At an emergency summit Thursday, African Union member states reaffirmed their commitment to a plan for UN Security Council reform that rejects a competing plan by the G4 nations . African states voted 46 to 9 to continue to press for two permanent seats on the Security Council with veto power, a plan that would [...]

US ambassador Joseph LeBaron was called Thursday to Mauritania's foreign ministry in Nouakchott by the Military Council for Justice and Democracy, a militia group that has taken control of the West African nation. LeBaron met with leaders of the military coup that ousted President Maaouiya Ould Taya and called on them to return constitutional rule [...]

Mahmud Faruq Brent, a Southern Maryland resident, was charged in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York Thursday with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. According to prosecutors, Brent openly bragged about his decision to attend a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and continued to pledge assistance to radical Islam. The [...]

In a report issued Friday, human rights group Amnesty International claimed that the abuses currently taking place in China are directly related to the country's preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing. The group pointed out that 3,400 people were put to death in China in 2004, more than all other [...]

The Indonesian government began its criminal pollution case Friday against Denver-based gold giant Newmont Mining Corp. and its American regional chief executive Richard Ness. The government claims that studies prove Newmont placed arsenic and mercury into the waters of Buyat Bay , but the World Health Organization found no such evidence, and Newmont claims its [...]

In a victory for Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf , the country's Supreme Court Thursday blocked a proposal by the Islamist-controlled North-West Frontier Province to introduce a set of controversial morals laws to be enforced by religious authorities. Musharraf, a strong advocate for a progressive Muslim state, asked the high court to issue an opinion after [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday granted a one-year stay of its June ruling that the Quebec government can't block people from obtaining private insurance for health care procedures covered under the public system. In its June 9 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that unreasonably long waiting times for procedures under Canada's Medicare program [...]

European delegates offered Iran's government long-term support for efforts to develop a sustainable nuclear energy program Friday. The offer would include the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear fuel from Europe but it requires assurances from Iran that it will not withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty . The offer comes only days after Iran announced [...]

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday announced a new set of measures to combat terrorism , saying anyone who "has anything to do with , anywhere, will automatically be refused asylum in our country." Blair went so far as to say that the UK may review the 1998 Human Rights Act, which integrates the [...]

MacWade, et al. v. Kelly, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, August 4, 2005 . Read the full text of the complaint here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.