Banning protest slogans won’t end antisemitism. We need to understand the complex forces driving it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Imogen Richards, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Deakin University The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion will deliver its interim report to the governor-general by April 30. Public hearings will follow, defining antisemitism and its effects on Jewish Australians. As a researcher of political violence, I provided

You’d better start paying attention to the manosphere. You’re living in it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Rich, Director of the Curtin Extremism Research Network (CERN), Curtin University As the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February, the social media posts by some US national security agencies took a particular turn. With missiles and bombs raining down, Pentagon

Fluorescent quail embryos could help solve serious birth defects in humans
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samara Ranie, PhD Student, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland The quail is a small, unassuming bird that glides rather than flies and prefers to hide under bushes than to perch on top of a tree. And now, it’s also helping scientists understand serious birth

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Stevens, Professor in Ocean Physics, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Earth Sciences New Zealand A rare dataset collected by instruments at the point where Antarctica’s largest ice shelf begins to float reveals ocean processes that drive melting at this critical part of the continent. During

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Bought a new EV? Here’s a quick guide to driving and charging
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isrrah Malabanan, PhD Candidate in Transport Engineering, The University of Melbourne Electric vehicle purchases in Australia have surged amid the ongoing war in Iran, as drivers worry about rising fuel costs. The big drawcard: much cheaper running costs. As of 22 April, A$1 of electricity takes an

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Wills, Adjunct Professor, The University of Western Australia Over the last two months, nations have scrambled to shore up oil supplies as the Iran war prevented oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz. This, according to some global analysts, would lead to a downturn for

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rick Sarre, Emeritus Professor in Law and Criminal Justice, Adelaide University The day after the horror shooting and killing of 15 people at a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach last year, national cabinet agreed to take steps to eradicate antisemitism, hate, violence and terrorism. In addition to

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COMMENTARY: By Martyn Bradbury How insane is it that, a Theocracy is winning the propaganda war against a Democracy? How badly has Trump screwed up when religious zealots are beating you in the marketing game? It’s not just the social media meme burns where Iran is winning, they are actually winning the war strategically. Trump’s

Coalition would boost Australia fuel storage to 60 days
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A Coalition government would boost Australia’s minimum fuel reserve  to 60 days, and deliver at least  one billion litres of new storage with a $800 million Fuel Security Facility. The opposition, making the announcement on Monday, said the new storage

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ANALYSIS: By Eugene Doyle If Iran succeeds in extracting reparations for the damage done to it in the US-Israeli war, it will be a world historic moment. Iran may be bloodied but it remains unbowed and is seeking compensation from the Arab states over “direct involvement” in the US-Israeli war of aggression. Iran sent a

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been on a strategic tour to prepare for two dramatically different paths that could unfold in the coming days — a return to diplomacy or a resumption of the war with the US and Israel.

While President Donald Trump has claimed that the Iranian government is in a state of internal chaos and his administration is waiting for Iran to capitulate, a senior Iranian official told Drop Site News that Tehran is establishing the conditions under which a new round of direct talks could take place.

“We’re currently moving forward with our own design, and we feel continuing negotiations doesn’t make sense until the US government lifts the maritime blockade,” said the official who has direct knowledge of internal diplomatic deliberations in Iran.

He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to publicly discuss the negotiations.

“The scope of the conflict has expanded, and naturally the issue is no longer purely nuclear.”

Tehran, the Iranian official said, remained firm in its demand that the US naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz be lifted as a condition to move forward. If that happens, a formal second round of top level direct talks can happen.

“Araghchi is Iran’s top diplomat. So even if there’s a 1 percent chance for a breakthrough, he would embark on it,” said Hassan Ahmadian, a prominent Iranian analyst and associate professor at the University of Tehran.

A multi-phase outline
He told Drop Site that Iran has crafted a multi-phase outline for ending the war: A real ceasefire must be imposed on Israel in the region, specifically Lebanon, and a settlement must be reached in the Strait of Hormuz “without harming Iran’s national security and also regional security.”

Once these conditions are met, comprehensive negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme and a long-term non-aggression agreement could commence.

“The Iranians are saying time is working in our favor for the three Ms: munitions, markets, and the midterms. These three Ms help Iran in its position and weaken US positions,” Ahmadian said.

“Obviously in the US, they want something to say, ‘We squeezed Iran and we got this.’ My perception is that the Iranians are keen to deny the United States that — they wouldn’t give what Trump wants as a victory.”

While White House officials claim Iran presented the US with a “new” proposal over the weekend and pushed this narrative through their preferred media outlets, the Iranian official said the characterisation was false.

Trump claimed Iran softened its stance over the weekend, but not enough for a deal. Ahmadian said there has been a recent Iranian shift, but it is toward a clearer set of conditions for resuming negotiations, not acceding to American demands on its nuclear programme.

“There are changes, as I understand,” he said. “The main change is for Iran to insist on the stop of the war regionally. That’s pivotal in Iran agreeing to discuss other issues.”

Unprecedented challenge
As a practical matter, Tehran is facing an unprecedented challenge in dealing with Trump. Twice in one year, Israel and the US have bombed Iran in the middle of negotiations.

Trump is erratic and frequently contradicts himself — vascillating between expressing optimism for a deal and claiming Iran has surrendered to sweeping US demands only to turn around and threaten to destroy Iranian civilisation and to carpet bomb its civilian infrastructure.

Iran also believes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been given unprecedented influence over US intelligence estimates and White House decision-making.

“Our country has had negotiations with the Americans at various levels over the past 30 years — formal and informal, public and back-channel,” the senior Iranian official said, referencing previous US-Iran negotiations that involved months — at times years — of diplomacy and technical talks.

“It’s as if they are showing up to a football match with rugby rules.”

Iran has total disdain for Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and views him as both oblivious of diplomatic processes and totally ignorant of technical issues. Kushner is viewed by Iran as Israel’s man at the table.

Iran, the senior official said, does not see any reason to deal with these two without a figure like Vice-President JD Vance present.

