24 Apr Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, April 24, 2012
24.04.12
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- South Sudan has recognized a market bombing allegedly carried out by Sudan as an “act of war.” Meanwhile, Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir has ruled out peace talks that have been urged by the UN with its neigbor to the south, with plans to only recognize the language of “guns and bullets” instead.
- The ECHR Blog has a roundup of the outcomes from last weekend’s Brighton Conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights.
- Japan struggles with radioactive contamination, creating a situation where refugees may not be able to return to their homes for a decade.
- In a bit of good news, the number of global piracy incidents is down by almost a third in the first quarter of 2012; however, the risk in Nigeria grows.
- Bosnia has charged three men with terrorism for the attacks on the US Embassy in Sarajevo last year.
- UN Office on Drugs and Crime head, Yury Fedotov, said that global crime is one of the world’s “top-20 economies.”
- At least one source is reporting that North Korea will be ready “soon” to perform its nuclear test.
- Reports are emerging of women being raped in Northern Mali by Tuareg rebels.
- The UN Security Council has called for constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau, following the April 12th military coup.
- Turkey says Israel is not welcome at the NATO summit.
- Myanmar activists are critical of the EU’s decision to suspend sanctions and are urging the US to press for more reforms before suspending or lifting its sanctions.
- The US Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization is sceptical that ICAO’s Assembly will be able to reach an agreement on emissions trading at its next meeting in 2013.
- Following Argentina’s nationalization of YFP from Spain’s Repsol, the EU is raising the spectre of a WTO complaint over the separate issue of Argentina’s import licensing regime
- Russia is displeased by an effort in US Congress to attach human rights conditions to a bill granting Russia normal trade status.
- The former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde was acquitted on most charges relating to the country’s 2008 financial crisis. He was convicted on one charge of not keeping his Cabinet sufficiently informed before and during the crisis, but received no punishment. Haarde is considering taking his conviction to the European Court of Human Rights.
- The UN Environment Program reports that climate change will exacerbate problems with fresh water access in Pacific Islands such as Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
- The US released a new model Bilateral Investment Treaty last week that includes stronger labor and environmental terms, but does not please all the critics.
- In an interesting but “legally absurd” move, two Greek citizens have filed charges with the International Criminal Court accusing Greece of crimes against humanity and genocide through its recent austerity measures.
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