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Weekday News Wrap: Friday, May 11, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

Responding to a letter to which we linked yesterday, US Trade Representative Kirk has rejected criticism that the negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement have not been transparent.
The Greek left leader has asked the EU to re-examine its commitment to austerity.
In talks to normalize bilateral relations, Zimbabwe has asked the EU to lift all remaining sanctions on Mugabe and senior members of his party.
The 22nd World Economic Forum on Africa is taking place in Addis Ababa.
Putin will not be meeting Obama at Camp David next week, postponing his first meeting as re-elected President.
The Pakistani cabinet will meet next week to discuss ending its blockade on NATO supplies to Afghanistan.
Lawyers for Chen Guangcheng’s family members are claiming that they are being threatened by Chinese government officials. Chen himself has said that officials are “going crazy” with reprisals. Foreign Policy has a piece warning us, however, not to believe everything we read about China, claiming that not even journalists know what’s going on.
We’ve been following the escalating tensions between China and the Philippines recently, and our own Julian Ku blogged recently about it here. Today, there were protests in Manila against Beijing’s claims of the disputed islands. Their chosen protest song reportedly is the 1974 hit “Kung Fu Fighting”.
RNW has a piece detailing the role of the Residual Special Court of Sierra Leone, now that the Taylor trial is over and the work of the Special Court is tapering off, and pointing out that much more work remains to be done.
Foreign Policy outlines why Argentinians may not be that impressed with Obama’s backing of same-sex marriage, as yesterday the Argentine legislature, which granted same-sex marriage rights two years ago, became the first in the world to grant the legal right to gender reassignment, without having to undergo medical, psychological or judicial procedures beforehand.
Officials in Russia have claimed that they’ve foiled a bombing plot, allegedly by Muslim extremists, set to occur during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The UN has claimed that three prisoners in Libya have been tortured to death and urged making the end of this practice a top priority.
Pirates have hijacked a Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Oman.
A district court in The Netherlands has ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to block the file-sharing website, The Pirate Bay, highlighting the latest move in the issue of online piracy. The ISPs plan to appeal, stating it is not their role to monitor internet activity. Other countries are dealing with similar issues of balancing anti-piracy measures with fears of censorship

May 11th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/05/11/weekday-news-wrap-friday-may-11-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Thursday, May 10, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

US President Barack Obama has backed same-sex marriage. Foreign Policy gives a global look into which countries have already legalized same-sex marriage.
Stricter international rules of the Hague Adoption Convention are seen as contributing to a drastic drop in international adoptions worldwide.
As another sign of heightening tensions between China and the Philippines over disputed islands in the South China Sea, Chinese travel agencies have suspended bookings to the Philippines.
The US has planned a 10-month deployment of a warship to Singapore, which may stir China’s fears of US-meddling in the South China Sea disputes.
The University of Washington has offered a fellowship to Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng. Chen meanwhile argues that policy are retaliating agaist his extended family.
Zimbabwe is critical of a South African ruling that would bring members of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s administration under prosecution for alleged acts of torture.
An NGO in Ghana has petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate genocidal statements and ethnic-cleansing pronouncements made by a member of parliament.
Uganda denies Khartoum’s allegations that it is meddling in the Sudan-South Sudan conflict.
The European Court of Human Rights turned down a request from Abu Qatada to remain in Britain; he could now be extradited to Jordan.
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has urged Muslims to avenge the burning of the Koran by US troops earlier this year.
Intensified US drone attacks in Yemen are causing political strain.
As we mentioned yesterday, Liechtenstein has become the first country to ratify the aggression amendment of the Rome Statute; IntLawGrrls has a post highlighting this move and suggesting that Germany may soon follow suit.
The Atlantic reports on a group of teenagers who have taken legal action against various US government agencies to take action about climate change.
India and Iran have concluded a trade deal that will help Iran to circumvent US sanctions.
Britain seeks to delay the implementation of a ban on providing insurance for tankers carrying Iranian oil because four of Iran’s major buyers still have to find alternative insurance coverage.
Sri Lanka has removed its ambassador to the UN in Geneva, apparently following a UN Human Rights Council motion critical of Sri Lanka.

May 10th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/05/10/weekday-news-wrap-thursday-may-10-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, May 9, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

The Arab League has joined the ICRC in warning of a civil war within Syria; a UN envoy bolsters this claim with reports that arms are flowing in both directions between neighboring Lebanon and Syria.
Citizens of North Carolina have voted to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions, dealing a setback to LGBT-rights activists and those in favor of equal treatment for all citizens.
Yesterday, we told you about the Al Jazeera journalist expelled from China, Melissa Chan. Today, Foreign Policy gives us an account of perhaps why she was expelled and the BBC’s Beijing correspondent discusses Chinese officials’ Orwellian behaviour in making her an “unperson“.
The NY Times has an account of the various diplomatic twists behind the scenes in Beijing and Washington in the Chen case.
Iran is now accepting payments for crude oil in renminbi, a move that allows Iran to resist US unilateral sanctions and that allows Beijing to move the exchange rate risk to its trading partners and reduces its need for large US dollar reserves.
A UN nuclear weapons inspector from the IAEA was killed yesterday in a car accident in Iran and another was injured.
The US has resumed military training aimed at countering al-Qaeda in Yemen.
And speaking of al-Qaeda, the suspect behind the foiled al-Qaeda airline bombing plot was a CIA informant, working for both US and Saudi intelligence. Foreign Policy has more about the varying accounts from media outlets on this story, calling it the “fog of terror.”
Professor Schabas tells us on his blog about Liechtenstein’s becoming the first State Party to the Rome Statute to ratify the aggression amendment, the first of thirty ratifications needed before the amendment can take effect in 2017.
The ICTR Appeals Chamber has reversed some part of the convictions of Aloys Ntabakuze and reduced his sentence from life to 35 years imprisonment. Two other appeals were dismissed.

