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Although some people may think that intersex people are rare, they actually make up around 1.7% of the population, which is comparable to the number of people with red hair in the world. Many children are born with ambiguous genitalia, meaning that doctors are unable to identify their sex as either male or female. However, let’s get one thing clear: Sex is NOT binary.

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However, the ambiguity of intersex people’s sex leads to healthcare professionals operating on infants to adjust their sex in order for it to conform to either male or female sexual characteristics. Doctors are legally allowed – with the consent of the infant’s parents – to perform surgeries on children, stripping them of any kind of agency over their own bodies. These procedures can also cause serious problems such as infertility, pain, incontinence, and mental health issues.

Last month the government’s tender website, AusTender, published a contract between the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and ShadowDragon Holdings, LLC. The contract runs for two years and is valued at $563,040.

ShadowDragon Holdings is an American company that sells software collecting “open source intelligence software, unique datasets and training” to organisations, including the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as well as state police forces in New York and Michigan.

ShadowDragon’s products pull data from a range of public online platforms — reportedly more than “200 unique sources and datasets” — to make them searchable for its users.

The full list of places isn’t published but its promotional material lists places including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, YouTube, X, Google, Amazon, Tumblr, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Reddit, 4Chan, Skype, Spotify, Twitch, Xbox network, PornHub, SoundCloud, Gab, Foursquare, Tripadvisor, Tinder, Etsy, PayPal, Flickr, Imgur, Disqus, eBay, GitHub, DeviantArt, Blogger, FetLife, BitChute, parenting forum BabyCenter, social network for Black people BlackPlanet and more. 

Many seniors rely on Centrelink for vital government services and payments. But recently, there has been growing concern over outrageously long wait times that seniors face when trying to contact Centrelink by phone or have their claims processed.

Despite Centrelink receiving fewer calls this year, the agency's performance in answering calls and processing claims has 'deteriorated'.

Only 60 per cent of calls are being answered within 15 minutes, with 9 million calls annually met with a voicemail asking callers to try again later due to high demand.

While serving in the Louisiana state legislature from 2015 to 2017, Johnson introduced a so-called “religious freedom” bill to legalize discrimination against married same-sex couples. He told the Baptist Message that he was “on the front lines of the ‘culture war’ defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage.”

Last December, Johnson introduced a federal version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law called the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act.” The bill threatens to cut federal funding to libraries, school districts, hospitals, government entities, or other organizations for “hosting or promoting any program, event, or literature involving sexually-oriented material,” including “any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related topics.”

In a July hearing, Johnson — who serves as the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, said that parents don’t have the right to provide their children with access to gender-affirming healthcare, something he falsely called a form of “abuse and physical harm,” even though every major American medical association has endorsed it as safe, effective, and essential to the well-being of trans youth.

I expect Jeremy Corbyn is well-rested and ready to help restore sanity after the chaos of the loony extremist Starmer years. Just saying.

The Labour party was plunged into crisis over Keir Starmer’s stance on the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, with the Labour leader under mounting pressure to call for a ceasefire.

As Rishi Sunak joined calls for a “pause” in the Israel-Hamas conflict to allow aid into Gaza, and hostages and British nationals out - Sir Keir continued to grapple with the fallout of his own approach to the crisis.

The Labour leader is facing growing upset among backbench MPs, with dozens having signed a motion urging the British government to call for an immediate ceasefire.

And more than 150 Muslim Labour councillors signed a joint letter to Sir Keir and his deputy Angela Rayner urging him to back an immediate ceasefire.

Perhaps you're a Flygskam (Flight Shaming) devotee, though we prefer the slightly more statesmanlike #Trainbragging (or as the Swedes say #tågskryt ). But, whatever your motivation, and whatever you call it, here are eight innovative options for train and bus travel between Australia's two largest cities.

Some options get you there same day, some let you break your journey and stay overnight. Some are train all the way, some are a mixture of trains and buses. But no matter which you choose, you'll get to see the real Australia.

Most contracts these days also include all sorts of bits and bobs accounting for streaming, podcast content, and so on. In 1963, when the first episodes of Doctor Who aired, though, streaming was more likely to refer to a small river than anything blaring out of one of those new-fangled telly-boxes.

As a result (and we’re not lawyers), it looks like at least some of the rights – or at least a potentially valid claim to them – for the first few episodes of Doctor Who belongs to the estate of the original writer, Anthony Coburn. The BBC hasn’t admitted so much specifically, issuing the simple acknowledgement to the Radio Times. Just imagine the meetings that took place to get to that stage. There’s enough of a worry, clearly, to exclude An Unearthly Child from the line-up.

The contract Coburn signed in the 1960s won’t have given any provisions for reusing the show in a different context, certainly not this one, and their descendants – specifically in this case, Coburn’s son – are under no obligation to let the BBC do anything with the show other than broadcast on terrestrial TV.

Stef Coburn, the son in question, has been very active on his Twitter/X/whatever-it’s-called-this-week account.

At least eight MPs who spoke during a Parliamentary debate on renters’ rights yesterday were landlords, openDemocracy analysis has found.

Tenants’ groups told us they were concerned about a lack of transparency during the second reading of the Renters (Reform) Bill, with one MP forgetting to declare an interest until after the fact, while those with rental income below £10,000 a year were under no obligation to declare anything.

Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition supporting a suspended Tube driver who led a chant of “free, free Palestine” on a London Underground train.

After around 100,000 protesters took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in central London, footage posted online and then deleted by Open Democracy journalist Ruby Lott-Lavigna appeared to show the chant being led over the train’s speaker system.

After the uproar, the driver was quickly identified and suspended whilst TfL vowed to “fully investigate the incident in line with our policies and procedures”.

A petition started by passengers on the tube carriage called for TfL to reverse the suspension and uphold free speech has now hit nearly 70,000 signatures in just over 24 hours.

The city has unveiled a $36-billion plan to build 65,000 rental homes in Toronto over the next seven years, a target that would require a massive unconfirmed investment from the federal and provincial governments.

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“We are reversing the destructive thinking over the past two decades … that only the private sector can build housing,” Chow said. “The path in front of us is ambitious. It is urgently needed.”