By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
A former Australian resident living in Iraq directed the attack on Melbourne Adass Israel Synagogue in December 2024, the head of ASIO Mike Burgess has revealed.
Burgess said Iran, which was behind the attack, recruited the man through a “complex web of Iraqi-based militia groups”.
“Valuing his high wealth and criminal connections, the IRGC (The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) protected him and supported his illegal enterprises.
"That changed dramatically after ASIO publicly named Iran’s involvement in the arsons.
"This person’s Iranian backers…
(Full Story)
|
By Manuel Vázquez Carrera, Catedrático de Farmacología, Universitat de Barcelona
Many patients with type 2 diabetes wonder how their blood sugar levels can be high when they have not eaten anything. The answer to this counterintuitive phenomenon lies in what is known as insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance prevents cells from taking up glucose properly, but it also causes the liver to continue producing it. Here, we will look at how this…
(Full Story)
|
By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Since 2023, Maureen Kamatu, 28, has been self-employed at a mobile money cash-transfer booth in Lilongwe. When she first started the business, she faced open discrimination from customers and neighboring vendors. “Passersby often said derogatory things about me as a person with albinism. I heard things like, ‘Is she going to be able to see well? Is she going to be able to count the money? Are you sure she can do this job?’” © 2025 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch For years, efforts to protect the rights of people with albinism in Malawi have rightly focused on ending…
(Full Story)
|
By Gabriela Mesones Rojo
An interview with Venezuelan visual artist and photographer Santiago Méndez, who has exhaustively documente queerness and Pride in Caracas for the last three years.
(Full Story)
|
By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has now been found in a second state, South Australia, after earlier being identified in Western Australia.
Authorities have confirmed three seabirds have died of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus. It is too early to know if H5N1 has spread beyond these animals to…
(Full Story)
|
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…
(Full Story)
|
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…
(Full Story)
|
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank, a UN independent commission of inquiry said in its latest report released on Tuesday.
(Full Story)
|
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
A new UN human rights report issued on Tuesday details the brutality and scale of conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan since war erupted in April 2023 and its profound, long-term impacts on victims, families and communities.
(Full Story)
|
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.
(Full Story)
|