By Isaac Gross, Lecturer in Economics, Monash University
The latest inflation figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics look, at first glance, like good news. The headline rate for May rose 4.0% over the past year, down from 4.2% in April.
After a long run of high inflation numbers and interest rate hikes, mortgage holders could be forgiven for hoping rate relief is on the way.
But don’t hold your breath. Look under the bonnet and the picture is far less comforting. The fall…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image © 2026 Diana Ejaita for Human Rights Watch Women and girls in Cameroon face persistent domestic violence and gender discrimination without meaningful protection or access to justice.Entrenched systemic gender inequality, discriminatory laws, and weak institutions, exacerbated by chronic underinvestment in prevention and survivor support, fuels the violence. The government needs to urgently reform discriminatory family laws, update and adopt the long-delayed Family Code, establish a coordinated national response to domestic violence, and ensure services are accessible…
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By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor in Criminology, Auckland University of Technology
A proposed law change would introduce a new category of low-value theft. Penalties would affect women more than men and put their daughters at higher of sexual harm.
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By Claudia Bull, Postdoctoral research fellow, Deakin University
Daryl Higgins, Professor & Director, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University
The central aim of any child protection system is in the name: protect children. But over the years, inquiries and media reports have shown fulfilling this goal has too often proved tragically elusive.
In response, governments across the country have poured more and more money into their child protection systems…
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By Vince Craig, Professor, Materials Physics, Australian National University
Noura Alzaidan, PhD Candidate, Materials Physics, Australian National University
As the United States approaches 250th birthday celebrations on July 4, Washington DC’s monuments, statues and fountains are being prepared to put on a show.
However, renovations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool haven’t gone to plan.
Soon after the renovations were complete, an…
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By Ria Aiyar, Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Dentistry, Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, Adelaide University
Nicolas Reid, PhD Candidate, Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Adelaide University
Good oral health is more than having healthy teeth and gums. Indigenous people told researchers why it’s central to their wider health and wellbeing.
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By Tanya Kizovski, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University
This is the first evidence that the mineral garnet may have been formed within the crust of Mars itself, heralding clues to the planet’s complex history.
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By Chris Kirkland, Professor of Geochronology, Curtin University
In the Pilbara of Western Australia, some of Earth’s oldest rocks lie beneath the sky, as they have for billions of years. They are dark, weathered volcanic rocks, close to 3.5 billion years old, cut by veins and stewed by deep time.
Their survival is remarkable. Most rocks this old have moved back into Earth’s interior. These ones, still on the surface, have changed, but not enough to erase their first story.
In places, they still preserve the rounded forms of pillow basalts – lava that erupted underwater and cooled on an ancient sea floor.
The same rock record…
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By Amnesty International
By Khanyo Farisè In Eswatini’s second biggest city of Manzini, Sisanda Mavimbela is once again preparing for court. As the Co-Director of Programmes and Advocacy for Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities (ESGM), a group which works to advance LGBTI rights, Sisanda has become all too familiar with the ritual of gathering documents, revisiting judgments, speaking […] The post The Courage of Swazi LGBTI Activists Facing Repression appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Amnesty International
Reacting to the life sentences given by Quetta’s Anti-Terrorism court to Baloch activists Mahrang Baloch and Sibghat Ullah Shah Jee on 22 June over their involvement in a 2024 protest during which a security officer was killed, Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Acting Regional Director for South Asia, said: “This verdict, which is an affront to […] The post Pakistan: Authorities must immediately release Baloch activists handed life sentences following secret trial appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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