Flurry of speculation
Last week, the Iranian government announced that Araghchi would be visiting Islamabad for bilateral talks with Pakistani leaders. This set off a flurry of media speculation that a new round of negotiations would happen.

Trump announced that Vance was en route to Islamabad and once again characterised Iran as pleading for new negotiations. But Vance, it turned out, was not on a plane, and Iran continued to deny it had any intention of meeting with US officials in Pakistan.

Trump then said he was dispatching Witkoff and Kushner, and the media was flooded with stories about a meeting with Iran. Some news outlets, citing White House sources, claimed that planes were en route to the meetings, and the White House suggested Iran was lying about the forthcoming talks.

“The Iranians want to talk, they want to talk in person,” said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Friday. “Steve and Jared will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow to hear the Iranians out.”

Iran continued to reject suggestions that any talks would happen.

“No meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the US,” Iran’s Foreign Minister spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said soon after Araghchi arrived in Pakistan. Iran, he said, discussed a range of issues, including trade.

On Sunday, Islamabad announced it was expanding the transportation of third-country goods through Pakistan destined for Iran. While the transit routes had been under discussion since 2008, the timing — with Trump claiming his naval blockade was “strangling” Iran — was impossible to ignore.

Scrambled to spin
After Araghchi left Islamabad on Saturday and flew to Oman, Trump scrambled to spin the narrative and control the damage, claiming he had actually called off the planned negotiations.

“Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”

Trump then claimed that as a result of his refusal to send his emissaries, Iran had softened its stance, submitting a new proposal to the US. “They gave us a paper that should have been better. And interestingly, immediately, when I canceled it, within 10 minutes, we got a new paper that was much better,” Trump said.

Trump continues to claim that he extended the initial two-week ceasefire agreed on April 7 because Iran’s leadership was in a state of disarray and infighting. This narrative has been widely parrotted in Western media.

“That’s part of the cognitive warfare on Iran,” said Ahmadian. “It’s targeted at the society, the elites, and the position of the Supreme Leader. It’s not news, it’s not intel that they’re talking about.

“It’s basically an agenda to create what they are calling division. And I think the main aim within Iran is to increase mistrust and decrease trust among elites, which I think the Iranians are now very well aware of.”

Ahmadian said that Iran’s perception is that it is the US leadership that is in deep disarray, as evidenced by Trump’s flip-flops, unrealised threats and the recent chaos over which officials would be heading to Islamabad to negotiate with Iran.

Clear Tehran message
During the first round of direct talks held in Islamabad on April 11, the Iranian team arrived with “a clear message coming out of Tehran, with a team that represents all of the system, and it came with a very strong case for showing the unity within the country,” Ahmadian said.

He added that the Iranian side left the talks with the impression that there were stark differences between Vance on the one hand and Witkoff and Kushner on the other.

“The Iranians see Witkoff and Kushner as representatives of the Israeli interests, not those of the United States, as opposed to Mr Vance, who is representing the US interests in those talks,” he said.

“They were divided in their way of approaching the Iranians.”

Jeremy Scahill is a journalist at Drop Site News, author of the books Blackwater and Dirty Wars. He has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, and other countries.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Fiji Prime Minister has thrown his government’s support behind a controversial waste-to-energy project at Vuda Point in the country’s Western Division despite “a delay”.

The multi-million-dollar “Fiji Energy from Waste Project”, backed by Australian billionaire Ian Malouf and Fiji-born businessman Robert Cromb’s company The Next Generation (TNG) Fiji, has been making headlines across local and Australian media.

The proposed development in the Vuda-Saweni area between Nadi International Airport and Lautoka city has sparked a major backlash from concerned Fijians about its potential to damage the environment at the mainstream tourist hotspot.

The project is reported to plan to burn up to 900,000 tonnes of waste a year, far exceeding Fiji’s local waste production, requiring the import of waste from across the South Pacific.

On Friday, Fiji’s Environment Ministry announced that the waste incinerator project has moved into the technical review stage.

The ministry also confirmed that it had received 875 written submissions during the public viewing period of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) review process, as well as, almost 9000 signatures — on and offline — opposing the project.

Environment Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr Sivendra Michael said no decision had been made to date.

“The decision can only be issued following the completion of the full technical and regulatory review.”

‘Remains committed’
However, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said his government “remains committed to progressing the project”, according to a report by the state broadcaster.

“There has been a delay in discussions,” Rabuka told a vernacular radio programme,” adding that “as a government, we support the project”.

“If you look at it, a waste-to-energy plant can help supply electricity to more communities, while allowing the government to redirect resources to areas that still need power,” he was quoted as saying by FBC News.

In a report on April 1, The Australian described the proposal as: “Three years after losing the battle to build a waste-to-energy incinerator in western Sydney, Australian Dial-a-Dump billionaire Ian Malouf is pushing to build one on Fiji’s prized west coast that would burn up to 700,000 tonnes of imported garbage.

“Mr Malouf said his proposal had the backing of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his cabinet, and that ‘just a few selfish people don’t want it in their backyard’,” The Australian reported.

Rabuka’s Environment Minister Lynda Tabuya said at the time that the claims in The Australian report were “not accurate” and that cabinet had not approved the project, according to an FBC News report.

A ‘toxic’ project
Fiji’s Ambassador to the United Nations Filipo Tarakinikini, in a social media post on 20 April 20, described the project as “a toxic one”.

“If this project could not meet Australia’s environmental and health standards — and was rejected after seven years of scrutiny by one of the most sophisticated planning systems in the world — why should Fiji, with far less regulatory infrastructure, accept it?,” he wrote.

“Fiji must not become the Pacific’s ashtray,” he said.

The Environment Ministry said the public should “respect the process” and allow it “the space to complete its work in accordance with the law”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

How insane is it that, a Theocracy is winning the propaganda war against a Democracy?

How badly has Trump screwed up when religious zealots are beating you in the marketing game?

