Syria says U.S.-led strikes have not weakened Islamic State

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/29/us-mideast-crisis-syria-minister-idUSKCN0JD01A20141129

Australia intercepts Sri Lankan asylum seekers, turns back most

Australia received 16,000 applications for asylum last year, just under 0.5 percent of the 3.6 million lodged worldwide, UN figures show.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/29/us-australia-asylum-idUSKCN0JD02F20141129 

Pakistan media mogul gets 26 years' jail for blasphemy

 Pakistan's blasphemy law allows anyone to file a complaint alleging
their religious feelings have been hurt for any reason. The punishment
for blasphemy is death.





Pakistan media mogul gets 26 years' jail for blasphemy - World Israel News | Haaretz

Security Council Resolution 2178 (2014): The “Foreign Terrorist Fighter” as an International Legal Person, Part I

At a summit meeting of 24 September in which over 50 government representatives were heard, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2178 (2014) which foresees measures to contain the travel of and support for persons intending to participate in terror acts, notably against the background of the rise of the group “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) and the Al-Nusra front and other affiliates of Al-Qaida.

Resolution 2178 “reaffirms” what previous resolutions since 9/11 had found, namely that “terrorism [normally committed by natural persons] … constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security” (preamble first indent; see previously, e.g., UNSC res. 1368 (2001)). In preamble indent 12, the Council defines a “new threat”, namely the “foreign terrorist fighter threat” which “includes, among others, individuals supporting acts or activities of Al-Qaida and its cells”.

Most paragraphs of the res. 2178 are, in their structure, not novel. They oblige states to adopt measures, and “ensure in their domestic laws” (para. 6) to suppress, combat, prosecute, and penalise the recruiting, organising, transporting, and equipping of individuals travelling for the purpose of perpetrating terrorist acts, e.g. in paras 2, 5, 6, 8. The obligations to criminalise certain behaviour seem, however, quite far reaching as also pointed out by Kai Ambos.

One interesting feature of res. 2178 is that it directly addresses individuals: Operative para. 1 “demands that all foreign terrorist fighters disarm and cease all terrorist acts and participation in the conflict”. The three interrelated questions discussed in this post are whether res. 2178, firstly, creates binding international legal obligations for individuals themselves; secondly, whether (some of) the resolution’s provisions are directly applicable in the domestic order of the UN Member states; and thirdly, whether the non-observance of these individual obligations constitute a crime by virtue of the resolution itself.

International individual obligations flowing from Res. 2178?

The question is whether Res. 2178 is able to impose legally binding international obligations on the individuals addressed. Is the resolution itself the legal basis for an obligation of “foreign terrorist fighters” to desist from forging identity papers, to desist from travelling to the combat field of ISIS, to recruit volunteers, and of course to refrain from committing terrorist acts, and the like?
http://www.ejiltalk.org/security-council-resolution-2178-2014-the-foreign-terrorist-fighter-as-an-international-legal-person-part-i/

Res. 2178 is no basis for criminal sanctions

Resolution 2178 is not in itself the basis for criminalising the behaviour it seeks to suppress. On the contrary, it resembles the classic suppression conventions, i.e. international treaties imposing the obligation on contracting parties to prohibit individual forms of conduct in their national law and, where applicable, to criminalise and punish them.

So no foreign fighter-suspect could be tried and sentenced on the legal basis of Res. 2178 alone. But the reason is not, I submit, that a Security Council resolution could never – from the perspective of international law − function as a “lex” in the sense of the principle nulla poena sine lege. The reason is that the “lex” here does not in itself explicitly establish the crime, but on the contrary explicitly asks states to do to, through their domestic criminal law. Res. 2178 makes it amply clear in its wording that it does not intend to establish the criminal offence directly. It may well be that under the domestic law of some countries, the understanding of nulla poena is stricter. However, if we want to uphold a functioning system of global governance, states and scholars must develop an “internationalised” principle of legality that need not consist only in the lowest common denominator but which is informed by values of global constitutionalism.

http://www.ejiltalk.org/security-council-resolution-2178-2014-the-foreign-terrorist-fighter-as-an-international-legal-person-part-ii/ 

Bahrain holds elections as Shi'ite opposition boycotts vote

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/22/us-bahrain-elections-idUSKCN0J605R20141122

Turkey trains Kurdish peshmerga forces in fight against Islamic State

Turkish soldiers are training Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq and will give similar assistance to a new national army unit in Baghdad as part of the struggle against Islamic State, a senior Turkish official said on Saturday.
Turkish soldiers began special forces training with Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq three weeks ago, peshmerga spokesman Brigadier General Halgurd Hikmat said. The Turkish official said similar assistance would be given to Iraq's National Guard.
"Turkey has already started training peshmerga forces in northern Iraq ... and we have agreed to train and give assistance to the National Guard," the official said.
Turkey, a NATO member with a 1,200 km border with Syria and Iraq, has refused to take a frontline military role in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State insurgents, arguing air strikes alone will not bring lasting stability.
It has drawn criticism for letting thousands of foreign fighters cross its borders in its haste to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toppled, and for doing little to end the Islamic State siege of the Syrian border town of Kobani, a battle that has raged for months within sight of Turkish military positions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/22/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-iraq-idUSKCN0J60B720141122

