By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Old photo from April 9, 2020, of security forces patrolling the streets of Juba, South Sudan. © 2020 ALEX MCBRIDE/AFP via Getty Images South Sudan’s security forces, since late June 2025, have conducted sweeping arbitrary arrests of boys, young men, and women under the guise of a crackdown on criminals.Many were held for up to a week without charge and often released only after their families paid bribes. Young women were sexually assaulted, some young men and boys were forcibly conscripted, and some have not been seen since.The authorities should end arbitrary arrests…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Students on the first day of a new academic year at a public school in Cairo, Egypt, September 21, 2025. © 2025 Ahmed Gomaa/Xinhua via Getty Images (Beirut) – The Egyptian government has severely undermined the rights to education and health care by failing to allocate sufficient spending, falling short of constitutional obligations and international benchmarks, Human Rights Watch said today. It is failing to ensure free primary education for every child and quality health care accessible to all. Inadequate funding has contributed to severe shortages and high…
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By Rachael Helene Nolan, Associate Professor, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
Trent Penman, Professor in Bushfire Behaviour, School of Agriculture, The University of Melbourne
We know that heatwaves often trigger bushfires. But predicting when and where large fires will break out is getting more difficult with a warming climate.
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By Global Voices Latin America
Since the airstrikes, there has been a huge sense of uncertainty, with long queues in local supermarkets and gas stations, and Caracas residents worried about basic necessities like groceries.
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By Giselle Woodley, Lecturer and Research Fellow in Communications, Edith Cowan University
Nicola Henry, Professor, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, & Deputy Director, Social Equity Research Centre, RMIT University
X (formerly Twitter) has become a site for the rapid spread of artificial intelligence-generated nonconsensual sexual images (also known as “deepfakes”).
Using the platform’s own built-in generative AI chatbot, Grok, users can edit images they upload through simple…
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By John Hawkins, Head, Canberra School of Government, University of Canberra
The latest inflation figures are an important piece of the puzzle for the Reserve Bank ahead of its next interest rate decision in February.
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By Caitlyn Forster, Associate Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney
Australia is baking through another extreme heatwave, with temperatures forecast to reach above 45°C for multiple days in a row across large swathes of the country.
Heatwaves are a deadly threat to humans, disproportionately impacting older people and those with…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A church member reads a bible during a service in Hong Kong in solidarity with the Early Rain Covenant Church in China, whose members face persecution, December 18, 2023. © 2023 Stanley Leung/SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire/Reuters (New York) – Chinese authorities have detained half a dozen members of an underground Protestant church based in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Human Rights Watch said today. This was the latest in a string of arrests of members of prominent unofficial “house churches” in China in the past year. The Early Rain Covenant Church posted…
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By Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate in Public Health & Community Medicine, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney
Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia
We name severe cyclones and storms, but not heatwaves or floods. Why? Are there benefits to giving Australia’s climate-fuelled extreme weather a name?
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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
Two state governments are up for re-election in Australia, while the US midterms offer an opportunity for the Democrats to take control of Congress.
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