Stuart Munckton

The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investigating hate crimes committed at bonfires in unionist (supporters of British rule over Northern Ireland鈥檚 six counties) areas on the nights of July 11, An Phoblacht said the next day.聽Bonfires, which are set alight each July 11 by the members of the unionist community,聽were strewn with election posters for Irish republican party Sinn Fein and other non-unionist groups, as well as Irish flags and various expressions of sectarianism and bigotry.

鈥淪upporters of around 70 English football clubs have vowed to boycott聽The Sun聽over its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster,鈥 on July 3.

The decision by the fan groups comes after six people 鈥 including the senior police officer in charge on the day 鈥 were arrested over the infamous disaster in which 96 Liverpool fans were killed. Coverage by The Sun infamously blamed Liverpool fans and included insulting lies about their alleged behaviour since proven to be entirely false.

British rock band Radiohead have come under pressure by Palestine solidarity activists, who are calling for the band to cancel its July 19 Tel Aviv gig as part of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.

Google Maps is ahead of the curve. The growing calls for the Margaret Court Arena to be renamed in response to the tennis star鈥檚 offensive homophobic comments has resulted in the Melbourne arena the Evonne Goolagong Arena.

Moon Jae-in, of the liberal Democratic Party, won South Korea鈥檚 May 9 presidential election with 41% of the vote, easily defeating his arch-conservative opponent Hong Jun-pyo, who won about 24%.

The elections took place after the impeachment of conservative president Park Geun-hye for her involvement in a huge corruption scandal. Park, from Hong鈥檚 right-wing Saenuri Party (renamed Liberty Korea Party in a bid to rebrand), was forced out by the huge 鈥淐andlelight Revolution鈥. Millions of Koreans mobilised in an ongoing series of candlelight protests to demand her impeachment.

The elections also took place in a context of the threat of war in the Korean Peninsula with US President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration ratcheting up tensions with North Korea.

Martin McGuinness

Irish republican leader Martin McGuinness, who was聽Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland until stepping down due to ill health earlier this year, passed away on March 20 aged 66.

Born in 1950 in Derry聽in the six counties occupied by Britain, he came face to face with the discrimination and sectarian bigotry against Irish nationalists and Catholics that marked the partitioned statelet.

Fans from Western Sydney Wanderers A-League football team distributed hundreds of rainbow flags to those attending the club鈥檚 March 5 match against Adelaide United. The move came after two weeks of controversy sparked by a banner raised by some Wanderers fans during their team鈥檚 1-0 victory over cross-town rivals Sydney FC, which was widely condemned in the media and among many fans for being homophobic.

For the first time since Ireland was partitioned in 1921 as part of a treaty to end Ireland鈥檚 War of Independence, supporters of Northern Ireland鈥檚 鈥渦nion鈥 with the British state no longer hold a majority in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Irish Republican party Sinn Fein attained its highest ever share of the vote in the six counties that make up the Northern Ireland statelet still claimed by Britain, in emergency assembly elections on March 2.

Elections were called after power-sharing between Sinn Fein and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) collapsed over a corruption scandal involving the public energy program. When DUP leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster had refused to resign over her role in the scandal, Sinn Fein withdrew from the administration.

Days after 21 people were hospitalised for drug overdoses at Melbourne鈥檚 Electric Parades Music Festival, and just over a month after three people were killed in Melbourne by a toxic batch of MDMA (ecstasy), a February 21 poll found most Australians support pill testing to allow consumers to know what is in the drugs they buy.

Of course, die-hard misogynist and self-confessed Sam Newman was hostile to the AFL Women鈥檚 (AFLW) league infamously 鈥渦nbelievably stupid and ridiculous鈥 on Channel Nine鈥檚 The Footy Show.

It turns out plenty think otherwise.

A to set up a safe injecting room in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond to reduce the number of fatal overdoses of drug users.

With the state coroner and other medical professionals supporting the push, Sex Party MP Fiona Patten has introduced a private member鈥檚 bill to set up a trial safe injecting room, which was debated in state parliament on February 22.