Category: Evening Report

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University

Roblox has announced significant changes to its gaming platform to enhance safety for children under 16.

The announcement comes just days after a man in the United Kingdom was jailed for 28 months for “obsessively grooming” a 14-year-old girl he met on the platform.

It also comes after the Australian government put Roblox on notice in February over ongoing concerns about online child grooming.

So what are the new safety features? And will they help keep kids safe online?

What are the changes?

Roblox is a massive virtual gaming universe which allows users to create, play and share games with others, globally. It has more than 150 million daily users and hosts more than 44 million user-created games.

The new safety features will start in May in Australia (and June, globally). They’re designed to build on features the company introduced last year, including age assurance checks, making accounts private by default, and grouping users of similar ages.

The company will introduce two new, age-based accounts: Roblox Kids for 5 to 8-year-olds and Roblox Select for 9 to 15-year-olds.

The accounts will have distinct background colours so parents can easily see what account their child is using. Users will be allocated to age-appropriate accounts through Roblox’s facial age estimation checks or via parental controls.

Roblox Kids and Select accounts share several features. These include having the chat function set to “off” by default in Australia (though chat will be “on” by default for Select accounts in most other regions).

While Australian Select accounts will gradually introduce chat for older children, both accounts will have parental controls to manage chat and block access to specific games for children under 13.

Once children turn 16 they will transition to Roblox’s standard accounts.

Successful age checks are crucial

In January, Roblox announced it would require age checks for users to access chat. It will now strengthen its approach to user age checks, using the same technology.

Access to content will be limited to a selection of minimal and mild-rated content, and with chat turned off, until age checks are complete.

Roblox says it will continuously monitor accuracy and require additional checks where player behaviour is inconsistent with the user’s registered age. Parents will be able to correct a child’s age where needed.

1. Developer verification requires content creators to either complete a formal ID verification or maintain links to a parent’s account, use two-factor authentication, and maintain an active, paid subscription to the new Roblox Plus accounts.

2. Real-time evaluation involves a real-time multimodal moderation system assessment to compare game content with Roblox’s rules, followed by gameplay by users over 16 to provide feedback and data on how people play the game before it’s made available to younger users.

3. Content eligibility where only content rated “minimal” or “mild” will be available in Roblox Kids, with “moderate” content introduced for older children in Roblox Select accounts. Any content tagged as “restricted” (for example, content that has graphic and realistic-looking depictions of violence or sexual themes) will only be available on Roblox’s full platform, for users 18 and older.

Changes to game classification

Roblox will also replace current content maturity labels with country-specific content labels under the International Age Rating Coalition. In Australia, the platform will use the Australian Classification Ratings.

This harmonisation is designed to make it easier for parents to identify age-appropriate content, using Australia’s current advisory ratings.

The new Roblox accounts are designed for children under 16. So they would exclude R18+ games, which will only be available to users 18 and older.

However, if games rated MA15+ are available on Select accounts, parents could decide to allow access for 15-year-olds.

Positive changes with some caveats

Roblox’s new account features and ratings are welcome.

But they show parents must be actively involved in managing children’s accounts, including enabling chat and assessing age-appropriateness of game content and features.

For example, the games and features included in each account will vary by region. So children may ask parents to add games to their accounts that are not included by default.

Parents may find age discrepancies between ratings when assessing games available in other countries. In the United States, for example, ratings include “Teen” (13 and older) and “Mature17+” (17 and older) that do not align easily with Australia’s PG, M, and MA15+ ratings. This means parents will need to carefully assess whether games are age-appropriate.

It’s also unclear if turning on the chat function in the new accounts in Australia will restrict chatting to others within the same age group, or whether parents can extend chat access to “trusted connections” in both accounts.

Currently, Roblox allows children under 12 to choose trusted friends, with parental approval. But children aged 13–17 can accept a friend request, directly. Creating trusted connections is not yet available in all countries. Even where it is, parents must always be extremely cautious when allowing children to chat with other people.

The inability of age assurance technologies to restrict social media accounts for as many as seven in ten children under 16 – due to age estimation errors and people’s ability to circumvent age checks – shows significant technical challenges.

Digital duty of care is needed

While some parents believe gaming apps such as Roblox should be included under Australia’s social media ban, the introduction of digital duty of care legislation is a better approach.

This would require technology companies to take steps to prevent foreseeable online harms – as Roblox is doing with their new accounts – and hold companies accountable for content and system design.

The government introduced, and later paused, digital duty of care legislation in 2024. But Minister for Communications Annika Wells has pledged the government will bring this to parliament this year.

