Weekly News Wrap: December 14, 2015

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world:

Africa

• At least two people were killed and 20 others wounded when heavy fighting broke out in a Muslim enclave of Central African Republic’s capital Bangui as a vote in a constitutional referendum was under way on Sunday.
• Fears grow over press freedom in South Africa.
• Gambia’s president has declared the West African country an Islamic republic saying the decision was made because Islam is the religion of most citizens and the nation must break away from its colonial past.

Middle East and Northern Africa

• A mass demonstration was held in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, as tensions escalated between Iraq and Turkey over the deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq since the beginning of this month.
• Houthi rebel forces in Yemen have closed down dozens of non-governmental organisations and detained activists affiliated with a rival political party, according to Human Rights Watch.
• Egypt said on Monday it had found no evidence so far of terrorism or other illegal action linked to the crash of a Russian passenger plane in Sinai that killed all 224 people on board on Oct. 31.

Asia

• Chinese oil major Sinopec is building a filling station on an island in the South China Sea, as China continues to expand its civilian infrastructure in the disputed waterway, entrenching its reach in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

Europe

• Russia on Sunday warned Turkey to stop staging what it called provocations against its forces in or near Syria after one of its warships fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean to avoid a collision.
• Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday brushed off what a Germany magazine said was a request from the United States to provide more military help in the fight against Islamic State.
• A proposal to give the European Union executive the power to send forces unbidden into member states to defend the common European frontier will face resistance from some countries when it is published this week.
• Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday she wanted to “drastically decrease” the number of refugees coming to Germany, signaling a compromise to critics of her open-door policy from within her conservatives on the eve of a party congress.
• Ecuador and Sweden have reached a deal that could pave the way for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be questioned at the South American country’s embassy in London where he has lived for more than three years.

Americas

• Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis will tell Cuban President Raul Castro his Central American country is unable to continue caring for thousands of Cuban migrants indefinitely, seeking to force a resolution to the month-long crisis.
• The United States and its allies conducted 15 air strikes in Iraq and seven in Syria against Islamic State on Saturday, the coalition leading the operations said.

Oceania

• A Melbourne teen arrested after police found explosives at his home pleaded guilty on Monday to a terrorism-related charge, highlighting concerns about youth radicalization following last week’s arrest of a 15-year-old Sydney boy in police raids.

UN/World

• After two weeks of bleary all-nighters in Paris, diplomats from around the world have hammered out a major global agreement to address climate change. Here’s the full 31-page document, which was approved by 195 countries on Saturday. Key points here and posts from Dan Bodansky here, here, here, here and here and Hari Ofsofsky, here and here.
• World leaders meeting in Rome have urged Libya’s warring factions to lay down their weapons and back a new national unity government under a UN peace plan due to be signed on Wednesday.