By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor, The Conversation
This article was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox.
January and February are the cruellest months in Ukraine. For the past week, temperatures in Kyiv have hovered between lows of -19°C and highs of -6°C. The Ukrainian capital gets about nine hours of daylight per day. And the relentless Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s energy…
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By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Sunday’s Newspoll is being keenly watched by federal Liberals as leadership aspirant Angus Taylor contemplates the timing of a challenge to Sussan Ley.
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By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham
Russia, Ukraine and the US met for a second time this week for trilateral talks to discuss a possible cessation of hostilities. Once again little was resolved apart from a prisoner swap, something that has happened several times over the four years of the full-scale conflict between the two countries.
The lack of any substantive breakthrough was fairly predictable, given the circumstances. This week’s meeting got off to the same depressing start as the first…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2026. © 2026 Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP Photo In the wake of the Bondi Hannukah attack, the deadliest mass shooting in Australia in three decades, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit, to “engage with members of the Jewish community who are grieving the loss of 15 innocent lives.”President Herzog is Israel’s head of state, with a constitutional and ceremonial role. Although Herzog’s trip is focused on the Bondi…
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By Ian Hickie, Co-Director, Health and Policy, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney
Sebastian Rosenberg, Associate Professor, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney; University of Canberra
Joel Cauchi’s psychiatrist failed to see the early warning signs of his relapse into psychosis and should be investigated by the Queensland health ombudsman, New South Wales coroner Teresa O’Sullivan has concluded.
Cauchi, who had a recurrent form of schizophrenia, was un-medicated and homeless when he killed six people and injured ten others at the Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction in 2024.
In the 837-page coronial…
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By Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist; Clinical Researcher, University of Sydney
This debilitating disease is particularly dangerous for babies, but can affect people at any age. Vaccination remains a key line of defence.
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By Jonathan Symons, Director of Research and Innovation, School of International Studies, Macquarie University
Chris Wright, PhD Candidate in Environmental Policy, Macquarie University
If the biggest coal exporters banned new coal mines, they could drive the shift to renewables – and benefit while they do it.
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By Caitlin Macdonald, Researcher, School of Art, Communication and English, University of Sydney
Literary podcasts are like year-round writers festivals – and there’s an Australian one out there for every taste, from occasional readers to bonafide bookworms.
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By Geoff Scott, Department of Pro Vice Chancellor (Society), UNSW Sydney; Indigenous Knowledge
Rather than a period of reflection and listening post-Voice, we have seen a rapid return to the obstructive habits that produced failure in the first place.
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By Celeste Rodriguez Louro, Associate Professor, Chair of Linguistics and Director of Language Lab, The University of Western Australia
Jennifer Rodger, Professor, The University of Western Australia
Claims that artificial intelligence (AI) is on the verge of surpassing human intelligence have become commonplace. According to some commentators, rapid advances in large language models signal an imminent tipping point – often framed as “superintelligence” – that will fundamentally reshape society.
But comparing AI to individual intelligence misses something essential about what human intelligence is. Our intelligence…
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