Do not call her a racist: anti-Pauline Hanson strategists tell campaigners character attacks won’t work in Victoria

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Exclusive: strategic rethink urges progressive activists to respectfully steer one-on-one conversations with One Nation supporters towards economic concerns

The message from strategists was blunt: do not, however tempting, personally attack Pauline Hanson or call her a racist.

The request has been made to progressive campaigners and unionists who have been asked to start one-on-one conversations with One Nation supporters before the Victorian election in November.

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Labor has had 12 years to fix Victorian roads. Turning to ‘pothole populism’ now may be too late

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Potholed roads are ‘devastating political advertising’ for the Victorian government – but Ben Carrol’s made them the focus of his campaign

At a press conference to celebrate the sold-out NFL match played at Melbourne’s MCG on Friday, the Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, was heckled on one issue.

“Fix the potholes,” a punter called out as they walked past the Victorian premier’s press conference.

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‘Small price to pay’: The young homeowners welcoming falling house prices even as it hurts them

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Some buyers say they are ready to absorb the fallout of housing weakness if it means boosting home ownership across the board

Falling property prices have come at the worst possible time for Alex Hogan and his partner. They are now weighing up whether they can afford to have another child.

Locked out of the established housing market, the Queensland couple resorted to buying a block of land to build a family home.

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NSW government paid for homeless man to be sent back to New Zealand instead of offering housing

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Local council and state government attempting to move on residents living in an encampment by the river in Wagga Wagga

The New South Wales government paid for a homeless man in Wagga Wagga to be sent back to New Zealand instead of offering him temporary accommodation, in an attempt to move on residents living in an encampment by a river.

The local council and state government have been attempting to clear out the encampment for several months after a newborn baby died in May when its mother gave birth to twins in a tent.

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Trump asks Smithsonian to install ‘Colossus statue’ of George Washington with exhibit

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Trump, again trying to curate museum, says exhibit would stay until 2032 for 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth

Donald Trump asked the Smithsonian Institution to install a 30ft “Colossus statue” of George Washington outside the National Museum of American History, and a special exhibit honoring the nation’s first president, in a social media post late on Friday.

The president requested that the exhibit continue through February 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth.

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Iraq says Saudi pipeline attack originated from its territory, and other Mideast news – AP News

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  1. Iraq says Saudi pipeline attack originated from its territory, and other Mideast news  AP News
  2. Saudi Arabia has few options as it faces mounting threats from Iran and its allies  AP News
  3. Iraq probes drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, shuts three crossings to Iran  Al Jazeera
  4. Saudis shut down oil pipeline as Houthis tighten grip on Red Sea shipping  Reuters
  5. Trump says Iran likely responsible for attack that shut vital Saudi oil pipeline  CNN
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Iran Finds Escalation Is a Fruitful Path to Leverage in War With U.S. – The New York Times

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  1. Iran Finds Escalation Is a Fruitful Path to Leverage in War With U.S.  The New York Times
  2. Why Tehran Thinks It Can Outlast Washington  globsec.org
  3. Watch Bremmer Says Iran’s Leverage is Real but Will Diminish  Bloomberg.com
  4. Iran’s calculus: Negotiations through deterrence and leverage  Chatham House
  5. Iran’s biggest enemy is its inflated sense of power  Arab News
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Mississippi police say more arrests to come in death of woman found hanging from tree

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Officials still investigating death of Tasia Fortune, a Black woman, a day after man’s arrest in relation to killing

Mississippi police said on Saturday they were still investigating the death of Tasia Fortune, a Black woman found hanging from a tree last month, a day after a man was arrested in connection with the killing.

Loved ones also painted a picture of Fortune as a mother, athlete and woman of faith who they hoped would not solely be remembered for her horrific death.

