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
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Dead set on destruction
Who says impending destruction can't have a good soundtrack?
Read MoreThe Heatley Question
You can argue 'til the cows come home about the rights and wrongs of Phil Heatley's resignation, but at the end of the day it's the perception of meanness that people will remember
Read MoreJohn Key’s broken promise, on National’s parks
Key promised no state assets would be sold or partly sold in the first term of his government. But that’s in effect what’s happening, to our biggest state asset of them all
Read MoreWorst ... resignation ... ever!
Probably not. But Phil Heatley's decision to fall on his sword over two bottles of wine is an awfully extreme act of contrition.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday February 25
Second Taliban leader captured by Pakistan, but has the ISI really changed?; China's Communist Party's rules to tackle corruption; EU warns Turkey over coup claims; Ill Nigerian president returns home; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday February 24
EU condemns Hamas hit as Israel refuses to co-operate with British inquiry; Google re-enters talks with China; Has senior Taliban leader been arrested?; Australia plans new face scan for visitors; and more
Read MoreMixed signals as confidence slips
John Key and Bill English are sending out mixed signals about the next government budget while public confidence in New Zealand’s economic recovery wanes. Why?
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Tuesday February 23
NATO airstrike hits women and children, McChrystal apologies (+ analysis); US envoy refused meeting with Suu Kyi; Iran to build ten more nuclear plants; Lufthansa pilot strikes ground 800 flights; and more
Read MoreReserved For Natives Only – Whites Out
A decision by Mohawk leaders to evict all non-aboriginals from the Kahnawake reserve just outside Montreal has fueled the racism debate, and begs the question of when the preservation of bloodlines can or ought to be justified.
Read MoreHow to run a referendum
The question and process for the 2011 referendum on MMP have been announced. It's all good.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday February 19
Taliban holds its ground as troops pour into Marja; Obama meets Dalai Lama; Ukranian election results suspended amidst fraud claims; Syria comes in from the cold in talks with US; and more
Read MoreMMP referendum -- Power levels the playing field
MMP could have been overwhelmed by nay-sayers, but Simon Power's process will make for a fairer referendum, mimicing Jim Bolger in the 1990s
Read MoreIPCC under the microscope – but isn’t that what science is all about?
The controversy over errors in the IPCC's assessment of climate change have people asking whether it's all a beat-up. But where's the peer reviewed evidence that no risk exists, asks one of the IPCC's authors
Read MoreWin tickets to WOMAD
Want some free music?
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday February 18
American stimulus one year on – salvation or waste of billions?; Japan becomes largest holder of US debt as China bails; Kim Jong-Il's birthday celebrations; Tensions growing around Falkland Is.; and more
Read MoreElectoral finance reform: first impressions
The Government has announced what it plans to do with the law on electoral financing. Not all that much, actually.
Read MoreThe cubicle dairy kaleidoscope
Last December’s uproar about whether we should have cubicle dairy farming in New Zealand was misinformed, because it’s already happening in New Zealand
Read MoreJohn Key - "National park miner"
John Key expects more mining in Crown land, which includes our national parks. Is this going to be his year for living dangerously?
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
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