‘Anywhere, anytime’: Victoria police and PSOs to get random stop and search powers after Labor backflip

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Premier Ben Carroll adopts Coalition’s stance on Jack’s Law, which gives police and PSOs power to randomly search people for knives with metal detectors

The Victorian premier has made another policy backflip, announcing a re-elected Labor government would give police and protective services officers the power to stop and search people for knives using handheld metal detectors – despite experts warning of a lack of evidence that the measure reduces violent crime.

Ben Carroll on Wednesday announced he would match a commitment made by the Coalition opposition last year to introduce Queensland’s Jack’s Law, named after 17-year-old Jack Beasley, who was fatally stabbed in Surfers Paradise in 2019.

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What’s the Pinglu Canal, China’s new gateway to Southeast Asia? – Al Jazeera

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  1. What’s the Pinglu Canal, China’s new gateway to Southeast Asia?  Al Jazeera
  2. China launches Pinglu Canal, slashing transit time to Southeast Asia  South China Morning Post
  3. Mainland welcomes Taiwan companies to share Pinglu Canal opportunities  news.cgtn.com
  4. I Surveyed China’s Pinglu Canal in 1968. Fifty-Eight Years Later, I Watched It Open.  Vocal
  5. A China committed to high-standard opening-up is surging forward along the Pinglu Canal: Global Times editorial  Global Times
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Al-Qaida and IS-linked violence in Africa’s Sahel belt set to hit record levels this year

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Twenty-five years after 9/11, figures compiled by conflict monitor underline how Sahel region has become centre of Islamist terror

Islamist extremist violence in Africa’s Sahel region is set to reach historic highs after a series of sweeping offensives by groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State, according to new figures compiled by the conflict monitor Acled.

As the US marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks launched by al-Qaida against targets in Washington and New York, the statistics underline the continued expansion of the veteran organisation in parts of Africa – in stark contrast with its relative weakness elsewhere.

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Zelensky Says Putin Wants All of Ukraine, Rejecting ‘Win-Win’ Peace Concept After 4 Years of War – Kyiv Post

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  1. Zelensky Says Putin Wants All of Ukraine, Rejecting ‘Win-Win’ Peace Concept After 4 Years of War  Kyiv Post
  2. Zelenskyy says war cannot end in win-win outcome after so many deaths  Українська правда
  3. Russian military deaths could reach one million by year-end -- Zelensky  Ukrinform
  4. Zelenskyy says "of course" Putin is lying to Trump officials  Yahoo
  5. What Ukraine's Victory Means Now: Zelenskyy Says Peace Is the Main Goal  UA.NEWS
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China defence minister urges an end to ‘provocative acts’ to open security forum – Reuters

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  1. China defence minister urges an end to 'provocative acts' to open security forum  Reuters
  2. China’s defence chief warns against coercion, avoids US, Japan mention  Al Jazeera
  3. China defence minister urges nations to curb regressive historical trends  Reuters
  4. Chinese defence chief skirts flashpoints at Xiangshan Forum ahead of Xi-Trump summit  South China Morning Post
  5. China Defense Minister Urges Nations to Step Up AI Oversight  Bloomberg.com
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Sydney man who allegedly called 13-year-old Muslim girl a ‘terrorist’ berates judge after bail refused

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Omar Yassine was arrested and charged with stalking and intimidation after allegedly hurling insults at year 8 student wearing a hijab

A middle-aged man accused of a “disgusting” Islamophobic attack on a 13-year-old girl has berated a judge after he was denied bail

Omar Yassine made an eventful court appearance on Wednesday after being held by police overnight for allegedly verbally abusing the Muslim schoolgirl on a Sydney bus.

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Anthropic lands deal in $31bn datacentre in western Queensland, David Crisafulli says

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Premier describes deal as ‘major win’ that will deliver more jobs for the state and put more energy into its grid

Anthropic, the AI company behind the large language model Claude, has done a deal to lease the site of its first Australian datacentre in western Queensland.

The $31.9bn datacentre will be the largest of its kind in Australia, according to planning documents.

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How retailers in the south of England are fighting back against shoplifting – BBC

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  1. How retailers in the south of England are fighting back against shoplifting  BBC
  2. Shoplifting under reported says Devon and Cornwall PCC  BBC
  3. Just 270 shoplifters behind almost 30,000 offences  The Telegraph
  4. How West businesses and the police are tackling shoplifting  bbc.co.uk
  5. Social Media is now the hot avenue to stop shoplifters by naming and shaming them  Digital Trends
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‘Shoplifters will take anything’: Life in a theft hotspot – BBC

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  1. 'Shoplifters will take anything': Life in a theft hotspot  BBC
  2. Just 270 shoplifters behind almost 30,000 offences  The Telegraph
  3. Shops seeing 'teens and little old ladies' steal  nz.news.yahoo.com
  4. Forget the police. These shop owners are putting shoplifters on social media  Digital Trends
  5. 'No one should feel afraid to go to work': How shoplifting is hitting high streets across England  BBC
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People protecting nature and land set up self-defence units amid threat of murder

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Defenders of forests and rivers killed at rate of one every three days in 2025, with 85% of deaths in Latin America

Nature and land defenders were murdered at the rate of one every three days last year, prompting many communities to set up self-defence units, according to the latest annual death toll by the independent watchdog Global Witness.

