In an anticipated move Wednesday, Germany, Japan, Brazil and India, also known as the G-4, submitted their UN Security Council restructuring plan to the UN General Assembly. The resolution proposes changing the current UN Security Council structure by adding six more permanent seats, and delaying the veto rights of new members for 15 additional years. [...]

The Mediterranean island of Malta became the latest nation to ratify the proposed EU constitution Wednesday. Despite initial opposition from the country's Labour Party , the Maltese Parliament approved the draft with support from Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi . Last month, following “No” votes from France and the Netherlands, EU leaders decided to extend the [...]

Leading Wednesday's states brief, the New York Court of Appeals ruled today that the prior dismissed charges against four anti-war protesters are to be resealed and not used against the protesters in determining their sentences for later convictions. The state's highest court reversed a lower court decision that allowed the records to be unsealed by [...]

Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, communications Nextel is being sued by a distributing affiliate, Nextel Partners, that claims it was not given input into Nextel's impending merger with Sprint and wants to go to arbitration. The Washington state-based distributor had previously declared its intention to force Sprint-Nextel to purchase Nextel Partners . In [...]

New York-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch Wednesday issued a new report calling for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to establish a Special Court to try high-level government officials and others accused of taking part in atrocities committed during Afghanistan's civil war from April 1992 to March 1993. The authors of the report recommended thatthe court [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the US government Wednesday on behalf of a US citizen detained by US forces in Iraq since May 17. Cyrus Kar, a 44-year-old filmmaker , was in Iraq shooting a historical documentary when he was stopped at a checkpoint. According to the Pentagon, the taxi he [...]

A federal judge has ordered New York Times reporter Judith Miller to jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative's identity. Bill Keller, executive editor of the Times, called the order a "draconian act." AP has more. 4:33 PM ET – Bloomberg has an updated report; a [...]

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Wednesday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a "qualified" candidate for the vacancy created on the Supreme Court by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor . Senator Reid also came to the aid of President Bush, who defended Gonzales from criticism by some social conservatives yesterday , [...]

Leading Wednesday's international brief, in a ruling originally expected in June, the Santiago Appeals Court has held that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was not entitled to immunity from prosecution for alleged human rights abuses during Operation Colombo. An earlier ruling on Pinochet's immunity was delayed due to an alleged minor stroke suffered by Pinochet. [...]

Ukranian lawmakers engaged in a protracted fistfight in parliament Wednesday as a debate over legislative reforms required for WTO accession grew ugly in Kiev. Communists sounded sirens as Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn attempted to call for order after both sides resorted to punches. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko remains confident that the legislative package will be [...]