Global Pulse

标签： Oceania

大洋洲

  • ‘Deliberate and powerful’: Daughter of Bondi terror attack victim welcomes council plan to co-host antisemitism summit

    ‘Deliberate and powerful’: Daughter of Bondi terror attack victim welcomes council plan to co-host antisemitism summit

    Almost one year after Australia’s devastating 2025 Bondi terror attack that left 15 innocent people dead, a new push to confront rising antisemitism has gained the support of a victim’s family. On Saturday, details emerged of Waverley Council’s proposed plan to co-host a national antisemitism summit, scheduled for late November, two weeks ahead of the December 14 first anniversary of the mass shooting. The proposal has already earned public backing from Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was among those killed in the brutal attack.

    Gutnick, who joined the global Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) earlier this month following her father’s death, has thrown her full support behind the summit, framing the event as a critical step to root out violent hate before it can claim more lives. In a statement shared with media, Gutnick emphasized that holding the gathering in Bondi itself carries profound symbolic weight. This community, she noted, has already paid the ultimate price for unchecked antisemitism, making it the logical place to expand Australia’s national response to the ideology.

    “My father was killed because of hatred that was allowed to grow unchecked,” Gutnick said. “If this summit is to mean anything, it has to confront that hatred at its source. That means bringing local councils together with interfaith leaders, educators, and youth workers to invest in deradicalization, early-intervention, and prevention measures that stop the next attack before it is ever planned.” The summit will bring together cross-sector leaders from across the country to map out actionable strategies to identify, expose, and address antisemitism in all its forms.

    Waverley Council is set to hold a formal vote on the proposal next week, which would see the local government partner with the New South Wales state government and the Commonwealth government of Australia to stage the two-day event on November 26 and 27. Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh has also voiced strong support for the plan, arguing that the summit comes at a critical moment for both local and national efforts to build inclusive, cohesive communities.

    “Co-hosting the summit presents a powerful and timely opportunity to bring together councils, community leaders and government partners to reflect, honour the memory of victims, and recommit to building cohesive communities free from antisemitism,” Nemesh said. For Gutnick and other families affected by the attack, the summit is more than a commemorative event—it is a chance to turn a national tragedy into meaningful action that can prevent future acts of terror fueled by hate.

  • Hawthorn gun Will Day is striding towards a return – but there’s a catch

    Hawthorn gun Will Day is striding towards a return – but there’s a catch

    AFL side Hawthorn Football Club still holds a high-impact returning talent in promising young gun Will Day, but club leaders have made clear they will not cut corners on his recovery to rush him back to the top-tier lineup before he is fully ready. After a frustrating two-and-a-half years marked by repeated injury setbacks, Day is on track to make his comeback through the Victorian Football League (VFL) on restricted minutes, before earning a call-up to the senior AFL side.

    Day’s career has been plagued by bad luck with injuries over recent seasons: the young talent has featured in just six senior AFL matches across the last two campaigns. His most recent setback, a shoulder injury sustained during pre-season training, has forced him to sit out the entirety of Hawthorn’s strong start to the 2024 season, where the club has notched four wins from its opening five matches. However, the club confirmed Day turned in an impressive, fully cleared training session on Thursday, and is projected to be available for senior selection within a five-week window.

    Hawthorn head coach Sam Mitchell told reporters he is encouraged by Day’s steady recovery progress, but remains firm on sticking to a slow, conservative rehabilitation plan to avoid re-injury. “I think he’ll come back through the VFL. I think he’ll play reasonably limited game time in his first game back whenever that is, I couldn’t put an exact date on it,” Mitchell explained. “When he gets back, I suspect he will play at least one game with limited game time through the VFL and we’ll make assessments from there. He’s still a period away, even though, I must admit I watch him train and am thinking, ‘Are you sure it has to be that long?’ But you just trust the medical staff, they do a great job for us. I am looking forward to getting him back but it won’t be soon.”

    During Thursday’s training session, Day completed controlled light tackling drills as his teammates prepared for this weekend’s match against Port Adelaide at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium. When asked whether the club would ask Day to adjust his playing technique to reduce future injury risk, Mitchell pushed back on that idea, noting that the majority of Day’s past injuries have not been contact-related, and the current tackling drills are only part of gradual contact conditioning, not a technical overhaul.

