December 12 in the news.....
- John Howard today defended his plan for a new citizenship test for migrants, saying it is not a step towards reintroducing a racially discriminatory immigration policy. Mr Howard has announced migrants wanting to become Australian citizens will need to sit English exams and pass multiple-choice tests on Australian society. The 30 test questions, drawn from a pool of 200, will cover topics such as history, system of government, sporting traditions and mateship. For instance, in the sporting traditions, the following is asked "Will you support Australia and its sporting teams or will you get fucked now?", and in the mateship section, the following is asked "Do you consider yourself a cunt or a fucking cunt?"
- President Mahmoud Abbas ordered security forces to deploy across Gaza on Tuesday after the killing of three young sons of one of his loyalists stoked fears of internal strife. Tension between the moderate Abbas and the governing Hamas Islamist group soared after the attack by unidentified gunmen on Monday. The three children of a senior intelligence chief were shot dead as they arrived at school. With two weeks to go till Christmas Eve, there is concern the Gaza Strip is not looking very Christmassy.
