Peshmerga fighters tighten noose around Mosul as Iraqi forces target Falluja and Syrians advance north of Raqqa stronghold
Source: Kurdish forces in big push against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria | World news | The Guardian
Month: May 2016
A judge, called a hater by Donald Trump for his handling of a lawsuit related to the businessman’s Trump University, unseals documents related to the case.
Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef is clearly at risk from climate change, so why would UNESCO agree to censor its own report?
None of the politicians are talking about it, but threats to freedom of speech have emerged in three different guises in the first three weeks of the election campaign. First there was the assailing of…
Online business-to-business marketplace Expert Market has put together a ranking of the global cities where people have the best balance between their work and leisure time — the so-called “work-life balance.” Using data from Swiss banking group UBS, the site compiled information on the biggest, most important cities globally, taking into account how many hours per week and per year people work as well as how many days holiday they take, before creating the ranking.
Source: The 13 cities with the best work-life balance in the world | Lifestyle | The Independent
Sorry Day is an important if not yet sufficient moment of symbolism. Australia has a lot more to do to. And that means a treaty first, recognition second
More than one-in-five South Australians plan to vote for the Nick Xenophon Team, an analysis of the opinion poll Newspoll finds.
A group of retired politicians trying to claw bigger pensions and more free travel from the taxpayer will get their day in court next month.
Source: Politicians’ perks: High Court will hear former MPs’ bid for bigger pensions
Barack Obama has called for a “world without nuclear weapons” during a historic speech in Hiroshima, Japan. There are around 15,850 nuclear warheads spread between nine nations, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The Melbourne suburb of Coburg became a no-go zone for residents on Saturday as rival protest groups clashed on the streets.
Source: The anti-racism rally that brought Nazis to the streets of Coburg
Every reference to the Great Barrier Reef was removed from a UN report on the impact of climate change on tourism and World Heritage sites after ‘intervention’ from the Australian government. What is going on?
More is never enough. By now we really don’t need yet another statement of inequality, but here goes anyway: The average ratio of chief executive pay to employee pay has reached 335-to-1 in the Uni…
Returning to the United States in an election year, I am struck by the silence. I have covered four presidential campaigns, starting with 1968; I was with Robert Kennedy when he was shot and I saw …
Nadiya Hussain says she has been shoved and had things thrown at her as part of Islamophobic abuse, which she claims gets worse after every terrorist attack committed by Muslim extremists.
TeleSur | – – Trump initially told reporters he would “love to debate Bernie.” The Republican nominee flip flopped from …
A Harvard graduate’s inspiring commencement speech has been called “one of the most powerful, heartfelt student speeches” by Harvard University. Donovan Livingston, a master’s graduate from the university, performed his spoken word poem “Lift Off” for the Harvard Graduate School of Education student speech.
As dozens of journalists depart Fairfax, veteran cartoonist Rocco Fazzari reflects on what’s at stake for Australian artists.
Source: Is this the end of the political cartoonist? – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Every year, the Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank, releases its annual global Prosperity Index, a huge survey that ranks the most prosperous countries in the world. The amount of money a country has is one factor of prosperity, but the Legatum Institute considers more than that in its ranking.
Legal and governance experts raise concerns in wake of new allegations of cash for access and undue influence.
Source: Political donations: new fears over shadowy Liberal fundraising groups
Once upon a time you could vote for Netanyahu or Meretz and move on with your life. Today even a conversation about the occupation can end relationships between loved ones. By Su* Like the very…
Source: When your own Jewish father calls you a Nazi | +972 Magazine
PCHR Weekly Report: Palestinian girl killed, 5 civilians wounded by Israeli military this week
In war-torn Afghanistan it is not the Taliban that poses the greatest threat to women – it is their own families.
Source: Afghanistan: No Country for Women – Al Jazeera English
A new discovery “heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria,” researchers say.
Source: The Superbug Nightmare We Always Feared Is Upon Us | Mother Jones
On May 26, Fox News aired an hour-long special, Meet The Trumps, in which On The Record host Greta Van Susteren spent the hour asking flattering questions of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump and his immediate family. Multiple critics compared the special to the state-run media of a dictatorship. This is what the special looks like when you
Seven men arrested after a violent brawl erupted between rival protesters at an anti-racism rally in Melbourne’s inner-north on Saturday.
Source: Melbourne race rally: seven arrested as rival protesters clash in Coburg
Why aren’t more cities using it?
Source: The Shockingly Simple, Surprisingly Cost-Effective Way to End Homelessness | Mother Jones
It’s the first state to do so. But critics say it’s unnecessary.
Source: Louisiana Just Made It a Hate Crime to Target Cops | Mother Jones
By Callen Sorensen-Karklis The 21st century Labor Party has a lot to offer Australians, despite being written off in recent times as a party of disunity during its 2007 – 2013 period of government. Labor still has a profound legacy that has helped positively steer Australia’s place in the world in the Asian century. Although…
Source: Labor’s Legacy Shines Through – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Election 2016: ALP picks up 52% of two-party preferred vote as latest ReachTel poll suggests Coalition’s economic attack is not working
Source: Labor pulling further ahead of Coalition, new poll shows | Australia news | The Guardian
A Liberal candidate’s plan to gatecrash one of Bill Shorten’s campaign events has backfired spectacularly with a car crash media interview.
Source: Election 2016: Liberal candidate Chris Jermyn implodes at Bill Shorten event
Two years ago, the armies of the group that would soon call itself the Islamic State, a group that already controlled large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, entered Mosul, the second city of Iraq. The Iraqi Army, in which the United States had invested, or perhaps wasted, US$25 billion, fled in fear. Shortly after, the group announced the restoration of the Muslim caliphate, which had been dissolved in 1924 by the leader of the Republic of Turkey, Kemal Atatürk.
