Three weeks after Kevin McCarthy became the first ever Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to be voted out of the Speaker’s chair, the House finally elected a new Speaker on 25 October, the fourth candidate to attempt election: Mike Johnson from Louisiana. Johnson was elected on his first try on Wednesday, with all … Continue reading “Found: Speaker”
On 14 October, Australians voted 60-40% against a referendum proposal on a change to the Constitution that would have given Indigenous Australians a greater voice in the legislature. If approved, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice would have been a consultative body to advise lawmakers on issues affecting Indigenous Australians. Labor Prime Minister Anthony … Continue reading “Australia Says No in Indigenous Representation Referendum “
On 3 October, Kevin McCarthy became the first ever Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to be voted out of his role. He had already made the news when had had to face 15 separate votes before being elected Speaker in January – most of the opposition coming from his own Republican Party. The … Continue reading “Wanted: Speaker”
For decades, Rupert Murdoch has dominated the media, first in his native Australia, then the U.K., the U.S.A. and other countries around the world. He started with one newspaper inherited from his father in Adelaide and built an empire that has included at various times Sky TV, The Sun and The Times in the U.K., Fox … Continue reading “Succession: Murdoch Media Empire”
The Commonwealth Youth Awards honour young people from around the world for their work trying to advance one or more of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This year’s winner, Maya Kirti Nanan from Trinidad and Tobago, founded an organisation to help people with autism in her Caribbean island home. The Commonwealth is a voluntary association … Continue reading “Commonwealth Young Person of the Year 2023”
The first of a series of lawsuits by young U.S. citizens against state and federal governments over climate change has come to trial. Held v. Montana was the subject of a two-week court case in June. Sixteen young Montanans accused their state of violating their constitutional rights to a “clean and healthful environment”; to seek … Continue reading “Teens Sue Montana Over Climate Change”
Scottish brothers Ollie and Harry Ferguson are just 13 and 11, but they’ve dedicated their lives to having adventures. The latest one is building two model boats that have been launched to sail around Antarctica and collect scientific data about the ocean and the air. Ollie and Harry already have a Guinness World Record for … Continue reading “Young Inventors Sail Model Boats Around Antarctica”
Australia will hold a referendum later this year on a change to the Constitution that would give Indigenous Australians a greater voice in the legislature. If approved, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice would be a consultative body which would advise lawmakers on issues affecting Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who … Continue reading “Australia to Hold Referendum on Indigenous Representation”
There has been a lot of news about the NBA draft recently. But what is the draft in the NBA and other U.S. sports? A draft system is used in the NBA but also the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. It’s a system for allowing all … Continue reading “What is the NBA Draft?”
The American novelist and Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy, passed away on Tuesday 13 June, in Santa Fe, New Mexico (U.S.A.) at the age of 89. Known for his dark and gripping narratives, McCarthy left an indelible mark on the literary world with his most famous masterpieces, The Road and No Country for Old Men. … Continue reading “Cormac McCarthy : the Road Ends”