By Philip Johnson, Lecturer, College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University
In the one-sided Mexican-American War, the US seized over 55% of Mexico’s land – including what today is California, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and parts of other states.
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By Angela Jackson, Social Policy Commissioner, Productivity Commission, and Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Tasmania
At the start of the new year, many of us will commit to joining a gym, eating healthier or cutting back on drinking and smoking. We do this knowing that investing in our health today will pay off into to the future – that prevention is better (and cheaper) than the cure.
It’s advice the Productivity Commission thinks federal and state governments should also follow to improve Australia’s finances and productivity.
Late last year, my co-authors and I gave the federal government the final report of our inquiry on delivering…
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By Steven Lamy, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Relations and Spatial Sciences, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
A 1951 defense agreement between the United States and Denmark allows the US to build military installations on Greenland to protect the region.
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By François Thoral, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Marine Ecology, University of Waikato
Christopher Battershill, Professor in Coastal Science, University of Waikato
David R Schiel, Distinguished Professor in Marine Science, University of Canterbury
Shinae Montie, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia
More than a fifth of the global ocean has gradually lost underwater light. But short, intense “marine darkwaves” can be just as damaging for life below the surface.
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By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
The right-wing populist party continues to climb in polling following the Bondi terror attack, mostly at the expense of the Coalition.
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By Human Rights Watch
On January 19, a court in Makhachkala, the capital city of Russia’s Dagestan region, sentenced women’s rights defender and journalist Svetlana Anokhina to five years in prison for allegedly spreading “fake news” about the Russian armed forces. Click to expand Image Svetlana Anokhina, personal archive, Dagestan, Russia, 2016. © 2016 Private The sentence was handed down in absentia: Anokhina left Russia in 2021 after a shelter her organization Marem ran for abused women and girls in Makhachkala was ransacked by Chechen and Dagestani police. The charges against Anokhina stemmed from…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image M23 forces patrol the streets of Uvira, Democratic Republic of Congo, on December 13, 2025. © 2025 Jospin Mwisha / AFP via Getty Images (Kinshasa) – The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group’s sudden withdrawal from the city of Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on January 17, 2026, has put civilians at grave risk from abusive Wazalendo militias, Human Rights Watch said today.After the M23 and Rwandan forces captured Uvira on December 10, M23 forces threatened, harassed, and assaulted people in the city. Fears that the Banyamulenge, Congolese Tutsi from…
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By Maria Lucia Passador, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Bocconi University
For the UK after Brexit, it is tempting to imagine that regulation no longer comes from Brussels. Yet one of the most significant pieces of digital legislation anywhere in the world – the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act – is now coming into force, and its effects will reach UK companies, regulators and citizens.
AI is already threaded through daily life: in how loans are priced, how job applications are sifted, how fraud is detected, how medical services are triaged, and how online content…
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By Juliane Kaminski, Associate Professor of Comparative Psychology, University of Portsmouth
Imagine Max, a well-trained border collie, manages to ignore a squirrel in the park when his owner tells him to sit. His owner says, “Max, stop chasing that squirrel and sit down,” and Max obeys. Can dogs learn and understand words the way humans do?
A new study found dogs like Max may have learnt the names of objects (like a squirrel) from overhearing their owners talking. The study is the latest to try and understand whether intelligent dogs and humans can have real conversations.
A widely…
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By Marc Hudson, Visiting Fellow, SPRU, University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex
The Trump administration recently announced it would pull out of around 150 international and global organisations, including two foundational pillars of global climate organisations: the political United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the scientific Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In terms of media coverage this was a one-day wonder, understandably overshadowed by mass government killings in Iran and the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement…
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