It’s not just the social media meme burns where Iran is winning, they are actually winning the war strategically.

Trump’s inane decision to get conned into an illegal war against Iran by Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has swiftly become the biggest geopolitical blunder since Vietnam.

By shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, Iran finally has a weapon that is forcing Trump to back down.

Here’s the future timeline:

• Late May – June 2026
  
  → noticeable fuel price increases globally
• July – September 2026
  
  → inflation spike, food costs rising
• Late 2026
  
  → real economic slowdown / recession risk

Causing global economic pain is the only way the Iranian regime can force Trump to stop the violence.

If this is still blocked come the midterms, Trump and the Republicans are finished and he’ll be swamped with impeachments attempts.

Iran’s information war at home and abroad  Video: Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post

There is NO WAY Iran are giving that leverage up now they have been forced to use it.

For the Theocracy, Trump’s insanity has opened an unexpected door to not only have all the damage rebuilt but the economic sanctions off as well.

Did you read that?

Trump has given the Theocracy the chance to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people they have repressed.

If the Iranians can force America and Israel to agree not to attack them again, pay for all the damage they caused and lift economic sanctions, they will gain legitimacy with the Iranian population they could never have dreamt of.

There’s no way they are handing over the Strait, so Trump either surrenders or nukes the entire Iranian coastline.

Martyn Bradbury is the editor and publisher of New Zealand’s The Daily Blog. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Papua New Guinea National Court ruling to overturn a ban on Starlink has been widely welcomed, fresh off the back of a natural disaster which highlighted the need for low-orbit satellite services in the country.

Last December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) announced that the Starlink network’s parent company, SpaceX, had been instructed to cease all services in PNG due to a directive from the Ombudsman Commission.

But a court ruling on Friday quashed this, paving the way for NICTA to liaise with Starlink to approve its licence to operate in PNG.

This is good news for many Papua New Guineans in remote and rural parts of the country who struggle for reliable telecommunication services.

Earlier this month, Tropical Cyclone Maila caused major damage to various provinces in PNG. During the Category 5 storm, when VHF radio services were down, broadband internet services provided a vital communication link for some affected communities.

Disaster experience
Prime Minister James Marape said the court decision provided clarity and allows the country to move ahead with practical solutions to improve telecommunications services.

“Our recent disaster experience has shown us clearly that communication is no longer a luxury — it is a necessity,” Marape said in a statement.

“When communities are cut off during cyclones, floods, earthquakes, or other emergencies, lives can depend on real-time communication. We must ensure our people are never isolated in times of crisis.”

Jelta Wong, the MP for Gazelle Open in East New Britain, one of the parts of PNG badly affected by Cyclone Maila, said Starlink should be allowed to operate since not all of PNG can get service.

“As we have seen in the past month with Cyclone Malia causing havoc on all coastal hamlets, if we had Starlink in strategic areas in the remote parts of Papua New Guinea we could have planned a much quicker and better response,” Wong said.

Game changer
The Governor of East Sepik Province, Allan Bird, said an easily accessible and affordable service like that which Starlink provided was “absolutely indispensable” in most parts of PNG outside of the capital.

“You see, my province is bigger than Fiji. So getting access to rural communities is extremely expensive, extremely difficult. With something like Starlink, we can have things like tele medicals,” Byrd said.

He said the ratio of doctors to people in East Sepik was around 22,000 people to one doctor.

“So having things like Starlink changes the game, because you can have a doctor sitting in our provincial capital, talking to someone trying to do a delivery in a location that’s 50 minutes away by plane. So it’s absolutely critical.”

Wong also pointed out that Starlink’s services would make service delivery more accessible, helping people trade and do banking from remote locations, creating opportunities for rural people to achieve goals.

‘Coordinated rollout’
In early 2024, the commission blocked licensing efforts for Starlink, arguing that existing regulations may not be adequate to manage potential risks to public interest and safety.

But in her National Court ruling last week, Judge Susan Purdon-Sully strongly criticised the Ombudsman Commission for its move to halt Starlink’s licence process.

Finding no breach of PNG’s leadership code, nor evidence of corruption, the judge said the Ombudsman’s concerns were more administrative, meaning its directive to NICTA had been “an unconstitutional exercise of power”.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister again urged Starlink to work collaboratively with state-owned Telikom PNG to “ensure a coordinated rollout that complements national infrastructure priorities”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

If Iran succeeds in extracting reparations for the damage done to it in the US-Israeli war, it will be a world historic moment.

Iran may be bloodied but it remains unbowed and is seeking compensation from the Arab states over “direct involvement” in the US-Israeli war of aggression.

Iran sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this month outlining its claim against Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. They also intend to apply a transit toll on the Strait of Hormuz as an instrument of restorative justice.

Under international law — if anyone still pays attention to such things — the Iranians have a strong case. What will determine if justice is done, however, is victory over the aggressors.

More than 100 US-based international law experts, professors, and practitioners have released a letter stating that the United States and Israel violated the UN Charter by launching strikes on Iran on February 28. The signatories include leaders of prominent international law associations and former Judge Advocates General — the top legal advisors to the US armed forces. They cite the complete lack of evidence of an imminent Iranian threat that could support a self-defence claim.

Under international law the aggressor is responsible for all the destruction that follows. The white-dominated Western countries like the US, Australia and New Zealand should stop banging on about the illegality of Iran taking control of the Strait and address the root causes of why it did so.

The case against the Arab states
In the early days of the war, radar systems operating from these countries were fully engaged in the war. Thousands of US troops were operating from 14 US bases in their territories.

Attack planes, refuelling planes and aerial surveillance planes all operated from bases like Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd Air Base, as reported by Middle East Eye. Major Western outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times documented missile launches and multiple other ways Jordan and the Gulf States were directly involved in the war despite the mainstream media portraying them as innocent bystanders and victims of Iranian aggression.

Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have both described the Gulf States as fighting “shoulder to shoulder” with the US and Israel. In filing their letter with the UN the Iranians have also provided satellite and other data to support their claim.

