Weekly News Wrap: Monday, January 5, 2015

05 Jan Weekly News Wrap: Monday, January 5, 2015

05.01.15 | 0 Comments

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world:

Boko Haram fighters have overrun an army base in the remote northeast Nigerian town of Baga, killing scores of soldiers in the attack, security sources have said.
At least 100 people have been killed after a cross-border attack against the central African nation of Burundi from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), AFP news agency reports quoting a military source.
An unmanned U.S. aircraft that unleashed Hellfire missiles at a vehicle in Somalia earlier this week killed a leader of the al Shabaab militant group, dealing a setback to its ability to carry out anti-government attacks, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN has formally submitted Palestine’s application to join the International Criminal Court to the UN secretary-general; Israel will withhold critical tax revenue and seek ways to bring war crimes prosecutions against Palestinian leaders in retaliation for this move.
Additionally, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that he was discussing with Jordan plans to resubmit to the United Nations Security Council a resolution calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state that failed to win enough votes last week.
Violence in Iraq in 2014 killed at least 12,282 civilians, making it the deadliest year since the sectarian bloodshed of 2006-07, the United Nations said in a statement.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for curbs on the state’s involvement in business and an end to Tehran’s international isolation on Sunday to help rescue an economy hurt by sanctions, corruption and mismanagement.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was open to a high-level summit with neighboring South Korea, days after a proposal from Seoul to resume dialogue.
NATO has formally ended its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan.
Three Yemenis and two Tunisians held for more than a decade at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo have been flown to Kazakhstan for resettlement, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of prisoner transfers aimed at closing the facility.

The German government expects Greece to commit to the terms of its EU/IMF bailout agreement after a January 25 election and a possible change of government in Athens, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.
Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday he would like to bring forward a planned referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union from 2017 if possible.
A cargo ship abandoned by its crew with 359 Syrian refugees on board was towed ashore in Italy on Saturday in the second such rescue this week, prompting calls for stronger European Union action in the face of new tactics by human traffickers.
Lithuania joined the euro zone at the stroke of midnight on Thursday, hoping to anchor itself in Europe as its former master Russia flexes its military muscle in the region.

North Korea was hit with more sanctions on Friday designed to impede access to the U.S. financial system in the wake of a cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, which the Obama Administration has said was supported by the reclusive country.
The United States and its allies staged 29 air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Thursday.

The outgoing chief of the United Nations’ anti-Ebola mission has voiced hope that global efforts would put an end to the outbreak of the deadly virus in West Africa by the end of 2015, but said that months of tough work remain.

General