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 by the Special Court for Sierra Leone on 17 counts of war crimes committed during his 15-year rule, should for now stay in exile [...]

A day after leaders attending the 2005 World Summit endorsed a modest package of UN reforms 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, [...]

A lawyer for Tariq Aziz 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 [...]

As part of a probe into the Hurricane Katrina disaster the US Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee 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 [...]

The New Orleans-based federal judge charged with co-ordinating the approximately 1800 pending federal lawsuits relating to the withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx 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 evacuated to Houston earlier this [...]

A federal judge in Missouri Friday slapped a temporary restraining order on a law signed the day before 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 "threatens an immediate chilling effect on [...]

With the confirmation hearings on Judge John Roberts 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 [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has formally set out its plans to alleviate corporate financial strain caused by Hurricane Katrina . In a press release, the agency announced that it will extend various filing deadlines for corporations affected by the hurricane. The agency's order also exempts corporations [...]

The UN General Assembly High-level Plenary Friday evening approved a watered-down 35-page package of modest institutional reforms and global policy initiatives in the culminating moment of the biggest summit of heads of state and government in UN history. Progress was made in condemning terrorism in all its forms, accepting clear responsibility to protect populations from [...]

Newspaper publishing giant Hollinger International Inc. announced Friday that it had reached a $20 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by advertisers over claims that it inflated circulation figures for the Chicago Sun-Times . Under the settlement reached after six months of negotiations, Hollinger will pay $7.7 million in cash and $5.6 million in [...]