Iran argues that the Arab states, under international law, are co-belligerents. The UN’s International Law Commission (ILC) Articles on State Responsibility (2001) defines the concept of “Aid or Assistance” in the commission of an internationally wrongful act. It is not hard for Iran to prove that these states did not maintain neutrality.

In reality, for Iran to get justice, deterrence and reparations, there is no international body or court to turn to; it must win by making a continuation too painful for the aggressors.

There are signs it might just succeed. Iran has achieved something few on the Western side anticipated: the destruction of most of the US bases. Marc Lynch, director of the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University told Middle East Eye, “The bases around the region are suffering real damage, and I think it’s very unlikely that we’re ever going to go back and put our Fifth Fleet back in Bahrain. It’s too vulnerable.

“This is the physical architecture of American primacy, and Iran has essentially rendered it useless in the span of a month.”

The War on Iran is a long way from finished. Even if the ceasefire holds, the Israelis and Americans will see this only as a stage in their multi-decade project to wreck Iran as a major regional competitor.

The victims are usually the ones who must pay
At the end of imperial wars, the victims are traditionally made to pay.

In the 19th Century, the British fought the Chinese over the latter’s resistance to the British government’s lucrative opium trade into China. The imperialists won and imposed the infamous Unequal Treaties on China, including awarding to Britain the island of Hong Kong.

Queen Victoria even shamelessly named a stolen Pekingese dog “Lootie” after the British sacking of Beijing’s Summer Palace, one of the great cultural crimes of history.

When the genocidal US war on Vietnam ended, decades of harsh US sanctions on their victims began. As the US moved towards accepting it had lost the war, Nixon promised $3.3 billion in reconstruction aid under the Paris Peace Accords (1973). The Americans never paid a cent.

The US also pressured the IMF, World Bank, and UN agencies to block Hanoi’s applications for loans, seriously retarding reconstruction.

When the slave revolt in Hispaniola (present day-Haiti) drove out the French, the Western powers returned in force a few years later and imposed harsh “reparations” for being dispossessed of their “stolen” land and humans. From 1825, Haiti was forced to pay 150 million francs to France to compensate former slaveholders for their “lost property”. This debt was only fully paid off in 1947, permanently crippling the nation.

The US-Israeli war on Iran is something different. Iran, like the Vietnamese, the Algerians and the Indians may have what it takes to prevail over imperial aggression. Iran may also have something different: the power to impose reparations on the aggressor.

Across the West we are subjected to the astonishing chutzpah of Western leaders decrying the “illegality” of Iran’s declaration of sovereignty over the Hormuz Strait in response to the war launched against them. These same leaders stood silent and complicit and lifted no more than an eyebrow as hundreds of Iranian schoolchildren were killed, hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure destroyed, and leader after leader were assassinated.

Cowards, all of them, they at best offered whispered rebukes when Trump threatened the destruction of Iranian civilisation in a single night. But tax a barrel of oil and “Oh my god, this is intolerable!”

Iran has every right to insist on reparations but they will only come about if Iran succeeds in imposing its position on the belligerents. The Israelis and Americans are unlikely to face justice at the International Criminal Court (ICC) or International Court of Justice (ICJ), so reparations must be extracted from the other enabling states like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and France. It is an elegant solution.

One thing the Iranians will hopefully recover soon is their stolen money. Experts estimate more than $100 billion remains blocked in foreign banks (including in the US, Qatar, South Korea, and Iraq).

We should remember that since 1979 the Western world has grievously damaged Iran’s economy via sanctions and the weaponisation of international trading systems, as well as blocking its integration within the community of nations.

A world historic moment is possible
If Iran succeeds in extracting reparations, it will be a world historic moment. It will be an achievement that will benefit countries around the globe which are similarly assailed by major powers. Nuclear powers like the US and Israel should respect the territorial integrity of non-nuclear states. They have done the opposite — and should face consequences.

For these reasons and more, I hope the Iranian government succeeds in its historic mission to preserve the territorial integrity of the sovereign state of Iran and that they can receive just compensation for the terrible crimes committed against them.

I will give the last word to Mohaddeseh Fallahat, a mother who spoke to the UN Human Rights Council this month about losing her daughter to a US airstrike at Minab at the very start of the US-Israeli war on Iran:

“As they walked out the door, they simply said, Mum, come pick us up after school. That simple sentence now repeats in my mind a thousand times. Each time my heart burns with pain. No mother ever thinks she will send her child off to school with a smile, only to be met with silence.”

Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He is a contributor to Asia Pacific Report and hosts solidarity.co.nz

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 26, 2026
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Fiji Minister for Defence and Veterans Affairs Pio Tikoduadua has confirmed that a police officer seriously injured during a checkpoint incident in Laqere is his daughter.

In a statement, Tikoduadua said the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday at a joint checkpoint involving the Fiji Police Force and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

“At approximately 3am, officers on duty encountered a vehicle that failed to stop. A pursuit followed through the Nakasi corridor and back toward Laqere,” he said.

“During the attempt to stop the vehicle, a police officer was struck and sustained serious injuries. She is currently receiving treatment at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital and remains in a serious but stable condition.”

Tikoduadua revealed the injured officer was on duty at the time of the incident.

“The officer is my daughter. She was on duty at the checkpoint at the time of the incident,” he said.

He confirmed that suspects have been arrested and that items believed to be illicit drugs were recovered from the vehicle, with investigations continuing.

Risk faced by officers
“This incident reflects the level of risk that officers face in responding to drug-related activity. Drugs are not only a policing issue — they present a national security concern. They are linked to organised activity and increase the likelihood of violence,” he said.

Tikoduadua stressed that joint operations between police and the military will continue to address such threats and maintain public safety.

“I am concerned as a father. I am also clear in my responsibilities as minister. The work being carried out by our officers must continue, and those responsible for this incident will be dealt with through the law,” he said.

He also called on the public to allow authorities to carry out their investigations without interference.

