Weekly News Wrap: Monday, April 11, 2016

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world:

Africa

• In Mozambique, despite improvements in education access, many rural children are still pressed into work to supplement family income.
• The Nigerian government denies reports of $50 million ransom from Boko Haram for release of Chibok girls.
• As revelations from the Panama papers rock the world of politics and business in Africa and beyond, former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa has highlighted the link between money hidden offshore and the huge illicit flows of money out of Africa.

Middle East and Northern Africa

• The U.S. Navy is leading a 30-nation maritime exercise across Middle Eastern waters which it says will help protect international trade routes against possible threats, including from Islamic State and al Qaeda.
• The U.S. Air Force deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar on Saturday to join the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the first time they have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.
• The United States and Israel on Saturday warned their citizens of a high-level, imminent threat of attacks in Turkey, with Israel urging its citizens to immediately leave the country.

Asia

• Relatives and tribal elders in southeastern Afghanistan are demanding an investigation into the killing of 17 people by US drones this week, claiming that the air strikes hit civilians, not members of armed groups.
• A U.S. Navy officer with access to sensitive U.S. intelligence faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan, a U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday.

Europe

• The attackers who struck Brussels last month had initially planned to launch a second attack on France, Belgium’s Federal Prosecution Office has said.
• Belgium’s federal prosecutor said on Saturday that Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini admitted to being the “man in the hat” seen accompanying two suicide bombers at Brussels airport on March 22.
• A senior British lawmaker said on Monday that Prime Minister David Cameron should appear before a parliamentary committee to answer questions about the European Union ahead of a June 23 referendum on whether Britain should remain in the bloc.
• The European Commission will propose this month granting visa-free travel to Ukrainians despite a Dutch referendum vote against an EU-Ukraine agreement partly motivated by hostility to migration, a senior EU source said.
• Islamic State wants to carry out attacks in Germany and the security situation is “very serious”, the head of the country’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV) told a Sunday newspaper, adding that he knew of no concrete plot to strike.
• Sweden received more refugees per capita than any other European country last year, but many Swedes have started to question the country’s immigration policies as crime rates and extremism are on the rise.

Americas

• John Kerry on Monday became the first U.S. secretary of state to pay his respects at Hiroshima’s memorial to victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack, raising speculation that U.S. President Barack Obama might visit in May.
• A Canadian aboriginal community of 2,000 people declared a state of emergency on Saturday after 11 of its members tried taking their own lives this month and 28 tried to do so in March, according to a document provided by a local politician.

Oceania

• East Timor has called in the United Nations (UNCLOS) to help resolve its bitter dispute with Australia over a permanent sea border in the oil-rich Timor Sea.
• New Zealand’s government on Monday said it would begin a review of its foreign trust laws after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm highlighted vulnerabilities in its legal framework that made it a possible link in international tax avoidance structures.

UN/World

• Global warming is shifting the way the Earth wobbles on its polar axis, a new NASA study says, highlighting what one expert said is the “large” impact humans have on the planet.
• Many nations are pushing for swift ratification of a Paris agreement to slow climate change and lock it in place for four years before a change in the White House next year that might bring a weakening of Washington’s long-term commitment.
• The United Nations special envoy for Yemen welcomed the start of a tentative truce in the country’s year-old conflict on Monday and said peace talks due to start later this month would require difficult compromises for all sides.
• SpaceX has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS), delivering the world’s first inflatable tent for astronauts.