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...
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...
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...
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assumed responsibility for last month's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Commentary on this move from PrawfsBlawg can be found here and Foreign Policy analysis, here. The International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia begins trying its last suspect, Goran Hadzic, today. Also on the ICTY docket today, Radovan Karadzic has begun his defense...
A Human Rights Watch report outlines Syria’s recent use of cluster munitions in civilian areas, a potential war crime. Turkey has banned Syrian aircraft from its airspace as a show of its increasingly firm stance against President Al-Assad’s regime. The EU plans new major sanctions against the banking sector, industry and shipping in Iran. Iran said that the launch of a drone intro...
Upcoming Events On December 7, 2012, the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, in cooperation with the International Humanitarian and Criminal Law Platform, will organize a conference entitled Prosecutor, Watchdog, Diplomat, Manager: The Multiple Roles of the International Prosecutor. Registration can be done here. Calls for Papers The Human Rights Centre in Practice and the Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Warwick have issued a call for papers for a workshop on Strategies...
The European Union has won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for uniting the continent in the face of the ongoing economic crisis. The 10th anniversary of the Bali bombings is being remembered in Bali, Indonesia, and in Australia. The NY Times reports how Indonesian counter-terrorism forces still battle local militant groups. Human rights activists in Iran are reportedly beaten, raped and sleep deprived, according to a...
Royal Dutch Shell Plc., faces a lawsuit today in a district court in The Hague that seeks to make Shell and other corporations responsible for pollution resulting from three oil spills in 2004, 2005 and 2007 in the Niger Delta. Russia has said it will not renew the expiring 1991 arms agreement with the US requiring the dismantaling of nuclear and chemical weapons, as it...
Abu Hamza al-Masri has pleaded not guilty in a US federal court, after recently being extradited by Britain. A US drone attack has killed five in Northwest Pakistan, close to the border with Afghanistan. Xinhua reports that Japan has shown signs of a willingness to compromise and is planning to acknowledge China's claims on the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands without however giving up on its own position. Nevertheless, the...
Libya will challenge the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in order to try him on Libyan soil. Mark Kersten at Justice in Conflict has more analysis about the battle of where the trial will be held. Police in Sierra Leone have arrested an investigator employed by former Liberian President Charles Taylor's defense team on charges he attempted...
Islamic groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for yesterday's Israeli strikes in the Gaza strip. Amnesty International has reported that Rwandan military intelligence services have engaged in torture, unlawful detention and enforced disappearances of civilians. Sudanese state media reports that the border between Sudan and South Sudan will reopen today, after a security agreement was reached last month. Turkish forces fired across the border...
Russia is considering offering Western companies oil licenses in its Arctic waters. Reuters has an exclusive that the European Union is ready to ban imports of Iranian gas as a part of new sanctions in order to increase the pressure over the nuclear program in the Islamic Republic. A UN representative has told the Security Council there is little time to deal with rebels...