“I ask the public to allow the police to complete their investigations and to avoid speculation. My focus remains on her recovery and on supporting the officers who continue their duties.”

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

An official of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) praised this month’s High Court judicial ruling over New Zealand Superfund “unreasonable and unlawful” investment policies towards Israeli companies — but warned that the fund management would need to shape up.

Speaking at the PSNA rally at Te Komititanga Square today in week 133 of protests over Israeli genocide in Gaza, national secretary Neil Scott also gave a verbal bouquet to all the activists and lawyers who had achieved the victory after a 20-year struggle.

He named Phil McNeale as one of the activists who began pushing for the Superfund to divest from Israeli companies funding illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank about two decades ago.

PSNA earlier issued a statement declaring that this was an “important and timely win for Palestine” and expressed confidence that the Superfund would “quickly divest from the four companies [where] it holds investments” which were on the UN Human Rights Council list involved in building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements.

Scott recalled that during 2020 and 2021, PSNA had called on the Superfund chief executive Matt Whineray to divest from Israeli banks.

“We know Israel cannot build the illegal colonies in the West bank without bank funding,” he said.

“Essentially, our NZ Superfund was investing in funding war crimes. On our behalf.”

‘Shameful policy’
On each communication about the “shameful” policy, Whineray had rejected the PSNA protest.

“In 2021, PSNA got a King’s Counsel (KC) lawyer to review the investments in Israeli banks and then sent a letter to then Minister of Finance Grant Robertson setting out the legal opinion,” Scott said.

“Robertson refused to respond to us. But soon after, the Superfund divested from four Israeli banks. Yes, we won then.”

However, Scott said that in 2021, just after the divestment decision, the Israeli Institute was “all over the Superfund with a flood of OIA requests — six of them”.

“A bunch of private individual OIA requests also went in,” Scott said.

“Usually, the Superfund received about 3 or 4 OIA requests a year. In 2021, it received 11.

“So, it seems as if massive pressure was put on the NZ Superfund to change its policies on ethical investments — to benefit Zionist Israel.

‘Gutting ethical investment’
“In 2022, it did just that. Gutting the ethical investment policies so that even investments in Israeli banks wouldn’t have been excluded.”

Scott said the Superfund dropped any reference to the “UN Global Compact” and the “Principles for Responsible Investment” — two of the main ethical investment policies in the world.

“It did this, sliding the changes through in the shadows without letting anyone know. Just slid it through in the shadows.”

PSNA kept on calling the Superfund to divest from the UN Divestment list. However, the Superfund responded by claiming that the companies cited “did not meet their, now secret, threshold”.

Late in 2024, PSNA decided to call for a judicial review of the Superfund’s investment in four companies.

“We briefed two KCs on the call. They agreed that it would have a good chance of winning,” Scott said.

“During the process of discovery, the KCs found that the Superfund had secretly changed its ethical investment policies during 2022.”

Who is responsible?
Scott said the PSNA was now determined to find out who were responsible for changing the ethical investment policies for the “benefit of a foreign country”.

He named a minister, chair of the board and the chief executive at the time of the change, saying that as a result of the High Court ruling, the Superfund “has a duty to reformulate the policy documents consistently with the [NZ Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001]”.

Scott praised the team responsible for winning the case: PSNA co-chair John Minto; co-chair Maher Nazzal, a Palestinian; Palestinian Rawaa Elhanafy; Rodney Harrison KC (who wrote the original letter to then minister Robertson in 2021); Francis Joychild KC; and B A Mugisho.

He also gave a final message to the cheering protest crowd: “A word of advice to everyone in the management of the Superfund — Aotearoa is our country. Not racist, ethnic cleansing, land thieving genocidal Zionist Israel.

“You work for Aotearoa. Do your job.”

May Day ‘Stop war’ rally
Among other speakers at the protest, Stop Wars Aotearoa organiser Joe Carolan appealed for support at next Friday’s May Day “Stop the fuel crisis and stop the war” rally at 6pm at Karanga-a-Hape Station.

“High fuel prices are driving workers reliant on cars off the roads. Our rightwing coalition government rules for the rich and doesn’t feel the pain of the cost of living crisis. We need solutions, not excuses,” Carolan said.

“The Solution: Free, frequent public transport for all, funded by taxes on the oil companies and the super rich.”

The Stop Wars Aotearoa coalition is demanding:

• Immediate free transport as a climate and cost-of-living solution;
• Permanent, 24 hr, frequent and fare-free transit for all, paid for by taxing corporations and billionaires; and
• Prioritised fuel for essential services, not luxury, while transitioning to renewables. New green jobs in a massive expansion of public transport and rail.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Israel’s diabolical killing machine and how it targets journalists
As World Press Freedom Day rapidly approaches and Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Israeli government for its massacre of journalists in Lebanon and Palestine, New Zealand journalist David Robie reflects in a speech at Te Komititanga Square today. MEDIA FREEDOM: By David Robie In a week’s time next Sunday, it is World Press Freedom

PSNA calls on McKee to condemn Israel’s bulldozing of NZ war graves in Gaza
Asia Pacific Report The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has appealed to ACT MP Nicole McKee to condemn Israel’s deliberate bulldozing of New Zealand war graves in the besieged Palestinian Gaza enclave. PSNA co-chair John Minto has asked for the MP to take this action after McKee had posted on Facebook yesterday a message of strong

MEDIA FREEDOM: By David Robie

In a week’s time next Sunday, it is World Press Freedom Day on May 3. And already our whānau of journalists who are facing horrendous danger at the hands of the Israeli killing machine have had a shocking few days.

During our 133 weeks of protest we have become painfully accustomed to how one journalist after another has been brutally assassinated, some even alongside their family members.

Far more than 260 journalists — the actual number varies with different media freedom monitoring agencies and different methodologies — have been slaughtered in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023.

And some of you may have seen the chilling photograph circulating on some social media channels. It shows 8 Lebanese journalists – four men and four women – smiling and giving peace signs.

