[JURIST] Responding to US-proposed changes [JURIST report] to the draft agreement to be signed at next month's summit on UN reform [UN materials], General Assembly President Jean Ping [official profile] has named a core group of countries, including the US, to negotiate a new text prior to the mid-September meeting. The group of about 30 countries will focus on questions of defining terrorism, tackling disarmament and financing development. Last week's US draft agreement strengthened sections on spreading democracy but deleted most mentions of treaties and institutions opposed by the US, such as the International Criminal Court [official website] and the Kyoto Protocol [UN backgrounder]. The Los Angeles Times has more. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official profile] has welcomed the intergovernmental negotiating process and said that he is looking forward to the group's first meeting Monday. KUNA has more.