Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for 36 years, has been killed in US and Israeli airstrikes on his country, according to US President Donald Trump. Iran did not immediately confirm his death. As one of Iran’s longest-serving leaders, Khamenei has been almost as ubiquitous in Iranian society as his predecessor, […]

There has been massive global interest in the new social media legislation introduced in Australia aimed at protecting children from the dangers of doom‑scrolling and mental‑health risks potentially posed by these platforms during their developmental years The platforms’ methods so far for verifying young people’s ages have shown mixed effectiveness. The Australian Christmas […]

The news of the largest-ever class action settlement in Australian history seems, in many ways, like the only fitting bookend to the awful ordeal of Robodebt. Some A$548 million (including legal and administrative costs) will be paid to more than 433,000 victims, once the settlement is approved by the Federal Court. It’s undoubtedly a win […]

Australia has watched on as authorities have searched for Dezi Freeman, a so-called “sovereign citizen” accused of killing two police officers in the regional Victorian town of Porepunkah. The case has put the spotlight on the sovereign citizen, or “sovcit”, movement and its extreme, often conspiratorial, anti-government ideology. It would be […]

Recent images of an emaciated Gazan child, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, provoked global outrage. Some sought to minimise this harm, attributing it instead to pre-existing conditions or disability. But framing starvation deaths in Gaza in terms of underlying disabilities or comorbidities is misleading. It is essential to recognise these conditions do not justify suffering […]