Victorian public servants hid up to A$285m in Covid grant losses, watchdog finds
Senior Victorian public servants concealed the scale of losses from Covid-19 business support grants paid to ineligible businesses, according to a report by the state's anti-corruption watchdog. The findings relate to the former Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions and were tabled in parliament on Thursday. The report says the suspected loss could be as high as A$285m, after an estimated A$257m had already been paid to about 9,000 ineligible businesses during the pandemic.The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission said the conduct was not a one-off mistake or an oversight. It found that decisions were made to withhold information about the... [Continue Reading]
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Okinawa assembly calls for review of US forces pact after alleged killing in Naha
Okinawa's prefectural assembly has adopted a resolution calling for a review of the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement after a US Marine was accused of robbing and killing a local woman in Naha. The vote took place on Friday on the island, which hosts the majority of the 54,000 US troops stationed in Japan. The assembly said the agreement should be adapted to help prevent similar incidents.The resolution will be sent to the US embassy, while a separate statement on the same issue will go to the Japanese government. According to the assembly, the move followed the arrest of Lance-Corporal... [Continue Reading]
Fear the Shia, Arm the Sunnis: The Uncomfortable Numbers Behind America’s War Narrative
“When fear is managed carefully enough, a nation can be taught to look away from the blood on the floor and stare instead at the shadow on the wall.” A friend of mine, whose name I will not reveal because he asked me not to, sat across from me over dinner and placed a question on the table that would not leave me alone. He was born into a Muslim Shia background, and for the angle of this article, that detail matters, not because I wish to reduce a man to a sect, but because sect has become one of... [Continue Reading]