    “The majority of his injuries haven’t been impact, he’s obviously had the stuff with his feet which have been the majority of his stuff,” Mitchell said. “He’s only had the two physical hit injuries, one was from Jai Newcombe of all people, and then the one at training. So technique wise he’s quite good. I think as they build back the training, you obviously build them back physically with running, weights, but you also have to build back contact. They’ll build back his contact tolerance, he’ll do controlled tackling because the worst thing you can do is no tackling and then ‘OK, play footy.’ It’s not that we’re changing his technique too much, it’s just that we’re slowly getting him used to contact before he comes back.”

  • Refinery fire risks Australia’s oil supply amid Iran war fuel crisis

    Refinery fire risks Australia’s oil supply amid Iran war fuel crisis

    Already grappling with skyrocketing fuel prices spurred by the ongoing Iran war, Australian motorists are now facing fresh fears of further cost hikes after a destructive fire broke out at one of the nation’s only two operating oil refineries.

    Emergency response teams were dispatched to Viva Energy’s Corio refinery, located in Geelong roughly 75 kilometers southwest of Melbourne, in the late hours of Wednesday. Calls came in just before midnight reporting multiple explosions followed by large flames breaking out at the site. Firefighters worked tirelessly through the night and into the next day, finally containing and extinguishing the blaze 13 hours after it first ignited.

    According to local rescue authorities, the incident has been confirmed to stem from unexpected equipment failure at the facility. The Corio refinery plays an outsize role in Australia’s domestic fuel supply chain: it accounts for half of all fuel production for the state of Victoria, the country’s second-most populous state, and 10 percent of total national fuel output. While the site remains partially operational following the fire, federal and state officials have issued clear warnings that the incident will almost certainly disrupt domestic petrol production in the coming weeks.

    Industry analysts note that the timing of this disruption could not be worse. Australian fuel prices have already climbed steeply in recent weeks following the escalation of conflict in Iran, which has roiled global crude oil markets and pushed up input costs for refiners. With domestic supply already strained by the market shocks from the war, the partial shutdown of a key refinery creates additional supply tightness that is likely to pass through to consumers at the gas pump. BBC correspondent Simon Atkinson reports from Melbourne that industry groups are already bracing for noticeable price increases in the short term, with Victorian motorists expected to see the most immediate impact.

  • ‘We’ve lost the fabric of the game’: Ricky Stuart hits out at new six again rule as Raiders coach insists Matt Timoko will be at the club next year

    ‘We’ve lost the fabric of the game’: Ricky Stuart hits out at new six again rule as Raiders coach insists Matt Timoko will be at the club next year

    The National Rugby League is facing growing backlash over a controversial off-season rule overhaul, with one of the code’s most respected veteran coaches becoming the latest high-profile voice to condemn the change, arguing it has eroded the sport’s core identity.

    Ricky Stuart, head coach of the Canberra Raiders, once supported the NRL’s updated ‘six again’ rule interpretation, which was introduced during the 2024 off-season. Under the new regulation, referees award attacking teams an immediate set restart instead of a traditional penalty for ruck infringements or offside offences committed outside the 20-metre line. The rule was framed as a way to cut down on match stoppages and speed up overall gameplay, but it has sparked fierce pushback from fans and insiders alike.

    Stuart, who has led Canberra for more than a decade, said his initial optimism about the change has faded, as the rule has had unintended negative consequences that have hurt the quality of on-field product. Speaking ahead of the Raiders’ blockbuster Friday night home match against a Melbourne Storm side that has dropped four consecutive matches, Stuart said the league has lost the fundamental fabric of the sport that long-time fans love.

    “I was a fan of the six again, but I think we’ve lost the fabric of the game,” Stuart told reporters, aligning himself with thousands of fans who have voiced criticism of the rule on social media. “Six agains are just given now willy-nilly. There’s a free six again wave of the arm because there’s no repercussion on the decision right at the time. For me, a six again is something that has got to be penalty worthy, but I don’t think it is at the moment which is why we’re getting so much criticism with the speed of the game. Making the game faster doesn’t necessarily make it more attractive. Just because the scoreline is 50-30, I don’t believe it’s more attractive.”

