[JURIST] Nigerian President and current African Union chair Olusegun Obasanjo told the UN General Assembly Saturday at the opening of its regular 60th anniversary session that former Liberian president Charles Taylor, indicted [text] by the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website] on 17 counts of war crimes committed during his 15-year rule, should for now stay in exile in Nigeria rather than returning to face trial. Obasanjo said that the peace process in Liberia was at a critical stage and having Taylor come back for trial at this point would do more harm than good. Court prosecutors [JURIST report] and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louis Arbour [JURIST report] have called for Taylor to be delivered for trial as soon as possible. Obasanjo and President Bush discussed how Taylor might be brought to trial [JURIST report] during the Nigerian leader's latest visit to the White House in May. Read the full text of Obasanjo's address [PDF]. The UN News Center has more.

[JURIST] A day after leaders attending the 2005 World Summit [official website] endorsed a modest package of UN reforms [JURIST report] and policy initiatives, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Saturday pledged he would follow-though on what had been achieved, but warned of significant challenges ahead. Addressing the opening of the ministerial phase of the UN General Assembly 60th anniversary session, Annan said he would undertake a review of ongoing mandates from the UN's first 55 years, would re-assess its budgetary and human resources rules, and would set up an independent oversight audit committee once a full study of UN oversight and management is completed:

I intend to follow through on every action asked of me, and I ask you, the member states, to tell me immediately, if you think I am not doing so... I will also keep score on progress you make in implementing what has been agreed. And I will speak plainly, if I believe you are falling behind. And I have no doubt that global public opinion will keep a close eye on our progress.

[JURIST] A lawyer for Tariq Aziz [Wikipedia profile] says that an international petition has been started calling for the release of the former Iraqi Foreign Minister and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, currently being held by the US in Iraq without charge and with no prospect of immediate trial. Aziz turned himself in shortly after the fall of Baghdad to US forces in March 2003. His family, who were allowed to telephone and visit him [JURIST report] last month for the first time, say he is sick and has lost some 33 pounds in custody that his lawyers characterizes as not meeting European human rights standards. The petition was launched several weeks ago by two of Aziz's French lawyers to draw attention to his case. Aziz, the only Christian in Hussein's upper echelon, is a fluent English-speaker and became famous in the West from the mid-1980s as the public face and voice of the Saddam regime. AFP has more.

[JURIST] As part of a probe into the Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] disaster the US Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee [official website] has asked Gulf Coast federal prosecutors whether they have ever had to defend the US Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups trying to block Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans. Acting on the committee's behalf, the US Justice Department sent an e-mail to federal prosecutors [Clarion-Ledger report] Wednesday soliciting the information. Environmental groups suggested Friday that the exercise was part of a smear campaign, with the Sierra Club asserting in a press release that

the Bush administration is more interested in building a case to deflect blame than actually investigating what went wrong before, during, and after the crisis. These actions only underscore America's need for an independent task force - modeled after the 9-11 Commission -- to get honest facts and make recommendations for how to improve emergency prevention and management into the future.

[JURIST] The New Orleans-based federal judge charged with co-ordinating [JURIST report] the approximately 1800 pending federal lawsuits relating to the withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx [JURIST news archive] from pharmacists' shelves last year has ruled that the first federal trial against Vioxx-manufacturer Merck will take place in Houston beginning November 28. US District Judge Eldon Fallon [official profile] evacuated to Houston earlier this month after Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] devastated the New Orleans area. No ruling on the venue of subsequent federal trials has yet been made. Some 3200 other lawsuits are proceeding in parallel against Merck in various state and local courts; the second state trial against Merck started earlier this week [JURIST report]. Merck has said that it might settle some of the suits [JURIST report] but it has no plans to negotiate a comprehensive settlement [JURIST report] with litigants. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge in Missouri Friday slapped a temporary restraining order on a law signed the day before [JURIST report] by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt that allowed parents to file suit against anyone who helped their minor daughters get abortions without their consent. US District Judge Nanette Laughery said the legislation [SB 1 text] "threatens an immediate chilling effect on all abortion counseling within Missouri and nearby states". The Center for Reproductive Rights sought the TRO after filing suit [CRR press release] againt the law immediately after its approval. A spokesperson for the Governor said the state would argue for the legislation again when the court considered whether to issue a full injunction. AP has more.

[JURIST] With the confirmation hearings on Judge John Roberts [JURIST news archive] concluded and the nominee apparently well on his way to a favorable Senate vote and formal appointment as the new Chief Justice of the United States, President Bush Friday signaled he was turning his attention to a second high court vacancy by calling in Senate leaders for consultations on the remaining court opening. The President will meet Wednesday at the White House with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Democratic leader Harry Reid, Sen. Arlen Specter, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and ranking Judiciary Committee Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. At issue is the replacement for retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who Roberts was initially tipped to replace [JURIST report] before the unexpected death earlier this month of Chief Justice William Rehnquist [JURIST news archive]. Democrats are urging the appointment of a moderate to replace O'Connor, who was often a swing vote on an ideologically-divided court. Bush is also being pressed in some quarters to appoint another woman, or a minority member. AP has more.