Three of the eleven Saudi women’s activists detained for speaking out against the Saudi Arabian government’s treatment of women have been temporarily released from detention.

Lynn Maalouf from Amnesty International has said that while the releases should be celebrated, it should not be on a temporary basis.

Maalouf said “Amnesty International calls on the Saudi authorities to drop all charges against them and the other women’s rights defenders, who must all be released immediately and unconditionally.”

An estimated 10 thousand people were left stranded by the collapse of Iceland’s Wow Air last Thursday, with many families requiring accommodation due to cancelled flights.

Wow Air, which also operated flights from UK airports Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh, had been in talks this week with bondholders in an effort to raise new money.

On Thursday Wow's website said it had ceased operations and cancelled all flights. Adding that passengers needing to travel should book with other airlines.

Labor plans for changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing to take effect by 1 January if it is elected at the May election.

Today the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, announced Labor will take just seven months to consult on and pass its signature housing tax policies and added a new measure to improve tax concessions for build-to-rent schemes.

Shareholders of the Macadamia Processing Company (MPC) have voted overwhelmingly in favour of acquiring the remaining shares in Pacific Gold Macadamias (PGM).

MPC already had a 37 per cent stake in the Bundaberg processor, and it’s latest acquisition will consolidate the Lismore-based co-operative as the largest macadamia processor in the world.

In a week that Indigenous organisations are calling for national action on youth suicide, communities are also raising concerns about a $48 million National Suicide Prevention Trial that is happening at 12 high-risk sites.

Communities are hopeful the trial will work, but some have raised concerns about a lack of infrastructure and the uncertainty about what will happen after the four-year trial is over.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to put her twice-rejected parting plan from the EU to a vote on Friday to avoid a ‘chaotic split’ from Europe.

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow gave his approval to hold the vote saying the plan is ‘substantially different’ from the prior main withdrawal agreements.

Another parliamentary vote is required before Brexit can actually go ahead in two weeks time.

The United Nations weather agencies has found that 62 million people worldwide were hit by extreme weather last year and forced 2 million people to relocate as climate change worsened.

The World Meteorological Organisation's annual state of global climate report says Earth is nearly 1 degree Celsius warmer than when the industrial age started. World leaders are trying to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius.
 

The Federal Government's foreign influence laws have received criticism from the Chinese community, with some Australians of Chinese heritage saying they felt their loyalty was being doubted.

The main point of contention is the new Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, which quietly came into effect earlier this month, and works as a publicly available list of political lobbyists working "on behalf of" a foreign power.