judge set a tentative trial date for Sept. 24. Stevens, 84, is running for re-election and requested an expedited trial so the matter would be over before Election Day. “He would like to clear his name before the general election,” his lawyer said.

North Dakota: Missile accident

A truck carrying a rocket booster for an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile tipped over on a northwestern North Dakota road on Thursday, but no one was injured and there was no threat to the public, an Air Force official said. The transport rig crashed on a gravel road at about 8 a.m. Thursday near Makoti about 70 miles from Minot Air Force Base, from where it departed, the Air Force said. “There was no weapon present and no danger to the public,” an Air Force spokesman said.

Minnesota: Sen. Craig’s hearing

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, will get his next day in Minnesota’s courts on Sept. 10. That’s the date for oral arguments on his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea in a sex sting at the Minneapolis airport. Craig was arrested last summer in a bathroom stall by an undercover officer who said Craig solicited sex. Craig pleaded guilty, but later said that was a mistake. A Hennepin County judge refused to allow Craig to withdraw his plea. Now a three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals will consider the case.

Wyoming: Animal rights meeting

Cheyenne Frontier Days officials have met with members of an animal rights group that considers certain events at the rodeo to be cruel to animals. The group known as SHARK voiced its concerns about steer roping and calf roping events. It says steer roping should be banned altogether, while calf roping at Cheyenne needs to be changed to eliminate so-called jerkdowns in which a calf is violently pulled straight back when roped around the neck. Both sides described the meeting Wednesday as cordial.

Japan: Nuclear machinery export

Authorities raided a company in southwestern Japan on Thursday on suspicion it illegally exported machinery that can be used to make nuclear weapons, police said. Police raided the headquarters of Horkos Corp., a maker of machining tools and construction equipment, and several other sites in the city of Fukuyama, about 370 miles southwest of Tokyo, a police spokesman said. The company is suspected of exporting equipment without obtaining government authorization, he said.

Russia: Total solar eclipse today

A rare total solar eclipse will pass just west of Russia’s third-largest city today, but crowds of tourists in Novosibirsk to witness the event may find their view of the event obscured by clouds and rain. The eclipse — the moon passing in front of the sun — will begin in Arctic Canada around 0945 GMT, sweep across Greenland, pass through western Siberia and then Mongolia, and finally end in central China more than an hour and a half later.

South Korea: Ruling on sex tests

The Constitutional Court overturned a ban on doctors telling parents the gender of unborn babies, saying Thursday the country has grown out of a preference for sons and that the restriction violates parents’ right to know. South Korea introduced the ban in 1987 to try to prevent abortions of female fetuses in a country that had traditionally favored sons in the widespread Confucian belief that males carry on family lines. Abortion has also been illegal but practiced widely.

Canada: Passenger decapitated

A traveler aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated his seat mate, pausing during the savage attack in central Canada to display the head to passengers who had fled in horror, witnesses and officials said Thursday. A 40-year-old man was arrested after the grisly slaying late Wednesday night aboard a bus en route from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. A Greyhound spokeswoman said 37 passengers were aboard, many watching the on-board movie “Zorro” when the violence erupted.

From Herald news services