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Search: kony 2012

16 Nov

Israel has intensified its aerial bombardment on the Gaza strip, after shells targeted Tel Aviv for the first time in 20 years. CNN has a Q&A about the conflict. Syrian opposition leaders are in London to meet UK Foreign Secretary William Hague. The UK has summoned the Spanish Ambassador after Spanish naval vessels allegedly intruded in Gibraltar territorial waters. The UK Ambassador to Spain was in turn summoned after a series of incidents involving Spanish fishermen and the Gibraltar police in Spanish waters. On Saturday, President Obama...
16.11.12 | |

26 Dec

Israel has approved 1200 additional settlement units around Jerusalem, and with the election looming in less than a month, pressure is reportedly building on PM Netanyahu to drop the two state solution. Turkey is hopeful that progress will be made on its EU membership negotiations during the Ireland’s turn at the helm of the Union in the first six months of 2013. The new Egyptian Constitution was approved by 64% of votes cast, but only 33% of voters turned out. Shinzo Abe has been voted in by...
26.12.12 | |

07 Jul

This week on Opinio Juris, we had Kevin Jon Heller weighing in on Melinda Taylor’s release in Libya and offering thoughts related to whether she should be prosecuted there. Additionally, Kevin Jon proposed a thought experiment regarding ICC-State cooperation in response to the Melinda Taylor situation and gave an analysis offering more evidence as to why Libya is unable to prosecute Saif al-Islam Gaddafi with regard to its admissability challenge to the ICC, which he urged the Pre-Trial Chamber to reject until Libya could demonstrate control over Saif....
07.07.12 | |

25 Sep

As Ken already pointed out in his post, the UN General Assembly meeting officially opens today in New York. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi have met in New York to improve US-Egypt relations and to discuss embassy security following the riots after the controversial anti-Islam video. It’s getting busy around the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, with Taiwanese fishermen and the Coast Guard briefly entering the 12 nautical mile zone around the islands, before being chased away by the Japanese Coast Guard’s water cannons....
25.09.12 | |

26 Apr

The Special Court for Sierra Leone gave its verdict today in the Charles Taylor case. The Court found Taylor criminally responsible for aiding and abetting on all 11 counts in the indictment. The Court found that the prosecution failed to prove individual criminal responsibility (no effective control over the RUF) and joint criminal enterprise. Sentencing is scheduled for May 30th. Our Kevin Jon Heller has preliminary thoughts here and the blog IntLawGrrls will be running a series of posts about the decision; you can find more information...
26.04.12 | |

03 Oct

Georgia’s President Mikhal Saakashvili has conceded defeated in Monday’s parliamentary elections. Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have softened his stance on military action against Iran, allowing more space for sanctions to take effect until at least mid-2013. The territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands is blamed for the decision of major Chinese banks to pull out of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings that are scheduled to take place in Tokyo next week. Ralls Corp, a company owned by two Chinese nationals, has sued President Obama after...
03.10.12 | |

30 May

The Special Court for Sierra Leone sentenced Charles Taylor to 50 years today following his conviction for 11 counts of war crimes. He will get six-years’ credit for the time he has served since being in custody in The Hague. The ICC Appeals Chamber has unanimously rejected the Prosecution’s appeal on the Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision declining to confirm the charges in the Mbarushimana case. In follow-up news about the Pakistani doctor recently sentenced to 33 years in prison for treason who aided the CIA in finding...
30.05.12 | |

07 Aug

Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has defected from what he terms the “terrorist regime” of President Bashar al-Assad, while violence rages on in Aleppo. IPS offers an insight into what these high-level defections mean for Syria’s future. Syria is also losing support of its ally Iran, whose Foreign Minister will visit Turkey today to discuss the situation in Syria and the capture of Iranian nationals. Hilary Clinton is visiting South Africa, where Syria will also be on the agenda. Also in South Africa, former Irish President and...
07.08.12 | |

02 Oct

Oral arguments were heard yesterday for the second time before the US Supreme Court in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum; the transcript can be found here. You can already read the preliminary thoughts from a few of our regulars Roger, Deborah and Peter, and as Julian mentioned, starting today, we will have a roundtable discussion from a variety of guest contributors about their thoughts on the re-argumentation. Amid sanctions from Western nations, Iran’s rial currency plunged more than 25% in the last week. Geopolitics and resources have...
02.10.12 | |

30 Nov

As expected, the UN General Assembly Resolution granting non-member state status to Palestine passed on Thursday. Israel’s UN ambassador has called it a “reward for terrorism“. This article compares the votes of the European nations on Palestine’s UNESCO membership last year, and this year’s vote, and concludes that European support shifted towards the Palestinian authority. Private Bradley Manning took the stand today at the third day of the hearings in the Wikileaks case. UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon has recommended that the UN approve an African Union mission...
30.11.12 | |

21 Jul

This week on Opinio Juris, Julian Ku discussed how the announcement by two US Senators of their position against ratification of the UNCLOS, has effectively sunk ratification for this year, and argued that the next administration should seek out bilateral agreements to protect commercial exploitation of the seabed on the high seas. Deborah Pearlstein argued why the US, even if it is not at war with Yemen, is at war in Yemen, and discussed the legal consequences thereof. Kevin Jon Heller gave four reasons why the ICC should...
21.07.12 | |

11 Sep

China has dispatched patrol ships after Japan has said it will nationalize two disputed islands in the East China Sea. The Afghan Taliban have now denied a report that they would enter into peace talks with authorities. Saeed al-Shihri, second-in-command of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has been killed , according to Yemini authorities. Foreign Policy has more here . The United States has transferred control over Bagram prison to Afghan authorities. Three Afghan security personnel members have been killed in a missile attack on Bagram air...
11.09.12 | |