    Proponents of the rule argue it has created more attacking opportunities and higher overall scores, which they claim makes matches more exciting for viewers. But critics, including Stuart, point out that the change has led to massively lopsided scorelines and forced defending teams to endure dozens of consecutive tackles, leading to excessive player fatigue late in matches that threatens both competitive balance and athlete welfare. While some top teams have adapted quickly and thrived under the new regulations, others have struggled to adjust to the relentless pace of play.

    Beyond the rule debate, Stuart confirmed a series of reshuffles to his Raiders starting side for this week’s clash, highlighted by a young winger’s personal request to step back to reserve grade. Twenty-one-year-old Savelio Tamale, who is in just his second full season of first-grade NRL, asked to drop down a level to rebuild his confidence after an unusual moment in last week’s match against South Sydney Rabbitohs in Perth. Video footage showed Tamale appearing to slow to a stop just centimetres from the try line before eventually grounding the ball for a five-pointer, a moment that sparked widespread discussion online.

    Stuart moved to shut down speculation around the incident, saying it is simply a matter of a young player working through a confidence slump, a challenge Tamale previously navigated last year following an injury spell. “He’s just down on confidence,” Stuart explained. “We don’t need to make it too big a story internally, because for us, we’ve just got to look after a young player who is lacking a bit of confidence. The same thing happened to him last year when he came back from injury. He’ll get through it. Outside of him being a talented footballer, he’s a really good bloke so he’ll get through it because he’s got good people around him and we’ll take care of him.”

    Tamale’s move to reserve grade has opened up a spot in the starting line-up, forcing a positional reshuffle: Seb Kris will shift from centre to left wing, allowing Matt Timoko to return to the starting side at centre for the first time in 2024. Timoko lost his starting spot to Simi Sasagi earlier in the season after an injury-interrupted off-season kept him out of match practice, and his stint in reserve grade sparked widespread speculation that he could seek a move away from Canberra before his current contract expires.

    Stuart was quick to dismiss those rumours, saying Timoko has acted with the utmost professionalism throughout his spell out of the starting side and remains a key part of the Raiders’ long-term plans. The coach added that Timoko, one of the NRL’s most talented attacking centres, only needed more time in reserve grade to work on his defensive fundamentals, and that he has no intention of leaving the club.

    “Matty has been amazing how he’s sat back and just kept working hard because he knows how well Simi has been playing,” Stuart said. “Even Matty said to me two weeks ago when I sat down and had a chat with him, ‘Mate, it’s hard at the moment because we’ve got Simi playing so well’, and he was fine with it and totally got it. He went back and kept working hard on his football and now he’s back in the team. He’s a club person so I know he’s excited and he’s ready to play. He’s here next year. That happens at any club when a first-grader comes back from injury and isn’t playing first grade or is put back to Cup to fix his game. All of a sudden there’s innuendo about the player being disgruntled or wants out. Matty’s not disgruntled and he doesn’t want out, and he hasn’t come and seen me. I’ve had good conversations with his manager so everything is OK from our point of view.”

    Friday’s match between the 2-win Raiders and 2-win Storm shapes as a critical turning point for both sides, who are desperate to reverse their poor early-season form and climb up the NRL ladder.

  • ‘Embarrassing’: Inmate at NSW prison accidentally set free after administrative blunder, massive search ensues

    ‘Embarrassing’: Inmate at NSW prison accidentally set free after administrative blunder, massive search ensues

    A wide-scale search operation is currently active across New South Wales, Australia after a serious administrative mistake at a state prison led to a convicted inmate being set free by accident just hours after he was sentenced to jail.

    Thirty-five-year-old Kyle Quayle, who was handed a 12-month prison sentence for convictions on assault and theft charges, was incorrectly released from Clarence Correctional Centre this Tuesday. The error occurred on the very same day that his sentence was handed down. Law enforcement officials say Quayle is believed to be currently operating within the Newcastle region, and have released a public description of the inmate to aid in tracking him: he stands 180 centimeters tall, has a medium build, black hair, brown eyes, and a typically unshaven face, with an Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance.

