Opinio Juris » weekday news wrap w02/13

Weekday News Wrap: Friday, January 11, 2013

by An Hertogen

More than 100 people were killed in bombings in Pakistan yesterday, and Pakistan Human Rights Watch is sounding alarm bells about increasing Sunni-Shia violence.
Tensions in Kashmir are rising with Pakistan now claiming that India has killed another of its soldiers.
Three women, including a founding member of the PKK, were assassinated at the Kurdish Information Centre were they worked in Paris.
The Czech Republic is electing a new President today and tomorrow, and while there is no frontrunner among the nine candidates, the new President will be more pro-EU than the incumbent.
A top Kremlin official has confirmed that adoptions by US parents that have been confirmed by a court order will still be able to go ahead, despite the recent legislative ban. The situation raises a range of basic international law questions about the withdrawal from an international agreement and the position of treaties in the domestic legal hierarchy.
Lawyers took part in protests in Sri Lanka against the pending impeachment of the Chief Justice, in a power struggle between the government and the courts.
It took less than ten days before the first WTO complaint of 2013 was filed, with the US taking aim at Indonesian import restrictions on horticultural products, animal products and animals, adopted by the latter in an effort to become more self-sufficient.

January 11th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2013/01/11/weekday-news-wrap-friday-january-11-2013/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Thursday, January 10, 2013

by An Hertogen

Another day, another drone strike? Pakistani officials are reporting a second drone strike in as many days in North Waziristan, killing at least four.
Ethnic violence has claimed almost twenty lives in South-East Kenya.
A lavish ceremony has welcomed back the ARA Libertad to Argentina, after ITLOS ordered its release from seizure in Ghana.
Syrian rebels have released 48 Iranian hostages in a prisoner exchange deal with the Syrian government.
Vietnam has convicted 14 democracy campaigners to prison terms of up to 13 years, drawing international condemnation.
The US State Department has warned the UK that the US would prefer the UK to remain a strong voice within the EU.
Laos will become the WTO’s 158th Member on February 2, 2013.

January 10th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2013/01/10/weekday-news-wrap-january-10-2013/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, January 9, 2013

by Jessica Dorsey

India has accused Pakistan of killing two of Indian soldiers in the disputed region of Kashmir, but Pakistan has denied any involvement and its media are playing down the incident.
Hugo Chavez is too ill to be sworn in for his new term as President of Venezuela, raising a whole raft of constitutional questions.
A military judge hearing the case against Bradley Manning in the Wikileaks affair has refused to dismiss the charges against him, but has agreed to reduce his ultimate sentence by 122 days because of mistreatment during his pre-trial detention.
The UN is seeking to deploy surveillance drones over Congo, but neighboring Rwanda is not happy with this proposal.
In other news about the DRC, the M23 rebels have declared a unilateral ceasefire ahead of a second round of peace talks with the government.
Over at Justice in Conflict, Mark Kersten writes more about the US’s Rewards for Justice program and implications with America’s relationship with the ICC.
A senior White House official has said the US would consider leaving no American troops in Afghanistan after the end of combat in December 2014.

January 9th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2013/01/09/weekday-news-wrap-wednesday-january-9-2013/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, January 8, 2013

by Jessica Dorsey

A U.S. drone strike killed eight people in northwestern Pakistan, the latest in a series of drone attacks that come as a retired U.S. general Stanley McChrystal warns their overuse may threaten American foreign policy goals.
The trial of former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic resumed in The Hague on Monday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has asked that government-issued documents, such as passports, include the words “State of Palestine” instead of “Palestinian Authority,” though there will be no rush to replace ID cards or passports to avoid confrontation with Israel.
Rebel fighters in Mali have captured at least 12 government soldiers along with their vehicle and equipment.
A new law passed by the US House and awaiting signature from President Obama will extend the Rewards for Justice Program, allowing for rewards for people wanted by the ICC (including Joseph Kony).
President Obama’s new pick for the Secretary of Defense is Senator Chuck Hagel. Foreign Policy asks if Hagel will be able to stand up to the drone lobby and at Lawfare, they discuss whether a Hagel appointment at DoD and a Brennan appointment as head of CIA would shift lethal operations to the military.
Taiwanese officials have claimed that negotiations on a free trade agreement with Singapore are nearing completion.
Chinese sources have hinted at the possibility that the controversial prison labour camps are under review and may be abolished.
A rewritten editorial in China’s Southern Weekly has led to public protests against Chinese media censorship.
A British soldier was killed in Afghanistan after an attack by a member of the Afghan National Army.
Japan has summoned the Chinese Ambassador to protest against the presence of Chinese maritime surveillance ships near the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.
In a New York Court, Pakistani citizen Abid Naseer has pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism
An Appeals Court in Cameroon has overturned the conviction of two allegedly gay men, who were found to be gay on the basis of their clothes and because they drank Bailey’s.
In Thailand, pressure is building on the government not to accept the outcome of the ICJ’s interpretation of its judgment on the Temple of Preah Vihar, and to declare, inter alia, that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction to interpret its own judgment.
Bahrain‘s highest court has upheld the conviction of 13 activists for their role in the pro-democracy uprising in 2011.

January 8th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2013/01/08/weekday-news-wrap-tuesday-january-8-2013/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Monday, January 7, 2013

by Jessica Dorsey

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected peace talks with his enemies in a defiant speech that his opponents described as a renewed declaration of war. Foreign Affairs officials in the EU, UK and Turkey have responded sceptically and have called on Assad to step down.
A U.S. drone strike killed at least 10 people suspected to be Taliban fighters in Pakistan’s northern tribal areas, intelligence sources said, days after another drone strike killed a top militant leader in the area.
UNICEF has received “credible reports” of armed groups in the Central African Republic recruiting and including children in the country’s conflict.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to build a fortified fence along the border with Syria, warning that hardline Islamist forces have taken over the area.
Presidents of Sudan and South Sudan approve range of deals on oil, security and border deals after meeting in Ethiopia.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan ruled out a general amnesty for Kurdish militants but said intelligence agents would continue to talk to the rebels’ jailed leader in a bid to end a near three-decade insurgency.
The National Credit Union Administration filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. for selling $2.2 billion in faulty residential mortgage-backed securities to credit unions. Jurist has more here.
Indian and Pakistani troops have exchanged gunfire across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region, leaving one Pakistani soldier dead.
At the centennial of his birth, Richard Nixon has been celebrated as a “foreign policy genius”.
You would think he’s starring in a new comedy, but Gerard Depardieu was welcomed in Russia’s autonomous region of Mordovia where he was offered an apartment, blinis, boots and two kittens as a welcome gift. The region is most famous though for its harsh climate and prison camps, including the one were a member of the Pussy Riot is serving her sentence.
Argentina’s problems with its creditors have put a bankruptcy regime for nations, first proposed a decade ago, back into the spotlight.

January 7th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2013/01/07/weekday-news-wrap-monday-january-7-2013/ |