By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
The federal government has secured access to 250,000 tonnes of extra urea from Indonesia for Australian farmers.
The deal between Incitec Pivot Fertilisers and PT Pupuk Indonesia was facilitated by the governments of the two countries.
It will provide about 20% of the remaining fertiliser needed for the current season, which runs from November last year to October this year.
There has been considerable panic among many farmers about the disruption of urea supplies. Without adequate fertiliser crop yields would be down, with some farmers not planting crops at…
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By Alex Smalley, Research Fellow in Environmental Psychology, University of Exeter
On a chilly yet beautifully clear evening last November, I sat on a video call with colleagues and happened to mention the live feed from the International Space Station – a real-time broadcast from onboard cameras as the station orbits earth.
Several people hadn’t heard of it, and so I dug out the link and sent it over. We then turned to Nasa’s spot the station smartphone app, which shows you the ageing…
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By Andrew Neal, Personal Chair of International Security, University of Edinburgh
Lord Robertson, former UK defence secretary and Nato chief, has said that the UK’s national security is “in peril”. He is right. There is no secret about what the threats are. In addition to the woeful news from the Middle East and Ukraine every day, stories of sabotage, hacking,…
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By Aris Politopoulos, Assistant Professor in Archaeology and Cultural Politics, Leiden University
Angus Mol, Associate Professor in Archaeology, Leiden University
Walter Crist, Guest Researcher, Centre for Arts in Society, Leiden University
You can compare throwing one of these ancient dice to a coin toss – although this discovery also underscores that dice are much older than coins.
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By Robert William Smith, Professor of History, University of Alberta
Aristotle believed the planets revolved around Earth and God could not have created other worlds. Today, scientists scour the surface of Mars for ‘biosignatures’ of microbial life.
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By Christina Fawcett, Instructor, Department of English, University of Winnipeg
Andrea Braithwaite, Teaching Professor in Digital Media Studies, Ontario Tech University
“Cozy gaming” offers emotional comfort, community and a sense of control through low-stakes, repetitive play. It also features worlds where relationships are transactional.
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Thursday, April 16, 2026
Amid reports of high-level talks later today between Israel and Lebanon, intense Israeli military strikes continued in southern Lebanese territory, including around the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil. Hezbollah rocket fire continued into northern Israel also. In other developments, the US military announced on Wednesday that it had prevented 10 ships from navigating through the Strait of Hormuz, in line with its blockade of Iranian ports. Stay with us for live updates on this and UN agencies. App users can follow coverage here.
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By Guest Contributor
On paper, many of these technologies are described as civilian. In practice, the line between civilian and military use is almost always blurred, particularly in authoritarian contexts and conflict zones.
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By Amnesty International
Today Amnesty International Ireland and Human Rights First published their joint letter to the Irish Ministers for Transport and Foreign Affairs and Trade urging an end to the U.S. administration’s use of Shannon Airport as a refuelling stopover for unlawful removal flights by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The organizations called on the Irish […] The post Ireland: Stop unlawful ICE removal flights through Shannon Airport appeared first on Amnesty International. ]]>
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By Steve Prabu, Adjunct Lecturer, School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Curtin University; University of Oxford
James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, Curtin University
Astronomers have discovered stellar winds can cause black hole jets to change direction – just like wind on Earth can blow around the water in a fountain.
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