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Uganda’s King Oyo buried amid calls for unity over his successor – BBC

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  1. Uganda's King Oyo buried amid calls for unity over his successor  BBC
  2. Secret son revelation ignites bitter succession dispute in Ugandan kingdom  The Guardian
  3. Thousands of Mourners Gather for 34-Year-Old King Rukidi IV’s Funeral Procession amid Succession Dispute  People.com
  4. Emergence of secret heir stokes succession crisis in grieving African kingdom  The Washington Post
  5. Uganda holding last-ditch talks over king's succession to allow him to be buried  Reuters
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Donations of £72m make Reform’s prospects both rosier and riskier

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Party can boost its campaign power with funds from billionaire backers, but it can also lose support from ordinary Britons

All things being equal, pretty much any political strategist would welcome a £72m war chest; a sum higher than the combined spending of every major party at the 2024 general election. But all things are not equal, and with such a huge amount comes risk.

Reform UK has been vocal in its arguments that two sudden £36m windfalls from billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne merely “levels the playing field” with the bigger parties when it comes to funding.

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Donald Trump says he would ‘love’ to see united Ireland

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US president says on visit to republic that unification will happen eventually so ‘may as well happen now’

Donald Trump has said he would “love” to see a united Ireland and that it “may as well happen now”.

The US president appeared to endorse the push for constitutional change on the island at the start of a two-day visit to Ireland on Saturday. The unexpected intervention prompted a swift rebuttal from the UK government and Northern Ireland’s unionist leaders.

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Bolsonaro’s son surges in run to free the former president – The Washington Post

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  1. Bolsonaro’s son surges in run to free the former president  The Washington Post
  2. Lula maintains lead over Flavio Bolsonaro ahead of Brazil election, Datafolha poll shows  Reuters
  3. Bolsonaro Surges in Brazil Poll as Supreme Court Crisis Weighs on Lula  Bloomberg.com
  4. The paradox of Brazil: a conservative country with a left-wing president  Latinoamérica 21
  5. Last dance? Inside Lula’s strategy to win a fourth presidency in Brazil  Al Jazeera
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As Oil Prices Rise, BRICS Leaders Have What U.S. Doesn’t: Iran at the Table – The New York Times

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  1. As Oil Prices Rise, BRICS Leaders Have What U.S. Doesn’t: Iran at the Table  The New York Times
  2. Opinion | Building BRICS In New Delhi  NDTV
  3. BRICS adopts joint declaration, urges 'maximum restraint' in Mideast  Reuters
  4. BRICS leaders meet in India as wars and US tensions test the bloc  NPR
  5. India's BRICS strategy tested with Xi, Putin set to visit  DW.com
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‘We must slow the pace’: CEO of Anthropic calls for an AI slowdown

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In a social media post, Dario Amodei proposed a plan including third-party evaluations of AI systems

The CEO of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic issued a new appeal on Saturday for the AI industry to “slow down” and offered a three-part plan for doing so, saying that his company would “unilaterally” commit to the first of the steps.

In a post on social media, Dario Amodei shared a link to an essay titled We Must Pace the Frontier in which he laid out how Anthropic would provide “third-party evaluators with permanent, employee-level access to our systems, so that they can verify adherence to our safety measures, report on incidents, and assess models’ alignment during training”.

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Houthi advance in Yemen puts U.S. in a new bind – Reuters

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  1. Houthi advance in Yemen puts U.S. in a new bind  Reuters
  2. ‘A f***-up of epic proportions’: Blame game begins after Iran-backed Houthis’ lightning advance down Red Sea coast  CNN
  3. Iran war live: Houthis warn against intervention; threaten to close strait  Al Jazeera
  4. Trump Loses the Other Strait  The Atlantic
  5. Yemen's Houthis capture a Red Sea island in threat to shipping  NPR
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Six Nigerians extradited to US over $6m online romance scam

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Alleged members of Black Axe criminal network that swindled US women out of $6m flown from South Africa

Six Nigerian nationals linked to an organized criminal network that allegedly swindled American women out of more than $6m through online romance scams were extradited to the United States on Friday.

South African police confirmed they were to be extradited earlier on Friday, while local news in Africa confirmed that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, facilitated their handover to officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Secret Service at Cape Town international airport, in collaboration with Interpol South Africa.

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