U.S.-led strikes have killed 910 people in Syria: monitor

Air strikes by U.S.-led forces in Syria have killed 910 people, including 52 civilians, since the start of the campaign against Islamic State and other fighters two months ago, a group monitoring the conflict said on Saturday.
The majority of the deaths, 785, were Islamic State fighters according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Islamic State, a hard-line offshoot of al Qaeda, has seized land in Syria and neighboring Iraq, where it has also been targeted by U.S.-led strikes since July.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/22/us-mideast-crisis-syria-toll-idUSKCN0J60AN20141122

Islamic State kills 25 Iraqi tribesmen near Ramadi: officials

Islamic State militants have killed 25 members of a Sunni Muslim tribe during their assault on a provincial capital west of Baghdad, local officials said on Saturday, in apparent revenge for tribal opposition to the radical Islamists.
They said the bodies of the men from the Albu Fahd tribe were discovered after the army launched a counter-offensive on Saturday against the Islamic State in a village on the eastern edge of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province.



http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/22/us-mideast-crisis-ramadi-idUSKCN0J609O20141122

China commits $45.6 billion for economic corridor with Pakistan

The Chinese government and banks will finance Chinese companies to build $45.6 billion worth of energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan over the next six years, according to new details of the deal seen by Reuters on Friday. The Chinese companies will be able to operate the projects as profit-making entities, according to the deal signed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a visit to China earlier this month.
At the time, officials provided few details of the projects or the financing for the deal, dubbed the China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The deal further cements ties between Pakistan and China at a time when Pakistan is nervous about waning U.S. support as troops pull out of Afghanistan.
Pakistan and China, both nuclear-armed nations, consider each other close friends. Their ties are underpinned by common wariness of India and a desire to hedge against U.S. influence in South Asia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-pakistan-china-idUSKCN0J51C120141121

Islamic State attacks Iraq provincial capital: officials

Gunmen fired from rooftops at buildings in Ramadi housing the Anbar governorate offices and police headquarters, while security forces and tribal fighters tried to prevent the militants from advancing.
"Mosques are asking anyone who can carry weapons to confront the attackers," provincial council member Hathal Fahdawi told Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-city-idUSKCN0J518R20141121

In Mali's desert French troops hunt al Qaeda well by well

If the French army and its allies are to keep al Qaeda at bay in the desert of northern Mali they must stop them seizing the biggest prizes in the sea of white sand - the wells.
So this month a column of soldiers from France, Burkina Faso and Mali, in armored vehicles and pick-up trucks, churned toward a village north of Timbuktu where herders water camels and goats.
They were looking for signs of infiltration by militants who need water as much as the locals do and aim to convert villages to their ideology.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-mali-insurgency-france-idUSKCN0J51FL20141121

Up to 80 people killed by suspected Ugandan rebels in Congo: group

Suspected Ugandan ADF-NALU rebels have killed between 50 and 80 people in attacks near the eastern Congolese town of Beni, slitting the throats of many of their victims, local sources and witnesses said on Friday.
In a statement, Civil Society of North Kivu, the province where Beni is situated, said the killings had occurred on Thursday evening about 10 km (6 miles) east of Beni airport, where U.N. peacekeepers, known as MONUSCO, are based.
"We already saw 70 bodies. The authorities are searching for other bodies," said a priest who saw the massacre site.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-congodemocratic-killings-idUSKCN0J51VN20141121

Turkey, U.S. play down differences on fight against Islamic State

Turkey and the United States played down differences in the fight against Islamic State on Friday, but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made clear Ankara would keep pressing for a no-fly zone in Syria and President Bashar al-Assad's removal.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-mideast-crisis-usa-turkey-idUSKCN0J529H20141121 

Palestinian Authority must face U.S. trial over terror support: judge

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/20/us-palestinians-trial-usa-idUSKCN0J42CO20141120

U.S. drone strike kills six suspected militants in northwest Pakistan: officials

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-pakistan-drones-idUSKCN0J50DB20141121

Egypt closes schools in Sinai towns as area inches toward open war

Egypt has indefinitely shut schools in two border towns in northern Sinai as the army prepares to intensify a battle with Islamist militants that turned the daily trip to lessons into a "journey of death".
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-egypt-sinai-schools-idUSKCN0J50V320141121 

