US President Donald Trump鈥檚 threat to unleash a new nuclear war should not be dismissed as the ravings of an unhinged individual. He may be that, but he has also shown that he is prepared to start a new war and ratchet up old ones.
The US鈥檚 missile attack on a Syrian government air base on April 7 and its decision to drop an 11-ton GBU-43/B (or MOAB, Mother Of All Bombs), the world鈥檚 biggest non-nuclear bomb, on Afghanistan on April 13 is proof of that.
As the embers cooled in the debris of US President Donald Trump鈥檚 59 Tomahawk missiles fired at Syria, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered an immigration crackdown that includes a new US-style patriot test for those seeking Australian citizenship and the scrapping of 457 foreign worker visas.
The South Australian Racing Minister Leon Bignell has called on the state鈥檚 horseracing authority to ban jumps racing after five-year-old Wheeler Fortune was euthanised on April 15 after falling during the Somerled Hurdle race in Oakbank.
Bignell called on Thoroughbred Racing SA to act, labelling jumps racing 鈥渃ruel and 鈥渂arbaric鈥. But the controlling body said jumps racing was an 鈥渋ntegral part鈥 of the sport and would continue.
Since US President Donald Trump鈥檚 inauguration, there has been a spike in commentary about the increasing risk of a war in our region 鈥 a war that could involve the US and China. As things stand, it would be impossible for Australia to avoid involvement in such a war. That is a reality we must urgently confront.
Friends of Victoria University released this statement on April 19.
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Victoria University is planning to fundamentally change the structure of its workforce and radically alter the type of education that students receive.
Up to 115 academic staff will be sacked and replaced by 65 entry-level academic staff (Academic Teaching Scholars). These staff will have increased teaching hours and inferior retrenchment provisions so that they can be easily sacked should there be future cuts at VU.
On April 19, the first anniversary of the tragic death of Josh Park-Fing at his Work for the Dole site in Toowoomba, the Australian Unemployed Workers' Union held rallies in Sydney and Melbourne to demand and that the dangerous, discriminatory and exploitative Work for the Dole and Community Development Program be shut down.聽
About 150 people joined an emergency protest in Melbourne on April 17 telling the government to bring the refugees on Manus Island and Nauru to Australia.
The protest came after sailors from the Papua New Guinea navy fired shots into the detention centre and locals attacked refugees.
Palestinian cook and writer Laila El-Haddad recently completed a successful Australian tour. Weaving stories of Palestinian life through her demonstrations of a cuisine that is unfamiliar to many Australians, Laila showed curious foodies how food, culture, resistance and occupation intersect and what it is like to live through such a heady mix.
Tens聽of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of the capital on April 19 in huge pro-government rallies marking the country鈥檚 independence day.聽
Thousands of right-wing opposition also took to the streets in often violent protests. The day after the large pro- and anti-government marches, more right-wing violence broke out. The government accused opposition protesters of attacking public institutions, including a maternity hospital, on April 20. Ten people were also confirmed dead after a riot in Caracas.
Workers at Fletcher Insulation in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs have been on indefinite strike since February 17 after being offered an Enterprise Agreement (EA) that would slash conditions, raise serious safety concerns and offer no pay rise.
Fletcher Insulation produces heat, fire and sound insulation for residential and business properties. New Zealand-owned Fletcher took over the Dandenong factory from ACI Glass several years ago.
In a live video on Twitter a man is speaking rapidly. He gives his name as 鈥淢aoud, my ID is GRL11鈥. Then he says: 鈥淭he local guys attacked the camp and they just used the guns, they just shoot the gun. I don鈥檛 know what to do鈥︹ A gunshot is heard and he appears to duck, before looking up and saying 鈥渢hey just shoot鈥. Then the video cuts out.
Over the Easter weekend, the Safe Schools program was gutted in NSW. Education minister Rob Stokes announced that the program would not be funded when federal government support ends later this year. The rights of LGBTQI youth were eroded not with a bang, but with a murmur 鈥 and a Miranda Devine article.