    Senior state officials have publicly acknowledged the serious misstep, with New South Wales Premier Chris Minns labeling the incident deeply embarrassing for the state’s correctional system. In comments to reporters, Minns apologized for the error, noting that with modern biometric and identification technology available in 2026, such a mistake should never have occurred. “I’m sorry it happened, really – it is embarrassing,” Minns said. “In 2026, with the biometric and identification tools available, it shouldn’t happen. I want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

    Local law enforcement has expanded the scope of the search beyond Newcastle to include the distant town of Taree, roughly two hours’ drive north of the initial search area. Newcastle District Police Superintendent Lisa Jones told local media that the investigation is relying on public support to locate Quayle quickly. “We just need the community to be our eyes and ears,” Jones told ABC Radio Newcastle. She issued a clear public warning: anyone who believes they have spotted Quayle should not approach him, and instead contact emergency service providers immediately.

    Red-faced state correctional authorities have issued an official public appeal for tips on the inmate’s location, and have directed any member of the public with information to contact Crime Stoppers on the dedicated hotline 1800 333 000.

  • Fresh Russian barrage kills 14 in Ukraine

    Fresh Russian barrage kills 14 in Ukraine

    In a sharp escalation of hostilities following a widely violated 32-hour Orthodox Easter truce, overnight missile and drone barrages launched by Russia against multiple Ukrainian cities have killed at least 14 people — including a 12-year-old child — and left dozens more wounded, Ukrainian officials confirmed Thursday. Simultaneously, Ukrainian counter-strikes on Russian territory claimed the lives of two young children, according to Russian regional authorities, marking another bloody chapter in the four-year ongoing conflict.

    The deadliest of Thursday’s reported attacks hit the southern Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa, where seven people lost their lives in the barrage, regional military administration head Sergiy Lysak announced via his Telegram channel. In Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the strikes left four people dead, including the 12-year-old boy, and injured at least 45 more — a group that includes several frontline medical workers, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko shared in a public update.

    Images and damage assessments shared by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service paint a grim picture of the destruction across the capital: residential and commercial structures were set ablaze, vehicle parks were reduced to charred wrecks, building windows were shattered across multiple neighborhoods, and several prominent hotel buildings suffered significant external damage. In Kyiv’s Podilsky district, one attack leveled part of an 18-story residential apartment block after a drone struck the building directly; emergency responders managed to pull one surviving child from the rubble of the collapsed structure, Klitschko added.

    Further casualties were recorded in central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, where three people were killed in the strikes, regional administration head Oleksandr Ganzha confirmed. A separate attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s largest northeastern city, left two elderly residents wounded, regional military administration head Oleg Synegubov said.

    The Russian strikes triggered a city-wide missile air raid alert across Kyiv, with capital military administration chief Tymur Tkachenko urging all residents to remain in secured shelter facilities until the threat was formally cleared.

    On the Russian side of the border, two children — ages 5 and 14 — were killed in what regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev described as a terrorist drone attack on residential buildings in Tuapse, located in southern Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region. Kondratyev shared the news of the children’s deaths via his own Telegram channel Thursday morning.

    The fresh wave of violence comes just days after the 32-hour unilateral Orthodox Easter truce, declared by Russia earlier in the week, ended amid mutual accusations of widespread violations from both Moscow and Kyiv. For months, Russia has launched near-daily drone and missile strikes across Ukrainian territory, while Ukrainian forces have regularly carried out retaliatory strikes on targets inside Russian borders, a tit-for-tat pattern that has continued to drive civilian casualties on both sides.

  • Threat of grounded planes nears as jet fuel supplies dwindle

    Threat of grounded planes nears as jet fuel supplies dwindle

    The global aviation industry is facing growing uncertainty over imminent flight disruptions, as a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues to erode jet fuel supplies across key markets in Asia and Europe. Since the closure of the critical chokepoint on February 28 following the start of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, nearly 20% of the world’s daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments – the core input for jet fuel production – have been cut off from global markets, raising urgent alarms about looming shortages.

