Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, October 31, 2012

31 Oct Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, October 31, 2012

• Syrian airstrikes have resumed and 18 people have been found dead in the capital. Additionally, there are reports that a senior Syrian Air Force Commander was assassinated in Damascus.
• A former Chinese diplomat turned academic has argued that the dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands is a time bomb planted by the US that may go off unless the US does more to encourage negotiations between China and Japan.
• In related news, the US and Japan will hold a joint military exercise in November, a move likely to upset China amid the row over the disputed islands.
• The EU may send 200 troops to Mali to help train the military to contain the threat of Islamists in Northern Mali.
• Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has indicated that he does not want EU membership negotiations to stretch beyond 2023, the 100th anniversary of the republic.
• The European Court of Human Rights issued its decision yesterday in P. and S. v. Poland, (judgment here) finding Poland responsible for the inhumane and degrading treatment of a 14-year-old rape victim whom the authorities tried to stop having an abortion.
• EJIL: Talk! features an analysis of Scotland’s referendum for independence and the EU.
• Foreign Policy covers a story about the Swiss army preparing for potential fallout from the euro crisis.

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