Opinio Juris » Weekday News Wrap w14/12

Weekday News Wrap: Friday, April 6, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

The Tuareg separatists in Mali have ended their military operations. In response, a mediator claims that economic and diplomatic sanctions imposed by ECOWAS countries could soon be lifted. Foreign Policy has a context piece outlining how the war in terror created the current “Mess in Mali.” Additionally, there have been calls for independence for the Azawad region. FP looks at whether it could gain international recognition.
In other secessionist news, Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, lays out plans for a late-2014 independence referendum. Whether that is possible is perhaps another question. And what repercussions it may have for other British ties, such as Australia, may hang in the balance.
Honduras has requested WTO consultations with Australia over the latter’s plain packaging requirements for tobacco and tobacco products.
Malawi’s 78-year-old President Bingu wa Mutharika has died of a heart attack.
Despite the UN’s increasing pressure on Syrian officials to put an end to the violence, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reports a worsening of the conflict.
Defense lawyers at the ICC have reported that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has been brutally mistreated in the Libyan prison where he currently is being held, stepping up pressure to extradite him to The Hague.
Former German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, has a column on Project Syndicate about nuclear talks with Iran.
Brazil calls on BRICS nations to rally around one candidate for the World Bank presidency.
China calls on all nations to lift sanctions on Myanmar and the US has announced it will ease some sanctions as a result of new democratic reforms.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister says that after NATO troops leave the country in 2014, Afghanistan will not be used as a launch pad for US drones.
Two Tunisians have been jailed for seven years after posting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed on Facebook, fueling allegations that new leaders are placing a chokehold on free speech.
Invisible Children has released its follow-up video to the viral Kony 2012 sensation: Kony 2012 Part II: Beyond Famous.
Ahead of the Easter weekend, the Pope issued a statement reaffirming the ban on female priests in the Catholic Church and underscoring that disobedience from clerics on such issues as female ordination or celibacy within the Church would not be tolerated.

April 6th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/04/06/weekday-news-wrap-friday-april-6-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Thursday, April 5, 2012

by An Hertogen

As an advance group of UN peacekeepers arrived in Syria for talks on the monitoring of the ceasefire, violence erupted again.
Russia is seeking more influence in the Syrian situation, and has invited the Syrian foreign minister and representatives of the Syrian opposition for separate talks in Moscow, on 10 April and 17-18 April respectively. Russia also urges other states not to arm the Syrian opposition.
The Pentagon has referred Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 4 others to trial by military commission in Guantanamo Bay for their roles in the 9/11 attacks.
The US will move cautiously to ease some of its economic sanctions on Myanmar.
The CIA reports that Iran has expanded its nuclear work in 2011.
No venue has been decided yet for the Iran nuclear talks due to start on April 13, with Iran now suggesting that the talks could take place in Beijing, Beirut, Baghdad or even Damascus.
Violence has erupted in Athens, after a pensioner committed suicide near the Parliament.
The WTO Appellate Body held that the US ban on clove cigarettes is discriminatory because menthol flavored cigarettes, which it considered to be “like products”, do not fall within the ban.
The Dutch government has recalled its ambassador to Suriname after its former colony passed a law granting former dictator Bouterse and his associates immunity from prosecution.
The European Commission has referred the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to the European Court of Justice to examine whether the agreement breaches fundamental rights such as the freedom of expression. The European Parliament had earlier refused to refer the Agreement to the ECJ, with some members preferring to reject the agreement outright.
The International Criminal Court has ordered Libya to hand over Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, who is wanted for crimes against humanity.

April 5th, 2012 - 8:45 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/04/05/weekday-news-wrap-thursday-april-5-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, April 4, 2012

