• The UN General Assembly has voted to pass a resolution condemning the Syrian government for human rights violations and call for a transitional government.
• International donors pledged 3.25 billion euros ($4.22 billion) to help Mali recover from a conflict with al Qaeda-linked Islamists.
• A suicide bomber in a car targeted two vehicles carrying foreign forces in Kabul, Afghanistan.
• Three people were killed when the ceiling of a warehouse fell in at a shoe factory in Cambodia, adding to concerns about safety standards at Asian factories producing cheap clothing.
• Foreign Policy has a post about the geopolitics of Google’s autocomplete algorithm.

• The Japanese military’s forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to “maintain discipline” in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers, an outspoken nationalist mayor has said.
  
• Russia has ordered the expulsion of an alleged CIA agent working undercover at the US embassy who was discovered with a large stash of money trying to recruit a Russian agent.
• Taiwan has recalled its envoy to the Philippines, froze applications for work permits and ordered military exercises in waters between the two sides to press its demand for an apology for the shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman.
• Wal Mart Stores, Inc. stepped up Bangladesh factory inspections while U.S. and European retailers pursued separate accords to try to prevent another disaster in a garment industry where more than 1,200 workers have died in the past six months.
• Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, has imposed a “state of emergency” in three states in an attempt to curb the increasingly violent attacks by armed group Boko Haram, saying the level of violence called for “extraordinary measures”.

• UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk urged Israel to stop construction of a highway that would cut off the local roads of Palestinian community Beit Safafa.
• A Swiss court is trying Belgians and Czechs in one of the biggest money laundering scandals dating back to central Europe’s post-communist privatization boom.
• Major U.S. retailers including Gap Inc. declined to endorse an accord on Bangladesh building and fire safety backed by Europe’s two biggest fashion chains (Sweden’s H&M and Spain’s Inditex SA).
• The US government reportedly secretly seized telephone records of reporters and offices belonging to Associated Press news agency for a two-month period last year.
• ASIL has a new Insight: The Indus Waters Kishenganga Arbitration (Pakistan v. India) (.pdf).
  

• Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt was found guilty of genocide, torture and rape of 1,771 indigenous Ixil Mayans during his rule in 1982-1983.
• Bangladeshi authorities have arrested Jamaat-e-Islami party leader AKM Yusuf on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
• Taiwan’s government has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Philippines’ government, demanding an apology over the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman.
• Turkey accused a group with links to Syrian intelligence of carrying out car bombings that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town, and said it is time for the world to act against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
• Malian troops headed for the remote northeastern town of Kidal ahead of a mid-May deadline set by the government to wrest it from the control of Tuareg separatist rebels.

Calls for Papers

• In cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, is hosting a conference on the legacy of the ICTR. The organizers are currently calling for papers. A short abstract must reach mswart [at] uj [dot] ac [dot] za by May 24, 2013. More information on the conference is available here.
• The University of Oslo is hosting a conference August 30-31, 2014 entitled: The Legitimacy and Effectiveness of International Criminal Tribunals. Paper proposals should be e-mailed to c [dot] m [dot] bailliet [at] jus [dot] uio [dot] no by November 1, 2013, with an abstract no longer than 500 words.
• The ILA Study Group on ‘Principles on the Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law’ has issued a call for papers. Those selected will be invited to participate in the discussion of their papers by the Study Group, and will be potentially included in a relevant publication. The deadline for submission of proposals is the end of May. Full details can be found on theStudy Group’s website, and the call may be directly downloaded (pdf) here.

Upcoming Events

• Cyber Threats and Cyber Realities, jointly sponsored by the Roger Williams University School of Law and School of Justice Studies, will be an interactive forum held June 17-20, 2013. “In addition to informative panels, each module will include a capstone experience in the form of a simulation that offers participants an opportunity to collaborate in resolving a regulatory challenge or national security crisis.”

Last week’s post can be found here. If you would like to post an announcement on Opinio Juris, please contact us.

• Another clothing factory has caught fire in Bangladesh, killing eight; this news comes after a recent factory collapse with a death toll now over 900, with both tragedies putting international safety standards in the spotlight. 
• In other Bangladesh news, the war crimes tribunal is poised to hand down its fourth verdict today over a senior member of the Jamaat-e-Islami political party; authorities are posed for clashes and unrest.
• The oldest brother of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has said he was beaten up by what he calls government-hired thugs.
• The UN Conference on Trade and Development has decried the rising levels of poverty in East Jerusalem, blaming what it terms Israeli “segregation policies” for deepened economic isolation for Palestinians. The full report can be found here.
• US Secretary of State, John Kerry, is pushing for renewed talks between Israel and Palestine ahead of his next visit to the middle east in two weeks.

• Internet communications companies have reported that Syria has been cut off of “internet communication with the rest of the world.”
• The World Trade Organization has a new Director General: Roberto Azevedo.
• The ICC postponed Kenyan Vice President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang’s trial as the Prosecutor is seeking to add five witnesses and the Defense has requested to vacate the trial date.
  
