By Rory Nathan, Honorary Professor Hydrology and Water Resources, The University of Melbourne
We must get used to the idea such events will become more common as the climate changes, and adapt accordingly.
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Thursday, January 15, 2026
The UN Security Council is meeting in New York in emergency session on Iran, amid escalating concern over reports that hundreds have been killed during weeks of nationwide anti-government protests. The meeting was requested by the United States. Demonstrations that began in late December, fuelled by soaring inflation, rising food prices and the collapse of the national currency, triggered a deadly and widespread crackdown with thousands injured and detained, according to numerous firsthand accounts. The UN has called for independent investigations into all killings and warned against the possible…
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Thursday, January 15, 2026
In his final annual address outlining his priorities, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world is “brimming with conflict, impunity, inequality and unpredictability” – even as international cooperation is fraying at the moment it is most needed.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Hoang Thi Hong Thai outside the police interrogation room in Hanoi, April 2025. © Private (Bangkok) – The Vietnamese government has escalated arrests of perceived dissidents in the weeks before Vietnam’s 14th Communist Party Congress, which is scheduled to begin on January 19, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should end its intensifying campaign against its critics and release everyone imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their political views.Most recently, Hanoi police arrested the blogger Hoang Thi Hong Thai on January 7 for comments…
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By Jennifer Selin, Associate Professor of Law, Arizona State University
Can the president use the Insurrection Act and send the military into U.S. cities? A web of legal provisions try to balance presidential power with the power of state leaders.
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By Hoani Smith, Lecturer in Sport Management and Sport Science, Lincoln University, New Zealand
Dion Enari, Associate Professor, Ngā Wai a Te Tūī (Maori and Indigenous Research Centre) and School of Healthcare and Social Practice, UNITEC Institute of Technology
For the All Blacks, the next coaching era may hinge less on tactics than on trust, culture and leadership style.
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By Richard Nedjat-Haiem, Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature, University of California, Santa Barbara
The 75-year-old pop star is part of a generation of Iranians in the diaspora who are watching, with bated breath, as their compatriots seek to topple the Islamic Republic.
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By Martijn Boersma, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney
Emmanuel Josserand, Affiliate Researcher, Work and Organisational Studies, University of Sydney
How one union’s changing strategy over 30 years led to historic recent wins, including a landmark $90 million payout from Qantas.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Protesters, lawyers, and aid workers outside a court in Mytilene, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, January 13, 2023. © 2023 Panagiotis Balaskas/AP Photo After a seven-year legal ordeal, humanitarian workers wept with relief today when a court on the Greek island of Lesbos acquitted all 24 defendants who had been baselessly charged with felonies for saving lives at sea. The courtroom erupted in cheers, shouts, and tears as the verdict was read. “Saving lives is not a crime,” said Sara Mardini, one of the acquitted. In August 2018, police on…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A home near a coal-fired power plant in Cheshire, Ohio, US, April 14, 2025. © 2025 Joshua A. Bickel/AP Photo The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on January 12 that it will no longer ascribe an economic value to saving lives and improving public health when considering whether to curb harmful air pollutants. This move could weaken emissions standards and imperil communities exposed to toxic pollution. The EPA, which enforces federal environmental laws, said it would stop estimating the economic value of health benefits from…
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