Organised crime groups or professional killers were implicated in more than a third of the 124 killings of defenders in 2025 as narco-trafficking activities overlapped with intrusions into indigenous territories and environmental crime, such as illegal logging and wildcat gold mining.

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NBC helicopter crash in LA kills at least three people with others injured

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Accident occurred as news crews in Los Angeles were covering a bus crash that had killed at least two people hours earlier

A news helicopter crash in a Los Angeles neighborhood has killed at least three people, after it came to the ground and burst into flames near the site of a bus crash that occurred hours earlier.

The helicopter crashed near a one-storey commercial building in the neighborhood of Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley, as news crews were covering the bus crash that left at least two people dead and six others injured, according the Los Angeles Fire Department.

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The Houthis have further tightened their grip on the Red Sea. Here’s what it could mean for the world – The Conversation

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  1. The Houthis have further tightened their grip on the Red Sea. Here’s what it could mean for the world  The Conversation
  2. Geography Is Power  The New York Times
  3. Who are the Houthis, the Iran-backed rebels threatening a key maritime passage?  The Washington Post
  4. Why Yemen’s Houthis have only grown stronger through years of war  AP News
  5. Yemen’s Gate of Tears: How another critical waterway became Iran’s wild card  CNN
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Oil prices fall after U.S. says damaged Saudi pipeline will restart operations in days – CNBC

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  1. Oil prices fall after U.S. says damaged Saudi pipeline will restart operations in days  CNBC
  2. Global Oil Prices Could Hit Highest Levels in Months After Saudi Pipeline Attacks  The New York Times
  3. Insight: Houthi blitz leaves Saudi Arabia exposed, Iran emboldened  Reuters
  4. Oil Futures Rise as More Oil Routes Are Obstructed  WSJ
  5. MBS and Saudi Arabia Face Crisis With Escalating Houthi Attacks, Oil Pipeline Shut  Bloomberg.com
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Poll shows rising trust in global institutions, less comfort with US as global leader – Reuters

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  1. Poll shows rising trust in global institutions, less comfort with US as global leader  Reuters
  2. China is not ready for a post-American world  The Economist
  3. 2026 Polling Data Survey  The Rockefeller Foundation
  4. Opinion | The world is not so much embracing China as recoiling from Trump’s US  South China Morning Post
  5. New Global Poll: Amid Growing Pessimism, Security Tops Priorities for International Cooperation  PR Newswire
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UK mathematician debunks myth around Parthenon’s optical illusions

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Study challenges belief that temple’s curves were designed to correct optical illusions that would have ruined its clean lines

A mathematician has uncovered what may be one of the longest-running myths in history after studying optical illusions and the Parthenon, the famed Greek temple that overlooks Athens.

Scholars have marvelled at the building on the Acropolis hill for more than 2,000 years and heaped praise on its architects for their clever use of geometry. Its subtle curves are said to correct optical illusions that would have otherwise ruined the Parthenon’s clean lines.

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Airlines should pay for CO2 removal if Heathrow expands, say climate advisers

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Climate Change Committee says government cannot expand airport without requiring aviation industry to clean up its emissions

Heathrow airport should be allowed to expand only if airlines pay for the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the government’s climate advisers have said.

Building a third runway and new terminals, as some in government want to do, would breach the UK’s carbon budgets and make reaching net zero by 2050 impossible, on current policies, according to the Climate Change Committee.

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Students in Gaza ‘devastated’ after plan for them to study in Belgium fails

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Belgian government unable to agree on evacuation of 13 students to take up scholarships at universities

Students who are unable to leave Gaza and take up scholarships at Belgian universities have said they are devastated after Belgium’s government hit deadlock on a plan enabling them to leave the war-torn territory.

Ahmed Abujami, a 28-year-old doctor in Gaza, said he was “deeply disappointed” after Belgium’s five-party coalition government last Friday failed to agree on an evacuation plan for 13 students and researchers in the territory. Abujami has a scholarship to do a one-year master’s degree in public health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. He hopes to gain skills and experience to rebuild Gaza’s shattered health system.

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Saudi leader under siege as enemies close in and allies turn away – Yahoo

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  1. Saudi leader under siege as enemies close in and allies turn away  Yahoo
  2. Why Saudi Arabia's balancing act with US, Iran, Houthis risks collapse  Al-Monitor
  3. Houthi Pressure and Energy Crisis: The Ultimate Test for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Leadership  news.sbs.co.kr
  4. Saudi Arabia faces chokeholds on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula amid two wars  Hawaii Public Radio
  5. The West should help Saudi Arabia take on the Houthis  The Times
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