The Narcotic Drugs Amendment Act 2016 came into effect on October 30, allowing people to apply for a licence to cultivate cannabis for their own medical needs, to manufacture cannabis products for sale for medicinal purposes, or to conduct related research.
The Act now gives patients access to a safe, reliable and legal source of cannabis for medicinal use. Previously patients had to import medicinal cannabis products.
On October 28, the 100th anniversary of the first conscription referendum, historian Michael Hamel-Green gave a talk at the Brunswick Library entitled "When Australians said no to war".
Hamel-Green said that in official commemorations of World War I there is "amnesia" about the divisions among the Australian people over the war.
When the initial high level of voluntary recruitment to the army declined, Labor Prime Minister Billy Hughes decided to introduce conscription for overseas service 鈥 conscription for service within Australia was already legal.
Since Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull replaced Tony 鈥渃oal is good for humanity鈥 Abbott, the Adani Carmichael mine, the Galilee Basin and environmental 鈥渓awfare鈥 has been out of the news. But an increase in the coal price and Turnbull鈥檚 apparent change of view means the Coal Wars are back. This is a review of some of the key claims at the heart of the Australian coal debate.
CLAIM: The Adani mine will create 10,000 jobs.
BREAKING NEWS November 5 鈥 The regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an took a further leap towards undisguised dictatorship with the issue of arrest warrants for all 59 Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs by the Diyarbakir Chief Prosecutor's Office, reported.
Thirteen HDP deputies including party leaders Selahattin Demirta艧 and Figen Y眉ksekda臒 have already been detained.
The crackdown by the Turkish regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an against the democratic and left-wing opposition, independent media and the Kurdish population has intensified. On October 25, co-mayors of the the Diyarbak谋r (Amed) Metropolitan Municipality, G眉ltan K谋艧anak and F谋rat Anl谋, members of the Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP), were arrested.
Free Women鈥檚 Congress (KJA) spokesperson Ayla Akat Ata was detained at a protest calling for K谋艧anak and Anl谋's release and is now facing terrorism charges alongside them.
An air raid by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 60 people in Yemen, most of them inmates of a prison near the city of Hodeidah on October 30, TeleSUR English said that day.
The prison was struck three times on October 30 by coalition fighter jets in the latest attack on civilian facilities, including hospitals, by Saudi Arabia and its allies over the past year-and-a-half.
A Reuters witness at the security complex said the building was destroyed and medics pulled about 17 bodies away, many of them missing limbs. Others remained trapped under the rubble.
Tamils in the northern province of Sri Lanka carried out a one-day strike on October 25 in protest against police repression, said. The strike was called by Tamil political parties after the October 20 murder of two Jaffna University students by Sinhalese police officers.
Police began water protectors protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) at Standing Rock in North Dakota on November 2. Common Dreams said images on social media showed the dramatic standoff along a creek that borders a construction site for the long-opposed DAPL.
After ripping up Australia's commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention on several occasions in the past, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on October 30 that the Australian government intends to do so again.
In the latest iteration, the government is threatening to formally prevent any refugee who arrives by boat from ever getting an Australian visa. This would include short-term tourist and business visas, let alone the permanent protection envisioned by the Refugee Convention.
In Morocco, thousands of people have been protesting across the country after a fish seller was crushed to death in a garbage truck on October 28 while trying to retrieve fish confiscated by police.
Video circulating online appears to show Mouhcine Fikri jumping into the back of the truck to rescue his swordfish, before being crushed to death by its compactor. According to local reports, Moroccan authorities prohibit the sale of swordfish at this time of year.
Anna McCormack speaks at Brisbane pro-choice rally