Palestine slams Israel's new settlement plan

"Ramallah, Feb 1 (IANS) A top Palestinian official Saturday slammed the new Israeli plan to build 450 settlement units in West Bank's Jewish areas, terming the expansion of settlements "a war crime".

"Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua that such actions were "certainly a war crime and need an international accountability".

"He said that the settlement plan was against international law and accused Israel of insisting on ruining the principle of the two-state solution." News Link

Australian PM Tony Abbott's Time is Up?

It's not looking good for the Australian Prime Minister!

Scene Two - Tony Abbott under fire over decision to grant knighthood to Prince Philip

"Some of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's most senior colleagues are bewildered, angered and dismayed by his decision to award an Australian knighthood to Prince Philip.

"Cabinet ministers have told the ABC the Prime Minister did not consult any of the leadership group before announcing the move." News Link

Netanyahu denies wife pocketed from returned bottles

"Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday dismissed as "false" reports that his wife Sara had pocketed at least $1,000 worth of public money by returning empty bottles to supermarkets." News Link

Taliban Are Not Terrorists, or So Says the White House

“Our policy is that we don't pay ransom. We don't give concessions to terrorist organizations,” Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Wednesday. “This is a longstanding policy that predates this administration. And it's also one that we've communicated to our friends and allies across the world.”

"Schultz explained that the exchange the United States made with the Taliban -- releasing five Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bergdahl -- was consistent with that policy because the Taliban is an “armed insurgency” and not a terrorist organization." News Link

Israel's Ongoing War-crimes Investigation

"Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein [the U.N. human rights chief] catalogued abuses blamed on both sides, including Israeli shelling of hospitals, of schools housing displaced people and of a group of children playing hide-and-seek on a beach.

"He cited witness reports of Israeli soldiers firing on civilians with white flags as they fled an area where a 16-year-old girl in a wheelchair had been killed by shelling, and the shooting of an ambulance driver as he went to evacuate a child." News Link

ICC backers defy Israeli call to cut funding to war crimes court

"THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Many leading backers of the International Criminal Court will ignore Israel's call for them to cut funding in response to an inquiry into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories, officials told Reuters." News Link

Prince Philip awarded Knight of the Order of Australia by Prime Minister Tony Abbott

"Some of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's most senior colleagues are bewildered, angered and dismayed by his decision to award an Australian knighthood to Prince Philip." News Link

French Jews Emigrate to Israel

"In Hebrew, the phenomenon is known as "aliyah", and it describes the process when Jews born anywhere in the world take up their right to Israeli citizenship - it is a core value of Zionism and a right guaranteed under Israeli law.

"About 7,000 Jews came to Israel from France in 2014. That's around double the number that came in the previous year, and it meant for the first time in history more Jews came to Israel from France than from any other country." News Link

UN accuses Israel of razing homes of 77 Palestinians

"Jerusalem (AFP) - The United Nations has accused Israel of illegally demolishing the homes of 77 Palestinians, mostly children, this week in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

"In the past three days, 77 Palestinians, over half of them children, have been made homeless," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement issued Friday evening.

"Some of the demolished structures were provided by the international community to support vulnerable families." News Link

Israel ready for Hezbollah retaliation

"Israel will hold responsible governments, regimes and organisations on the other side of our northern borders over any violation of Israel's sovereignty, or an attack on soldiers or civilians," he said." News Link

Netanyahu's Invasion

Democrats in U.S. Congress deny inviting Netanyahu

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fuming Democrats accused Republicans on Thursday of breaking protocol by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress without consulting them, challenging Israel's assertion that the invitation was extended by both U.S. political parties." News Link

Tony Abbott's Government Crisis

Almost 500 Children Killed During Israeli Invasion of Gaza

Tony Abbott shrugs off bad polls and leadership speculation

"Prime Minister Tony Abbott has created a new benchmark for what constitutes a broken promise on the same day a new poll found only 36 per cent of voters think he is trustworthy.

"The latest Fairfax Ipsos poll shows Labor still leads the Coalition 52-48 on a two-party preferred basis. A survey of leader attributes found just over one third of respondents think Mr Abbott is trustworthy and only half think he is competent." News Link

Tony Abbott Loves Free Speech

"Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he "rather likes" the controversial cover of the latest edition of French magazine Charlie Hebdo, adding that "I believe in free speech - I absolutely believe in free speech." News Link

Israel lobbies foreign powers to cut ICC funding

"Israel, which like the United States does not belong to the ICC, hopes to dent funding for the court that is drawn from the 122 member-states in accordance with the size of their economies, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

"We will demand of our friends in Canada, in Australia and in Germany simply to stop funding it," he told Israel Radio. Officials told Reuters the lobbying effort would also target Japan, whose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting Israel." News Link

Abbott in trouble after Medicare fumble

"It's been asked whether Medicare will survive the Abbott Government, but it might now be more pertinent to ask whether Tony Abbott will survive Medicare." News Link

Israel Punishes Palestinians After ICC Move

"Israel is weighing more steps to punish the Palestinians for their efforts to join the International Criminal Court, even as it froze $125 million in tax revenues it collects for them.

"The Palestinian bid to join the Hague-based court could lead to war crime charges against the Jewish state, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday that his country would not allow its military to be prosecuted." News Link

Russia Bans People With 'Disorders Of Sexual Preference' From Driving

The BBC reports that the Russian government has released a legislative document which outlines a revised set of medical controls for drivers in an effort to cut down on the number of car accidents.

Although most of the provisions refer to physical impairments (such as blindness), "gender identity disorders" including "transsexualism” and “dual-role transvestism” are referenced in the document, as well as “sadomasochism" and “exhibitionism," according to BuzzFeed's J. Lester Feder and Susie Armitage. News Link

"Anti-Semitism" on the Rise

"The horrors of Gaza continue to unfold after the guns fall silent, with thousands of displaced victims scoured the ruins of their bombed homes for whatever meager salvage they can find, wondering what tomorrow may bring.

"Around the world, Jewish communities are now trying to regain the sympathy they forfeited by blindly supporting the devastating Israeli offensive. The traditional way of doing this is to announce a rise in anti-Semitism and whipping up fears of “another holocaust”." News Link

Netanyahu out of step with French leaders at Paris rally

"It was embarrassing, not to say disgraceful, to see Israel's prime minister yesterday trying to push his way onto a bus that he was not supposed to board, making his way determinedly from the second row (where he was placed) to the row of leaders walking in front (which he took over), behaving in a mourning parade as in an election rally," News Link

Obama reassures Israel on Palestinian court bid

"WASHINGTON (AP) (13 Jan. 2015) — President Barack Obama said Monday he opposes the Palestinians' move to join the International Criminal Court to pursue war-crimes charges against Israel." News Link.

Australia's PM Responds to Terrorist Attack in France

Australia's New Social Services Minister

Australia's Internet Filter

Calls For Gun Law Reforms in Australia

Changes to Australia's Disability Pension

Changes to Australia's Public Health System

U.S. Nuclear Disarmament