Israeli politicians are facing a mounting backlash at home and abroad against a controversial new law that seeks to penalise all supporters of a boycott against Israel, including the West Bank settlements. The bill was passed by parliament earlier this week, triggering fury on the Israeli left and delight among rightwingers and settlers. It will [...]

The Israeli Knesset’s passing of a controversial law penalizing anyone calling for a boycott of the country or its settlements has been the subject of much debate in the Israeli press. One paper sympathetic to PM Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that the law was timely, but two prominent dailies suggested that – far from protecting Israel [...]

The EU’s rule for airlines ‘violates international law and is bad policy,’ an Air Transport Assn. spokesman says. Also: Delta launches a bag-tracking site and Spirit refuses a plea to waive bag fees. Under a European Union law, all airlines that fly in and out of Europe must either cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse [...]

Netanyahu: vote will take place as planned, despite Monday’s Mideast Quartet meeting. The controversial ‘Boycott Bill’ is expected to come up for its second and third votes in the Knesset on Monday, despite the prime minister’s prior consideration to push for delaying the vote. The Knesset Legal Advisor is expected to announce his criticism of [...]

Canberra, Australia. Muslim women would have to remove veils and show their faces to police on request or risk jail time under proposed new laws in Australia’s most populous state. The debate the proposal has triggered reflects the cultural clashes ignited by the growing influx of Muslim immigrants and the unease visible symbols of Islam [...]

ROME, July 7 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Thursday he may re-present a controversial proposal, withdrawn by Italy’s government this week, that would freeze a penalty due to be paid by his Fininvest holding company. The measure — which would have shielded Fininvest from a 750 million euros ($1.09 billion) penalty it [...]

MILAN, July 5 – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced outrage on Tuesday after his government slipped a clause into a new austerity package which could stave off a 750 million euro ($1.09 billion) penalty for his Fininvest holding. Critics said the new clause in the centre-right government’s financial austerity package was tailor-made to protect [...]

China is denying that authorities are manipulating domestic laws to silence human rights lawyers. The denial follows a report from Amnesty International which claims the Chinese government has unleashed an uncompromising series of measures intended to rein in the legal profession and suppress lawyers pursuing human rights cases. Intimidation The report details how the Chinese [...]

SOUTH Korea will revise its law so it can take criminal action against airline pilots who report to work drunk, the transport ministry said today following two recent cases. The ministry said in a statement it would revise the aviation law to cover pilots and flight attendants working for both local and foreign carriers. Once [...]

The Obama administration, in trying to get around the War Powers Act, has assaulted the very meaning of the word ‘war.’ The Obama administration has come up with a remarkable justification for going to war against Libya without the congressional approval required by the Constitution and the War Powers Act of 1973. American planes are [...]