A personal view of Australian and International Politics
Contemporary politics,local and international current affairs, science, music and extracts from the Queensland Newspaper "THE WORKER" documenting the proud history of the Labour Movement.
MAHATMA GANDHI ~ Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Donald Trump speaks on the balcony of the White House, with his wife and the Easter bunny at his side. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Hello, ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran writing to you from Jerusalem.
It's coming to the end of day 38 of the war and, after the faintest glimmer of hope, there's still no deal to end the fighting.
Here's what you need to know today:
Iranian state media says the regime has rejected the latest proposal to end the war
with the United States and Israel. The key concern is that it does not
propose a total end to the war, but rather an immediate pause in
hostilities while further talks are held on the broader and more
challenging issues at hand.
Donald Trump said
the counteroffer from Iran was a significant step, but it still wasn't
enough. Not thrilled that a deal hadn't been agreed to, despite saying
over and over again Iran was desperate for a path out of this war, he reiterated his threat he'd bomb power plants and bridges if the Strait of Hormuz wasn't reopened by 8pm on Tuesday, US east coast time.
Israel attacked Iran's largest petrochemical plant,
saying it would deliver a major blow to the country's production
capabilities and its economy. In response, Iran continued its attacks on
Israel with a number of missile barrages launched east.
In the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, it was confirmed four members of the same family were killed
on Sunday when part of an Iranian missile hit their home. They're now
among the 23 killed in the war, and almost 2,000 injured across Israel,
according to health authorities. More than 2,000 have been killed in
Iran.
The situation at the other front in this war, Lebanon — which remains even if a deal is struck between the US, Israel and Iran — has continued to deteriorate, with at least 10 killed in 24 hours.
An anti-Hezbollah political party said one of its MPs was killed, along
with his wife, when an Israeli strike hit a Christian community.
Here's what all that means
There's something totally unsurprising, perhaps even fitting, in seeing Donald Trump
delivering remarks about a major regional war that has killed
thousands, is costing billions of dollars every day, has shaken global
economies and crippled major transport routes moments after standing next to a large Easter Bunny on the balcony of the White House.
With a brass band playing what sounded like Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit I Wish, the US president chastised Iran for rejecting the latest proposal to end the war.
"They've
made a proposal and it's a significant proposal, it's a significant
step. It's not good enough, but it's a very significant step," he said.
"They don't want to cry, as the expression goes, 'Uncle', but they will."
Earlier in the day, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei effectively gave the answer.
He had held a press conference, where he set out the parameters for any acceptance by Tehran.
And chief among them was that the war needed to be brought to a conclusion — a temporary, albeit immediate pause in hostilities was not enough.
He
also added that Iran would not cower in the face of threats from Trump
to obliterate the nation's power plants and bridge networks — the
deadline for those attacks, if the Strait of Hormuz isn't reopened, is
8pm on Tuesday, US east coast time.
"Negotiation in no way involves an ultimatum, a crime, or a threat to commit war crimes," he said.
It seems Trump's demand on Sunday for Iran to "open the f****** Strait" or face the wrath of the US military didn't fly.
The deal many are currently talking about is often couched in terms of it being a truce between the US and Iran.
But there is another player here in Israel —
the junior partner in terms of firepower, but perhaps the ringleader in
terms of decision-making on some elements of how this war has played
out.
And any deal needs to consider how it will act too.
Not wanting to be forgotten in this process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu's office released a video of him talking up Israel's role in all this, and saying he was Trump's right-hand man.
"He said, 'You guys are great. You are great,'" Mr Netanyahu said.
A view of the Earth from the Orion space capsule captured by the Artemis II crew. (Supplied: NASA)
Already champions of a new era of lunar exploration, tomorrow the Artemis II crew will embark on something never done before.
The
three Americans and one Canadian are chasing the new distance record
for maximum range from Earth, previously set by the Apollo 13 in 1970.
It will make them Earth's farthest emissaries as they swing around the Moon without stopping.
Since
taking off on Thursday, the crew has captured the attention of the
world, with space enthusiasts eagerly receiving incredibly clear images
of Earth from the spacecraft and the latest details of the mission.
The
flyby, which is about 6 hours, promises views of the Moon's far side
that have previously been too dark to see by astronauts who preceded the
crew.
