News Round-Up - 28 December 2012

• The ICTR has a new registrar, Bongani Majola, who is a former deputy prosecutor of the tribunal.

• The NY Times carries a piece on life under Islamist rule in Northern Mali, where at least 14 people have had their feet cut off since the takeover last Spring.  Last week the UNSC passed a resolution authorising military intervention in Mali.  

• The Washington post has published an interesting report on the CIA's little-known Global Response Staff, which employs contractors to provide an "unobtrusive layer of security for CIA officers in high-risk outposts."

• It is reported that UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council have issued statements condemning armed attacks in several towns in the Central African Republic by the Sedeka coalition rebels

• Hamas has banned Palestinian journalists in Gaza from working with or giving interviews to the Israeli media.  Israeli journalists have been banned by their own government from entering Gaza since 2006, purportedly for security reasons. In the West Bank, President Abbas has said he will disband the Palestinian Authority and hand over authority to Netanyahu if there is no move to renewing peace talks after the forthcoming Israeli elections in January.

• Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov has said that Russia has invited head of the Syrian National Coalition, Ahmed Mouaz al-Khatib to talks regarding Syria's political future.  The invitation comes amid a round of intense diplomatic efforts to end the war in Syria.