Source: The mind of the Islamic State: An ideology of savagery | The Monthly
On Sorry Day 2016, David Donovan recollects growing up in the bush and becoming aware of the struggle and pain of Indigenous Australians — and his unwitting part in it.
In attacking the outgoing Senator in the way he did, Bolt tapped into an old dual standard, writes Dr Liz Conor. Andrew Bolt has Bolter heritage. If his ancestors are European I’m afraid they did a runner from their homeland. Unless they were actually transported as convicts (could Bolt have crim-heritage?) his heritage is oneMore
Source: Andrew Bolt, Nova Peris, And The Politics Of ‘Walkabout’ – New Matilda
Comparing a harmless salad item to the Deputy Prime Minister – as actor Johnny Depp did last night – is both unwarranted and unfair.
It has led to an understandable outcry from the tomato community, who feel vilified and belittled. As one tomato said today, “What the fuck”.
It may have been a throwaway line from the Pirates Of The Caribbean star, but the damage has been done. How you would feel if you had been likened to a man who can hardly string together a sentence, much less provide a tasty complement to a pasta dish or antipasto plate?
It is unfair to compare the two. As one food expert said today, “I don’t see the resemblance. One is a plump, red vegetable. The other is a tomato”.
But it’s the word ‘inbred’ that hurt the most. To think that a tomato would … well, you get the drift.
Mr Depp has used his position of power to slander all tomatoes. The comments are hurtful and irresponsible. He should apologise.
[Editor’s note: in an earlier version of this article we said Barnaby Joyce was ‘as mad as a cut snake’. We apologise unreservedly to the cut snake community].
Saying it was important to maintain a common thread with the previous Abbott Government while at the same time looking ahead to what the Abbott Government would have done if it were still in power, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today described his tenure as a sensible balance of continuity and continuity.
“Some things we’ve kept from the Abbott era, other things we’ve maintained. So I think that’s the right balance,” he told the ABC last night.
“When I came to office, there was a real sense that people wanted a fresh start. But they didn’t necessarily want to throw everything out either. So we’ve delivered on that. The second bit.
“The bottom line is, it would be bad governance to all of a sudden undo all of the work of the previous Government. But equally it would be reckless to change anything,” he said.
WASHINGTON – (CT&P) – House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Wednesday he will not be rushed into an endorsement of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, tamping down speculation that he was moving toward a declaration of support.
“Look, I don’t have a timeline in my mind, and I have not made a decision,” Ryan (R-Wis.) told reporters summoned to his Capitol office suite. “Nothing has changed from that perspective, and we’re still having productive conversations as part of our agenda project.
“You have to remember that this is the first time in the history of the United States that any party has nominated a turd for president, much less an orange one.
“The Republican Party is brimming with scat of various shapes and sizes. Take the Freedom Caucus for example, it’s loaded with feces, and let’s not forget the elder coprolites who have retired from politics like Newt Gingrich, so we in the GOP know a thing or two about excrement. I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around supporting a giant bipedal stool sample for president, that’s all.”
He added, “I think it’s important that we discuss the principles we all share in common and the policies that come from them and get a good understanding on those. And that’s the kind of conversations we’re having, as well as trying to teach the dumb son of bitch some basic civics.”
What has made Ryan’s hesitation so profound is the gravity of the issues on which he does not believe he and Trump are simpatico — issues like the constitutional limits on executive powers, which is a focus of the agenda project. “We want to make darn sure that that huge pile of orange poop understands, appreciates, respects and supports the Constitution and the kinds of principles that come with it, and those are some of the conversations we have been having,” he said.
Ryan was pressed on whether the House was preparing plans for the mass deportation of illegal immigrants — a key plank of Trump’s platform. Ryan, who opposes mass deportation and supports a path to legal status for the undocumented, noted that immigration is not part of the agenda project, but like any good Republican he wished there were no minorities in the United States at all, so he believes common ground can be reached.
Issues like trade and immigration that were cleaving the presidential field months ago were deliberately left out of the agenda project, in favor of issues where GOP unity is easier to find, like denying poor people health care, spending as much as possible on the military-industrial complex, and abolishing all regulations on anything other than abortion.
Ryan offered no definitive date as to when he would make a decision.
More than 200 Palestinians have been killed since October.
Source: Palestinian woman shot dead at checkpoint | The Electronic Intifada
The brutal police beating of a young Bedouin man outside his Tel Aviv workplace, where he was working to save money for university tuition, leads hundreds of Israelis to pitch in and pay his tuition.…
Source: Israelis’ heartwarming response to shocking police brutality | +972 Magazine
Mohammed VI is quite a taciturn monarch in comparison to his late father Hassan II, the eloquent orator; keen on public speaking and giving interviews to foreign pre
Source: Morocco’s Imam academy leading the way in combating radical Islam – Your Middle East
Israel’s attack on boycott activism is prompting governments, civil society to declare that movement is legitimate
Source: BDS is free speech, says Dutch government | The Electronic Intifada
By William D. Hartung | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Now you see it, now you don’t. Think of it as …
Source: The Pentagon’s War on Accountability: At 600 Bn a Year, Why aren’t any Wars being Won?
Liberal MP Fiona Scott’s battle to retain her seat of Lindsay is under mounting pressure after a Penrith councillor and former Liberal nominated against her.
Source: Election 2016: Former Liberal nominates against Fiona Scott in Lindsay
There are flashpoints – negative gearing, maybe some health funding, possibly even boats – but there’s no central, definitive theme.
Source: Three weeks in, it’s still an election about nothing in particular
China, a country infamous for its hellish traffic and inexperienced drivers,
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