ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on November 26, 2025.
Civicus raps 8 Pacific countries for ‘not doing enough’ to protect civic rights, press freedom
Asia Pacific Report The global civil society alliance Civicus has called on eight Pacific governments to do more to respect civic freedoms and strengthen institutions to protect these rights. It is especially concerned over the threats to press freedom, the use of laws to criminalise online expression, and failure to establish national human rights institutions
AI ‘dreams’ up new realities. How does this impact the way we understand our own dreaming?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Oscar, Senior Lecturer, Visual Communication, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney Surrealists believed in the power of dreams. Inspired by Freud’s theories of the unconscious and dream-work, André Breton saw the irrationality of dreams as an artistic method capable of revealing new, revolutionary ways of
‘Digital colonialism’: how AI companies are following the playbook of empire
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Russ-Smith, Associate Professor, Social Work and Deputy Head of School, School of Allied Health, Australian Catholic University Hanna Barakat & Archival Images of AI + AIxDESIGN, CC BY-SA In the eyes of big AI companies such as OpenAI, the troves of data on the internet are
What is happening with the government’s contentious review of the Waitangi Tribunal?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carwyn Jones, Honorary Adjunct Professor, Te Kawa a Māui – School of Māori Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Fiona Goodall/Getty Images Resistance to the New Zealand government’s policies aimed at rolling back Māori rights and protections under te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi
Bird sex fascinated medieval thinkers as much as people today
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Davidson, Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University A late 15th century French version of a scientific study written by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. fr. 170, fol. 11r. Earlier this year, a group of researchers published a
Philippines testimony reveals torture, abuses by police, says Amnesty
Asia Pacific Report Philippines police unlawfully targeted protesters with unnecessary and excessive force during anti-corruption marches in September, according to harrowing new testimony gathered by the human rights watchdog Amnesty International ahead of fresh protests planned across the country this weekend. Ten people interviewed by Amnesty International detailed physical abuse — including violations that may
Golden retriever and human behaviour may be linked by the same genes – new research
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine, University of Lincoln PeopleImages/Shutterstock Humans have probably shared their homes with dogs ever since they first settled. So it could be argued that there is no such thing as “human society” without including animals as part of it. Our long
‘Without prejudice’: What this 2-word legalese means for the dismissed charges against James Comey and Letitia James
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Brescia, Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life, Albany Law School Former FBI Director James Comey is sworn in remotely at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on Sept. 30, 2020. Ken Cedeno-Pool/Getty Images A federal judge on Nov. 24, 2025, dismissed the
The uncompromising politics of Jimmy Cliff
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kenny Monrose, Researcher, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge “I have a dislike for politicians as they’re not truthful people. It’s the nature of politics that you cannot be straight, you have to lie and cheat,” said the reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who died on November 24
The ChatGPT effect: In 3 years the AI chatbot has changed the way people look things up
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lee, Professor and Director of Research Impact and AI Strategy, Mississippi State University ChatGPT has become the go-to app for hundreds of millions of people. AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato Three years ago, if someone needed to fix a leaky faucet or understand inflation, they usually did one
How to donate your poo to science or medicine
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nadeem O. Kaakoush, Scientia Associate Professor, Host-Microbiome Interactions Group, UNSW Sydney DBenitostock/Getty When most people think about donating body parts to science or medicine, they might think of life-saving donations of organs, tissues or blood. But you can also donate your poo. The idea is to use
‘The main thing you’ve got is TikTok’: how the social media ban could harm African diaspora youth
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melanie Baak, Senior Lecturer, UniSA Education Futures, University of South Australia Cottonbro Studios/ Pexels The Australian government’s social media ban will begin in about two weeks. From December 10, those under 16 will no longer be able to have personal accounts on sites such as YouTube, TikTok
A backlash against AI imagery in ads may have begun as brands promote ‘human-made’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Harrison, Director, Master of Business Administration Program (MBA); Co-Director, Better Consumption Lab, Deakin University In a wave of new ads, brands like Heineken, Polaroid and Cadbury have started hating on artificial intelligence (AI), celebrating their work as “human-made”. But in these advertising campaigns on TV, billboards
Chile plans to launch global campaign seeking to expel ‘pariah’ Israel from United Nations
Ma’an News Agency in Santiago Civil society forces in Chile are preparing to launch an international campaign to demand the expulsion of Israel from the United Nations. This is based on Article 6 of the United Nations Charter against the backdrop of what the campaign describes as “continuous and systematic violations” of international law and
View from The Hill: it’s been a carefully orchestrated political courtship, but the marriage could be rocky
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Pauline Hanson dines with Barnaby Joyce in her office at Parliament House The Senate might be thoroughly sick of Pauline Hanson’s antics – on Tuesday it suspended her for seven days over her appearance in a burqa – but she’s
How the Trump administration tried to sell Ukraine a diplomatic debacle
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Associate Professor (Adj), Griffith Asia Institute; and Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A flurry of recent diplomatic activity has seen two competing peace plans for Ukraine emerge. The first, widely touted as a US plan, was apparently hashed out between Kremlin
New data reveals how Australia’s threatened reptiles and frogs are disappearing – and what we have to do
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Heard, Science Advisor, TSX, The University of Queensland; Australian National University Nicolas Rakotopare, CC BY-ND Australia is home to extraordinary reptiles and frogs, from giant lace monitors to tiny alpine froglets. Over 1,100 reptiles and 250 frog species are found across the Australian continent and islands.
COP30 ends with ‘extremely weak’ outcomes, says Pacific campaigner
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist The United Nations climate conference in Brazil this month finished with an “extremely weak” outcome, according to one Pacific campaigner. Shiva Gounden, the head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said the multilateral process is currently being attacked, which is making it hard to reach a meaningful consensus on
How autoimmune encephalitis disrupts thinking, memory and everyday life
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Y. Ko, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Neuropsychology, Monash University Natalia Lebedinskaia/Getty Have you ever found yourself searching for a word you should know, forgetting what you were just doing, or feeling mentally foggy for no obvious reason? These everyday lapses are common and are most often
NZ’s draft science curriculum favours rote learning over critical thinking
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Tolbert, Professor of Science Education, Monash University Getty Images New Zealand’s draft science curriculum, released last month, promises to advance “knowledge-rich” learning. But the term remains only loosely defined and the curriculum fails to appreciate the importance of teaching students critical thinking in science. Research and