by An Hertogen

A part of the Syrian peace plan, brokered at the behest of Kofi Annan, includes the deployment of 250 UN peacekeepers for a ceasefire monitoring mission, scheduled for arrival in Syria in the next 48 hours.
Russia accuses the “Friends of Syria” group that met in Istanbul over the weekend of undermining the UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.
After bombs exploded over the weekend, killing 13 in the south of Thailand, police officials fear more attacks based in religious tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in the region.
Yemini armed forces have claimed to have killed 43 al-Qaeda militants in the south of Yemen over the last two days.
For the second time in less than a week, French police arrested radical Islamists in a series of pre-dawn raids.
In a move welcomed by India, the US has posted a $10 million bounty for the mastermind behind the 2008 attacks in Mumbai which killed 188 people, as well as a $2 million bounty for one of his associates.
ASEAN leaders would like to see an end to sanctions against Myanmar and applaud the recent successful democratic elections in the country.
The US may send an ambassador to Myanmar soon.
At their summit, ASEAN leaders were however unable to make progress in reaching a common position on the maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
A first group of US Marines has arrived in northern Australia as the US expands its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
In a letter it wrote Tuesday, Human Rights Watch called on new Senegalese President Sall Mackey to monitor the human rights situation within his country.
The military leaders in Mali will hold a National Convention on Thursday to decide on the future direction of the country.
The Netherlands is asking Suriname, one of its former colonies, not to pass legislation that would grant immunity from prosecution to former dictator Bouterse and 24 of his associates for crimes committed during the dictatorship.
Iran claims that it could strike the United States, were it attacked, in an increasing escalation of rhetoric surrounding Iran’s development of enriched uranium.
Steven Cook, in Foreign Policy, posits that we should not be worried about a middle-east arms race, even if Iran were to develop nuclear capabilities.
IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, has asked for US leadership in providing the IMF with more firepower to support troubled economies, arguing that it is in the US interest that Europe and the rest of the world are economically strong.

April 4th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/04/04/weekday-news-wrap-april-4-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, April 3, 2012

by An Hertogen

On the 30th anniversary of the Falklands Islands/Las Malvinas invasion, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner decried the existence of a “colonialist enclave” in the 21st century as an injustice. At a remembrance ceremony in the UK, UK Prime Minister David Cameron referred to the Islanders’ right of self-determination.
According to Kofi Annan, Syria has agreed to a ceasefire starting on April 10.
In a follow-up to threatening action against Mali, West African nations have placed trade, economic and diplomatic sanctions on the strife-ridden country.
In Senegal, President Mackey Sall was sworn in, after being elected late last month.
Hungarian President, Pal Schmitt, resigns amidst a plagiarism scandal regarding his doctorate, stripped away by a Hungarian university after allegations he copied large amounts of text without proper attribution.
Pakistan has jailed family members of Osama bin Laden for a month and a half for illegal residence. Pakistan is already looking into repatriation for the family members after they serve their sentences.
The ICRC has confirmed that FARC has released all 10 hostages it was holding for more than a decade.
FP outlines various opinions about the nomination of Okonjo-Iweala for the top World Bank position.
Outgoing World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, backs the idea of a BRICS development bank.
Japan has extended its sanctions against North Korea, in place since 2006, by another year.
Nuclear talks between Iran and the West are set to take place later this month in Istanbul, but some in Iran want to have them in an “Iran-friendly” Arab country.
The US has welcomed India’s decision to send a Special Envoy to mediate between Sudan and South Sudan.
At the WTO, the US, EU and 10 other countries criticize Argentina’s new import licensing system, requiring importers to balance these imports by exports.

April 3rd, 2012 - 2:45 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/04/03/news-wrap-april-3-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Monday, April 2, 2012

by An Hertogen

A New Hampshire woman will be retried for immigration fraud. She allegedly lied about her involvement in the Rwandan genocide when applying for asylum in the US.
US authorities deported a former leader of the Liberian Peace Council who had been living in Rochester since 2006 to the West African country. He is suspected of human rights abuses and war crimes, including the recruitment of child soldiers. His deportation is the first-ever under the Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008.
The Center for Constitutional Rights reports that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has accepted jurisdiction in the case brought against the United States by an Algerian man who has been detained at Guantanamo Bay without charges or trial for more than a decade.
West African leaders have delivered an ultimatum to the military coup leaders in Mali asking them to leave power by Monday or face economic sanctions
At the conference on Syria in Istanbul, the 83 members Friends of the Syrian People group has recognized the Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian opposition. The Arab League countries have committed $100 million to pay the opposition fighters and the US has promised communications equipment and $12 million in humanitarian aid.
In Myanmar, unofficial election results suggest that Aung San Suu Kyi‘s party has won 43 out of the 44 seats in Parliament it contested. Myanmar’s Foreign Minister and his ASEAN counterparts hail the elections as “free and fair“. In a radio interview, Australia’s former ambassador to Myanmar calls for the Australia’s financial sanctions to be lifted.
New satellite images emerge of North Korea’s rocket launch platform suggest that its preparations are further advanced than previously thought.
A report on the Animals and Plants Committees Meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) can be found here
India is considering taking the US to the WTO over its visa fee hikes for foreign companies based in the US bringing in foreign employees, which India alleges are discriminatory because US firms are not subject to these higher fees.

April 2nd, 2012 - 7:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/04/02/news-wrap-april-2-2012/ |