Eight Lebanese journalists killed in a month by Israel https://t.co/Fqeji5D3M8

— Pen MacRae (@penmacrae) April 23, 2026

They have all been murdered in the last month, including the tragic killing of Amal Khalil, who died last Wednesday under building rubble in the town of al-Tayri, southern Lebanon, after a double tap attack and then the Israelis fired a stun grenade on the ambulance rescue workers preventing them trying to save her.

But before I talk more about her tragedy and what it means– she was just buried yesterday with thousands at her funeral — I want to show you another photo.

This is Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist working for the Arabic channel Al Jazeera who was a highly popular household name right across the Middle East if not the world.

She was known as the “daughter of Palestine” and she was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces on 11 May 2022 — just eight days after Media Freedom Day that year.

I have this photo hanging on the wall of my office, thanks to Palestine Youth of Aotearoa, to remind me daily of the brutality and global impunity of the Israelis.

With my experience as a media freedom defender for Pacific Media Watch and Reporters Without Borders since 1996, I have come to a chilling and shameful conclusion:

The fact that there was no accountability for her murder and the US authorities and Biden administration orchestrated a cover-up – even though she was American — signalled to the Netanyahu government that they could target journalists and those bearing witness with absolute impunity.

So this is where we are at now, the Israeli killing machine launched into a bloody massacre of more than 72,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza over the past two plus years, especially targeting journalists, doctors and medical workers, teachers, and aid workers.

And the hypocritical Western countries, including Aotearoa New Zealand, have barely offered a timid bleat.

The Israeli bloodlust has now spread to Lebanon and other countries. The IDF claims that its military is the “most moral in the world”. That claim is an obscenity.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect journalists (CPJ), Israel is by far the world’s biggest killer of media workers.

On its monitoring website it lists the following:

• 260 journalists and media workers killed by Israel, of which:
• 207 were Palestinians killed in Gaza
• 2 Palestinian killed in Gaza during the Iran war
• 2 Palestinians killed in Israeli detention centers
• 31 Yemenis – out of a total of 32 – killed in Yemen
• 6 Lebanese in Lebanon during the war on Gaza
• 9 Lebanese in Lebanon during the Iran war
• 3 Iranians in Iran during the 12-day war

To return to the targeted murder of Amal Khalil, who worked for Al-Akhbar, she was with another journalist, Zeinab Faraj, who was rescued and survived.

The Paris-based media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders said in a statement by its Middle East desk chief Jonathan Dagher:

“The Israeli army has very likely committed two more war crimes on 22 April, by targeting journalists who were identified as such, obstructing rescue operations and continuing strikes that killed one journalist and injured another.

“Responsibility for these crimes also lies with Israel’s allies, who continue to allow the Netanyahu government to commit them with impunity.”

RSF published a compelling and disturbing timeline of how the IDF blocked her would-be rescuers for seven hours.

CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa regional director Sara Qudah said:

“We knew [Amal] was alive beneath the rubble – a real, breathing presence. Not in the abstract, not as rumour or hope.

“The 40-year-old female journalist, Amal Khalil, whose voice had just reached her family and colleagues, her survival depended on whether the machinery of rescue would be allowed to operate as it is supposed to under international law, and the law of humanity.

“That is what made what followed so difficult to process — not only emotionally, but structurally.

“Because this was not a case of disappearance in the fog of war.

“It was a case of proximity to survival that collapsed into confirmed death while rescue was still theoretically possible.”

Qudah added that her death could not be understood only as an individual tragedy, “although it was that to everyone who knew her, every journalist in the region”.

“It must also be understood as a stress test of the systems that are supposed to prevent this outcome — early warning, protection, humanitarian access and accountability. On each of these dimensions, the case raises unresolved questions.”

Israel is not only killing journalists, it is systematically torturing them — along with hundreds of other Palestinian hostages. CPJ’s recent report, “We returned from hell”, where the watchdog published the in-depth testimonies of 59 media prisoners released from jail since October 2023 is shocking reading.

I would like to finish with a quote by Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein, who visited New Zealand in 2023 to launch his  book The Palestine Laboratory about how the Israeli killing machine exports in brutal technologies — a book that has been translated into many languages and had a profound influence in the world.

“With some notable exceptions, too many in the international media, journalists, editors and owners, have refused to take appropriate action against Israel. No official sanction.

“[They are] still interviewing Israeli spokespeople and politicians as normal. Not treating this as a monumental crime and outrage. Instead, often deferring to unproven Israeli claims that every journalist murdered was a ‘terrorist’.”

This complicity by many journalists — even in our own region — must be widely condemned.

Dr David Robie is convenor of Pacific Media Watch and a media defender with global groups including RSF. He gave this short address at the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) rally in Auckland on Anzac Day.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has appealed to ACT MP Nicole McKee to condemn Israel’s deliberate bulldozing of New Zealand war graves in the besieged Palestinian Gaza enclave.

PSNA co-chair John Minto has asked for the MP to take this action after McKee had posted on Facebook yesterday a message of strong support for looking after NZ soldiers’ graves wherever they are.

Minto said in a statement on Anzac Day: “Israel’s destruction of New Zealand war graves was not an accident of war. It was the deliberate bulldozing of the graves by the Israeli military”

“They have bulldozed dozens of Palestinian cemeteries as standard practice to erase Palestine from Gaza,” he said.

“They didn’t think twice about bulldozing our war graves, knowing there would be no reaction from our government and they were right.”

In her Facebook post McKee wrote:

“We talk a lot about honouring our fallen — but real respect is shown in what we do, not just what we say.

“Across New Zealand, volunteers from the NZ Remembrance Army have quietly restored hundreds of thousands of service graves, preserving the stories and dignity of those who served. They do it efficiently, carefully, and with genuine respect.

“What’s been holding them back is layers of inconsistent rules and bureaucracy.

“ACT is committing to cut through that, back these volunteers with funding, and make sure this work can continue at scale.

