07 Dec Weekday News Wrap: Friday, December 7, 2012
07.12.12
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- 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.
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