  • ‘Failure’: Pregnant prisoner denied medical termination

    ‘Failure’: Pregnant prisoner denied medical termination

    A systemic gap in gender-equitable healthcare for incarcerated women has been brought to public attention after a pregnant inmate at Adelaide Women’s Prison (AWP) in South Australia was denied a requested medical termination of pregnancy, due entirely to the facility’s lack of funding for 24-hour on-site medical care.

    The unnamed inmate filed a formal complaint with South Australia’s Ombudsman after prison staff rejected her request for a medication abortion once her pregnancy was confirmed. According to investigation findings, the denial stemmed from AWP’s inability to cover the cost of overnight nurse monitoring required for the procedure, a service the facility does not currently receive funding to provide.

    After a full review, Ombudsman Emily Strickland upheld the inmate’s complaint, labeling the refusal of care a clear failure to uphold fundamental human rights. “Access to safe termination of pregnancy is a universally recognised human right,” Strickland stated in her final report. She went on to outline multiple accessible alternatives that prison and health administrators never presented to the inmate, including transferring her to the nearby Yatala Labour Prison – a male facility that operates with full 24-hour medical monitoring capacity – arranging admission to a public hospital, or offering the procedure with clear informed consent that overnight monitoring would not be available on-site.

    Strickland’s investigation concluded that the failure to explore these existing options and allow the inmate to make an informed decision about her own body constituted an administrative error. The report also highlighted the broader structural inequality at the heart of the incident: women incarcerated at AWP face inherent disadvantage when it comes to care for gender-specific, sensitive health needs, because the facility lacks basic overnight medical services that are available at the state’s male prison.

    Following the release of the Ombudsman’s findings, Paul Furst, prison health executive for Central Adelaide Local Health Network, issued a formal apology to the wronged inmate. Furst acknowledged to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that medical terminations in correctional facilities often require overnight nurse monitoring that is not consistently available at AWP, and confirmed that the health network would implement a new formal policy to explicitly protect and support women’s reproductive choice around termination options.

    South Australia’s Health Minister Blair Boyer also weighed in on the case, describing the original denial of care as “not acceptable.” As of this report, no further details have been released about the current status of the inmate’s pregnancy, though surgical abortion services remain accessible to incarcerated people across the state’s correctional system.

  • ‘I understand it’: Controversial disrupter rule receives rare support from NRL star

    ‘I understand it’: Controversial disrupter rule receives rare support from NRL star

    The National Rugby League’s polarizing disrupter rule has sparked weeks of fierce backlash after a string of widely criticized officiating calls — but one of the code’s most respected star players has broken with popular opinion to offer rare public support for the controversial regulation.

    Sydney Roosters skipper James Tedesco has stepped forward to defend the rule, just days after the NRL publicly admitted officials misapplied it during a high-stakes weekend clash between his side and the Cronulla Sharks, a mistake that cost the Roosters a guaranteed try. The incorrect call came when match officials ruled Roosters forward Robert Toia had illegally disrupted Sharks winger Sam Stonestreet as Stonestreet attempted to catch a high kick, adjudging Toia’s contact enough to invalidate what would have been a Roosters try. Post-match review confirmed the contact was minimal and the ruling wrong, yet the NRL has confirmed it has no plans to scrap the rule despite growing outcry from fans, coaches and players.

    Luckily for the Roosters, the officiating error did not shift the final result: the Sharks scored a try of their own just a minute after the disallowed Roosters four-pointer, but Trent Robinson’s side held on to secure the win. Speaking at a promotional event for Greyhound National Adoption Day on Thursday, Tedesco said he believed the core purpose of the rule — which is designed to protect players jumping to catch high kicks — is sound, and that most confusion stems from inconsistent application rather than a flaw in the rule itself.

    “I think I understand it,” Tedesco said alongside Parramatta Eels star Mitch Moses at the launch event. “I thought there was nothing wrong with that challenge on the weekend but they thought it was, and now they’ve said they got it wrong. So as long as it’s clear going forward and consistent with the calls, then I’ll be happy.”

