Greens and some independents are biggest winners from Labor’s proposed donation cap, data shows

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Labor and Coalition would have missed out on $4.1m and $4.7m in donations after public funding boost, while the Greens would have been $2.9m better off

The Greens and independent MPs who ran low-cost campaigns have emerged as the biggest winners from Labor’s proposed donation cap and increased public funding of elections, data shows.

According to a Guardian Australia analysis of 2021-22 data, the Greens would have lost just $2.7m in donations if Labor’s proposed $20,000 cap had been law at the time, a sum more than made up for by a $5.6m increase in public funding. In net terms, the Greens would have been $2.9m better off.

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Hungary invites Netanyahu to visit as world leaders split over ICC arrest warrant

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Viktor Orbán says he will not enforce ICC decision that requires court members to detain Israeli PM if he enters their country

Hungary’s illiberal prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has said he will invite his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, to visit in defiance of an international criminal court arrest warrant, as world leaders split over the ICC’s momentous decision.

The world’s highest criminal court issued warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas commander Ibrahim al-Masri, commonly known as Mohammed Deif, who is believed to be dead, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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China reels from spate of suspected ‘revenge against society’ attacks

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Stabbings and car rammings raise fears that China’s strained social safety net is leading to growing violence

China is grappling with a spate of violent rampages that have left dozens of people dead, sparking a conversation about whether “revenge against society” attacks are becoming more common.

On 19 November, a 39-year-old man drove a car into a group of people near a school in Changde, a city in central China, injuring several students. Days earlier, another car-ramming attack in the southern city of Zhuhai had killed 35 people outside a sports centre, China’s deadliest mass killing in a decade. That same week, a former student in another city stabbed to death eight people and injured 17 others at a vocational college.

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Armed gang steal jewels from French museum’s £6m ‘national treasure’

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Thieves fired shots and took parts of 1904 work by goldsmith Joseph Chaumet from Hiéron Museum

Armed robbers snatched jewels worth millions from a work by the famed Parisian goldsmith Joseph Chaumet classed as a national treasure, in a brazen heist at a French museum.

The thieves arrived on motorbikes at the Hiéron Museum in Paray-le-Monial, in central France, at about 4pm local time on Thursday. Three entered the building and one stood guard outside, said the local mayor, Jean-Marc Nesme.

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Permanent solution to Hezbollah conflict lies in Lebanon’s parliament – expert – The Jerusalem Post

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  1. Permanent solution to Hezbollah conflict lies in Lebanon's parliament - expert  The Jerusalem Post
  2. Understanding Israel’s Campaign to Defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon  Institute for the Study of War
  3. Lebanon’s Day After: Will the Country Survive the War With Israel?  Foreign Affairs Magazine
  4. Hezbollah’s Rockets Remain a Threat Despite Israel’s Crushing Offensive  The New York Times
  5. Are We on the Verge of Lebanon's Third Civil War?  Haaretz
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‘Clearly an industry win’: concern over leaked classified document on NSW pokies reform

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Government urged to dismiss recommendations, including unchanged poker machine operating hours

The New South Wales government has been urged to dismiss recommendations from senior members of an independent panel on gambling reform before they are even finalised. These include what has been described as a “ridiculous” call for poker machine operating hours to remain unchanged.

A leaked confidential report by the panel’s executive committee, titled “draft roadmap for gaming reform”, also details how gamblers would still be able to anonymously use poker machines until 2028.

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