On Aug. 16, 2010, British spy Gareth Williams failed to attend a meeting at MI-6, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. On Aug. 23, his family notified police that they last heard from the 31-year-old—a math prodigy who had …
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Must-Reads From Around the World: April 24, 2012
China’s Crisis – As the Bo Xilai saga continues, the New York Times reveals that for much of the last decade, while the now-disgraced official was moving up the ranks of the Communist Party, his relatives were using his …
Must-Reads From Around the World: April 23, 2012
Withdrawal Symptoms – In a pact reached after a year of negotiations between the U.S. and Afghanistan, Washington promised military and financial support for a decade after its formal troop withdrawal from the country in 2014, …
Must-Reads from Around the World, April 20, 2012
Bahrain Protests – The Guardian reports on a wave of demonstrations in Bahrain to coincide with the controversial Formula One Grand Prix this weekend. The government and organizers have insisted that the event would proceed as …
After Months of Arrests, British Prosecutors Consider Charges Related To Phone-Hacking
For many in the U.K., remembering a time before the phone-hacking scandal inundated the country seems difficult. This is, after all, a scandal that’s dominated headlines, inspired two major official inquiries, shuttered one of …
Must-Reads from Around the World: April 18, 2012
Clutching at Straw – With former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw now being accused of complicity in the rendition and alleged torture of Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhadj, The Week investigates why MI6 agents have let …
How Bo Xilai’s Fall Will Affect China’s Leadership Transition
On Jan. 16, Bo Xilai, who then still ran the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, declared at a meeting of local officials that “integrity is a kind of blessing” and they should “maintain the Communist Party’s pure and
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Suspended British Lord Denies Offering a Bounty for Obama and Bush
Scandal has once again landed Lord Nazir Ahmed, a British Labour peer, into the hotseat. According to Pakistan’s Express Tribune, Ahmed was speaking at a business reception in Haripur on April 15 when he mentioned the bounty …
Must-Reads from Around the World: April 16, 2012
Protest This – The Jerusalem Post writes that the IDF condemned an officer Monday who was filmed striking a pro-Palestinian activist with his gun. A video posted on YouTube by the International Solidarity Movement showed Lt.-Col. …
Must-Reads From Around the World: April 12, 2012
Pyongyang’s Plan – Despite mounting international pressure, a defiant North Korea appears poised to launch its Unha-3 rocket, viewed by the U.S. and others as a ballistic missile test that violates U.N. resolutions aimed at …
Did British Ministers Approve the Illegal Rendition and Torture of Libyan Dissidents?
On March 7, 2004, in a joint CIA-MI6 operation, Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhadj and his wife Fatima Bouchar were arrested at Bangkok’s airport. Belhadj, who had sought to undermine Muammar Gaddafi’s regime for years as the …
The Bo Xilai Saga: With Wife Implicated in Murder, Ousted Chinese Official Loses Communist Party Posts
The wife of Bo Xilai, a high-level Chinese politician, is under investigation for the murder of a British businessman, the state-run Xinhua news service reported late Tuesday, the first official word on the allegations that led …
Abu Hamza’s Extradition: European Court Approves Moving Terror Suspect to the United States
Five terror suspects, including the radical Islamic preacher Abu Hamza, can be extradited to the United States to face trial, despite their lawyers’ assertion that they would face “torture” at the hands of U.S. authorities. The …