As Israel's democratic posture becomes more questioned, its mystique becomes more exaggerated. In order to convince others of the validity of Israel's actions, supporters focus on three components of Israel's drive to an accomplished nation:

Fears that as much as 30 per cent of the beef sold in Australia is old cow meat repackaged as prime produce has prompted the NSW Government to introduce rules to protect consumers.

Shoppers have little way of telling the true quality of the meat they are buying because there is no grading system for locally sold beef, nor any onus on retailers to inform their customers of the quality of a cut.

Locally sold meat is graded under Meat and Livestock Australia's voluntary MSA scheme, but only about 12,500 of the nation's 160,000 cattle properties are MSA-accredited.

From the Independent

From the Moscow Times:

Lower-ranking Russian politicians were quicker to weigh in, expressing everything from cautious congratulations to frustration about Obama winning the prize. They were virtually united in the opinion that the award went to the U.S. president as a downpayment on his future actions to reinforce global peace rather than for his accomplishments so far.

Many of them noted Europe's disappointment with the policies of Obama's predecessor, George Bush, and hope that the new White House would take a more peaceful approach to its foreign policy.

Tegenlicht, a documentary program by the Dutch public broadcast organization VPRO, allows several interesting opinion makers to speak on the future of the American and Israel relationship and the reception of John Mearsheimers and Steve Walts article "The Israel Lobby and US foreign policy."

What you would normally do with warning people about a fire is say: "get out" It's a really basic human response, "get out, there's a terrible fire coming, run for your lives, words to that effect.

The Eurosceptic Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, wants a new two-sentence footnote to be added to the EU's Lisbon Treaty before signing it, Sweden says.

The new condition came up during a phone conversation between Mr Klaus and Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt, current holder of the EU presidency.

Mr Reinfeldt said the requested footnote was linked to the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights.

No one is above the law, not even a prime minister.

That is the conclusion of one of the most eagerly awaited court decisions in recent Italian history.

The country's Constitutional Court has ruled that Silvio Berlusconi and three other people in public life - the president of the republic and the two parliamentary speakers - should not have immunity from prosecution while they are in office.

But, just like the country as a whole, it seems the judges were divided over the issue. The judges voted nine to six against the law.

So what are the implications? Well, it is best to divide them into two.

US President Barack Obama has said his decision on a new strategy in Afghanistan will not please everyone.

He told key figures from Congress, gathered to discuss future US plans, that he would decide the question with a sense of urgency.

Democratic Senator Harry Reid said members from both parties told Mr Obama they would support his decision.

But Republican Senator Mitch McConnell stressed backing would depend on Mr Obama following his generals' advice.

Sunday week will be anything but a day of rest for Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition, with the Opposition Leader convening a party-room meeting to thrash out amendments on the emissions trading scheme.

The shadow cabinet will also meet in Melbourne today to discuss the outline of those amendments, as Mr Turnbull admits internal party dissent over its ETS policy is damaging him and the Liberals.

"It doesn't reflect well on anyone," Mr Turnbull said. "Discipline is important and it's vital that we work as a team."

He told the ABC's 7.30 Report that convincing the Nationals may be a lost cause.

For a standout example of what is wrong with freedom of information in NSW you cannot go past the Ombudsman's new report into the Office of the Board of Studies.

Over 120 pages the deputy Ombudsman, Chris Wheeler, has shredded the office over its handling of freedom-of-information applications made by former students seeking details of the standardised marking system that determines the marks 67,000 students are awarded each year in the higher school certificate exams.

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.