“Because if someone was prepared to give everything for this country, the least we can do is ensure they are remembered properly.”

Call for ‘real respect’
Minto responded in the PSNA statement today by saying: “We agree with McKee when she says ‘real respect is shown in what we do, not just what we say’.

“Let’s see some respect for our soldiers who died in Gaza [in 1919] with a rousing government condemnation of the deliberate destruction of these war graves.

“We won’t hold our breath. The government can’t even condemn Israel for the mass killing and mass starvation of Palestinians in Gaza — a campaign of physical and cultural destruction which continues today.”

PSNA has long called on the government to condemn Israel’s deliberate destruction of war graves in Gaza. In a statement on February 9, it said: “PSNA is calling on the government to condemn Israel’s desecration of New Zealand war graves in Gaza.

“Israeli bulldozing of the graves was confirmed last week but the New Zealand government has not responded with any comment.”

Palestinian Essam Jaradah, who had tended the New Zealand graves for 45 years, confirmed their destruction in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

“Common decency demands we condemn Israel for this abuse of our war dead,” Minto said in he February statement. “If it happened anywhere else in the world the government would register shock and be appalled.

Australian responded, not NZ
“Australia has spoken out but nothing from New Zealand. No protest expressed, no demand Israel apologise, no request for access to inspect the damage. Nothing.”

“Neither has there been any response from the New Zealand Returned Services Association.”

Minto said Israel relied on what he called “huge and sympathetic media attention” for more than two years, demanding the return of the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza.

“It seems the only human remains which matter are Israeli ones. Over a period, Israel has systematically destroyed Palestinian cemeteries and now the war graves of our soldiers.”

There were 23 graves of New Zealand First World War soldiers in the Commonwealth War Cemetery, plus another two from the 280-strong Rarotongan Company from the Cook Islands, which also fought for Britain to capture Palestine from the Turkish Ottomans.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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For the first time in history, the Goldman Environmental Prize — often dubbed the “Green Nobel” — has been awarded entirely to women.

Since 1990, the prize has recognised ordinary people taking on extraordinary environmental battles.

The six winners this year are Theonila Roka Matbob (Bougainville), Yuvelis Morales Blanco (Colombia), Borim Kim (South Korea), Alannah Acaq Hurley (United States). Sarah Finch (England), and Iroro Tanshi (Nigeria).

This year’s theme for the awards was “Change Starts Where You Stand — we are all agents of change, every one of us”.

Their work spans environmental justice, mining and drilling, climate and energy, and wildlife protection, focusing on the breadth of challenges — and leadership — at the frontlines of the climate crisis.

At the awards ceremony, held on April 20 in San Francisco, the winners’ speeches addressed a multitude of issues plaguing the planet today.

“This award honours all of us. Those who stood against all odds, those who never wavered in speaking up against greed and destruction, who have shown up year after year, writing letters, testifying at hearings, protests, and raising their kids to value people over profit,” said Alannah Acaq Hurley, whose work has confronted the threat of mining across indigenous lands.

Borim Kim, another winner, noted: “Disasters are treated as individual tragedies to be endured, alone.”

Also among the winners is Pacific representative, Theonila Matbob, an Indigenous Nasioi woman from Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea.

Matbob said it was inspiring to be one of six women honoured, and that around the world, women were increasingly taking a leading role in land guardianship.

“It is becoming more prevalent that in land guardianship, and finding sustainable economic avenues to make a living and find an identity, that women are paying a lot of attention to issues that are impacting the human connection to land, and the responsibility of guardianship,” Matbob said.

An ‘extraordinary feat’
“It is no small feat to bring Bouganville to global attention… in a way, that is extraordinary.”

At just 35, Theonila Matbob’s advocacy has driven significant change, confronting the traumatic legacy of the Panguna Mine.

It has had a fraught history of violence, displacement and severe environmental damage during its operation between 1972 and 1989, sparking a decade-long civil war that killed 10,000 to 15,000 people and left around one billion tonnes of waste on the island.

According to Bougainville Copper Limited, in the 17 years prior to its closure in 1989 the Panguna Mine produced concentrate containing three million tonnes of copper, 306 tonnes of gold and 784 tonnes of silver. The production had a value of 5.2 billion PNG kina which represented approximately 44 percent of Papua New Guinea’s exports over that period.

Matbob herself grew up in the shadow of the mine, and the civil war it ignited.

As a child, she witnessed her father being dragged away by rebels as it unfolded.

He was later killed.

Refugee camp
Her mother took Matbob and her siblings to nearby Arawa, where she spent years of her childhood detained and displaced in a refugee camp, which was tightly controlled by the PNG Defence Force.

Matbob’s experiences shaped an instinctive and undeniable urge to address the environmental and social harms that this caused, resulting in years of advocacy work.

In 2013, she co-founded the John Roka Counselling and Learning Centre with her husband, an NGO supporting communities affected by the civil war through education and trauma counselling.

By 2014, Matbob wanted answers and reconciliation to address the impacts of the war, and the mine’s enduring harms.

She later worked with the Human Rights Law Centre to collect villagers’ testimonies on ongoing environmental damage. These testimonies informed the 2020 report After After the Mine: Living with Rio Tinto’s Deadly Legacy, which advanced efforts for recognition.

She is the lead complainant and campaigner for the Basikang clan in Bougainville, working through the government’s Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment to seek further accountability for the abandoned mine.

“When you have a lived experience, and you have all these episodic childhood memories… you find the right words to craft your story of accountability, and that’s sort of a win, in a way for my advocacy work,” Matbob said.

‘Tailoring your advocacy’
“You really tailor your advocacy to an intention that is focused. Sometimes you may come up with campaigns, but if you don’t have the lived experience to craft something… you can’t invest real passion. You find what your purpose is, in life as a guardian of the land and tribal child who belongs to a clan, a family,” she added.

In November 2024, mining giant Rio Tinto signed a landmark memorandum, addressing the environmental and social damage caused by the long-dormant mine.

