Politics

• Tuesday, December 9th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Pirate scare: German cruise line flies pax over Gulf of Aden

  

  A German cruise liner announced Tuesday it plans to fly its passengers over the Gulf of Aden, instead of sailing them through, out of fear of pirate attacks in the region.

• Monday, December 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  MP Green office raid: Commons Speaker increasingly exposed

  

  Britain's Commons Speaker Michael Martin is looking increasingly exposed amid deepening dismay among MPs over his failure to stop the police raid on the Westminster office of Tory frontbencher Damian Green.

• Monday, December 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  EU Human Rights Court ruling limits British DNA database

  

  Nearly a million innocent British citizens could have their records removed from the national DNA database after a court ruled holding them breached their human rights. The European Court of Human Rights severely criticised police powers to take and hold samples from suspects even if they are released or cleared.

• Monday, December 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Labour MPs more rebellious under Brown than with Blair

  

  British Labour MPs rebelled on more occasions during Gordon Brown's first full parliamentary session as Prime Minister than during the whole of Tony Blair's first four-year term in office, a new report has shown.

• Monday, December 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Guatemala and Belize agree to take border dispute to The Hague

  

  Guatemala and Belize signed an agreement on Monday to have their century long territorial dispute settled by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, following a referendum on both countries supporting the ICJ initiative.

• Monday, December 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  MP Green office raid: Commons accuses ministers of contempt

  British Ministers were accused of treating the House of Commons with contempt as they sought to delay an inquiry into a police raid of an MP's parliamentary office, reports the London press.

• Monday, December 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  UK/Argentina talks to bury remains of pilot in Falklands

  

  Argentina and the United Kingdom are involved in negotiations for a humanitarian flight to the Falkland Islands to carry the remains of an Argentine pilot for his burial at the cemetery in Darwin, according to Monday reports in the Buenos Aires press.

• Monday, December 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile/Peru squabble over copper bill and military spending

  

  A call by Peru that Chile scrap a law that earmarks a percentage of copper windfalls for military equipment is “unacceptable” said Chilean government spokesperson Francisco Vidal.

• Sunday, December 7th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  S. Atlantic frigate reassigned to pirate hunting in E. Africa

  

  The Falkland Islands are to be left without the protection of a Royal Navy warship for the first time since the 1982 South Atlantic conflict, reports the Sunday edition of The Telegraph.

• Sunday, December 7th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Venezuela opposition rejects Chavez plan: “14 years is enough”

  

  Venezuelan opposition parties have formally rejected a plan by President Hugo Chavez to amend the constitution and enable him indefinite re-election. In a joint statement, the opposition said: “Fourteen years are sufficient.”