• Suspected members of Boko Haram have attacked a prison in the town of Bama, freeing over 100 inmates and killing 55 people.
•  The Obama administration explicitly accused China’s military of attacking American government computer systems and defense contractors.
• Foreign Policy features a post about the outsourcing of lethality by the US in its conflict with al-Qaeda and affiliated forces.
• Human Rights Watch has called on Saudia Arabia to allow all girls to participate in sports in the Kingdom, not just those attending private schools.

• Senegal Justice Minister Aminate Toure and Chadian Justice Minister Jean-Bernard Badare agreed to allow Senegalese judges to investigate various situations in Chad ahead of the prosecution of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre.
  
• Fifty countries and organisations are gathered in London for an international conference aimed at preventing Somalia from slipping back into abject lawlessness.
• North Korea has removed two missiles from launch sites on the country’s eastern coast, after weeks of concern that Pyongyang had been ready for a test-launch.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has quietly curbed new building projects in Jewish settlements, a representative from Peace Now, an Israeli watchdog group and media reports said on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to help U.S. efforts to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.
• An influx of people from crisis-hit southern European countries like Spain, Italy and Greece has led to the biggest surge in German immigration in nearly 20 years; the number of immigrants last year was up 13% from the previous year.

• South Korea has dismissed the plan from North Korea to reopen the joint industrial complex shared by the two countries, calling the demands from Pyongyang “incomprehensible” and urging North Korea to come forward for dialogue rather than making such demands. 
• The Mannheim Regional Court in Germany ruled in favor of Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Google, against Microsoft in a patent dispute.
• Nawaz Sharif, seen as the front-runner in Pakistan’s election race, said the country should reconsider its support for the U.S. war on Islamist militancy and suggested that he was in favor of negotiations with the Taliban.
• Syria’s information minister has warned that Israeli air raids over the weekend against three targets on the outskirts of Damascus “open the door to all possibilities.”
• NPR has a post on the hidden cost of the US drone program.

• North Korea has sentenced US citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years’ hard labor for “crimes against the state.”
• In a clash on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan that lasted more than two hours, one Pakistani policeman was killed and two Afghani soldiers wounded. 
• The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the government has been failing to meet EU air quality standards and has solicited the European Court of Justice for guidance.
• Chad has foiled an attempted coup that officials claim has been planned for months, with the arrest of several rebels.
• The Pope has weighed in on the tragic factory accident in Bangladesh last week, calling the unjust wages “slave labor” and condemning unbridled quests for profit as going “against God.”
• Foreign Policy has posted a guide on how to close Guantanamo.

• US President Barack Obama is making a new push to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying Gitmo is damaging US interests. 
• Chile will be Latin America’s only representative in the 2014-2015 UN Security Council.
• The ECHR has ruled that Ukraine violated former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s rights by detaining her for politically motivated reasons.
• The genocide trial against Guatemalan dictator Rios Montt has resumed, just short of two weeks after a judge suspended all proceedings.
• The US is still investigating use of chemical weapons in Syria, with President Obama stating that depending on how the weapons were used, the US might have to rethink its strategy in Syria.
• Foreign Policy has a post about why those wanting intervention in Syria are wrong.
• The UN International Labor Organization released a report with one major finding that the key to ending child labor is to advocate social protections.
• May Day protests, meant to demand better workers’ rights, are occurring around the world, in places such as Indonesia, The Philippines, Turkey, Cambodia and several European cities.

• The Syrian Prime Minister has survived a car bomb in Damascus, an event UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon labelled a “terrorist attack.”
• Ban Ki-Moon also urged Syria to allow international experts access in order to establish whether chemical weapons were used. Meanwhile, in a phone call to President Putin, President Obama has expressed his concern over the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
• The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) sentenced five men to prison for their roles in an organ trafficking syndicate.
• Afghan President Hamid Karzai has admitted to taking money from the US CIA in order to  pay for operational and health care costs as well as rent for some of the staff’s housing. Foreign Policy cheekily asks: do bags of cash ever help the CIA get what it wants?
• British retailer Primark and Canadian brand Loblaw are two Western companies that will compensate families of the victims of last week’s tragic clothing factory accident in Bangladesh.
• As nearly two-thirds of all detainees at Guantanamo have now joined the hunger strike, the US has sent extra medical staff to monitor the situation.
• During their first summit in ten years, Japan and Russia have agreed to talks to settle their dispute over the four Pacific islands, known in Russia as the Southern Kuriles and in Japan as the Northern Territories. If successful, the negotiations will formally end WWII between the two states.
• A change of guard in the Netherlands where Queen Beatrix is abdicating today and handing over the crown to her son Willem-Alexander, who becomes the country’s first King since the late 19th century.