Australia news live: students at two universities pack up pro-Palestine camps; Queensland rejects carbon capture project over aquifer fears

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Taiwan interested in critical-minerals trade with Australia

Taiwan’s representative to Australia, Douglas Hsu, spoke to ABC RN just earlier about China’s military drills around Taiwan and trading with Australia.

We will continue to show our interest in engaging with Australia on the trade front. I think in the past few months, especially on critical minerals, I had a few opportunities to travel to West Australia and Northern Territory to talk with the businessman in the critical minerals industries.

I found that well, first of all, I was very surprised or impressed by the scale of Australia’s mining industry, and we’ll definitely look forward to bringing more Taiwanese business to work even more closely with Australian partners.

It’s really about ensuring services can do early work that can stop children from experiencing harm, helping kids before they get to crisis point and intervening early to break that cycle of violence and abuse.

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Daniel Duggan loses fight against extradition to US over allegedly training Chinese pilots, magistrate rules

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The Australian former US marine pilot faces a potential prison sentence of up to 60 years on charges of arms trafficking and money laundering

Australian man Daniel Duggan, a former US marine pilot wanted in America over allegations he trained Chinese fighter pilots, is eligible to be extradited to the United States where he faces a potential prison sentence of up to 60 years, a magistrate has ruled.

Duggan appeared in court for the first time since his arrest 19 months ago, dressed in a grey suit jacket, white shirt and blue tie. From behind the security glass of the dock he blew kisses to his family and supporters, and made a love-heart symbol towards his wife, Saffrine, mouthing the words “I love you” to her.

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Saint Peter: Sydney eatery that cooks ‘most fascinating parts’ of fish makes World’s 50 Best Restaurants long list

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Chef Josh Niland ‘quite emotional’ to learn his seafood spot named in extended list of restaurants ranked 51 to 100

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants has released its extended list – and the Sydney seafood spot Saint Peter has become the only Australian restaurant to make the cut, receiving praise for spearheading a movement.

In a tweet this week, World’s 50 Best described Josh Niland’s Saint Peter as a “ground-breaking” restaurant that “takes the great Australian seafood tradition to previously unexplored heights”.

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Potentially habitable planet size of Earth discovered 40 light years away

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Queensland- and Scotland-based PhD students co-lead team celebrating ‘Eureka moment’ spotting Gliese 12b

An Australian university student has co-led the discovery of an Earth-sized, potentially habitable planet just 40 light years away.

Shishir Dholakia, a PhD candidate in astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland, is part of an international team that published the discovery in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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More than 200 EU staff sign letter expressing concerns over Gaza crisis

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Exclusive: Signatories cite union’s ‘continued apathy’ to plight of Palestinians and seek official call for ceasefire

More than 200 staff members of EU institutions and agencies have signed a letter expressing “growing concern” over the union’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, arguing that it runs contrary to its core values and aim of promoting peace.

The letter, signed by 211 people in their personal capacity as citizens and addressed to the EU’s top three officials, begins by condemning the 7 October attacks “in the strongest terms”.

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UK ministers to be challenged in human rights court over protest injunctions

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Friends of the Earth will argue private companies are allowed to create their own public order laws that stifle demonstrations

The government is to be challenged at the European court of human rights over its use of “confusing and opaque” anti-protest injunctions.

The environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) is to argue such injunctions allow private companies to create bespoke public order laws that stifle peaceful protest.

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‘Superstar’ Indigenous artist and activist dies aged 67

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The artist used ephemera to convey how white Australia failed to come to terms with the country’s Indigenous peoples

Destiny Deacon, the trailblazing First Nations artist and activist known for her works using “Koori Kitsch” to subvert colonial interpretations of Indigenous culture, has died aged 67.

Deacon’s death was announced on Friday by Sydney’s Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, which has represented the artist for more than two decades.

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Melbourne boxer Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim survives second shooting in two years

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Victoria police confirm man, 32, was not wounded when shots fired in Thomastown on Friday morning

A former Mongols bikie has survived a shooting in suburban Melbourne, two years after an assassination attempt outside a cemetery.