Here's what you need to know.
What does the Moon orbit involve?
On
day six of the mission, which is early Tuesday Australian time, the
astronauts will enter the "lunar sphere of influence", when the Moon's
gravity will have a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth's.
The
path worked out by NASA follows a free-turn trajectory, meaning a path
shaped by the gravity of Earth and the Moon will naturally swing the
Orion around the Moon and back toward Earth without any major engine
burns in lunar orbit, the European Space Agency says.
If
that goes smoothly, as the Orion flies around the Moon, the astronauts
could set the record for venturing farther from Earth than any human
before.
The Orion will then hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping.
The Orion will follow this path before splashdown on April 10. (ABC News: StoryLab)
What will the Artemis II crew see?
The Artemis II crew will see the Moon from a unique vantage point compared with Apollo missions from the 1960s and 70s.
Artemis Explained: Science in space
This
time, the Artemis II crew will be just over 4,000 miles (6,437
kilometres) at its closest approach above the lunar surface, which will
allow the astronauts to see the complete, circular surface of the Moon.
Earth will appear no larger than a basketball beyond the Moon's shadowed far side.
There
will also be a total solar eclipse that is not visible from Earth, but
will treat astronauts to several minutes' worth of views of the Sun's
outermost, radiating atmosphere, the corona.
They will lose contact with mission control for nearly an hour when they are behind the Moon.
NASA
relies on its Deep Space Network to communicate with the crew during
the mission but the antennas in California, Spain and Australia won't
have a direct line of sight when the Orion does disappear behind the
Moon.
What photos can we expect of the Moon?
A full portrait of Earth, as seen from the Orion spacecraft's window. (AP: NASA)
The astronauts will also take shifts in pairs to capture the lunar views out of the windows.
They will call down their observations as they photograph the scenes with a suite of professional cameras on board.
For more informal, spur of the moment pictures, each astronaut also has an iPhone.
To know what to capture, all astronauts have undertaken geology training with lunar flashcards to study before the flight.
NASA geologist Kelsey Young's team made lunar geography flashcards for the astronauts to study before the flight.
"They've practised for many, many, many months on visualisations of the Moon," Young said.
"And
getting their eyes on the real thing, I'm really, really looking
forward to them bringing the Moon a little closer to home on Monday."
How much farther is the Orion travelling than Apollo 13?
This April 1970 photo shows the surface of the Moon as the Apollo 13 crew approached. (NASA via AP)
In 1970, the Apollo 13 crew travelled 248,655 miles (400,171km) from Earth.
Artemis
II will reach a maximum distance of 252,757 miles (406,772km) from
Earth, surpassing the record by about 4,102 miles (6,601km).
Apollo
13 was supposed to land on the Moon but an explosion on board forced
the crew to abandon that mission and orbit the Moon instead.
Artemis
II's Christina Koch said late last week that she and her crewmates
don't live on superlatives, but it's an important milestone "that people
can understand and wrap their heads around," merging the past with the
present and even the future when new records are set.
How much farther have uncrewed craft travelled?
Artist's impression of Voyager 1 which was launched in 1977 to study Jupiter and Saturn. (NASA)
Uncrewed spacecraft have travelled much farther.
The Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth, located over 24 billion kilometres away.
It
was launched in 1977 and is now in interstellar space, the region
outside the heliopause, or the bubble of energetic particles and
magnetic fields from the Sun.
Voyager 1 is expected to reach one light-day from Earth in November.
NASA
has also successfully landed several remote-controlled vehicles called
rovers on Mars for the purpose of exploration of the red planet.
There
have been six successful robotic-operated rovers; the first five from
the US and one managed by the China National Space Administration.
Curiosity and Perseverance are the two rovers currently active on the planet.
What happens next for the Artemis II mission?
Artemis II crew make video contact from space.
After the Artemis II completes the flyby, it will take four days to return home.
The splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego is scheduled for April 10.
The
Artemis II mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return
to the Moon, with the goal of establishing a permanent lunar base that
will offer a platform for further exploration.
Wars usually come to an end but technology never sleeps. (Reuters)
As
the storm clouds over the Middle East continue to darken, attention
understandably has shifted to an escalating war with Iran that is
threatening to rupture global energy supplies and plunge the world into
recession.
