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The Tony Abbott-aligned group urging NSW Liberals to attend a party reform meeting this weekend is campaigning with a political app used by the organisation behind the 2010 National Tea Party Convention in the United States.

The app being used by the group, the Democratic Reform Movement, is created by Right Mobile Pty Ltd.

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In October, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull draws laughter from his colleagues after claiming the Liberal Party is not governed by backroom deals. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.

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Labor will support all 50 of Chief Scientist Alan Finkel's energy policy recommendations, says Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Vision courtesy Ten Eyewitness News.

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The deputy Greens leader becomes the second to resign in less than a week.

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Malcolm Turnbull explains how his new super department headed by Peter Dutton will work.

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Not everyone in the Liberal Party is happy with the idea of Peter Dutton leading a super portfolio including ASIO, the AFP and Border Force.

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Surrounded by heavily armed commandos, the Prime Minister has revealed new measures to respond to terror threats in Australia.

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Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop is asked how she would respond if comments made by US President Donald Trump to Brigitte Macron had been directed at her own appearance.

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Western Australian senator Scott Ludlam has announced he is retiring from politics, after being informed that he still holds dual citizenship with New Zealand, making him ineligible to hold political office in Australia.

In October, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull draws laughter from his colleagues after claiming the Liberal Party is not governed by backroom deals. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.

It gives mobile phone users access to videos and articles featuring Mr Abbott and others arguing for an overhaul of the NSW Liberal Party preselection rules and urges party members to attend.

The same template was used by Right Mobile to create an app for Tea Party Nation, which organised the 2010 convention for the Tea Party conservative Republican splinter group at which former Republican governor Sarah Palin was keynote speaker.

Fairfax Media has also learnt questions are being asked about $10,000 in party funds spent on the Democratic Reform Movement campaign by the Federal Electorate Conference for Mr Abbott's seat of Warringah.

The reform group is led by Warringah FEC president Walter Villatora.

Internal documents show Warringah FEC spent $10,334.90 on a "Democratic Reform Workshop".

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This is understood to be the subject of a complaint to NSW Liberal head office ahead of the Party Futures Convention to be held at Rosehill racecourse this weekend.

The convention is set to thrash out changes to how state and federal candidates are preselected by the NSW Liberals.

The Democratic Reform Movement is pushing a Warringah FEC motion to introduce plebiscites whereby every local party member would get a vote. At present, voting is restricted to branch representatives and some party officials.

The ruling left and centre right factions claim this will open the door to large-scale branch stacking by Mr Abbott's "hard" right faction.

They support a compromise that would introduce plebiscites but with strict safeguards such as a member activity test and a requirement for several years' membership.

On Monday Fairfax Media reported the Democratic Reform Movement was accused of trying to "stack" the convention, including by paying the $150 fee for members to attend.

The convention is being seen as the next potential flashpoint between Mr Abbott and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the Liberal Party's direction.

Former party member and plebiscite campaigner John Ruddick has predicted a split in the Liberals should the Warringah motion fail.

Right Mobile has created apps for numerous US Republican party groups as well as for charity.

Sasha Reid, a founder of Sydney company Hyper Apps, estimated the Democratic Reform Movement app would cost between $10,000 to $15,000 to set up, plus potential ongoing fees.

However, a source close to the Democratic Reform Movement said Right Mobile was owned by a "mate" and therefore cost "next to nothing" and denied the owner had Tea Party or Republican links.

A Warringah FEC source said it had passed the Warringah motion unanimously twice and that "gives the Warringah conference the mandate to spend [the $10,000]".

But a Liberal source accused the Warringah FEC of "spending party funds to support the hard-right faction in its campaign to introduce the branch stacker's plebiscite".

"They should have their guns pointing at Labor, not fellow Liberals," the source said.

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Tony Abbott-aligned Liberal reform group using Tea Party political app - The Sydney Morning Herald

The pro-Russian rebel leader of a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine announced proposals to abolish Ukraine and create a new state in its place on Tuesday, comments that could further undermine a 2015 peace deal that is already faltering.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko dismissed the idea, describing Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), as part of "a puppet show", with Russia pulling his strings in order to relay a message.

Ukrainian officials said Russia wanted to show the world, and the United States especially, it could keep the crisis in a suspended state and deepen it if need be. A new U.S. envoy for the Ukraine crisis was appointed this month and Moscow and Washington are likely to start regularly engaging on the issue.

