Etihad Airways and Arab Film Festival Australia are joining forces again in 2016 to bring the best of contemporary Arab cinema to Australian audiences. The 13th annual Arab Film Festival Australia opened in Sydney showcasing diverse films from Australia, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine and Syria. [...] The festival will travel to Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth over the next three weeks.

Dor Elidan, a polite 16-year-old sporting a short Mohawk, admits that he doesn't know enough about politics to form an opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – but that he felt "privileged" to write an algorithm that is now being used by the Israeli government to hit back at anti-Semitism and enemies of the state online. The code is part of a platform that boosts positive social media posts, photos, news reports and opinion articles that promote Israel. 

The international community could actually take a lesson out of the Iran example. [...] Even Iran’s allies such as Russia and China joined hands with the U.S. and Britain to build a global pressure regime which eventually worked in forcing Tehran to compromise. What was one of the most contentious global issues till a few years ago was settled amicably in a rare case of the triumph of public diplomacy. 

World powers meeting here said on Friday they would develop a package of economic and security incentives in the coming months to push Israel and the Palestinians to make peace, after months of violence that has left officials fearing that the two sides are primed for another full-scale conflict. Top diplomats from 26 nations said they would work to organize an international conference before the end of the year.

Rather than encouraging people to tear up the dance floor or smoke weed, the singer-songwriter hopes his new tune, “Begin Again,” will inspire peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Lawrence’s song is one of 30 original compositions on the benefit album “2 Unite All,” which was released last month. The album enlists legendary talents like Roger Waters and Peter Gabriel to deliver music with themes of unity, forgiveness, and starting over.

An Israeli “yes” could have done more for its image abroad than 100 public diplomacy videos, helped negate its current international image as a militaristic peace refusenik and shown that Israel can be a willing partner for peace. Or at least, it wouldn’t have provided further evidence to bolster that image. Now, all anyone’s going to remember about this latest episode is that France wanted to organize a peace conference, the Palestinians agreed to participate – and Israel refused.

Lawrence—part of Bruno Mars’ songwriting trio The Smeezingtons—has helped pen hits like CeeLo Green’s “F--- You,” Flo Rida’s “Right Round,” and Snoop Dogg’s “Young, Wild, and Free.” Rather than encouraging people to tear up the dance floor or smoke weed, the singer-songwriter hopes his new tune, “Begin Again,” will inspire peace between Israelis and Palestinians.