Shots were fired at Suleiman “Sam” Abdulrahim, a professional boxer who goes by the name “The Punisher”, as he left his Thomastown home early on Friday morning.

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Jarrad Antonovich inquest halted for potential criminal charges over death at NSW spiritual retreat

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Coroner suspends inquest into death of man who consumed ayahuasca and frog toxin kambo at the Dreaming Arts festival at Arcoora in 2021

An inquest into the death of a man after taking poison and hallucinogens has been suspended after a coroner found there could be enough evidence for charges to be laid.

Jarrad Antonovich died of a perforated oesophagus after consuming the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca and frog-based poison kambo at the Dreaming Arts festival at Arcoora retreat in northern NSW on 16 October 2021.

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Papua New Guinea landslide: fears up to 100 dead in remote northern region

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Six villages in PNG’s Enga province were covered on Friday morning, with response teams sent to the area

A landslide in a remote region in northern Papua New Guinea killed up to 100 people, local people estimated as emergency teams rushed to the area.

Six villages in Mulitaka, in Enga province’s Porgera-Paiela district, were covered by the landslide early on Friday morning.

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Tory MPs mull over their fate after Rishi Sunak’s election call

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Gloom, resignation, but also a show of fighting spirit as PM’s troops weigh up the odds on re-election

In the frenzied hours shortly after Rishi Sunak made his surprise election announcement on Wednesday, despairing Tory MPs could be spotted wandering around Westminster contemplating their fate.

One government minister was seen thrusting his official red folder towards his opposition number, whom he had happened to bump into. “You might as well have this now,” he said.

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UK’s Environment Agency chief admits regulator buries freedom of information requests

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Speaking at the UK River Summit, Philip Duffy said officials do not want to reveal the true ‘embarrassing’ environmental picture

The head of the Environment Agency has admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is “embarrassing”.

Philip Duffy, the body’s chief executive, told an audience at the UK River Summit in Morden, south London, this week that his officials were “worried about revealing the true state of what is going on” with regards to the state of the environment.

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China testing ability to ‘seize power’ in second day of military drills around Taiwan

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PLA says exercises launched in response to president’s inauguration will test capacity to ‘seize power, launch joint attacks and occupy key areas’

China has begun a second day of military drills targeting Taiwan, this time testing its military’s ability to “seize power”, in what it says is punishment for “separatist acts” after the inauguration of the island’s new president on Monday.

The exercises, which involve Chinese military units from the air force, rocket force, navy, army, and coast guard, were announced suddenly on Thursday morning, with maps showing five approximate target areas in the sea surrounding Taiwan’s main island. Other areas also targeted Taiwan’s offshore islands, which are close to the Chinese mainland.

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Court backlog target in England and Wales no longer achievable, says NAO

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Watchdog says outstanding caseload has increased from 60,000 to 67,573 since MoJ set target of 53,000 in 2021

The Ministry of Justice’s ambition to reduce the backlog in crown courts in England and Wales to 53,000 by March next year is no longer achievable, a parliamentary watchdog has said.

The MoJ set the target in October 2021 when the outstanding caseload was 60,000, but by the end of last year it had reached 67,573 – its highest level ever – according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report.

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Pakistani poet was abducted because of human rights activism, says wife

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Ahmad Farhad was pushed into vehicle hours after posting about threats from country’s spy agency, says Syeda Urooj Zainab

The wife of a Pakistani poet and journalist who was abducted from outside his house last week has accused the country’s spy agency of responsibility, saying it acted because of his activism.

Ahmad Farhad was pushed into a vehicle after returning from a dinner in the early hours of Wednesday 15 May and driven away.

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ICJ expected to make new ruling on Israel’s war in Gaza

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Court may order a halt to offensive, in what would be another sign of growing international isolation for Benjamin Netanyahu

The international court of justice is expected to issue a new ruling on Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza at 3pm (1400 BST) on Friday, as the US expressed concern over Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation among countries that have traditionally supported it.

Amid speculation that the ICJ could order a halt to Israel’s offensive, a second top global court – the international criminal court – identified the three judges who will hear a request for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

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