Politics

Ma'ariv, an Israeli daily newspaper, reports that according to a leaked US document John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, will describe Israel as a Jewish state in the outline document of the peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), despite widespread Palestinian objection. Moreover, it is noted that the document recognizes Palestine as the state of the Palestinian people. The document will be presented to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, during his upcoming visit to the USA next month and is meant to

The Tunisian National Assembly approved a new constitution yesterday, a step towards running elections in the country. A new cabinet has been appointed by the Prime Minister, Mehdi Jomaa. Mustapha Ben Jafar, speaker of the National Assembly, welcomed the constitution's passage: "This constitution was the dream of Tunisians, this constitution is proof of the revival of the revolution, this constitution creates a democratic civil nation". The constitution recognises Islam as the religion of Tunisia but also includes provisions guaranteeing free

Protests in Ukraine are set to continue after opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk rejected a deal offered today by the president, Viktor Yanukovych, for Yatsenyuk to become Prime Minister. Yatsenyuk and the opposition movement known as 'EuroMaidan' have said they want certain demands, including running new elections, to be met before taking a power-sharing deal. On Twitter, Yatsenyuk told the President: "No deal... we're finishing what we started. The people decide our leaders, not you." Protests started in November of last year after the Ukr

A spokesperson for the Australian Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Warren Truss, announced plans this week to close four mainland immigration detention facilities — Scherger, at RAAF Scherger, Queensland; Leonora, in Leonora, Western Australia; Port Augusta, in Port Augusta, South Australia; and Inverbrackie facilities in Woodside, the Adelaide Hills, South Australia — by the end of February. The detainees would be relocated to other detention centres. Pontville detention facility, in Pontville, Tasmania, was empt

The Royal Australian Navy towed back arriving asylum seekers to Rote Island, Indonesia, after claiming Christmas Island destination, Indonesian National Police reported Monday of last week. Last Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott supported lack of transparency on the issue. Indonesian police found the two ships reportedly forcibly towed back from Australia on December 19, and on January 6 after being towed on New Year's Day. A self-identified Sudanese asylum seeker from one of the boats reported the Navy ship numbers, identifying

Wednesday was the first of three days for the body of former South African President Nelson Mandela to lie in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, at the same amphitheatre where he was inaugurated on May 10, 1994. The amphitheatre was renamed The Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre, by President Jacob Zuma at the Mandela memorial service held in FNB Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday. The weather for the memorial service on Tuesday was inclement, as the day was filled with rain and cold wind. There were logistical "glitches" in ferrying the public to t

At a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments yesterday leaders of the Australian states and territories agreed to a deal with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott which would delegate more environmental decision-making powers to the states and territories about projects that might affect the environment. The "one-stop shops" policy would mean that the states would do more of the assessments for projects with the intention that eventually some states would have the full authority to make the decisions. Two states, Queensland and New S

Saturday, local bodies elections were held in Balochistan, Pakistan. Pakistan has not held local bodies elections since 2002. Polling was active from 8:00AM to 5:00PM local time (0300 to 1200 UTC). High security arrangements were made; law enforcement officials were deployed at the polling stations. According to media reports, in some areas of province women were stopped from casting their vote. Missing elections material delayed the beginning of voting in some regions. Polling in Khuzdar was stopped after inter-group violence there. Violenc

Earlier today, Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra formally dissolved the country's parliament and called for new elections. The new elections are scheduled to take place on February 2 of next year. According to CNN, it is unclear if Shinawatra will be her party's choice to as a candidate in the elections. Yesterday, the 150 member strong Democrat Party, the country's main opposition party, said they would resign en masse because they were unable to work with the current government. Earlier today, a protest with estimated 100,0

Yesterday in London, former UK Prime Minister Sir John Major gave a speech at the Institute of Directors outlining his opposition to plans for Scottish independence. This follows the publication earlier in the week of a white paper by the Scottish government outlining plans for what would happen if the country votes to leave the United Kingdom. Major said that there won't be a currency union between a newly independent Scotland and a post-split United Kingdom: "A currency union, which the SNP [Scottish National Party] assume is negotiable, wou

Following an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) ruling on Tuesday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and other senior British politicians have criticised the actions of three police forces in England for allegedly covering up the behaviour of police officers involved in the investigation of former Cabinet Minister Andrew Mitchell. Andrew Mitchell resigned from his job in the Cabinet as Chief Whip following an incident in September 2012 at Downing Street. Mitchell had been told he could not ride his bicycle in Downing Street. The nex

Approximately four thousand people rallied in an anti-government protest in Baku, Azerbaijan on Saturday. The protest took place on the outskirts of the city to oppose alleged electoral fraud during the most recent presidential election that returned President Ilham Aliyev to office for his third consecutive term. The protesters accused the government of voter intimidation and ballot stuffing, and were rallying in a demand for a new poll. Although the protest had been initially approved by authorities, police began to use violence against p