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The ailing nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty requires ‘effective measures’ to regain its health, writes Dr Marianne Hanson, Co-Chair of ICAN Australia. Last week marked the 54th anniversary of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The treaty was designed to freeze the number of states with nuclear weapons – beyond the five countries that had already developed these Continue reading »

At over 40 percent of net migration, Australia’s overseas student program was growing unsustainably before the pandemic. The border closures hid many of the problems and led the Coalition Government to make policy changes that made the situation much worse when borders re-opened (unrestricted work rights, fee-free visa applications, covid visa). The Albanese Government significantly Continue reading »

The deplorable vandalism of our sacred space by individuals, who, most likely have never experienced war and its consequences, staggers the imagination, writes Gavin O’Brein after “Eyes on Gaza” was spray painted on the Vietnam war memorial, Canberra. I am a Vietnam Veteran, a conscript under National Service, who spent just under a year deployed Continue reading »

For five months now, our screens have been bombarded by images depicting Israel’s air and ground assault on Gaza. This extraordinary footage, this apocalyptic scene, shows just how widespread that destruction has been. Israel is still denying foreign journalists independent access to Gaza. We’re in Israel, about a kilometre from the border, reports the ABC’s Continue reading »

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that 2,000 healthcare workers in the northern Gaza Strip will begin the month of Ramadan without suhoor (the pre-dawn) or iftar (breakfast) meals.  Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a statement: “Medical teams are working around the clock in northern Gaza and have nothing to eat.” Continue reading »

GIMMS response to the The UK House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee inquiry

Brian Beutler had a keen insight in his newsletter today (you can subscribe here) into what’s driving some of Trump’s decisions right now and it seems pretty obvious to me that he is right. Trump is desperate for money and he is open for business, even on Social Security and Medicare which is extremely risky for him: Trump appeared on CNBC Monday—his first mainstream or quasi-mainstream interview in many weeks—and, when prodded over whether he’d reconsidered his position on entitlements, said he will indeed consider cutting the country’s two big retirement programs for seniors. Just like a fusty old Republican. “So first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements,” Trump said. “There’s tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do,” he added, before lapsing into blather. If you’re deep in the weeds on this stuff or a certain kind of know-it-all you can argue there’s nothing new here.

Hey, thanks for coming out here. Yeah, we’ve been having trouble with this bathroom sink. So, uh, you know, have at it.

I’m still here, by the way. Not, like, here here—I’ve backed up enough to give you what feels like a healthy amount of personal space. But I am still close enough to watch you work on the sink. Not because I think you need supervision or because I don’t trust you or anything. I guess because you might have questions? Although if I was the type of person who could provide intelligent answers to questions about sinks, I probably would not have needed to call you in the first place.

So, yeah, I guess I have no idea why I’m still standing here, but for some reason it feels like it would be ruder to leave, especially now that I’ve already stayed here for what feels like between six seconds and an hour. So I’ll stick around.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's annual National Peace Symposium is vital to help cut through Britain's Islamophobic politics and media

The CEO of one of the organisations likely to be targeted by the Government's forthcoming 'extremism' definition speaks out against its chilling effects

My Lords, it is a rare privilege for us to have the Foreign Secretary wind up a debate on foreign policy in this House. Such are the quirks of politics, I suppose. I shall concentrate on one topic, and that is economic sanctions. The sanctions regime has emerged as one of the most important tools … Continue reading Speech at the Foreign Affairs debate – Tuesday 5th March 2024

In this briefing, we explain how the proposed changes to the UK data protection framework that would be introduced by the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would weaken legal safeguards around the use of personal data for political purposes. What’s wrong with the DPDI Bill? WHY DATA PROTECTION MATTERS The use of personal data […]

Dear Commissioner Reynders, The LIBE Committee closely follows the matters linked to the United Kingdom’s data protectionregime and adequacy findings granted to the UK by the European Commission. On 23 May 2023,LIBE committee Members exchanged views with the UK Information Commissioner, Mr JohnEdwards. The exchange constituted a follow-up to the LIBE committee’s mission to the […]

Honourable Chair, dear Juan, Thank you for your letter of 13 June 2023, in which you ask the Commission about its assessmentof the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill that is currently before the UK Parliament.Let me start by recalling that, as regards adequacy decisions adopted by the EU, the Court of Justicehas clarified […]

A random social media poster: Also, he’s just given himself a new nickname: Honest Don. I need a drink and it’s only 9am.

Dear Commissioner Reynders, On 23 May 2023, LIBE committee Members held an exchange of views with the UK InformationCommissioner, Mr John Edwards, which was organised as follow-up to the LIBE committee’smission to the United Kingdom in November 2022. During the exchange of views in the LIBE committee, Members raised their concerns with regardto draft Data […]

Despite heavy media focus on the party, only a handful of Reform UK's councillors have ever been elected on their ticket

Trump starts eating his own First they came for, etc. (Politico): Donald Trump’s newly installed leadership team at the Republican National Committee on Monday began the process of pushing out dozens of officials, according to two people close to the Trump campaign and the RNC. All told, the expectation is that more than 60 RNC staffers who work across the political, communications and data departments will be let go. Those being asked to resign include five members of the senior staff, though the names were not made public. Additionally, some vendor contracts are expected to be cut. In a letter to some political and data staff, Sean Cairncross, the RNC’s new chief operating officer, said that the new committee leadership was “in the process of evaluating the organization and staff to ensure the building is aligned” with its vision. “During this process, certain staff are being asked to resign and reapply for a position on the team.” The overhaul is aimed at cutting, what one of the people described as, “bureaucracy” at the RNC.