Jesus was also famously strong on border security.

Viktor Orbán concedes Hungarian election to challenger Péter Magyar, ending his 16 years in power Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has conceded the election and has called center-right challenger Peter Magyar to congratulate him on his victory on Sunday after partial results put his Tisza par...

Viktor Orban conceding is almost as important as that he lost

I didn’t expect it, but it’s a huge rebuke to Putanism/Trumpism. They just lost their biggest foothold in Europe

ground.news/article/vikt...

The State of Southeast Asia: 2026 Survey Report The State of Southeast Asia 2026 Survey conducted by the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, reveals that Southeast Asia remains deeply concerned with intensifying major power rival...

Original report is here: www.iseas.edu.sg/frontpage-fe...

ASEAN survey finds growing doubts over US on trade and security 30% say relations with Washington will 'worsen,' doubling from last year's poll

Very interesting but not shocking survey by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute:
The State of Southeast Asia 2026 Survey

asia.nikkei.com/politics/int...

The diplomats — the ups and downs of life in Australia's foreign embassies Podcast Episode · Big Ideas · 6 April · 55min

A great conversation with authors at the Canberra Writers Festival about life as an Australian diplomat.

Lots of focus on Indonesia & Solomon Islands missions.

podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b...

‘We think it should be zero’: Farrell vows to fight Trump administration over drug tariffs The trade minister said he would meet US trade tsar Jamieson Greer and make the case to remove tariffs on pharmaceuticals, as well as on other exports.

“We need to have a serious conversation with the Americans about what happens next.”

Good on Don Farrell. The US is still an ally, but instead of making healthcare better for Americans, they’re trying to wreck ours. That’s not gonna fly.

www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

The biggest thing that’s going to stop me writing using AI is reading everyone else’s AI-generated commentary.
It’s so transparent & boring I’d just be embarrassed to let anyone see me produce something like that in public.

From a hypothetical to existential political threat: Inside the rise of One Nation in NSW Voters would once cautiously share their political views in hushed tones. But they are now more than willing to disclose that they are getting behind Pauline Hanson.

A lot of people claim that Labor doesn’t stand up for workers, but how many workers actually join their union? Because that’s *how* you get people standing up for you

www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...

At least future historians will have fun looking back on this era 😅

Australia is vulnerable. That’s not in doubt. Can our leaders keep us secure? We’re about to find out Call it nonchalance, call it inertia, call it amnesia, but the complacency of governments Liberal and Labor has left us dangerously exposed to global crises.

Excellent column from Peter Hartcher on Australia’s fuel & food security.
He draws on work by the ANU NSC that shows how well Australians get the issues & want the government to act

www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

I’m not convinced either - that’s why I flagged “they claim” instead of declaring it as fact. There are some big claims there. But they’re verifiable & they’re already in the market so it won’t take long to find out.

“Existing” motorbike company, not an exiting motorbike company 🤦‍♂️

Exactly my reaction too

They claim to be selling to OEMs already, though. And they’re a spinoff of an exiting motorcycle company. Verge Motorcycles is where I think they designed the in-wheel electric motors & the battery, then I guess rejigged it for other vehicle classes

I’m not 100% sure though

This is a fully Finnish-owned company (meaning it’s privately owned by Finns, from & in Finland).
It’s a spin off from another Finnish company: Verge Motorcycles

World's First All-Solid-State Battery in Production Vehicles | Donut Battery YouTube video by Donut Lab

What a time to be a company selling the world’s first fully solid state battery electric vehicle.
They claim
5-10min charging,
10x more cycles,
500km+ range/charge
And they sell it as a skateboard chassis, so car/truck makers can build their own model over the skateboard

youtu.be/Y-aPS2AwMbc?...

YouTube Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

Great to see Channel 7 talking about electric trucks. It’s the only way to break our dependence on middle eastern oil, & it’s way cheaper

youtu.be/xUy9GTmYZlU?...

Andrew Hastie says some sensible things but as soon as the issue gets near climate, he gets everything completely backwards.
I still don’t understand how this mentality develops.

No; it doesn’t help stabilise the climate to prevent the oceans rising, and yes: Australia has a such a duty.

How Australia is taking advantage of one neighbour’s climate crisis Podcast Episode · 7am · 28 March · 17min

Really interesting discussion about the Falepili Union between Australia & Tuvalu - the world’s first climate migration deal.

It guarantees Tuvaluans have a country even when the ocean rises above their land.
podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/7...

Indonesia Starts Phased Deactivation of Under-16 Social Media Accounts Bradley Rowen Liu, 11, wonders what he will do with himself once Indonesia's social media ban for under-16s enters into force on Saturday. As things stand, he spends most of his free time on TikTok.

Congratulations to Indonesia on beginning the u16 social media ban.

Social media is brain rot for adults, but it’s a disaster for kids

ground.news/article/indo...

I wouldn’t necessarily assume it’s a kind of ‘manufacturing consent’ strategy. It could very easily just be milking money from Elon. There’s a huge number of people around the world with enough skill & low enough wage to do that kind of hustle.

But it definitely could be strategic, as you say.

What’s weirder to me is that LinkedIn is also full of accounts serving up AI slop ‘insights’, farming engagement. I don’t know if they get anything nearly as tangible in return over there.

People who want to feel like they’ve been served some insight but who don’t have the discernment to recognise actual insight?
Or maybe it’s just other bots.

These accounts all get paid for views by paid Xitter accounts, so it’s just about gaming the Xitter algorithm.

Allegra Spender is very good.
She quotes Audrey Tang, from Taiwan:
“We recovered trust not by asking the people to trust the government but by telling the government to trust the people.”

Luke Gosling MP immediately steps up as the next speaker & corrects the record: points out that it’s EV drivers who don’t have to worry about the Mullahs in Iran holding their energy supply hostage.

He’s also very confused about decarbonisation. He says it leads to deindistrialisation.
The opposite is true: our industrial future is post-carbon.

Didn’t take him long to pivot to B.S. about Labor though.

The Labor government didn’t “bail out” the Whyalla steel works, thy nationalised it. They bailed out the workers & the town but sent the corporate owners packing.
They’ll sell it again once serious private owners step up.

Andrew Hastie, at the ANU NSC conference, opens with a vivid description of Russia’s invasion of Andriivka, which completely destroyed the town they were trying to capture.
It was documented in the film, 2000 metres to Andriivka.

One thing clear about Hastie: he doesn’t lust for war. At all.

Egypt, regional mediators pass US-Iran messages aimed at ending war: Axios Egypt has intensified diplomatic efforts to help broker potential talks between the United States and Iran aimed at de-escalating rising regional tensions, a source told Axios on Monday.

Egypt, Turkey, & Pakistan have been brokering talks between the US & Iran.
This is verified.
But it’s easy to believe that not everyone in Iran is in the loop. Also easy to believe they’re world class liars afraid to admit their negotiating with “Satan”

www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/14...

And we also agreed to launch negotiations on Australia’s accession to Horizon, Europe’s flagship innovation programme!