Israel, America's
partner in the venture, has expanded hostilities via yet another
invasion of Lebanon. That has been countered by Houthi threats to block
oil from the Red Sea, which accounts for a further 12 per cent of world
supply.
Meanwhile
in Europe, Ukraine has knocked out close to 40 per cent of Russia's oil
export capacity in a series of drone attacks, severely denting Vladimir
Putin's quest to snap up windfall gains from soaring energy prices to
finance his increasingly futile quest.
As the world's second biggest oil exporter, that adds to an already alarming spectre of soaring energy costs.
But
there are at least some silver linings for an increasingly panicked US
president facing crucial mid-term elections later this year.
Donald Trump is facing mid-term elections later this year. (Reuters: Alex Brandon/Pool)
Hardly
anyone is talking about Jeffrey Epstein. And the wave of change from
artificial intelligence (AI) rolling across the corporate landscape is
going largely unnoticed.
Until a little over a month ago, there was barely any other conversation among business leaders.
But,
along with the most consequential shift in technology ever faced by
humanity, most are now confronted by more immediate issues; the spectre
of massive lifts in fuel prices, slowing economic growth and possibly,
sharply higher interest rates.
Wars usually come to an end. So too do inflationary episodes and recessions.
Technology, on the other hand, never sleeps.
A new Atlassian headquarters is being built next to Sydney's Central Station. (ABC News: Adam Griffiths)
Tech starts to eat itself
Towering
above Central Railway at the grittier end of Sydney's central business
district, Atlassian's new digs was meant to make a statement.
Built
of timber, cement and glass, the 40-storey tower is the tallest hybrid
timber commercial tower in the world; a design that halves the embedded
carbon throughout the life of the building from construction to
demolition.
Back in 2021, when
the company signed up to a 15-year lease on almost the entire structure,
the software titan was at the height of its powers, listed on New
York's tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange with its shares punching through
$US458.
Last week, shares in
the Mike Cannon Brooks-run outfit closed 84 per cent below their 2021
peak at just $US68.29, as AI revolutionary forces continued to undermine
investor confidence.
Last month, it shed 1,600 jobs, about 10 per cent of its global workforce.
Atlassian
is not alone. Block, the US company that bought Australian outfit
Afterpay four years ago, sacked almost half its workforce as 4,000
positions were dispensed.
For
Australian staff, the sackings came barely a week after an "offsite"
meeting on the Victorian coast, where workers partied to celebrate the
firm's success.
The growing
list of technology-heavy firms, from British Telecom to Wisetech, with
Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and a host of others in between laying off
workers, highlights the growing impact of artificial intelligence on
employment and, in some cases, corporate survival.
That's not because the technology is found wanting.
"This is the gap between what technology can do and what organisations manage to do with it," the study explains.
Often,
it takes decades for the benefits of new technology to surface in
broader measures of economic performance, as US economist Robert Solow
famously noted back in 1987.
"You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics," he said.
But
the impacts of AI already are reshaping the workforce, possibly at a
quicker pace than most economists and governments realise.
Late
last year, the same lead author of the Stanford study, Erik
Brynjolfsson, found that AI integration was hitting entry-level careers,
describing young graduates as "canaries in the coal mine".
"Early
career workers in AI-exposed occupations have experienced a 16 per cent
relative decline in employment, with software developers aged 22 to 25
seeing a nearly 20 per cent drop," he said.
"Some of the labour market disruptions many anticipated are no longer hypothetical."
How prepared are we for the change?
Change is one of the few constants in life. And shifts in technology have been reshaping human existence since the dawn of time.
The
agricultural revolution preceded the industrial revolution and reshaped
the way we lived, shifting into ever growing urban centres.
There was pain along the way. Not everyone can adapt to change.
Michele Bullock says jobs will change as AI reshapes industries and economies. (AAP Image: Dan Himbrechts)
"Technological change has always reshaped the labour market, and AI is no exception," she said in a speech last year.
"As
AI continues to reshape industries and economies, it is not just the
tools and processes that are evolving — it is the very nature of work.
While many experts anticipate a net increase in jobs, it is likely to be
more nuanced: some roles will be redefined, others might be displaced,
and entirely new ones will be created."
There is, however, a difference this time around.
