UK government to block arms exports to Israel if military action resumes

Announcement comes after lengthy dispute between leading Tories and Liberal Democrats over restriction of arms sales

A girl sits on the ruins of her family’s home that witnesses say was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the Beit Hanoun neighbourhood of Gaza City Photograph: Siegfried Modola/Reuters

By: Rupert Neate

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/

The British government will suspend some of its arms exports to Israel if hostilities resume in Gaza due to concerns that the British-made products could be used by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

The business department said a review of UK exports to Israel had identified the 12 licences for “components which could be part of equipment used by the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza“. They include equipment for military radar, combat aircraft and tanks.

Australian government: Pirates of the Indian Ocean

The Australian government continues to break the law with its actions against asylum seekers.

The Australian government secretly sent 41 Sri Lankan asylum seekers back to their country [Reuters]

By: Fiona Broom

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/

As Australia’s conservative federal government falls further in opinion polls, it is increasingly willing to eschew international refugee conventions to cling to the one thing that is winning it support – the illegal and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.

While the Australian government’s treatment of child refugees and its refusal to release details of asylum seeker boat arrivals and block attempts by journalists to investigate detention facilities earn it little praise internationally, at home it is one of the few things winning the government any favour.