Opinio Juris » Weekday News Wrap w49/12

Weekday News Wrap: Friday, December 7, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez will miss Friday’s regional trade summit in Brazil, raising questions about his health.
US warships are shifting in order to monitor the planned rocket launch by North Korea, while the US still urges Pyongyang to cancel this exercise.
Violence has surged around Damascus as Syrian government forces shell rebel-controlled areas.
The UN Special Envoy for Syria held discussions with US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, and her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on a creative solution for Syria that may involve ousting President Assad.
The King of Jordan has visited the West Bank to congratulate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on the UN General Assembly resolution from last week upgrading Palestine’s observer status. Hamas’ exiled leader Khaled Meshaal plans to visit the Gaza Strip for the first time in 45 years.
Human Rights Watch has filed a report alleging violations of international humanitarian law by Israel in a shelling that killed 12 Palestinian civilians in last month’s clashes.
Geographical Imaginations blog has a post up about the politics of drone wars.
A judge in New Zealand has ordered the local intelligence agency to release details about the other international agencies in the Echelon ring it shared information with regarding the surveillance of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom.
China has left Norway of the list of states whose citizens are eligible for 72 hour visa-free entry to Beijing, in an apparent snub over the award of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo. Meanwhile in Stockholm, the Chinese winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature has claimed that censorship is as necessary as airport security checks.
OJ’s Julian Ku and Peter Spiro contribute entries to a New York Times Room for Debate discussion on the US and treaties after the Disabilities Convention.

December 7th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/12/07/weekday-news-wrap-friday-december-7-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Thursday, December 6, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

Russia has heavily criticized the ICTY for its verdict last week acquitting three, calling the work of the Court careless and ineffective.
Iran’s media reports its military has claimed to have extracted data from the US drone it captured earlier in the week, proving the US was spying on Iran.
A US drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.
Despite international criticism, Israel will push ahead with the E1 settlement plan in the West Bank as EU summons the Israel envoy adding its own voice to the criticism.
The Palestinian Chargé d’Affaires has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the settlements.
A UN peacekeeping chief has said that there will be no possibility of military intervention into Mali before next September.
The Huffington Post is reporting that Syrian chemical weapons have been readied for sarin, a deadly nerve gas that has been used in the past by Saddam Hussein to wipe out thousands in the village of Halabja in 1998.
The Syrian conflict is spreading to Lebanon where violence has broken out between supporters of both sides. Ban-Ki Moon has meanwhile rejected the possibility of impunity for Assad or anyone else involved in human rights violations.
Argentina has filed WTO complaints against the US over import restrictions on beef and lemons and against the EU over restrictions on biodiesel.
Bolivia is keen to follow the example of Peru in taking Chile to the ICJ over maritime boundaries, challenging the 1904 Treaty of Peace and Friendship that left Bolivia landlocked.

December 6th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/12/06/weekday-news-wrap-thursday-december-6-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, December 5, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

A WTO Arbitrator has ruled that the reasonable period of time for the US to comply with the requirements in the US-COOL decision expires 10 months from the day the Panel and Appellate Body reports were adopted.
Angry crowds surrounded the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, to protest President Morsi’s recent decision to extend his own power, causing the President to leave the palace overnight.
The US Navy is denying Iranian reports that a US drone was captured.
NATO Members have agreed to install Patriot missiles along the Turkey-Syria border to protect Turkey against a Syrian attack. Additionally, NATO has warned Syria against using chemical weapons, with an immediate international response as the consequence.
The Guardian is reporting that the former spokesman of the Syrian foreign affairs ministry has defected and is on his way to the US.
Mali’s government has agreed to holding peace talks with two separatist rebel groups.
The European Union is mulling a collective response to Israel’s planned expansion of settlements into the West Bank, while Germany’s Angela Merkel is nonplussed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans and will discuss it with him today during his visit to Berlin.
Recently acquitted at the ICTY, Ramush Haradinaj has made his plans to reclaim his job as Kosovo’s prime minister known, a move likely to anger Serbia.
In other ICTY news, the Court has confirmed the life sentence of Milan Lukic, convicted of war crimes including the Pionirska Street massacre, where he barricaded some 70 civilians in a house before setting it ablaze during the conflict in the Former Yugoslavia.