Previously,
machines mostly replaced manual labour. Computers and calculators
assisted some professions. But this time, machines will be replacing
intellectual pursuits and possibly even creative thought.
In
law, finance and a myriad other industries, entry-level graduates are
no longer required as the mundane jobs they once performed can be farmed
out to AI.
What happens when
the senior employees are too old to work? Will the machines
progressively work their way to the top? Who will support the displaced
workforce?
These are questions that, if they can't be answered just yet, at least need to be addressed.
Or, if previous workplace revolutions are anything to go by, we could end up with even greater wealth and earnings inequality.
Mourners comfort each other after the deaths of Palestinian brothers Muhammad Muammar and Fahim Muammar. (AP: Majdi Mohammed)
Two
brothers who were shot dead by Israeli settlers in the occupied West
Bank last month are among a surging number of Palestinian victims of
settler violence, which has run rampant and broadly unchecked since the
start of Israel's war with Iran.
On
March 2, a settler, driving a bulldozer, attempted to carve a new road
through olive groves in the village of Qaryut, roughly halfway between
the cities of Ramallah and Nablus.
The trees belong to the Palestinian residents, but locals told the ABC they are shot at if they try to enter the area.
While
the Palestinian community insists it did not provoke the settlers,
local media has reported stones were thrown at the driver.
Vision of the incident showed a group of settlers clambering up the hillside towards homes belonging to the Muammar family.
Some were armed with rocks, while at least one had a rifle.
Palestinian
brothers Muhammad Muammar, 52, and Fahim Muammar, 48, who lived next
door to each other, left their properties after hearing the settlers
approach and can be seen involved in a scuffle, as a settler fires into
the air.
Palestinian brothers Muhammad Muammar and Fahim Muammar were killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. (ABC News: Daniel Pannett)
The pair then headed back towards their homes before they were shot, one in the head, the other in between his stomach and hip.
"Those settlers came here just to destroy our lives, and to force us to leave our houses," their brother Jamil told the ABC.
"I
was shot in my leg, and my two brothers were martyred, and two more
people were injured — one in the hand, the other in the shoulder."
The bullet is still lodged in Jamil's leg, and he needs crutches to walk.
The military and police arrived about two hours later, according to residents.
In a statement to the ABC, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said "the identity of the shooter is under investigation".
That is despite Israeli media reporting the man is a reservist, and has had his weapon confiscated.
"The IDF condemns this incident and views it with the utmost severity," it said.
Bashar Qaryouti holding shell casings from the scene of the shooting. (ABC News: Daniel Pannett)
One
of the Muammar family’s homes, encased in steel fencing, with thick
grills over the windows and smashed solar panels strewn on the ground,
still bears the scars of a battle for existence.
Under
the cover of regional conflict, Israelis who have established illegal
settlements and outposts in the West Bank have become emboldened.
They
expect — and often receive — protection from the Israeli military and
police as they harass, intimidate and attack Palestinian communities
with the intention of seizing land and property.
Sometimes, Palestinians argue the settlers and the soldiers are one and the same.
"We
know there is no hope, [the police and military] will do nothing, we do
not expect anything, even though there is a video showing the shooter,"
Jamil said.
Jamil Muammar uses a crutch to walk around after he was shot in the leg by Israeli settlers. (ABC News: Daniel Pannett)
Settlements and outposts in the West Bank
More
than half a million Israeli settlers are living in more than 140
communities across the West Bank, and another 200,000 live in East
Jerusalem.
Israel's occupation
of the land is considered illegal under international law and it
undermines hopes for any form of two-state solution in the Middle East.
But the establishment of settlements is broadly supported and encouraged by the Israeli government.
The
Muammar family's village of Qaryut, north of Jerusalem, is surrounded
by settlements and outposts, which are also considered illegal under
Israeli law but are sometimes retrospectively approved.
One
large Israeli settlement, Shiloh, was established in the late 1970s and
sits to the south of the village. Another, Eli, is to the north west.
The
main road to Qaryut, which navigation apps try to send vehicles down,
has been blocked by mounds of earth and rubble placed there by settlers.
Israeli flags have been placed along the main road to Qaryut. (ABC News: Daniel Pannett)
Israeli
flags have been placed along the road, and Palestinians are forced to
take a significant detour to enter and exit the community.