Zakharchenko, who scarcely would have expected anything other than outright rejection from Kiev, said in a declaration that he and his allies were proposing a new state called Malorossiya (Little Russia) be set up with its capital in rebel-held Donetsk.

Malorossiya was the term used to describe swaths of modern-day Ukraine when they were part of the Russian Empire and is one which many Ukrainians today regard as offensive.

"We are proposing to residents of Ukraine a peaceful way out of a difficult situation without war. It's our last proposal," Zakharchenko said in a statement. The new state would be federal, with regions enjoying a large degree of autonomy.

He said the move was backed by delegates from different Ukrainian regions, though a statement from the neighboring rebel territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic said it had been unaware of the initiative.

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Pro-Russian rebel leader in E. Ukraine unveils plan for new state - CNBC

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On the front line of Ukraine's ceasefire - BBC News

TBILISI -- The presidents of Georgia and Ukraine have agreed to coordinate their efforts toward integration into the European Union.

Giorgi Margvelashvili and Petro Poroshenko announced the move in a declaration of strategic partnership in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, on July 18.

Margvelashvili told reporters after the talks that the declaration "reflects the real mood of the two nations."

"We agreed to intensify our efforts in terms of integration into the European space," Margvelashvili said.

Poroshenko said, "we have to defend our sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democracy together." He added that the two countries face the same challenges and threats.

"[The] international community must increase its pressure on Russia until it fully fulfills the Minsk (peace) agreements and removes its armed forces for the occupied territories," Poroshenko said. "For Georgia it is about occupied territories of Abkhazia and so-called South Ossetia, and for Ukraine it is about the annexed Crimea and the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine."

Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 and has been supporting pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's east in a war against Kyiv's forces that has killed more than 10,000 people since April 2014

In 2008, Russia recognized Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries shortly after fighting a brief war against Tbilisi, and Moscow maintains thousands of troops in both regions.

Excerpt from:
Georgia, Ukraine Agree To Cooperate On Efforts To Join EU - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

White House press secretary Sean Spicer speaks to members of the media in the Brady Briefing room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 17, 2017. AP

WASHINGTONThe White House on Monday alleged that Democrats colluded with Ukraine during the 2016 election, turning the tables on its accusers amid an all-engulfing scandal over Trumps contacts with Russia.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer repeated allegations that a Democratic operative had met with Ukrainian embassy officials during the campaign.

Spicer referred to several recent reports by conservative media outlets, alleging the Democratic operative sought dirt on then Trump campaign director Paul Manafort.

The allegations first came to light in a Politico story in January.

Obviously, theres been a lot more interest in recent days with respect to what the DNC did in coordination with the Ukrainian government to try to collude, Spicer said.

The White House spokesman alleged that the Democratic National Committee collusion took place to achieve a goal of having someone removed, which ultimately did happen.

Manafort left his post in August 2016, as Trumps general election prospects looked dim and details of his own business dealings with pro-Kremlin leaders in Ukraine emerged.

Spicer was asked by a pro-Trump media representative whether the issue was raised when Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko visited the White House in June.

Spicer said he did not know, but claimed that the DNCs collusion with the Ukrainian government has definitely gotten a lot more attention since that meeting.

Adrienne Watson of the DNC accused the White House of deflecting.

The White House has been pushing this narrative to distract from the Trump campaigns willingness to work with a hostile foreign government to interfere in our election. No one is buying it.

The comments come as the White House reeled from Donald Trump Jr.s confession that he and two other Trump senior aides knowingly met Kremlin-connected operatives to get incriminating information on rival presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

READ: Trump Jr. admits he wanted info on Clinton from Russian

That admission, after months of denials, has prompted some Republicans to openly criticize the White House and venture that Donald Jr. may have broken the law.

US intelligence agencies believe that President Vladimir Putin ordered a vast influence operation to tilt the 2016 election in Trumps favor.

Trump himself has responded by describing his sons meeting as business as usual.

Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent. Thats politics! he tweeted on Monday.

Spicer seemed to contradict his boss, by saying the meeting was actually about adoption.

In a statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Washington denied allegations it had colluded with Democrats against the Trump campaign.

The embassy neither coordinated with the DNC on opposition research nor taken any actions to undermine campaign efforts, the statement read.

While some politicians who are not part of the Ukrainian government might have taken sides or made comments during last years election, the Embassy and the government of Ukraine did not.

We highly appreciate US administration support to Ukraine and the progress achieved in recent months in our bilateral relations.

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White House accuses Democrats, Ukraine of 'collusion' - Inquirer.net