Greens senator Nick McKim will use a trip to Manus Island next week to "get to the bottom" of what sparked a shooting at the Manus Island detention centre on Good Friday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will meet US President Donald Trump on board an aircraft carrier in New York next week, in the pair's first face-to-face encounter.

We humans tend to believe that our cognitive skills are unique, not only in degree, but also in kind. The more closely we look at other species, however, the clearer it becomes that the difference is one of degree. Krupenye et al. show that three different species of apes are able to anticipate that others may have mistaken beliefs about a situation (see the Perspective by de Waal). The apes appear to understand that individuals have different perceptions about the world, thus overturning the human-only paradigm of the theory of mind.

Tougher citizenship rules announced by the Prime Minister today will require applicants to prove their allegiance to Australia and its values and demonstrate stronger English language skills.

Mr Turnbull says his government is doing migrants a big favour by raising the required English language standard. But the Greens argue a harder test will exclude people who would otherwise make good citizens.

Labor's given initial backing to the Government's proposals. But it says the Government is only making the changes because of divisions within the coalition. 

“We are fighting in Korea so we won’t have to fight in Wichita, or in Chicago, or in New Orleans, or in San Francisco Bay.”

-  President Harry S Truman, 1952

It’s a lazy Sunday. There’s not much on. Rain is falling on corrugated roof creating a rhythm of thought-provoking questions that are not easily put aside. The word democracy keeps insinuating itself upon me. I know I have written about it unendingly but the political person who lives within me tells me I must incessantly return to it. Our democracy is in an unholy mess and my desire, before my candle extracts its last breath, is that it is rescued from its dank demise.

The real kicker in the long run is Shorten and Turnbull supporting the insane Von Trump family who are intent on running the US middle class and poor into the ground while saving themselves by joining the inner circle of US war mongers driven by an out of control Military Industrial Complex. He is not simply “Clinton Light” … he is now Clinton’s clone.

The Trump administration and its allies will "deal" with North Korea if China does not force the rogue state to abandon its nuclear weapons program, US Vice-President Mike Pence declared following talks with Malcolm Turnbull at Sydney's Admiralty House.

French voters will go to the polls on Sunday to vote for a new president. The election will have profound reverberations around the world. Will France take a nationalist turn to the right? Will it seek to withdraw from the European Union and restrict immigration? Will a young candidate with a pro-Europe, pro-immigration message convince enough of his voters to actually show up? Will the "French Bernie Sanders" upset the establishment and convince voters that his left-wing populism is the way to go?