The Associated Press has released a translation of a jihadist instruction manual (.pdf) of how to avoid being a victim of a drone strike found in a pile of garbage in Timbuktu, Mali. As thousands mourn the death of a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail, fears of a revolt grow. The U.N. has called for an investigation into the death reportedly caused by torture. A rocket has been...
South Korea has inaugurated its first female president, Park Guen-Hye, who now faces regional tensions amid North Korea's nuclear testing. In one of her first moves as president, she demanded an end to nuclear ambitions by North Korea. Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has expelled US special forces from the key battleground Wardak province, because, according to Karzai's spokesperson, some US soldiers...
The Syrian opposition, the Syrian National Coalition, is willing to negotiate a peace agreement, but they demand that President Al-Assad cannot be a part of any deal going forward. Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has blamed al-Qaeda affiliated groups for yesterday's deadly blasts in Damascus, and called on the UN to do more to fight terrorism. Japan's Prime Minister Abe is in...
Yesterday, Myanmar held peace talks between ethnic groups in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in an attempt to resolve the ongoing Kachin conflict. British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested to diverting hundreds of millions of pounds sterling from foreign aid into security and defense. A French General appointed to head the EU's mission to Mali urged the EU to equip the "very impoverished" Malian forces,...
An Israeli soldier has caused outrage because of a photo posted to Instagram showing what appears to be a Palestinian child in the crosshairs of his rifle. Chinese government officials considered using a drone to target a suspected drug lord hiding in Myanmar. In other drone news, the United Arab Emirates has signed a contract with the US to purchase approximately $200 million worth of American-made...
Over at the International Economic Law and Policy Blog, Rob Howse brings daily updates of the Seal hearings at the WTO. The New Zealand government has decided to go ahead with plans to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products, but the enactment of the actual legislation could be postponed depending on the outcome of the WTO and arbitration cases pending against similar Australian...
Bangladesh has amended its war crimes statute to allow the retrial of cases from 1971 amid protests. Human Rights Watch is concerned that the amendments will threaten the legitimacy of the tribunal. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is proposing changes to its rules of procedure in order to strengthen the Inter-American system of human rights. ASIL has posted a new Insight on the International Law Issues in the Department...
Calls for Papers After a successful first edition of Young Researchers Conference on Law, “Hëna e Plotë” Bedër University and University of Tirana are organizing the second edition of the series, Current Issues and Trends in International Law. Several topics will be covered and abstracts are due February 20, 2013. The conference Global Challenges in Public Private Partnerships: Cross-sectoral and Cross-disciplinary Solutions? will be held November...
Legal philosopher and renowned scholar Ronald Dworkin passed away yesterday in London at the age of 81. Kenyan presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta asked the ICC to postpone his trial. A city court in Oslo, Norway convicted a Rwandan man for involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and sentenced him to 21 years in prison. Amid peace talks, seven troops and an unidentified number...
Self-immolations in Tibet, in protest against Chinese rule, have reached the grim milestone of 100. Japan's defense chief claims that Japan could have pre-emptive strike abilities in the future, speaking with respect to the third nuclear test by North Korea. In a phone call to PM Abe following North Korea's nuclear test, President Obama has confirmed the US' commitment to Japanese defense. Iran and the IAEA...
The UN has urged Sudan to strengthen human rights efforts with respect to two recently detained political opposition figures. Rebels have captured Syria's biggest hydro-electric dam and battled army tank units near the center of Damascus. Libya has claimed it is competent to try ex-spy chief under Gaddafi’s regime, Abdullah al-Senussi, though the ICC has called for his extradition to The Hague. The lower house of...
North Korea carried out its third-ever successful nuclear test, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, among others, condemned the act as a violation of several Security Council resolutions. The Sudanese government signed a Qatar-sponsored ceasefire with a splinter Darfur rebel group, in an attempt to revive a stalled peace process to end a decade-long conflict. Rebels have captured Syria's biggest hydro-electric dam and...
