budget...

Despite party control of Congress and the presidency, Democrats are still struggling to enact their agenda. The ballyhooed bipartisan infrastructure deal is stuck in the House, and the sweeping $3.5 trillion reconciliation package has been the source of bitter disputes among party members.

The Biden administration set out with hopes for big, bold change — “transformational” was the word in the winter and into spring. But in autumn, “disarray” is ubiquitous.

BY James M. Curry

dogs

So hey they’ve started mounting sniper rifles on robodogs, which is great news for anyone who was hoping they’d start mounting sniper rifles on robodogs.

At an exhibit booth in the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting and exhibition, Ghost Robotics (the military-friendly competitor to the better-known Boston Dynamics) proudly showed off a weapon that is designed to attach to its quadruped bots made by a company called SWORD Defense Systems.

BY Caitlin Johnstone

grail

Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) will build the world's largest green energy hydrogen manufacturing facility in Central Queensland, mining billionaire and company founder Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest says.

scomocop

London: Prince Charles has used a rare foray into domestic politics to urge Prime Minister Scott Morrison to attend the Glasgow climate summit, warning the talks are a “last chance saloon” to avoid global “catastrophe”.

The heir-to-the-throne also backed teen activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters, saying he sympathises with their frustration that politicians “just talk” about global warming instead of doing something about it.

Interviewed by the BBC at the royal family’s estate in Balmoral, the Prince of Wales said it would be a “disaster” if next month’s COP26 summit in Glasgow collapsed, and appeared taken aback when told Morrison still did not know whether he would go.

ivanka

IN JANUARY 2019, Jim Yong Kim threw the global financial development sector into a state of disarray: The former academic and health official announced he would be stepping down the following month from his role as president of the World Bank, opting instead for a cushier gig at a Wall Street private equity firm. For an institution that was already struggling with heightened competition from China and private capital, Kim’s departure — which came as a total surprise — was seen as a setback, as it handed an opportunity to choose a new leader to President Donald Trump, creating worries that the America First champion would pick somebody ill suited for the global role.

COALition

The federal government is promising that workers in the resources and heavy manufacturing sectors have a bright future ahead, as senior figures gather to consider how Australia will commit to net zero emissions by 2050.

gas

The main topic of recent publications in the European media has been the discussion of record gas prices. As a result, the population of the European Union countries is facing a real shock threat, and the European industry is approaching a critical point. Gas and electricity prices break new records every day, and some energy-intensive companies are shutting down production because it is becoming too expensive to maintain them. The situation could worsen if the energy crisis goes from a price shock to a deficit, and then more industries would have to make a decisive move by using the switch.

bluey

In the comic The Secret of the Swordfish, (published 1946-1950, subsequently republished till 1984) the last scene shows Blake and Mortimer back in a ruined and destroyed London, with Blake commenting that they will rebuild and that civilisation, once again, has had the last word - "hopefully, this time, for good”.

risks

If I was not sceptic nor a sarcastic old kook as I am, I would suggest that "the Chinese government had an influence on the collapse of the Western financial markets in 2008"... I know this is a long shot, but imagine that a bright young mathematician, called Li Xianglin, received a master's degree in economics from Nankai University, one of the most prestigious universities in China...

pandora

The revelations in the ICIJ’s 2016 Panama Papers’ data dump shone a light on tax crimes taking place via offshore tax havens – many of which, such as Panama itself, have since tightened rules, including joining international tax transparency efforts.

The 2017 Paradise Papers in turn tended to focus more on companies’ creative tax avoidance – which the OECD is now seeking to address via a global agreement on a minimum corporate tax rate.

The Pandora Papers reveal current rules provide wealthy individuals with mechanisms to purchase property or hide their wealth that aren’t available to other folks.

— Daniel Bunn of US-based think tank Tax Foundation, on how the Pandora Papers differ from previous leaks

population

Britain and other Western nations should welcome declining populations and ageing demographics as it will help them meet climate change goals, the former chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has argued.

In a report from Population Matters entitled Smaller Families and Ageing Populations, Lord Adair Turner, the chairman of the UK Energy Transitions Commission and former head of the FSA, argued that declining native populations will enhance prosperity.

museum

George Osborne’s work for an investment bank that counts BP among its major clients presents a “glaring conflict of interest” with his new role as chair of the British Museum, campaigners have said.

The former UK chancellor is currently employed as a full-time partner at “boutique” investment bank Robey Warshaw, which has worked with the oil giant in recent years, including on its £7.7 billion purchase of US shale assets from BHP Group in 2018.

CIA

CIA announces new mission focusing solely on China

Intelligence agency head says group will focus on ‘adversarial’ Chinese gov’t, calling it ‘most important threat’ to US.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has announced a new group that will focus solely on China and the strategic challenges posed by Beijing.

In a statement on Thursday, the CIA said the China Mission Center was formed “to address the global challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China that cuts across all of the agency’s mission areas”.

barnaby

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says the time has come to regulate social media giants, after watching an ex-Facebook employee highlight the dangers of the platform before the US Senate.

• Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says the government is prepared to regulate social media

• He says his desire to regulate the sector is linked to his experience as a parent

• The comments come after the Prime Minister labelled social media a "coward's palace"

perrottet

Fresh from witnessing the demise of National Party leader John Barilaro and Liberal leader Gladys Berejiklian, New South Wales is asking, who’s the new guy?

Dominic Perrottet, now premier, is everything you know and hate about the Liberal Party. He’s sort of like what you’d get if you crossed the elite conservative Catholic cult Opus Dei with the World Bank and a commerce-law degree. Actually, he’s not sort of like that—he’s exactly like that. Perrottet’s father works for the World Bank in Washington. Dominic attended the Opus Dei-affiliated Redfield College in Dural and studied commerce and law at Sydney University.