December 5th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/12/05/weekday-news-wrap-wednesday-december-5-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, December 4, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

The US has criticized Israel’s decision to expand settlements in the E1 area, following the UNGA’s decision to grant Palestine non-member state status. Five European countries (France, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Spain) and the Australian government has also summoned the Israeli ambassador in protest. Despite the criticism, Israel plans to move ahead with the settlement construction.
More analysis about the effect of the UNGA’s resolution on statehood of Palestine can be found at the Arms Control Blog.
Following intelligence reports, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton repeated their warning to the Syrian government not to deploy chemical weapons in the civil war.
Concern about the Syrian conflict is rising again in Turkey after bombardments on a city in Northeastern Syria caused damage in Turkey and triggered an exodus of refugees.
The IMF has issued a long-awaited new institutional viewpoint on policies to manage capital flows, suggesting that capital controls may in certain situations be useful.
The ICJ is once again considering maritime delimitation in Latin America, with a hearing on the dispute between Peru and Chile.
China has taken umbrage at a a provision in the National Defence Authorization Act recognizing Japan’s right of administration over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands.
Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese activist who is studying in New York after escaping to the US embassy earlier this year, has called on the new Chinese leaders to follow Burma’s example of reform.
The government of the United Kingdom has appealed a decision blocking Muslim cleric Abu Qatada’s extradition to Jordan.
A Federal District judge ruled Friday that Somalia’s territorial waters extend no more than 12 miles from shore, concluding that the US has jurisdiction to prosecute a band of pirates accused of murdering four Americans in 2011 in an incident that occurred some 40 miles out to sea.
Iranian media are reporting that Iran has captured a US ScanEagle drone allegedly working on a reconnaissance mission over Iranian airspace.
Nobel laureate Jody Williams has urged the United States to sign and ratify the Mine Ban Treaty, leaving China and Russia as two of the few world powers that still reject it.

December 4th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/12/04/weekday-news-wrap-tuesday-december-4-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Monday, December 3, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

Syrian forces have pounded rebel-held areas of Damascus, trying to keep them away from the airport so flights can resume.
After last Thursday’s decision from the ICTY Appeals Chamber, acquitting former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and two others, Kosovo’s government has demanded an investigation into the actions of the lead prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, accusing her of abuse of power and filing unfounded charges.
As we reported last week, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution giving Palestine an upgraded non-member observer state status. At EJIL: Talk!, Dapo Akande asks whether this now makes Palestine a state under international law.
As a result of the vote, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas experienced a hero’s welcome during his return to Ramallah. A more somber reaction followed in Israel. Not only did Israel reject Palestinian statehood, it also unveiled a plan for 3,000 new settlements in Palestinian territory.
Ban Ki-Moon has condemned the plan for new settlements as an “almost fatal blow to peace“, and European nations have condemned the plan, threatening to withdraw support to Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off international criticism of the new settlement plans, stating that Israel will continue to build in Jerusalem and wherever there are Israeli strategic interests. Additionally, Israel has withheld tax revenue funds of about $100 million this month from Palestine in response to the UN vote.
The presidents of Colombia and Nicaragua both have stated they wish to avoid war and use dialogue instead to solve a dispute over a recent ICJ decision that shifted some of Colombia’s resource-rich water to Nicaragua. Jurist has more here.
A missile fired from a US drone in northern Pakistan has killed four men, one of whom was a Yemeni with alleged ties to al-Qaeda. The New York Times has an editorial about the recent reports that the Obama administration is crafting a set of rules outlining its targeted killings policy.
William Schabas has a post on his blog regarding serious fairness issues raised recently at the ICC in the Katanga/Ngudjolo case.
China has surpassed the US as the dominant global trading partner.
Three former Nobel Peace Prize laureates have sent an open letter to the Nobel Foundation protesting this year’s award to the EU.
Multiple suicide bombers attacked a joint US-Afghan airbase in Jalalabad over the weekend.
South Sudan has announced that its border talks with Sudan have been successful so far, although details were not disclosed.
A Parliamentary Committee in the UK has recommended stronger actions to ensure that global firms such as Amazon, Google and Starbucks pay taxes on the revenue generated in the UK.

December 3rd, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/12/03/weekday-news-wrap-monday-december-3-2012/ |