Israel has approved a plan to bring 2,000 Ethiopian Jews to the country, marking a major step towards ending a decades-long saga over their fate. They are part of about 8,000 members of a community who have been waiting to come to Israel for years. Known as Falash Mura, their right to settle in Israel is a contentious issue as their background rules out automatic citizenship available to most Jews.

Secret operations brought thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the 1980s. Many members of the Falash Mura have familial connections to that community, which is known as the Beta Israel. However, they have only been allowed to emigrate to Israel on a case-by-case basis, and thousands remain in camps in Gondar and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.(BBC)…[+]

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition by former Australian PM Kevin Rudd calling for an inquiry into Rupert Murdoch’s media dominance in Australia. Mr Murdoch’s company News Corp Australia controls about 70% of the nation’s print circulation. Mr Rudd said a top inquiry should scrutinise media ownership but particularly Mr Murdoch, calling him “a cancer on our democracy”. News Corp Australia and Mr Murdoch have not commented on the petition.

The company has often defended its reporting against accusations of political bias, racism and climate change scepticism. Mr Rudd posted the petition on a parliamentary website on the weekend and said an “avalanche of support” for it had briefly overwhelmed IT systems. The petition will be submitted to parliament on 5 November. Unlike in some nations, Australia’s government is not obligated to respond to it when support reaches a certain level.(BBC)…[+]