The United States Supreme Court ruled on April 22 that states can ban affirmative action in admissions to their public universities.
At issue was a constitutional amendment passed in Michigan that banned consideration of race in admissions to the state鈥檚 education institutions.
States that have banned affirmative action in higher education, such as Florida and California, as well as Michigan, have recorded a significant drop in the enrollment of Black and Latino students.
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Doctors for the Environment Australia released the statement below on May 2.
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Doctors and medical students are calling climate change a 鈥減ublic health emergency鈥 and will join hundreds of Australians for the National Day of Divestment, organised by 350.org and Market Forces, on May 3.
Across Australia, doctors and medical students will deliver letters to their banks calling on them to divest from fossil fuels, while others will close their accounts.
I am one of the organisers for the March in March and March in May and a social justice advocate.
The leaflet for the Sydney Institute dinner [held on April 28] declares that the honourable Tony Abbott has had a 鈥渓ong and distinguished political career鈥. I disagree with this statement, and from here on will refer to our prime minister as the dishonourable Tony Abbott.
Since taking office in September last year, the dishonourable Tony Abbott and his government have worked hard to undermine the needs and rights of Australians, giving us plenty to get worked up about.
Last year we had the hottest week, hottest day, month and year on record broken in Australia.
Worryingly, the fossil fuel companies already have 2795 gigatonnes of fossil fuels in reserves they planning on burning.
That is five times more than the planet can handle if we want to stay below two degrees of warming their business plans, the planet tanks. We need to rewrite this script and go down a different path.
As we brace for the Coalition government's first budget 鈥 with its foreshadowed cuts to Medicare, education, welfare and public service jobs 鈥 the salt in these wounds was Prime Minister Tony Abbott's announcement that his government plans to buy 58 F35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter war planes for $12.5 billion.
About 2000 people rallied in Tasmania鈥檚 Upper Florentine Valley on April 27 to defend World Heritage listed forests.
The rally was organised by the Bob Brown Foundation to oppose the proposed removal of the Upper Florentine from the World Heritage Area by the federal government.
Organisers say the proposal will exclude some of the world鈥檚 most intact temperate forests and some of the tallest hardwood forests on Earth and would allow them to be opened up to environmentally destructive practices such as logging.
The defection by three Aboriginal members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to the Palmer United Party (PUP) has the potential to topple the Country Liberal Party government.
The three rebel MLAs 鈥 Larisa Lee, Alison Anderson and Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu 鈥 left the CLP on March 27, saying it was failing to deliver outcomes for Aboriginal people in the NT.
The three were part of the 鈥渂ush bloc鈥 that brought the CLP to power in the 2012 election, taking the necessary seats from the incumbent ALP to form government.
A casino was a fitting venue to host Prime Minister Tony Abbott's keynote address to the 25th anniversary dinner of conservative think tank the Sydney Institute on April 28.
Abbott's speech, coming two weeks before the federal budget, was full of promises of 鈥渉appiness鈥, 鈥渟ecurity鈥 and 鈥渁 better life鈥. But in reality, Australian workers, pensioners and the poor will be lucky if they are left with much more than the shirts on their backs once the government is done fleecing them.
The budget is approaching and it seems we are a bit short on cash. This isn't surprising really, seeing as we鈥檙e stumping up about $12 billion for a bunch of new fighter jets with such serious flaws they are expected to cost a further $12 billion in repairs and maintenance.
Plus we appear to be overrun by marauding hordes of free-loading pensioners clogging up doctors鈥 waiting rooms and bankrupting the economy with their subsidised medicines. The solution seems obvious to me: we should kill two birds with one stone and save some cash by burning these old people as jet fuel.
In a move denounced by Irish republicans as hypocritical and politically motived, Sinn Fein president and member of the Irish Dail (parliament) Gerry Adams was taken into custody by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on April 30.
He was questioned over the Irish Republican Army's 1972 killing of Belfast woman Jean McConville.
Luke Harding's The Snowden Files is a well-constructed overview of the biggest intelligence leak in history - but it is not without its flaws. The Guardian journalist tells a detailed story of Edward Snowden - from his childhood in a military, Republican family, his short education and brief, failed army career, to his meteoric rise through the intelligence services that eventually enabled him to turn whistleblower.
The world of mother nature has been overthrown
From her, her garments torn
Ripped away her ozone
The rapist that threatens has sworn
Take away her rain forests
the dreaded terror ravaged her breast
kissed upon the pure air smog and stench
a passion of pollution has been blessed
what was once an innocent pure birth
now a harsh scorched earth
and in the ravage and the power
the scourge was once a loving flower
like any mother she does what she can
but she will not be defeated by her son man
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