Islamic State targeted in 30 air strikes by U.S., allies

The 23 strikes in Iraq included six near Baiji that hit Islamic State buildings, vehicles and tactical units while buildings, vehicles, a guard post and two tactical units were destroyed near Sinjar in four air strikes, Central Command said. Similar targets were destroyed or damaged west of Kirkuk, near Mosul and Ramadi and in Tal Afar.
In Syria, six strikes near Kobani destroyed staging areas, buildings and two tactical units, while another near Ar Raqqah damaged an Islamic State barrack, Central Command said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-mideast-crisis-usa-airstrikes-idUSKCN0J51MW20141121

Torturers of Chilean President Bachelet's father sentenced to jail

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/us-chile-torture-idUSKCN0J51SO20141121

FARC agree to release captured general - Americas - Al Jazeera English

Rebel group and Colombian government say they have agreed terms for release of General Ruben Alzate and four others.

FARC agree to release captured general - Americas - Al Jazeera English

Le Royaume-Uni veut empêcher le retour de djihadistes sur son territoire

« Des nouveaux pouvoirs [seront accordés] à la police des frontières pourconfisquer des passeports, empêcher les suspects de voyager et empêcher les ressortissants britanniques [djihadistes] de revenir au pays autrement qu'aux conditions » qui leur sont imposées, a-t-il expliqué. Le Royaume-Uni estime à plus de 500 le nombre de ces nationaux partis combattre auprès de l'EI en Irakou en Syrie.

Middle East Updates / Syria's Assad says UN's Aleppo cease-fire proposal is 'worth studying' - Middle East Updates Israel News | Haaretz

Iran, U.S. and EU start second day nuclear talks in Oman; Iran touts successful test of U.S. drone replica; Egyptian militant group pledges loyalty to Islamic State.

Middle East Updates / Syria's Assad says UN's Aleppo cease-fire proposal is 'worth studying' - Middle East Updates Israel News | Haaretz

Egyptian militant group pledges allegiance to ISIS - Middle East Israel News | Haaretz

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a jihadi organization based in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula that has carried out several attacks targeting Egyptiansecurity forces, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Egyptian militant group pledges allegiance to ISIS - Middle East Israel News | Haaretz

The failures of Latin America's left - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

The failures of Latin America's left - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Dempsey: Israel went to 'extraordinary length' to avoid civilians casualties in Gaza - Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz

Dempsey was asked about the ethical implications of Israel's handling of the Gaza war, during an appearance in New York at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

"I actually do think that Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties," Dempsey told the group.

"In this kind of conflict, where you are held to a standard that your enemy is not held to, you're going to be criticized for civilian casualties," he added.

Dempsey said Hamas had turned Gaza into "very nearly a subterranean society" with tunneling throughout the coastal enclave.

"That caused the IDF some significant challenges. But they did some extraordinary things to try and limit civilian casualties, to include ... making it known that they were going to destroy a particular structure," Dempsey said.

Dempsey: Israel went to 'extraordinary length' to avoid civilians casualties in Gaza - Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz

Palestinians say term 'Temple Mount' counters international law - Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz

The Palestine Liberation Organization has called on the international media to desist from using the term Temple Mount, saying its use doesn't "adhere to international law."



Palestinians say term 'Temple Mount' counters international law - Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz

ICC says won't probe Israeli raid on Gaza-bound flotilla - Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz

REUTERS - International prosecutors believe Israeli soldiers may have committed war crimes during a raid that killed nine Turkish activists in 2010, but have decided the case is beyond their remit, according to court papers seen by Reuters.

The move by lawyers at the International Criminal Court is likely to enrage Ankara which accused its erstwhile ally Israel of mass murder after the commandos abseiled onto a flotilla challenging an Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"The information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes under the Court's jurisdiction have been committed in the context of interception and takeover of the Mavi Marmara by IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers on 31 May 2010," read the paper seen on Wednesday.

ICC says won't probe Israeli raid on Gaza-bound flotilla - Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz

Archaeologists in Greece uncover mosaic dating back to Alexander the Great - Archaeology Israel News | Haaretz

Ancient mosaic shows chariot preceded by the god Hermes, depicted as conductor of souls to afterlife. Large circular part missing can be reconstructed from fragments, authorities say.

Archaeologists in Greece uncover mosaic dating back to Alexander the Great - Archaeology Israel News | Haaretz

3,400-year-old temple unearthed in illegal Egypt dig lands seven in jail - Archaeology Israel News | Haaretz

Seven Egyptians who discovered the remains of a 3,400-year-old temple underneath their home were arrested by the police for illegal excavation work last week.

Two of the men, residents of the Giza district near Cairo, were Palestinians, an aide to the Egyptian interior ministry said, according to the Egyptian newspaper Ahram.

The diggers found huge limestone blocks, engraved with hieroglyphs, dating to the reign of King Tuthmose III of the New Kingdom era in Egyptian history (16th-11th centuries BCE), in the Hod Zeleikha area of Al-Badrasheen district.