In
addition to those established settlements are a number of outposts —
tents and camper trailers set up on hilltops overlooking the village,
complete with what locals said are cameras monitoring their movements.
It is from these outposts that some of the most violent settlers launch their attacks.
"They
are trying to connect the seven settlements on Qaryut land together,
because Qaryut is in between, and it became an issue that makes the
settlers and the occupation nervous," local anti-settlement activist
Bashar Qaryouti said.
Bashar took the ABC to the site of the shooting, and pointed out a number of the outposts, which had sprung up in recent months.
Bashar Qaryout points to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. (ABC News: Daniel Pannett)
He
said one group of five houses, on the outskirts of Qaryut, had already
been totally surrounded by settlers and residents needed permission to
enter and exit.
'The settlers' aggression is increasing'
Violence
against the Palestinian community in the West Bank is not a new
phenomenon, but there are grave fears Israeli settlers are using the
cover of the Iran war to run riot across the occupied territory.
Just
before the Jewish holiday of Passover, advocacy group Yesh Din said it
had documented 305 instances of settler violence in the first 30 days of
the war, across 139 different villages and towns.
Yesh Dinsaid that at least 215 Palestinians were injured, including 10 who were killed.
"While
in Israel people are marking the holiday of freedom in shelters,
settler violence in the West Bank continues to run rampant," the
organisation said.
"Words won't change anything; condemnations won't help. Violence is stopped through prevention and law enforcement.
"Israel
has the ability to stop settler violence, but it is not interested in
doing so. On the contrary, it benefits from its rotten fruits."
Israel's far-right support for settlers in the West Bank
Members
of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition government —
namely the national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and finance
minister Bezalel Smotrich — have championed the efforts of settlers to
take control of land in the West Bank.
Both live in settlements themselves.
Itamar
Ben-Gvir (left) and Bezalel Smotrich (right) have championed the
efforts of settlers to take control of land in the West Bank. (Reuters: Abir Sultan)
Mr Smotrich has denounced some of the recent wave of violence, but only because it endangers the entire settlement movement.
He
has insisted it is a minority perpetrating the crimes, and that there
are incidents where settlers need to engage in "self-defence" against
Palestinians.
The finance
minister said he is striving to "cancel the Oslo Accords", which divided
the West Bank into three different areas of differing Palestinian and
Israeli control.
Instead, he wants to "apply full Israeli sovereignty to all areas of the homeland".
That rhetoric is feared by Bashar Qaryouti, who also serves as the community's paramedic.
"The settlers are supported by ministers in the Israeli government," he said.
"The
same minister, Ben Gvir — he is in charge of the police and [he] is
supporting the settlers by giving them weapons and tractors."
He said they had exploited the war on Iran, because most of the world's media was "focused on the Iran-Israel war".
Late last month, a CNN crew was assaulted and detained by the IDF when reporting on another settler attack.
During
that period, some of the soldiers were espousing pro-settler rhetoric
and ideology on camera. The unit has since been suspended by the IDF's
top brass.
"The settlers'
aggression is increasing, and they're taking advantage of any security
situation in the world to do their crimes," Mr Qaryouti said.
Violence comes amid passing of death penalty law
Mr
Qaryouti feared the situation would only deteriorate further after Mr
Gvir's widely condemned legislation was agreed to by the Knesset last
week.
It also gives Israeli courts the authority to impose either the death penalty or life imprisonment on its citizens.
It
is not retroactive, applying only to future cases, but the law marked
the culmination of a years-long push by Israel's far right to escalate
punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offences against
Israelis.
"Is it not enough
that they are executing us inside our homes, in the streets, now they
want the prisoners to face execution?" Mr Qaryouti asked.
"It will be so sad for the families and the relatives, and that might open the way to a very dangerous stage in the West Bank."
The
Muammar family's children were playing in the yards around their homes,
away from the olive groves, when the ABC visited Qaryut.
The Muammar family's children playing in the yards around their homes in the village of Qaryut. (ABC News: Daniel Pannett)
But
Jamil said they were usually too scared to venture outside, worried
they could be targeted by settlers tearing through the town.
Even despite the threat, and the immense loss the family has experienced recently, he remained defiant.
"We will not leave," he said.
"It's our land, but at the same time, no-one is defending us."
