Serbia presents bid for ICJ opinion on Kosovo independence News
Serbia presents bid for ICJ opinion on Kosovo independence

[JURIST] Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic [official profile] presented a formal request [press release] to the UN General Assembly [official website] Friday seeking a determination by the International Court of Justice [official website] on the legality of Kosovo's February declaration of independence [JURIST report; JURIST news archive] from Serbia. Jeremic sought to have the anticipated request [JURIST report] included on the agenda for the General Assembly's upcoming 63rd Session [meeting schedule] in September. Jeremic said his goal is to obtain an advisory opinion on the legality of the unilateral independence proclamation, to stop further recognition of Kosovo's independence, and to ultimately return to negotiations with Kosovo. AFP has more.

Kosovo declared its independence after negotiations on a UN-supervised independence plan stalled last year in part due to objections [JURIST reports] from Russia and Serbia's insistence that the province should only be given autonomous status short of full independence.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.