By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Fires are lit as protesters demonstrate in Tehran, Iran, on January 8, 2026. © 2026 Anonymous via Getty Images Iran’s security forces have carried out mass killings of protesters after nationwide protests escalated on January 8, 2026.The mass killings by Iranian security forces are a stark reminder that rulers who massacre their own people will keep committing atrocities until they are held to account.UN member states should urgently convene a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to put human rights and accountability in Iran front and center of the international…
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By Zulker Naeen
Since the August 2024 political upheaval in Bangladesh, India has restricted most visas for Bangladeshis, weakening people-to-people ties between the two countries and causing broader economic consequences.
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By David Larkin, Senior Lecturer in Musicology, University of Sydney
Opera Australia’s new production of Turandot has elements of staging and singing to commend – but nothing quite comes up to the level of Young Woo Kim.
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By Hammond Pearce, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science & Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Alexandra Vassar, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Rahat Masood, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science & Engineering, UNSW Sydney
From Bondi to Venezuela, Gaza to Ukraine, AI supercharges online misinformation. But understanding exactly how it impacts voters is a challenge.
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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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