Well, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has moved on from Japan to New Zealand, where has has secured an agreement to reinstate naval cooperation with the Kiwis. This was broken off in 1985, when New Zealand banned nuclear weapons from its territory, thus closing its ports to nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered US warships. The US shortly retaliated by suspending its defense pact with New Zealand, and barring the Pacific nation's warships from US ports or bases. Now Panetta in Auckland just announced that the ban has been lifted, and military cooperation will be restored. Although New Zealand remains officially a nuclear-free zone, which means nuclear-armed US ships will continue to be barred, that looks like it could be next to go. "While we acknowledge that our countries continue to have differences of opinion in some limited areas, today we have affirmed that we are embarking on a new course in our relationship that will not let those differences stand in the way of greater engagement on security issues,’" Panetta said. (VOA, Sept. 21; NYT, Sept. 20)

This Australia Day—Jan. 26, marking the 1788 establishment of the British colony of New South Wales, and derided by Aborigines as "Invasion Day"—saw the establishment of a "Tent Embassy" encampment outside the Old Parliament House (also known as the Museum of Democracy) in Canberra, with hundreds of indigenous protesters and their supporters converging from around the country. The encampment marks the 40th anniversary of the historic first Tent Embassy, established to protest the refusal of then-Prime Minister Billy McMahon to recognize Aboriginal land rights. The new campaign is being led by Michael Anderson, 60, the only survivor among the four Aboriginal leaders who launched the 1971 Tent Embassy. The new protesters vow to wage an international campaign against Australia's bid for a seat on the UN Security Council if the government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard (Labor) does not meet their demands for indigenous sovereignty.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Oct. 25 reinstated a lawsuit by Papua New Guinea citizens against mining company Rio Tinto on claims of genocide and war crimes. Allowing the suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), the court ruled that it may proceed due to the Australian mining company's substantial operations in the US. Rejecting several attempts by the company to block the suit, it also ruled that a corporation can be held liable for genocide:

Oil from a cargo stuck on a reef started to wash up at New Zealand's popular Mount Maunganui beach on Oct. 10. The Liberia-flagged MV Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef about 14 miles off Tauranga Harbour early Oct. 5. Teams from the Maritime New Zealand agency are racing to pump oil from the leaking ship, ahead of forecast gale-force winds and swells. Some 30 tons of oil have already leaked, with fears that 1,700 tons could be released. Prime Minister John Key is demanding answers, telling reporters in Tauranga that the Rena had "ploughed into" the reef at 17 knots in calm conditions "for no particular reason," despite being a "major ship" owned by a "significant international shipping company." The reef is in the wildlife-rich Bay of Plenty, and at least eight oil-fouled seabirds have been rescued from the slick. (AP, AlJazeera, Dominion Post, Wellington, Fairfax Media, New Zealand, Oct. 10; BBC News, Oct. 9)

Chilean police evicted indigenous Rapa Nui protesters who had occupied the central plaza and a luxury hotel in Hanga Roa, capital of Easter Island, over the new year. At least 17 Rapa Nui are facing charges from the occupation and were ordered to appear in court this week. The occupation was launched to press ancestral land claims over 16 sites on the island. The eviction order came from Mayor Raul Celis of Valparaiso, Chile, which has jurisdiction over Easter Island despite being more than 2,000 miles away. (Radio New Zealand International, Jan. 13; UPI, Jan. 4)

On Sept. 29, a C-47 military plane arrived on Rapanui (Easter Island) with more Chilean troops to augment the already in-place armed forces set to remove indigenous Rapanui people from their ancestral lands. Since July 31, the Rapanui have non-violently re-occupied the land illegally taken from their grandparents and have been demanding their legal title to be restored. That same day, Marisol Hito, spokeswomen of the Hitorangi clan, presented her people's case to the Human Rights Commission of the Chilean chamber of deputies.

Dozens of Guam residents led by the Guam Boonie Stompers staged a protest hike of the Pagat area over the weekend to oppose US plans to take the land for a new military base to house troops relocated from Okinawa. (Kuam News, Jan. 4) There have been numerous protests against the relocation in Guam in recent months, and in October a delegation of mostly young ethnic Chamorros traveled from the island to New York to denounce the plan before a special summit of the UN Committee on Decolonization.

Rights advocates are protesting an Australian detainment camp on a remote Indian Ocean island as the "new Guantánamo Bay." Christmas Island, a full 1,000 miles from the Australia mainland, is currently holding some 1,500 asylum seekers from Afghanistan and other Asian countries. A group of 39 "boat people" from Sri Lanka, rescued by a gas tanker after their makeshift craft sank in Australian territorial waters about 600 kilometers northwest of the Cocos Islands, are currently en route to the island.