Morning Mail: Medicare rebate 'scrapped', two dead in Belgium counter-terror raids, Sydney siege TV deals

Guardian Australia's Morning Mail Friday 16 January 2014 g Medicare rebate   Four days before it was due to take effect,  the proposed $20 cut to rebates for short consultations with GPs has been taken “off the table”  by new health minister Sussan Ley Charlie Hebdo   Speaking on the deaths of 12 staff at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Salman Rushdie says freedom of speech can only be absolute, while Pope Francis has made headlines by saying there are limits to freedom of expression and “one cannot make fun of faith”. Arab cartoonists pen their response to Charlie Hebdo, and Jason Wilson argues that Charlie Hebdo could be published in Australia, despite the "incoherent" and "hysterical" calls to repeal the hate speech provisions in section 18c of Australia's Racial Discrimination Act In the continuing investigation into the Charlie Hebdo attack, French police may have identified a potential fourth terror cell member. Follow our full coverage of the Charlie Hebdo attackand more on Charlie Hebdo magazine. Australian news and politics   An asylum seeker has reportedly swallowed razor blades in protest at his detention as the number of men on hunger strike on Manus Island continues to grow. Most, if not all, of the survivors from Sydney’s Lindt cafe siege will appear on Ch9 after signing a TV deal with Channel Nine's 60 Minutes following an intense media bidding war.Despite no public cost-benefit analysis and questions over environmental risk, Queensland taxpayers subsidised the controversial Abbot Point coal port expansion by up to $2bn, while the mining lobby has been accused of exaggerating the industry’s benefits in a PR campaign targeting candidates in the Queensland election.Federal police investigating allegations of a porn ring involving Victorian Coalition MPs and advisers has found no commonwealth laws were broken. Around the world Two people are reported dead in counter-terror raids in Belgium as explosions reverberated near a train station in Verviers.New satellite photographs have laid bare the catastrophic scale of the latest Boko Haram atrocities, which are thought to have left hundreds if not thousands of people dead in Nigeria, whilepresident Goodluck Jonathan made a surprise visit to the country’s troubled north-east on Thursday.Two Italian aid workers have been freed in Syria after a multi-million dollar ransom was paid to the al-Nusra Front, Syria's largest al-Qaida group.Pressure on Saudi Arabia is growing over the case of a jailed Saudi blogger who is due to be flogged for a second time on Friday as part of his controversial punishment for setting up a website to promote free speech. One last thing   A man walking around Australia in costume to raise funds for a children’s hospital was bitten by a deadly king brown snake, but his Stormtrooper armour saved him.Have an excellent day – and if you spot something I've missed, let me know on Twitter @earleyedition.