Today we launched a dive into the "less lethal" weapons some police are using against crowds in Australia—and about which very little is publicly known. These are projectiles that release powder designed to burn the eyes and throat. Flashbang grenades. Teargas. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Revealed: the ‘less lethal’ weapons Australian police don’t want you to know about

Launchers that shoot ‘bullet-like missiles’, chemical irritants and stinger grenades: experts say these weapons can cause serious injury or even death. But they are deployed by police against crowds w...

theguardian.com

And we are live! Massive thanks to everyone who contributed to this. Reading your posts made me so much madder than I ever knew was possible

The 40 Most Rage-Inducing Problems in Tech

The bugs, broken apps, and nightmare customer-service bots we can't escape, presented as a blessed and sacred addendum to Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical on AI

theringer.com

Brian Phillips@brianphillips.lol · 2mo ago

I'm working on a column about the tech annoyances that drive us crazy, and I want it to be as universal as possible, so tell me yours! E.g. scanning a QR code to read a menu, never receiving the one-time passcode they supposedly texted you, "verify you're human" by IDing tiny motorcycles, etc.

The home affairs minister, the private prison contractor and the secret meeting - ICE-linked private prison operator blamed for catastrophic security failures in Australia’s immigration detention network. ✏️ Chris Knaus & @arielbogle.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Escapes, fires, stabbing: catastrophic security failures revealed in Australia’s immigration detention network

Exclusive: ICE-linked private prison operator blamed for catastrophic security failures in Australia’s immigration detention network

theguardian.com

In light of Tony Burke's comments today on young people and the distribution or possession of "online radicalised material or violent extremist material"--and that AFP have laid 31 charges since the laws were put in place, 19 of which involved minors--re-upping this from @ninobucci.bsky.social and I

Ariel Bogle@arielbogle.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We took a look at some of the cases of young people who are being charged with possession of extremist material around Australia, some with serious vulnerabilities. Federally, 60% of people with that charge are children - a remarkable figure. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

BREAKING: Ben Roberts-Smith, the former Victoria Cross winner and Australian solider, has been arrested and is expected to be charged with five counts of war crime – murder www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

A new one from us--on a world-first crypto resort to be built right next to the airport in Dili, Timor-Leste. But when reporters visited the site as part of a four-month investigation, they found nothing but palm trees and local children playing football. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Private jets, deserted shores and an unbuilt resort: alleged links to sanctioned ‘scam’ empire revealed in Timor-Leste

Exclusive: Investigation finds alleged Prince Group associates were involved in unusual development in tiny nation on Australia’s doorstep, raising concerns about global spread of online fraud industr...

theguardian.com

We took a look at some of the cases of young people who are being charged with possession of extremist material around Australia, some with serious vulnerabilities. Federally, 60% of people with that charge are children - a remarkable figure. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Australian children are being arrested under laws to ‘disrupt’ extremism: ‘On balance this is a bad law’

Exclusive: Vulnerable children charged with possessing extremist material may not always understand they had committed a crime, court records show

theguardian.com

On this day in 2019 an Australian right-wing extremist carried out shootings at mosques in Christchurch NZ, killing 51. Seven years on, the impact is still felt globally. We spoke with @arielbogle.bsky.social about why the manifesto still inspires others and opportunities to disrupt that pipeline.

‘A lot of the hate happened in Australia’: why the Christchurch mosque attack still awaits a full reckoning

The Australian terrorist’s propaganda continues to surface in other offenders’ cases, and Muslim leaders say more needs to be done locally to confront Islamophobia

theguardian.com

The latest instalment of an ongoing investigation from @ninobucci.bsky.social and I, looking at police use of so-called "less lethal" weapons in Australia. Today -- projectiles, including bean-bag and foam baton rounds. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

‘Less lethal’ deaths: courts examine role of controversial police weapons before three Australians died

Exclusive: Police forces argue bean-bag and foam baton rounds are less harmful than firearms but the projectiles have been linked to deaths around the world

theguardian.com

MEAA stands against racism in the media, entertainment and arts industries and condemns Adelaide Festival’s decision to drop Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. meaa.io/45xUCM6

MEAA condemns Adelaide Festival Board’s decision to cancel a scheduled appearance of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah at Adelaide Writers’ Week.

MEAA condemns Adelaide Festival Board’s decision to cancel a scheduled appearance of Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah at Adelaide Writers’ Week.

meaa.org

In an investigation into unapproved injectable peptides, @arielbogle.bsky.social and I looked into the influencers promoting them on social media, and websites claiming to sell these experimental drugs for “research purposes”. Our piece came out over the weekend: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

‘Not approved for human use’: the online frenzy for injectable peptides sweeping Australia

Social media is driving a boom in the use of peptides to improve appearance and physical performance. Many are experimental and come with risk of serious side effects

theguardian.com

In the days after last week's Minneapolis shooting, I've been continually haunted by the shooter's video and the nihilistic contagion that seems to spread in mass shooter fandom communities. I spoke to @alexbnewhouse.bsky.social about how to process this terrible phenomenon w/o helping perpetuate it

The Mass Shooters Are Performing for One Another

The goal of these attacks is to join a lineage of infamous killers.

theatlantic.com

Still thinking about how the TikTok video that supposedly “inspired” the August 31 March for Australia tucked footage from the 2005 Cronulla race riots in between AI clips of Australian flags. I matched this to ABC footage from the day. The message was there from the start, if you cared to see it.

