Author: Dr Nina Khaze
On Thursday, 1 December 2022, Australia commemorated World AIDS Day. Around 38.5 million people are thought to be living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) globally. In 2021, 1.5 million were newly infected (of which 160,000 children under 15) and some 650,000 died because of HIV-related causes. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that this epidemic is far from over. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most critically affected region, where 1 in every 25 adults is thought to be living with the disease. HIV is increasingly being transmitted among heterosexual couples, including in Australia. NSW Health has launched a call to increase…
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced that more than 100 security experts from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) will work together in a permanent Joint Standing Operation. They will cooperate with overseas partner agencies (including Interpol and U.S.-based Federal Bureau of Investigation) to find culprits behind two massive cyber-attacks on Optus and Medibank, which affected more than 15 million customers. Cybercriminals who stole private information from millions of Australians, are now selling stolen data on the Dark Web, as the two companies refused to give into their ransom demands. Furthermore, the Australian Government might bring in…
There is no formal adoption mechanism in Egypt, the most populous Arab country with a population of 107.8 million in 2022, where fostering options are only reserved for Muslim families. The case of a 4-year-old boy fostered by a Coptic Christian family in Egypt then forcibly removed by the state has reopened a debate about fostering rights by non-Muslims and Coptic Christians in this predominantly Muslim country with at least 10 per cent of non-Muslim population. Egypt’s Coptic Christians are now driving the social change by calling for an overhaul of the country’s fostering rights and adoption laws in light…
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is asking for an urgent international medical assistance after Islamist militants belonging to al-Shabaab (“The Youth”) terrorist organisation detonated twin car bombs on Saturday 29 October, killing over 100 and wounding more than 300 bystanders. Some of the victims included mothers with children in their arms. The main target of the latest terror strike was the Ministry of Education, but the second bomb detonated as medical personnel arrived to assist the victims. Five years ago, the same road junction was targeted in a terror strike which killed more than 500 people in the deadliest terror…
On 23 November 2022, it will be six months since Anthony Albanese was inaugurated Australia’s 31st Prime Minister—and 8th Labor Prime Minister (out of 18) since the Second World War. Past postwar Labor leaders included Queenslander Kevin Rudd, South Australian Julia Gillard, NSW-based Paul Keating, Victorian Bob Hawke, NSW-based Gough Whitlam, and NSW-based Ben Chifley. In his predecessors’ footsteps Albanese will walk, leap, and make new policy inroads, including towards Beijing and Taipei. But is it going to be a continuation of tit-for-tat diplomatic “wargames” (and Australia potentially becoming a target for Chinese nuclear torpedoes), or an era of renewed…