Speaking to RNZ Pacific, Matbob said the award carries significant weight given the calibre of nominees for the Goldman Award.

“It is the highest environmental recognition in the world, but I believe my response would be — I am grateful for the personal growth and alignment in serving our real purpose. It’s a great networking platform, and a way to have more connectivity to other indigenous cultures.”

“But at the regional level, Bougainville is the big inspiration… Bougainville is, in no way, in the zones of being well-secured. We are not guaranteed a resource market, and so it is no small feat to bring Bougainville to global attention in a way like this that is extraordinary,” she said.

Translating into action
Matbob added that this recognition must now translate into action.

“Putting spotlight onto accountability. To use this platform to rise and demand commitment, because we can’t afford to wait any longer… or patiently wait for a solution, in a deal and a mess that was not part of our agreement.”

Looking forward, Matbob has advice for others.

“Defending the environment as a land guardian is a challenge. It’s intimidating. It comes with a lot of pressure, but that is your fight… be the person you are. You are equally powerful, and only when you dip your feet into the cold, that is where you will grow.

“Take no fear, have your mind right, listen to your guts and you will be able to be your authentic self as a land warrior. You owe it to your past generations, and you owe it to your future generations,” she said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Graffam-O’Meara, Tutor in English & Theatre, The University of Melbourne There’s a line in the opening moments of Anne Edmonds’ Bad Company that announces the show’s premise: “Money is the death of creativity”. Delivered by Margie Argyle (Edmonds), the wildly self-assured artistic director of the Argyle

Anzac then and now: as trans-Tasman defence relations get closer, NZ must be on guard
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Anzac Day 2026 arrives in tumultuous times: unresolved conflict in the Middle East, the erosion of the old international order, the famous Doomsday Clock set closer to midnight than ever before. Without doubt, this brings New Zealand’s defence relationship

Scientists finally know how old the Twelve Apostles are – and they’re much younger than anyone thought
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gallagher, Associate Professor, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Melbourne Every year, millions of visitors stand at the clifftop lookouts along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road and gaze out at the Twelve Apostles. These towering limestone stacks, rising up to 70 metres above

The carbon tax debate damaged Julia Gillard’s leadership – and good climate policy for years to come
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Carbon pricing and the Gillard government are fused together like molten glass in the memory of all those who witnessed the traumatic and consequential policy and political drama surrounding

After 110 years of Anzac Days, new research shows Australians remain convinced of its importance
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Townsend, Lecturer in War Studies, UNSW Sydney 110 years ago this week, Anzac Day was held for the first time. It has been observed annually ever since. Today, Anzac Day has emerged as an unofficial national day. But what do Australians think about the most significant

States have driven climate action until now. It’s time for the Australian government to step up
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wright, PhD Candidate in Environmental Policy, Macquarie University For more than a decade, Australia’s emissions reductions have been driven not by the federal government but by the states and territories, often in relative obscurity. State governments took the lead in driving rapid uptake of renewable energy,

Taking your child to an Anzac service? Prepare for loud noises and big questions
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marg Rogers, Associate Professor in the Early Childhood Education, University of New England Tens of thousands of Australians are expected to attend Anzac Day marches and services over the weekend. Many children will also be there with their families or school groups. Anzac events are often very

Why the world’s banks are so worried about Anthropic’s latest AI model
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Walsh, Professor of AI, Research Group Leader, UNSW Sydney The legendary American bank robber Willie Sutton spent 40 years robbing banks because, as he claimed in his autobiography, he loved doing it. And when asked why he chose banks of all places to rob, he allegedly

The first Anzac Day was marked by women wearing mourning black
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanja Luckins, Historian, Department of Archeology and History, La Trobe University Even before the first world war, a high mortality rate from disease, accident and death during infancy meant that Australians were familiar with mourning black. During a period of mourning, for example after the death of

The theatre of war: how the Anzac story has been retold through dance for 80 years
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yvette Grant, PhD Candidate in Dance and Dance History Tutor, The University of Melbourne The story of the Anzacs has been represented through art from the beginning. The film Hero of the Dardanelles (1915) recreates the landing at Gallipoli. Official war artists were commissioned to document the

How scientists changed their view of insomnia
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Iuliana Hartescu, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Loughborough University Insomnia may have been torturing humanity since ancient times, but over the last 20 years scientists have made progress in their understanding of chronic sleep deprivation. Today, sleep deprivation is one of the most widespread reported psychological problems in

Middle East conflict looks increasingly like a war nobody can win
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bamo Nouri, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of International Politics, City St George’s, University of London Let’s begin with a simple question that rarely gets a straight answer: what would victory over Iran actually look like? In Washington and Jerusalem, the answers tend to sound definitive: eliminate Iran’s

David Malouf was a writer of wisdom, grace and generosity
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brigid Rooney, Associate Professor (Affiliate), Australian Literature, University of Sydney David George Joseph Malouf AO, one of Australia’s most accomplished, internationally renowned and beloved writers, has died aged 92. Malouf’s novels are cherished by readers – from Johnno (1975), An Imaginary Life (1978), Child’s Play (1981) and

Chernobyl at 40: the lies, the loss and why we can’t let go
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Senior Lecturer in Humanities, University of Southern Queensland Some historical events are so catastrophic they resist comprehension. And yet they compel us to try to understand them, again and again. Chernobyl is one of them. On April 26, 1986, at 1:23am, Reactor No. 4 at

Seismic ‘whiplash’ – new research shows what happens when earthquakes stop suddenly
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jesse Kearse, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The magnitude of an earthquake depends on how far a rupture travels along a fault line before it stops. For the first time, we have now directly observed how a large earthquake comes to

Targeted Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil bombed and left to die by Israel
By Jeremy Loffredo of Drop Site News Prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil has been killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack by the Israeli military in the town of Tyre in southern Lebanon. Her employer, Al-Akhbar, confirmed the death of their correspondent on Wednesday evening. Khalil and Zeinab Faraj, a freelance photojournalist, were