Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held at Guantanamo, was released this morning after more than 13 years in custody. He had never been charged with any offense.
The Independent has a timeline of how the case unfolded of the Saudi-born Aamer, who is married to a British citizen. As does The Guardian:
His fellow former-detainee Moazzam Begg tweeted:
Earlier, the US confirmed that another Guantanamo detainee had been repatriated to Mauritania, and the two releases brings the number of prisoners still being held at Gitmo to 113.
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WORLD
Talks are under way in Vienna in what is the first major attempt since 2014 by regional leaders and global powers to end the civil war in Syria. Neither the Syrian government or its opposition are attending.
The FT’s Geoff Dyer outlines key things to watch for.
Iran and Saudi Arabia will be important participants in the talks.
Top Iranian officials are said to have indicated a “willingness to compromise” over the future of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reports:
Iran could accept a six-month transition period at the end of which Assad’s fate would be decided in nationwide elections, a senior official from the Middle East familiar with the Iranian position told Reuters on Thursday.
During a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and driven 10 million from their homes, Assad’s main ally, Tehran, has been locked out of a succession of international peace conferences, all of which ended in failure.
There are crucial elections this weekend in Turkey.
In US presidential politics, after a disappointing debate performance – as Bloomberg’s John Heilman said, “It’s hard to understate the sheer, epic awfulness” – Jeb Bush was forced to deny his campaign was “on life support” – always a bad sign.
His swing and a miss at Marco Rubio succeeded only in pissing off the French.
Despite his new slogan, can he fix it?
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert dissected the debate, saying last night that his chance to talk about the event was “..now or never. And never really seemed like the best option.”
On the Democratic side, Hizzonner catches the last train as it’s leaving the station…
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BUSINESS
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MEDIA
From the Columbia Journalism Review’s Lower Case section, here are some headlines editors wish they could take back…
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CULTURE
Keith Richards appeared on BBC Radio‘s Desert Island Discs this morning.
On this day, in a different radio world..
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SPORTS
Today’s Lunch With the FT subject is Fifa president Sepp Blatter. It leaves a pretty unpleasant taste.
In the Premier League, the match of the weekend could be the Special One versus the Normal One.
In different-shaped ball news, its the final of the Rugby World Cup on Sunday.
Game Three of baseball’s World Series is Friday night at Citi Field in New York, where it’s up to the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard to turn the tide.
The Overnight Note 