    Tedesco went on to break down his reading of the rule, explaining that it properly targets dangerous, unawares contact rather than fair contests between two players both focused on the ball. “The main thing it brought in was to protect the catcher. If there’s contact before the ball is coming down and (the offender) weren’t looking at the ball, then that’s a penalty, that’s a disrupter. Whereas two guys looking at the ball competing for the ball is always going to be contact.”

    The Roosters fullback added that the rule does not change his own approach to aerial contests, noting that he keeps his eyes on the ball on both attack and defense, a habit that aligns with the rule’s core intent. “Let’s hope there’s consistency going forward and it’s all cleared up, because you don’t want them coming out after the game saying that was wrong and it costs us a try,” he said.

    Off the field, Tedesco also shared his thoughts on this weekend’s upcoming clash, where the third-placed Roosters will host the resurgent Newcastle Knights at Allianz Stadium on Sunday. The Knights have been one of the NRL’s biggest surprise packages in the 2026 season, transforming from having the league’s worst attack in 2025 to a top-performing offensive unit under new head coach Justin Holbrook — a man who served as an assistant coach at the Roosters over the past two years before taking the Knights top job.

    Holbrook’s return to a head coaching role comes three years after he was sacked by the Gold Coast Titans in 2023, and Tedesco said he is thrilled to see his former mentor finding success in his new role. “We’ve had chats over the years, obviously it was pretty difficult for him going in there (to the Titans) and the sort of situation he was in. So I definitely felt bad for him in that way,” Tedesco said. “I was very happy for him that he landed with us (as an assistant). He’s a very high energy guy, very positive, and definitely brought out some of my best attacking footy as well. So I’m very happy for him to get another chance up there and to see them doing really well even with injuries to key players.”

    Despite his personal respect for Holbrook, Tedesco made clear that any goodwill will be put aside when the two sides run out on Sunday. “But there’ll be no feelings from playing on the weekend, we really want to go after a win and if that’s going to affect Justo, then that’s just how it is.”

  • Iran participating in World Cup, FIFA president confirms

    Iran participating in World Cup, FIFA president confirms

    FIFA President Gianni Infantino has issued a definitive confirmation that Iran will compete in the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, pushing back against growing speculation that the nation’s participation would be derailed by ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East. Speaking Wednesday at an economic conference hosted by business broadcaster CNBC in Washington D.C., Infantino left no room for ambiguity about Iran’s spot in the global tournament. “Iran is coming for sure. We hope that by then the situation will be a peaceful situation, that would definitely help,” Infantino told attendees.

    In justifying the governing body’s position, Infantino emphasized that national teams represent their civilian populations rather than political leadership, noting that the Iranian squad earned their qualification through standard tournament pathways and that the players themselves have expressed overwhelming desire to compete. This stance marks a repetition of commitments Infantino made back in March, when he appeared in person at an Iran-Costa Rica friendly match held in Antalya, Turkey. That appearance came even after former U.S. President Donald Trump publicly questioned whether Iranian athletes would be able to compete safely on U.S. soil during the tournament.

    The 2026 World Cup, a historic edition as the first to expand to 48 participating teams, is co-hosted by three North American nations: the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Iran was drawn into Group G, with all three of its scheduled group-stage matches set to take place across U.S. venues — two contests in Los Angeles, one in Seattle — with the team planning to base its training camp in Tucson, Arizona. Iran’s participation has faced uncertainty since large-scale conflict broke out across the Middle East involving the U.S., Israel and Iran in late February.

    Initially, Iranian officials raised the possibility of a full boycott of the tournament, before formally requesting FIFA relocate its U.S.-hosted matches to Mexico, a petition that global soccer’s governing body rejected outright. After weeks of cross-border air strikes and Iranian retaliatory attacks targeting Israel and regional partners, a fragile ceasefire took effect on April 8. Tensions remain high, however: Tehran has restricted access to the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, and since Monday the U.S. has enforced a full naval blockade on all vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports.

    Sticking to FIFA’s long-standing position that sport should remain separate from political tensions, Infantino reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to using soccer as a unifying force. “If there’s nobody else that believes in building bridges and keeping them intact and together, we are doing the job,” he said. The 2026 World Cup is scheduled to kick off on June 11, bringing 48 teams together across 16 host cities in the three co-host nations.