Weekly News Wrap: Monday, September 26, 2016

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world:

Africa

• The purported leader of Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau appeared in a video posted on social media on Sunday in which he rejected statements by the country’s military that he had been seriously wounded.
• The United Nations, the African Union and the European Union pressed Democratic Republic of Congo leaders on Saturday to urge their supporters to refrain from violence as the International Criminal Court prosecutor warned she was watching the situation.

Middle East and Northern Africa

• The United States called Russia’s action in Syria “barbarism”, while Moscow’s UN envoy said ending the war was “almost an impossible task”, as government forces relentlessly bombed the besieged city of Aleppo.
• Yemen plans to complain to the U.N. Security Council over what it says are Iran’s weapon transfers to Houthi allies fighting the internationally recognized Yemeni government, the foreign minister said on Saturday.
• Four alleged members of al Qaeda’s Yemen branch, including a local commander, were killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike on a vehicle traveling east of the capital Sanaa, two local officials said on Saturday.

Asia

• India, the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, will formally join the Paris agreement on climate change on October 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.
• China’s air force says it flew more than 40 bombers and other fighter planes through a strait between Japanese islands on their way to military drills in the western Pacific.
• The planned U.S. deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea is not negotiable as part of efforts to agree new U.N. sanctions on North Korea after its fifth nuclear test, but Washington is confident tougher steps will be agreed before long, the senior U.S. diplomat for Asia said on Friday.

Europe

• French President Francois Hollande has confirmed plans to close the Calais refugee camp in northern France, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for Europe to secure deals with third countries to assist in the return of migrants.
• More than 15,000 people gathered in Helsinki on Saturday to protest against racism and violence, after the death of a man assaulted during a neo-Nazi rally in the city earlier this month.
• A group opposed to Britain’s exit from the European Union has accused the government of refusing to allow it to make public the official justification for triggering Article 50 to start the Brexit process without a parliamentary vote.
• German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said she does not expect Britain to block a Franco-German initiative to deepen military cooperation among the 27 remaining European Union members after Britain’s vote to leave the bloc.

Americas

• Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Marxist rebel leader Timochenko will sign a deal on Monday ending a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people, stymied the economy and made Colombia a byword for violence.
• More than 100 illegal immigrants are entering the small Central American country of Costa Rica every day, looking for “coyotes” to take them across the Nicaraguan border and on toward the United States, President Luis Solis said on Friday.
• US President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks to sue the government of Saudi Arabia.

Oceania

• The United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants will visit Australia in November, more than one year after he cancelled his visit due to concerns over immigration legislation.
• Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has criticised what he calls New Zealand and Australia’s “stark double standards” on human rights.

UN/World

• The United Nations Security Council urged China, the United States, North Korea, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel and Pakistan to ratify a treaty (CTBT) banning nuclear explosions, which would allow the deal negotiated 20 years ago to come into force.
• The United States, Britain and France have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the escalating violence in Syria’s second city of Aleppo following a rising civilian death toll and impending humanitarian crisis.
• A political battle should be waged to bring tax havens into the light and allow governments to receive revenue currently lost in offshore accounts, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Guillaume Long told the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.