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Max Halupka with museum director Daryl Karp at the Power of 1 exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Photo: Rohan Thomson

The perception of young Australians as apathetic, lazy, and unlikely to engage in political discourse is inaccurate, mad and dangerous according to the authors of a new study on Australian democracy.

The study, undertaken by the University of Canberra's Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis in conjunction with the Museum of Australian Democracy, compared how different generations perceived our political system and what they would change about it.

Max Halupka, a research fellow at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, said the survey indicated a "changing of the guard" with young people feeling disenfranchised with politicians but still supporting democratic values.

"A lot of people see political party membership and engagement as the hallmarks of democracy but what our study did was ask a broader repertoire of questions to see what other ways people engage in politics," he said.

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"We found that Gen Y [born between 1980 and 1995] comes out really strongly in other forms of political engagement as they have moved away from tradition party politics."

Mr Halupka said Australian youth were more likely to engage in politics via social media and online petitions and these trends should not be seen as temporary fads but fundamental changes.

"These mechanisms are a by-product of the internet and an aspect of the everyday so the political system has to adapt to them otherwise we may see an even greater disconnect among younger demographics," he said.

Lead author Professor Mark Evans said negative stereotypes of younger generations were "mad and dangerous for the health of Australian democracy".

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Gen Y bashing 'mad and dangerous' to Australian democracy

An Egyptian court has sentenced 23 pro-democracy activists to three years in prison each for holding an unlicenced protest, after international calls to free the defendants.

The rights activists include Yara Sallam and Sanaa Seif, described by Amnesty International as 'prisoners of conscience.'

The Cairo court also ordered each of the 23 defendants to pay a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (about $A1,500).

Some of the activists had supported the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year which unleashed a deadly crackdown on his Islamist supporters.

They had since turned on the new authorities as it extended a crackdown on all protests.

The verdict, one of several against secular-leaning activists in recent months, may be appealed.

The defendants were accused of holding an illegal protest on June 21 calling for the release of detainees and the annulment of a law that bans all but police-sanctioned demonstrations.

'The ruling is political, it has no legal grounding,' alleged Ahmed Ezzat, one of the defence lawyers, after judge Abdelrahman al-Zawary pronounced his verdict.

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Egypt jails 23 pro-democracy protesters

SpeedRunners Part 1: By the power of Communism
What if a kart racer was on foot? Then you #39;d have this game. Now picture your two favourite? idiots trying to run, jump, and slide their way to victory. Enjoy?

By: The Infrequent Gamers Club

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SpeedRunners Part 1: By the power of Communism - Video

Vatican Official Recalls Work in Secretariat of State as Berlin Wall Fell Rome, November 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) H. Sergio Mora | 239 hits

Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, currently president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, was an official of the Vaticans Secretariat of State on Nov. 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell.

He shares his memories of that event.

ZENIT: Where were you and how did you receive the news of the fall of the Berlin Wall?

Cardinal Tauran: That year I was under-secretary for Relations with States; I was in that role from 1988 to 1990, and secretary from 1990 to 2013. I was on vacation in my home in

ZENIT: Whoever authorized the attack on John Paul II perhaps wished to avoid the fall of the Soviet empire.

Cardinal Tauran: Thats not known, although the message was clear: he was a Pope who annoyed -- and the speed of the events.

I always say that it was prepared by three things together: the Helsinki process that created a new philosophy of relations, with the Final Act of 1975; and Gorbachev and John Paul II, two providential men. These are the three things together.

ZENIT: And the Vaticans Ostpolitik?

Cardinal Tauran: It made its contribution in the measure that it enabled the silent Church to speak. Until the Pope of Krakow was elected, overcoming the silence

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Cardinal Tauran: We Knew Communism Was Collapsing, But Not Like This

CARACAS, Venezuela Socialism has embraced Barbie, just in time for Christmas.

Mothers, grandmothers and beaming little girls are grabbing armfuls of the dolls in toy stores across Caracas, taking advantage of the governments order that large chains sell the plastic figurines at fire-sale prices during the holiday shopping season.

No sooner had saleswoman Crystal Casanova begun mounting a display of gleaming pink boxes on a recent weekday than a horde of women descended. Soon, she and her co-workers were letting customers grab the Barbies straight out of the Mattel-stamped cardboard cartons.

Within minutes, the entire stock was gone, with the dolls selling for as little as 250 bolivars $2.50 at the widely used black market conversion rate.

Venezuelas socialist government has long imposed price caps on essential products, from milk to laundry detergent, and threatened merchants who hoard goods or sell them at unfairly high margins with jail time.

Now President Nicolas Maduro is making the Barbie doll, often derided by leftists as a training tool for capitalist consumerism, a highlight of this years Operation Merry Christmas, which he presented as an effort to prevent speculators from ruining the holidays.

Maduros mentor, the late President Hugo Chavez, once denounced the stupidity of Barbie and called for Venezuela to develop its own iconic childrens toys.

Venezuelans have been snapping up the dirt-cheap Barbies.Photo: AP

Feminists, too, criticize the doll for presenting an unhealthy image of the female body, though in Venezuela, a land of beauty queens and abundant plastic surgery, its an image many women strive to meet.

The toy isnt the only product affected by the initiative. Across town from the Barbie bonanza, the government is selling big-ticket products directly to shoppers at a fraction of what they usually cost.

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Socialisms Christmas gift to the people: $2.50 Barbie dolls