Relatedly I think journalism could maybe use stronger professional style norms around not anthropomorphizing the computer systems we report on/reference in our writing.

Rick Perlstein@rickperlstein.bsky.social · 12mo ago

My all-purpose AI reform is banning computers from pretending they are human. Having names, saying "I," pretending to have feelings, representing what they emit as "advice," etc. That's where much of the mischief starts.

Some of the names I read for this video: Yahya Subaih, who tirelessly told the stories of his community, died in an Israeli airstrike. Ahmed el-Helou of the Quds News Network, killed in an Israeli airstrike. Hassan Sammour, a broadcaster who worked for Al Aqsa Voice Radio, died the same day.

MEAA@withmeaa.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Targeting journalists is a war crime. As colleagues, we remember them. meaa.io/45A4vZ5

One of the many devastating things about making this video was that we had to update it about three times during the making to account for further killings of journalists, including (you'll see at the end) a special mention of the 6 Al Jazeera journalists targeted by Israel. Please watch to the end.

MEAA@withmeaa.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Targeting journalists is a war crime. As colleagues, we remember them. meaa.io/45A4vZ5

MEAA condemns targeted attacks on Gaza journalists as a war crime as toll nears 200 deaths

"About 51% of the 4,267 people in NSW with WPOs identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander – a “concerning level of over-representation”, according to Jonathan Hall Spence, the principal solicitor with the Justice and Equity Centre." #auslaw #nswpol www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Lincoln is out of prison but a ‘lifetime’ penalty hangs over him. Does a NSW police anti-firearm scheme go too far?

New data examining enhanced police search powers brings into question the efficacy and fairness of weapon and firearm prohibition orders

theguardian.com

A wasteland of rubble, dust and graves: how Gaza looks from the sky

A wasteland of rubble, dust and graves: how Gaza looks from the sky

The Guardian joins a Jordanian military airdrop for a rare chance to observe a landscape devastated by Israel’s offensive Seen from the air, Gaza looks like the ruins of an ancient civilisation, brought to light after centuries of darkness. A patchwork of concrete shapes and shattered walls, neighbourhoods scattered with craters, rubble and roads that lead nowhere. The remnants of cities wiped out. But here, there has been no natural disaster and no slow passage of time. Members of Jordan’s military stand among pallets of aid about to be dropped on Gaza. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

‘We are dying slowly, save us’: starvation takes hold in Gaza after a week of appalling milestones

‘We are dying slowly, save us’: starvation takes hold in Gaza after a week of appalling milestones

Parents watch children waste away as deliberate aid restrictions from Israel mean hunger is becoming a killer, as experts confirm famine is currently playing out The people of Gaza did not need this week’s official confirmation from UN-backed hunger experts that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding there. For months they have watched as their children waste away. “All my children have lost nearly half of their body weight,” said Jamil Mughari, a 38-year-old from Maghazi in central Gaza. “My daughter, who is five years old, now weighs only 11kg. My son Mohammad has become just skin and bones. All my children are like this. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Happy publication week! 🎉 I had the genuine pleasure of chatting with @arielbogle.bsky.social and @cameronwilson.bsky.social last week about their new book, CONSPIRACY NATION. Can confirm, it’s an excellent read. You can hear their thoughts on the link below: open.spotify.com/episode/00Go...

Episode 31: Conspiracy Nation Book Launch with Ariel Bogle and Cameron Wilson

Read Them Sideways · Episode

open.spotify.com

MEAA supports the Palestine Action Group’s bid to March for Humanity across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. meaa.io/4laIpSL

The last story in our deaths in custody series. “If he’d been assessed properly, they would have said, ‘Oh, this guy’s had some attempts in the past, brain injury’... He’d still be alive.” Annie says: “The system certainly failed him, and us as a family.” www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

A perfect storm of errors meant Darren was placed in an unsafe cell. He died two days later

Experts say failure to remove known ligature points from the cells of high risk inmates is just one part of the ‘perverse situation’ in Australian jails

theguardian.com

The next story in our deaths in custody investigation--we found 57 deaths across 19 jails from ligature points that were known to authorities. And in some cases, were repeatedly told to remove by coroners. This piece looks at how this has happened. "I don’t understand why it had to be like this."

The first stories from our five-month investigation: Scouring coronial findings from 248 deaths, we found a staggering 57 Australians have killed themselves in the past two decades using hanging points in prisons that authorities knew about but failed to remove www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

‘Astounding’ negligence revealed: governments turn blind eye to staggering prison death toll

Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds 57 inmates across Australia killed themselves using ligature points that authorities knew about but failed to remove

theguardian.com

Really important reporting from @theguardian.com - read the whole article here www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

‘Astounding’ negligence revealed: governments turn blind eye to staggering prison death toll

Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds 57 inmates across Australia killed themselves using ligature points that authorities knew about but failed to remove

theguardian.com