May 9th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/05/09/weekday-news-wrap-wednesday-may-9-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, May 8, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

The National Security Council has confirmed to Al Jazeera that the US has thwarted an airline bombing attempt by Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
There has been a mass defection of Sudanese troops to South Sudan in the clash between the two nations.
In other al-Qaeda news, an American aid worker, based in Lahore, has made a video pleading with President Obama to meet the demands of his Pakistan-based al-Qaeda captors in order to save his life. US officials refuse to negotiate.
China has expelled its first foreign journalist in 13 years, refusing to renew the visa for an Al Jazeera correspondent.
A Colombian drug lord, Jose Antonio Calle, has surrendered to US agents in Aruba on charges of distributing 25 tons of cocaine.
Colombian rebel group FARC has confirmed it is holding a French journalist hostage.
The informal “coalition of ambition” talks on climate change in Brussels reveal the division between EU Member States on how to divide contributions to the Green Climate Fund, established at the UNFCCC COP in Durban last December, after 2012.
In a speech in Berlin, alongside his Israeli colleague, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called upon Israel and Palestine to reopen negotiations on a two-state solution.
During talks at the Pentagon, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie agreed to work together to improve cybersecurity.
A Chinese oil drilling platform will start operations today in the South China Sea, not very far from the disputed Scarborough Shoal.
Christine Lagarde, the IMF Managing Director, made a case for more flexibility in fiscal consolidation when needed to achieve the right pace to stimulate growth.
A new round of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement starts in Dallas today.
Two weeks of negotiations at the UN have failed to result in a plan that can be adopted by world leaders in June at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, in Rio.
Some of the violence in Syria qualifies the ongoing conflict as a civil war, or non-international armed conflict, according to the ICRC.
Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for the fugitive Vice President of Iraq, Tariq Hashemi on suspicion of guiding and financing terrorist attacks.

May 8th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/05/08/weekday-news-wrap-tuesday-may-8-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Monday, May 7, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples concluded his report in the United States Friday, warning that historical wrongs-particularly the loss of lands-continue to have an impact on Native American communities and calling on the US to step up efforts to address injustices.
Reports have surfaced of child soldiers in rebel ranks in Mali; Human Rights Watch has a report outlining child soldier use and rapes allegedly committed by forces.
Human Rights Watch also outlines war crimes allegedly being committed in Syria, while the violence rages on despite the ceasefire agreement.
The US has been secretly releasing prisoners from an Afghan military compound as part of negotiations with insurgent groups.
Over the weekend, a NATO soldier was killed by an attacker wearing an Afghan army uniform; the attacker was also killed in return fire by coalition forces.
US Vice President, Joe Biden, has said that Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng’s future is in the United States, stating he could get a US visa “right away.” Guangcheng, meanwhile, awaits his fate in a Beijing hospital, but remains optimistic that China will allow his trip.
In EU news, Greek and French voters have handed a loss to German-led austerity measures at the polls this weekend. CNN analyses the implications for the US.
Not so much of a leadership change in Russia, where Putin was sworn in again as President this morning, following violent protests on Sunday.
Polls have opened in Syria, but are not expected to bring about change, as the Syrian Parliament is not very powerful and the elections are boycotted by the opposition.
Two Belgians have been detained in Yemen on suspicion of planned terrorist activities and could be deported.
A CIA air strike in Yemen has killed an Al-Qaeda leader wanted for his involvement in the attack on the USS Cole.
According to the UN, Africa’s Sahel region faces a malnutrition crisis, calculating that up to one million children are at risk of dying of hunger amid drought and unrest.
Bahrain has arrested a human rights activist and critic of the royal family; the charges up to this point are unclear.
Peru’s government issued a health alert to tourists and residents along its northern beaches after hundreds of pelicans and dolphins have turned up on the shores dead.
Sudan has accused South Sudan of having troops on its territory.
On a visit in Calcutta, Hilary Clinton has asked India to do more about reducing its oil imports from Iran, which India sees as a strategic ally.
As Kevin Jon Heller also noted, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged “Mastermind of 9/11,” and four other men have refused to enter a plea in their military commissions trial at Guantanamo Bay.
Japan has shut down its last nuclear reactor.
The EU is hosting talks in Brussels this week with around 30 other states, developed and developing, on how to breathe new life in the climate change negotiations.

May 7th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/05/07/weekday-news-wrap-monday-may-7-2012/ |