3,400-year-old temple unearthed in illegal Egypt dig lands seven in jail - Archaeology Israel News | Haaretz

Saudi king replaces culture minister - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Khaled al-Maeena, editor-at-large of the Saudi Gazette publication, said that Khoja was not dismissed, but left for health reasons and advancing age.

Maeena, however, said that it was time for the government to crack down on those, who are trying to incite sectarian animosity.

"The question of sectarian killings, this is the first time this has happened on that scale, and it has cause a lot of people concern," he said.

He also called for "more dialogue" among Saudi's diverse communities, and for the government to step up reforms to prevent sectarian tension.    



Saudi king replaces culture minister - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Deadly security raid in Saudi after shooting - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Two policemen and two suspected gunmen have been killed in the Saudi town of Buraida, north of the capital Riyadh, in a security operation linked to an earlier shooting in the east of the country.

Six people were also arrested on Tuesday in several other raids across the country, hours after five people were killed and nine others injured late on Monday in the Eastern Province.

An interior ministry spokesman said security forces raided several places in the cities of Riyadh, al-Ahsa, al-Khobar and throughout the Eastern Province, and apprehended those suspected of being involved in the shooting.

Referring to Monday's attack in the town of al-Dawla in the city of al-Ahsa, Major General Mansour Al-Turki said: "As a group of citizens was leaving a building ... three masked men opened fire at them with machine guns and pistols."



Deadly security raid in Saudi after shooting - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/middle-east-updates/1.624475

"Abandoning Aleppo would condemn 300,000 men, women and children to a terrible choice: the murderous siege of the regime's bombs or the barbarity of the Islamic State terrorists," Fabius wrote.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/middle-east-updates/1.624475

Sri Lankans 'ignored landslide warnings' - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English

Blaming the victims :



Sri Lankans 'ignored landslide warnings' - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English

Bangladesh party chief to hang for war crimes

Court upholds death penalty for Mohammad Kamaruzzaman for atrocities committed during war of independence from Pakistan.

Bangladesh party chief to hang for war crimes - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English

Dozens killed in Pakistan-India border blast - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English

The Indian government requested the flag-lowering ceremony, which attracts spectators of people on both sides of the border, be suspended for at least three days.

When the bomber saw that there was very strict checking at the security checkpoint, he decided to detonate his explosives as he began to pass through it. Tahir Khan, Director General of the Punjab Rangers

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said that eight members of the same family had been killed in the explosion.  

"The ceremony normally has a very festive atmosphere and it seems that there were larger crowds than normal because it was a Sunday. We have been told the death toll is likely to rise," he added.

Dozens killed in Pakistan-India border blast - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English

ISIL 'kills scores' in Iraqi province

Women and children were said to be among those executed over the past 10 days in western Iraq's Anbar province which has been largely overrun by ISIL.

Accounts varied as to the number and timings of the executions in Anbar, but all sources spoke of more than 200 people murdered in recent days.

Police Colonel Shaaban al-Obaidi told the AFP news agency that more than 200 people were killed, while Faleh al-Essawi, deputy head of Anbar provincial council, put the toll at 258.

Canada joins campaign 

News of the killings came as Canada conducted air strikes on ISIL positions in Iraq for the first time on Sunday.

"Today's strike demonstrates our government's firm resolve to tackle the threat of terrorism and to stand with our allies against ISIL's atrocities against innocent women, children and men," Canadian Defence Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement.

ISIL 'kills scores' in Iraqi province - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Algeria turns 'deaf ear' to border dispute

The border between Morocco and Algeria, which runs for about 1,600km, is one of the longest closed frontiers in the world. Algeria shut its land border with Morocco in 1994 after Rabat imposed visa regulations on Algerian visitors in the wake of a terrorist attack on the Atlas Asni Hotel in Marrakech. At the time,Morocco suspected Algiers was behind the bombing.

"Rabat expected Algiers to slap visa requirements on Moroccans, but the kingdom could not imagine that Algeria would also retaliate by closing the border crossings," Abdelaziz Rahabi, who served as the Algerian ambassador in Spain at the time, told Al Jazeera. "Algeria reacted firmly as the country was going through a rough patch. Actually, 1994 was one of the bloodiest years of the black decade [when a civil war raged between the government and armed groups]." 

Since then, checkpoints, on both sides of the border, have been closed and controls tightened. The two countries marked the 20th anniversary of the closure of their common border this year by building a barbed-wire fence, starting from the beach, under the pretext of fighting both terrorism and trafficking. "It is expected to separate the entire frontier," a young guard, posted in Marsa Ben M'hdi beach, told Al Jazeera in an interview last month. So far, the fence stretches about 40km along the border.



Algeria turns 'deaf ear' to border dispute - Middle East - Al Jazeera English