Updating an earlier report today on proposals for UN Security Council expansion, China's ambassador to the UN said Thursday that he and new US UN ambassador John Bolton had agreed that their countries would both work to block current plans to add new permanent members to the Council. The US has said it favors expanding [...]

Leading Thursday's states brief, two New Jersey Republican lawmakers filed a lawsuit today in state Superior Court, seeking an injunction to stop plans by acting Governor Richard J. Codey for a $2.1 billion bond refinance deal that will raise $150 million to help run the state government. The deal would raise the money by refinancing [...]

Leading Thursday's corporations and securities law news, the Sprint-Nextel merger has taken a large step towards final approval after the Federal Communications Commission and the US Justice Department signed off on the deal. The merger, which will create the third largest wireless service provider in the US, still has legal issues with various partners to [...]

London-based human rights group Liberty has urged English Attorney General Lord Goldsmith to warn British newspapers and media reporting on the London bombings not to prejudice upcoming trials of the bombers by creating an assumption of guilt. Incendiary headlines such as "Got the bastards" have caused some concern over the ability of Britain to host [...]

Saudi Arabia's new ruler King Abdullah has vowed to "work for justice and serve all citizens without discrimination," in his first address to the nation as its official leader. Saudi King Fahd died early Monday but the country had been under the de facto rule of Crown Prince Abdullah for years due to the ill-health [...]

Eight members of the UN Commission on Human Rights Thursday called on Israel to stop building a barrier to close off the West Bank. The group, marking the first anniversary this summer of an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the issue , called the building of the barrier a human rights violation and [...]

The Colorado chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday that recently-released FBI files support the contention that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is monitoring peaceful protesters as if they were terrorists . Mark Silverstein, legal director for Colorado ACLU, said information the group received from a public-records request shows federal agents opened [...]

Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock has again denied that David Hicks , an Australian national facing a US military tribunal on charges he fought for the Taliban, could be tried in Australian courts for the charges he faces. Ruddock Thursday dismissed a new analysis by George Williams , law professor at the University of New [...]

After reaching an agreement with G4 nations to stick to a single plan for UN Security Council expansion, the African Union opened a conference on Thursday with 46 of the 53 member countries in attendance, all working to form a consensus on the expansion details. Prior to this arrangement, the AU had drafted a competing [...]

India's Supreme Court on Thursday let stand the death sentence of Mohammad Afzal for his role in a 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament that left nine people dead. The court commuted the death sentence given to Shaukat Hussain for his role in the same attack, instead sentencing him to 10 years in prison. The [...]