Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić concedes defeat in fiercely contested parliamentary election
Vučić’s 12-year reign looks to have been ended by record turnout of voters in election provoked by student-led protests Serbia’s veteran leader Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat to the student movement, ushering in a seismic political shift after two years of student-led protests gave rise to a fiercely contested parliamentary election. Speaking on Sunday, Vučić cited preliminary results that showed the student-backed protest movement surging ahead. “Based on a stratified sample, it is clear that we lost these elections,” Vučić told supporters at his party headquarters in Belgrade. Continue reading...
‘It’s magic’: scientists rediscover how to make ancient Roman colour-changing glass
Exclusive: Optical engineering that went into 1,600-year-old Lycurgus Cup has baffled experts for centuries The Romans’ proficiency in the art of glass-making has produced some of the wonders of antiquity, but few of their creations better a 1,600-year-old masterpiece which sits in the British Museum. Depending on where a light source is positioned, the Lycurgus Cup changes colour, from jade green under normal lighting to ruby red when lit from behind – an astonishing feat of optical engineering that has confounded historians and glass-makers for centuries. Continue reading...
Trump adds Norway to vulgar list of countries, citing Nobel snub
US President Donald Trump on Sunday escalated his invective against Norway, calling it a "shit house country" and saying Norwegian immigrants are not welcome in the United States because the Nobel committee, based in the capital Oslo, has not awarded him a Peace Prize.
Trump VS California
The Democrats have redrawn district lines in a bid to flip five Republican-held seats in California.
‘Like a stone in our hearts’: PM leads Helen Haines tributes as parliament pauses to praise ‘fighter’
Angus Taylor and Barnaby Joyce reject calls for change in parliamentary practice to cool political debate Follow our Australian politics live blog for latest updates Get our daily political email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese has led tributes to Helen Haines a week after the Indi MP was allegedly the target of an attack outside her electorate office, praising the independent as “a fighter” with a deep love of her community. Federal parliament paused on Monday for speeches about Haines, her husband, Phil, and her staff as she remained in a serious but stable cond
Xi Jinping’s corruption crackdown in the spotlight as China prepares for meeting of top leaders
The fifth plenum comes against a backdrop of years of purges that have had some analysts wondering if the issue is corruption or a lack of loyalty When Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he pledged to stamp out corruption all through the ranks of the Communist party. More than a decade later, the pace of investigations has not slowed. Last year, China’s disciplinary authorities opened investigations into more than 1 million people, including more than 100 officials at or above ministerial or provincial level. As Chinese Communist party (CCP) officials prepare for an important meeting this week discipline – and party loyalty – is high on the agenda. For those who try to read the tea leaves of elite Chinese politics, concern about the apparent lack of discipline is dominating CCP discussions. Continue reading...
Unreasonable and unfair: damning investigation criticises Labor’s algorithm-based tool for aged care
Report from commonwealth ombudsman finds ‘technological black box’ ignores transparency recommendations from robodebt royal commission * Follow our Australian politics live blog for latest updates * Get our daily political email, free app or daily news podcast An algorithm used by the federal government to assess the level of care older Australians are entitled to is unreasonable, unfair and lacks human oversight, according to a damning investigation by the commonwealth ombudsman. The investigation also found transparency recommendations from the robodebt royal commission have been ignored. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...
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