In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Jessica Dorsey

01 Nov

The United Nations is resisting calls by the African Union to end the arms embargo against Somalia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking France’s backing over Iran. EU sanctions on natural gas exports have unintentionally strangled Iranian liquefied petroleum gas exports. As spending cuts have stopped insecticide spraying in Greece, years after the disease has been wiped out, cases of malaria have...

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31 Oct

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...

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30 Oct

International observers have criticized last weekend's elections in Ukraine citing systematic problems in the political and electoral system. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is in Algeria, discussing how to tackle the growing presence of Islamist rebels in Northern Mali. Japan is seeking an exemption on US oil sanctions against Iran. Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble tells the UK: “EU needs you.” Presseurope covers the...

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29 Oct

The Israeli Air Force has struck back at rocket installations in Gaza. Ethnic violence in Myanmar has displaced over 22,000 people according to UN estimates. Nigeria also experienced violence between different religious groups after a car bomb on a church, followed by reprisal attacks, killed at least seven people. Authorities in Indonesia have arrested 11 suspects, allegedly planning terrorist attacks on the US embassy and consulate, as well as...

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28 Oct

Upcoming Events The University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law will host a symposium entitled: Mass Torts in a Shrinking World, November 2, 2012. You can find the program here. On November 2-3, 2012 at Duke University School of Law, the Private International Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law will host a conference on What Is Private International Law? ALMA and the Radzyner School of Law of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) would...

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26 Oct

The NY Times reports on a transcript from the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference that was recently discovered in a library at the US Treasury and has been released as an e-book by the Center for Financial Stability. The NY Times also published about the wealth accumulated by the family of outgoing Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiaobao in the past decade. Web access from mainland China...

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25 Oct

Japan claims that four new Chinese ships have appeared in the territorial waters related to the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute. The African Union has reinstated Mali to the organization while stating it was planning an intervention against Islamist fighters in the north of the country, a plan that will be ready within weeks. The Syrian government has indicated to Russia that it will...

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24 Oct

More than 50 rockets have been fired from the Gaza strip into South Israel,an Israeli officer was wounded in the exchange of fire, and one Palestinian was killed when Israel launched rockets back into Gaza. Senior Japanese and Chinese diplomats met last week to discuss the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. The US is finding itself at both ends of two new WTO disputes after the WTO Dispute Settlement...

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23 Oct

Iran has said it may stop oil production if Western sanctions tighten. The United Kingdom will double the number of drones it has in Afghanistan for combat and surveillance missions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany could take part in assisting a European mission to Mali that would train troops to fight Islamist insurgents in the north of the country. Former US...

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22 Oct

Violence erupted in Beirut after the funeral of the slain intelligence chief, raising fears that Lebanon will be unable to escape the tensions in Syria. Foreign Policy has more here. In Syria itself, violence continues, and Special Envoy Brahimi has once again called for a ceasefire over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha starting this Thursday. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has told the special envoy...

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18 Oct

The US and Israel are set to hold a joint missile exercise later this month, displaying their close cooperation in the face of Iran’s nuclear program development. Both Uganda and Rwanda have denied involvement with rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and call recent allegations by the UN “rubbish.” Russia has criticized the European Union for the recent sanctions it...

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17 Oct

South Sudan's Parliament has ratified a border and oil deal with Sudan, which includes a demilitarized zone between the two states. The EU has placed new sanctions on Iranian oil, gas and tanker companies, the effects of which Iran calls futile. In related news, A NYTimes article describes the impact of European sanctions on Iran's ability to keep the money printing presses going. Invoking humanitarian reasons, the UK...

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