Oceania
New Zealand: Maori elder issues TPP ‘veto’
Kingi Taurua, a prominent elder of New Zealand's Maori people, sent a formal "notice of veto" of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to the governments of signatory nations.
Tag: United Kingdom
North Africa
Libya: Europe’s looming ‘Vietnam’?
Amid continued confused multi-factional warfare in Libya, the hard-right UK Independence Party warned that the North African country could be the "EU's Vietnam."
Europe
Poland: thousands march against surveillance law
Thousands marched in Warsaw to protest the government's planned changes to the legal code that would increase surveillance over Polish citizens.
Iraq
UK: Iraq vets may face prosecution for war crimes
The head of the UK's Iraq Historic Allegations Team, charged with looking into alleged abuses committed during the war, said that British soldiers may face prosecution for war crimes.
North Africa
UK Supreme Court hears Libya rendition claim
The UK Supreme Court began hearings in the case of Libyan Islamist leader Abdel Hakim Belhaj, who claims the British government assisted in his 2004 rendition by US forces.
Watching the Shadows
Last UK detainee released from Gitmo
The last remaining British inmate at Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer, was released to the UK, bringing the number detainees at the facility to 112.
Watching the Shadows
Guantánamo Bay prisoner to be released to UK
The White House announced plans to release Guantánamo Bay inmate Shaker Aamer to the United Kingdom, following extensive lobbying by British politicians.
Greater Middle East
Putin pries Western leaders from anti-Assad stance
British Prime Minister David Cameron is now the first Western leader to take Vladimir Putin's bait in agreeing that Bashar Assad can be part of a Syrian "transition government."
Planet Watch
Obama pursues nuclear ‘modernization’ —not disarmament
Despite early pledges to seek a nuclear-free world, Obama is launching a "modernization" of the US arsenal that actually makes atomic war more likely.
Europe
British ship embarks on migrant rescue mission
A British warship in the Mediterranean launched a mission to rescue over 500 migrants stranded at sea, but no word was given on what would be their fate after "rescue."
Watching the Shadows
US sentences Muslim cleric to life imprisonment
The US sentenced Egyptian-born cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to life in prison for supporting terrorism. The European Court of Human Rights had earlier barred his extradition.
Greater Middle East
Bahrain: protests against British base deal
Protests were held in the Bahraini island city of Sitra against an agreement signed between the kingdom and Great Britain to establish a new military base in the Persian Gulf state.