Weekly News Wrap: September 26, 2013

It’s been another busy week in international law and international relations. Here’s a recap of a selection of the headlines from around the world:

Middle East

• Israel and Palestine have agreed to intensify their peace talks with greater participation by the United States.
• Iran’s foreign minister expressed hope that a meeting with top diplomats from the US and five other powers will jump-start negotiations to resolve the decade-long dispute over the Iranian nuclear program.
• UN chemical weapons inspectors have returned to Syria to continue investigating allegations of chemical weapons use.

Asia

• Hundreds of Islamic scholars from across the Muslim-majority world have gathered in Kabul to discuss the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.
• Unmanned aerial vehicles could be used by China and Japan in a potential conflict over the disputed Diaoyu (Diaoyutai or Senkaku) islands, according to an article written by a Chinese military analyst on the state-run Xinhua website.

Africa

• After this weekend’s hostage situation at a Nairobi mall where al-Shabaab has taken responsibility for attacking and killing over 70 civilians before the mall collapsed, Kenyan security forces are continuing to go from room to room inside the mall, firing protectively before entering unknown territory, in a bid to secure the complex a day after a siege that killed scores ended. Foreign forensic teams have joined to assist the Kenyan authorities in their search. Foreign Policy offers analysis here.
• African Union leaders will hold a special summit next month amid growing opposition to the crimes against humanity trials of Kenya’s leadership at the ICC.

Europe

• Today, at 11:00 CET, the Appeals Judgment will be delivered in the Charles Taylor Trial (see here and here for information about the case). You can watch the events live  here via the SCSL’s website.
• Russia has accused Greenpeace activists of piracy. IntLawGrrls has more here.
• The UK-based NGO Reprieve has claimed there is a campaign of intimidation of human rights workers going on at UK borders after the Terrorism Act was used to detain a Yemeni activist at Gatwick. Glenn Greenwald offers more here.
• People in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino have voted to impose the country’s first ban on full-face veils, following in the footsteps of French and Belgian restrictions that rights groups say discriminate against Muslims.

Americas

• The US has signed the Arms Trade Treaty, despite fierce opposition from the gun lobby.
• Brazil’s president has delivered a stinging rebuke to the US over its surveillance program that has swept up data from billions of telephone calls and emails that have passed through Brazil, including her own.