Swiss President Samuel Schmid joined other world leaders calling for UN reform Thursday, saying in his address to the UN's 2005 World Summit that the UN must prioritize the creation of a new Human Rights Council. Schmid called for the Council to be based in Geneva and said its purpose should be to make human [...]

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair Friday defended his decision to toughen Britain's anti-terror laws a day after Home Secretary Chatles Clarke released the text of new draft legislation providing for extended detention without trial and making the "glorification" of terrorism an offense. Blair told BBC Radio that if people wanted to come and live in [...]

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi are continuing their bid for Japan to become a member of the UN Security Council as part of ongoing discussion on UN reform . Koizumi addressed the UN's 2005 World Summit on Thursday and argued that Asia and Africa, no longer colonized, should be recognized [...]

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Thursday that the Department of Justice will fight to overturn Wednesday's federal court ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance with the words "under God" cannot be recited in public schools. Gonzales said that the Pledge is an expression of national identity and patriotism that does not violate the Constitution's [...]

Transcript of Day 4 of confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts, Jr., nominated to be Chief Justice of the United States, US Senate Judiciary Committee, September 14, 2005. Read the full text transcript as provided to AP by by CQ Transcriptions, LLC .

The US Senate Judiciary Committee concluded its four days of confirmation hearings for Chief Justice nominee John Roberts late Thursday, with closing remarks from committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) and ranking Democrat Pat Leahy (D-VT). Following the conclusion of Roberts' own testimony earlier in the day, the committee heard from a wide range of other [...]

In a JURIST Forum special, JURIST Contributing Editor William G. Ross, Professor of Law at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in Alabama, reviews the fourth day of the Senate confirmation hearings for US Chief Justice nominee John Roberts, and suggests that although the hearings may have provided few key insights into the nominee, they [...]

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed legislation Thursday authorizing lawsuits against anyone who helps teenagers get abortions in violation of Missouri's parental consent law. The law is aimed partly at preventing teens from getting abortions in neighboring Illinois, which does not have a parental consent law. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri has already filed a [...]

Robert Parton, a former investigator for the Independent Inquiry Committee into the now defunct UN Oil-for-Food program , has reached a deal with the United Nations and the US Congress under which Congress will retain thousands of pages of UN documents for review in its own examination of the humanitarian program. Parton resigned from the [...]

The latest Guantanamo Bay hunger strike has expanded to include 131 participants and is now at its largest point since the protest began a month ago, a military official said Thursday. According to the military, the latest strike began on August 8 with 76 detainees protesting poor conditions and abusive treatment at the detention facility. [...]