The Palestinians will seek full statehood at the UN Security Council next week so as to negotiate peace on a state-to-state basis. Why could that possibly send Israel and the US scrambling? Why indeed.
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World News Brief, Wednesday September 7
Pakistan captures senior al-Qaeda leader who planned attacks on US, Europe and Australia; as 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, experts discuss its impact on civil liberties, homeland security, immigration and more; inflation is China's most urgent economic concern, says World Bank; Turkey has suspended diplomatic ties with Israel; Indian PM visits Bangladesh; 750,000 people at risk of death in Somalia; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday August 25
Rebels capture Qaddafi's compound and relocate headquarters to Tripoli; experts say public disorder and instability could emerge in Libya after Qaddafi regime falls; Kim Jong-Il meets with Russian president to discuss ending its nuclear weapons programme; Moody's downgrades Japan's economy; Israel claims to have killed Islamic Jihad militant; US markets respond to possible monetary stimulus; and more
Read MoreNetanyahu the non-negotiator slaps down Obama...again
Israel's PrimeMinister has unilaterally laid waste to years of Middle East Peace negotiations by blatantly ruling out issues that have long been on the table, and in so doing has once again humiliated President Obama's albeit pathetic attempts to resolve the ongoing crisis. Meanwhile the Palestinians are getting on with business.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday May 20
Barack Obama gives major speech on US Middle East policy; Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow; Japan has fallen into recession following quake and tsunami disasters; China announces problems with world's largest hydroelectric dam; Strauss-Kahn quits IMF post but maintains he is innocent; and more
Read MoreObama: all talk and no action on Palestinians' human rights
The United States' veto of a draft resolution condemning Israel's continued illegal settlement construction has exposed the Obama administration of kowtowing to Israeli pressure and thereby paying lip service to human rights in the Middle East. Bad timing big boy.
Read MoreGame Over Mr Mubarak
As millions of Egyptians make Tahrir Square the epicentre oftheir revolution, their detested old dictator hangs on to power, but the clock is ticking fast and as the tech-savy would tweet to him, "game over".
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday December 9
Washington abandons efforts on Israeli settlements in Gaza; experts say Gaza move is good for Obama; China chided for not using influence with North Korea; Kevin Rudd blames US for release of secret info, not WikiLeaks; Robert Gates makes surprise visit to Afghanistan; Ireland on strict budget
Read MoreDoes Israel really want peace?
If Israel is serious about peace it would have extended the settlement construction moratorium. Instead it coldly snipped the brake cables on this haggling train wreck leaving it up to everyone else to prevent the derailment, while it sniggers all the way to the digger.
Read MoreThe Qantas Media Awards, TVNZ and reporting on Iran
Misleading media reporting is fuelling misperceptions of Iran, and even the BSA has recently backed me in that claim
Read MoreFlotilla inquiry will mean vitriol for Palmer, perhaps promotion for Clark
Sir Geoffrey Palmer's Gaza flotilla inquiry already looks beset by political storms, but could it turn out to be another step up the ladder for Helen Clark at the UN?
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday June 30
US arrests Russian spies, rattling relationships with the Kremlin (+ analysis); Iran sets conditions on further nuclear talks and reserves right to defend ships; Protests in Spain and Greece as loans run out; Google backs down on China site; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday June 18
BP's share prices rises on back of promises to pay up (+ backgrounder on deepwater drilling); Israel to lift part of Gaza blockade – allows in food but not shelter; new Japanese PM to slash deficit; China insists nuclear deal with Pakistan is peaceful; and more
Read MoreOne person's terrorist really is another's freedom fighter
As the propaganda war rages on over the Israeli Defense Forces' botched raid of the humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, it is time for a few home truths about the seemingly endless search for Middle Eastern peace
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday June 3
Surprise resignation from Japan's Prime Minister; US-Japan relations unaffected by Hatoyama's move; South Korea's local elections overshadowed by warship sinking; Israel deports aid activists; Karzai peace talks clouded by Taliban attack; BP's market value plunges; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday June 2
Isarel holds activists while UN and EU call for full inquiry into raid on aid flotilla (+ analysis); Japanese PM under pressure to resign; Was South Korean warship sinking part of Kim Jong-Il succession plans?; Al Qaeda's "chief operating officer" believed dead; and more
Read MoreNothing like a few nukes to bring back the mojo
While President Obama has been strutting the world stage with the "un-American" intention of stopping nuclear terrorism, his country's tea-partiers are working assiduously to undermine him
Read MoreOne very public assassination
As Israel launches a public relations campaign to try and improve its damaged international reputation, its own spy agency Mossad is at the centre of a diplomatic row following a high profile assassination of an enemy of Israel in a Dubai hotel
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday February 17
Operation Moshtarak: bin Laden associate captured but 15 civilians killed; Australian terrorists sentenced; Clinton warns Iran becoming a military dictatorship; Israel gives Russia telling off; and more
Read MoreProtesting sports: morally questionable, legally contestable
Both the moral and the legal issues in protesting against Isreali tennis player Shahar Peer are somewhat cloudy
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