The conflict in Syria is not a war in the conventional sense of the word. It is a regime change operation, just like Libya and Iraq were regime change operations.

When a panelist on the Drum last night said that John Howard didn’t call for a plebiscite to change the marriage act to specify it as a union between a man and a woman, former Howard government minister Jackie Kelly stridently interrupted, shouting that it was Jesus who said marriage must be between a man and a woman and that it has been this way for two thousand years.

When Dyson Heydon delivered his report, as royal commissioner, of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, he claimed that his findings represented “the tip of the iceberg”. At the time, I commented that, given the nearly $50 million of public money spent on the commission, plus its lengthy hearings governed by the exceptional powers of a royal commission, the Australian public was entitled to expect the whole iceberg.

Capitalism by its very definition is exploitative. It relies on winners and losers. At its most basic definition it can be defined as the exploitation of an individual or group of people for financial gain. Modern day capitalism has been in existence for approximately 400 years.

My friends,

Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the towers of Radio Portales and Radio Corporación.

napoli

Over the past years, Italy has turned into a military colony. There are over 100 NATO and United States military bases across the country. There is a stockpile of foreign weapons and ammunitions in Italy, making the country a NATO and US military laboratory.

sick death

When Sam Dastyari was promoted to the shadow ministry earlier this year, Bill Shorten was unable, because of the opposition’s salary cap rules, to give him a pay rise.

The world's largest gorillas have been pushed to the brink of extinction by a surge of illegal hunting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and are now critically endangered.

The Government's main climate change advisory body has split, with two board members calling for tougher action to reduce emissions.

From Professor Clive Hamilton of Charles Sturt University and Professor David Karoly of the University of Melbourne — Members of the Climate Change Authority. Their report can be viewed at www.climatecouncil.org.au.

Australian author and social commentator Richard Neville has died at the age of 74.