– ref. Roblox is boosting safety features for young people. It’s a step in the right direction – https://theconversation.com/roblox-is-boosting-safety-features-for-young-people-its-a-step-in-the-right-direction-280360

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/14/roblox-is-boosting-safety-features-for-young-people-its-a-step-in-the-right-direction-280360/

By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

The Territorial Assembly of French Polynesia has for the first time shown a new configuration during its first administrative sitting on Friday, following a mass resignation of a group of young elected members of the ruling Tavini Huiraatira.

This follows the mass resignation of a group of 15 members of the Assembly, now headed by 25-year-old member Tematai Le Gayic.

The mass resignation de facto brings down Tavini’s majority to 22 within the Territorial Assembly (of a total of 57 MPs).

The outcome of the rift within the ruling party is that now, for the first time in its history, it is divided into two groups.

One consists of the remaining “old guard”, headed by historic pro-independence “radical” members such as former president Oscar Temaru, 81, and his closest ally, Antony Géros (currently Speaker of the Assembly and vice-president of the Tavini Party).

On the other side, the breakaway group of Tavini members from a younger generation, called A Fano Tia (Stay the course) now gathers some 15 members.

A Fano Tia is also reported to be close to French Polynesia’s government President Moetai Brotherson, whose father-in-law is Temaru.

To mark their differences with their former party, under which they were elected during the territorial elections in May 2023, A Fano Tia members appeared in the chamber dressed in white in contrast to Tavini’s light blue.

The sitting was marked by heated debates between the two groups, while the opposition “pro-autonomy” (supporters of French Polynesia remaining part of France under the current Autonomy Status) essentially stood as spectators.

There could be more open opposition during debates for future Bills, especially those which are related to points of notorious contention (such as the notion of independence).

Tavini’s hard line, defended by Temaru, favours a short-term process to gain French Polynesia’s independence, including a more confrontational approach towards France.

Speaking last Friday, Brotherson elaborated on the divergence of views regarding independence.

“Independence is not an end in itself . . .  it’s a choice, but this choice can be neither imposed nor rushed,” Brotherson said last week in the chamber.

In earlier statements, Brotherson had favoured a more gradual process within a window of “10 to 15” years.

More than ever, every Bill is likely to be treated on a case-by-case basis and alliances formed accordingly around the vote.

More alliances likely
This could also involve, on the same principle, more alliances between A Fano Tia and pro-autonomy Tapura Huiraatira, as well as a handful of independent MPs.

It could involve more open opposition from the “historic” Tavini, which could oppose future Bills from Brotherson’s government.

The other components of the Assembly include 16 from the opposition pro-France (pro-autonomy) Tapura Huiraatira and 4 others not registered under any party.

No party has an outright majority.

The rules have changed, but no one wants to topple the government

Sometimes floated during earlier Tavini internal debates, the notion of Brotherson’s departure or resignation as president was not regarded as a solution.

“Since we were elected and until 2028, there won’t be any no-confidence motion,” Géros publicly assured.

“We’re asking [Brotherson] to carry the weight of his presidency until 2028,” he told MPs.

Tapura said it was not prepared to “contribute to government instability”.

“We’ll always be here in a constructive way,” Tapura wrote in a release posted on social networks.

However, it deplored that during this session the floor had been “confiscated” by Tavini’s internal bickering.

Any no-confidence motion requires the approval of at least 35 of the 57 MPs.

Crucial legislative committees
At the sitting last week, the allocation of chairs for the Assembly’s influential legislative committees was also renewed.

A Fano Tia said it did not intend to bid for any of them because it did not want to be accused of being “opportunistic”.

As a result, Tavini retained the chair of key committees such as Economy, Finance and Budget, Education, Youth and Sports (which could turn crucial as French Polynesia is hosting the 2027 Pacific Games), as well as Tourism and Culture.

Opposition pro-autonomy Tapura also retains Employment and Public Service and gains one more committee (Health and Solidarity).

Other parliamentary committees (Institutions and International Affairs, Housing, Land and sustainable development, Transport and Public Works, as well as Agriculture and Marine resources — another point of contention between the historic Tavini and A Fano Tia — were allocated to other Assembly groups.

“Unfortunately, today, [Assembly] debates were confiscated by political statements. And at the end of the day it is [French] Polynesians who will be forgotten,” said French Polynesia’s representative at the French Senate Teva Rohfritsch.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/french-polynesias-legislature-shows-new-shape-more-divisions/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stan Karanasios, Professor in Information Systems, The University of Queensland

New, more powerful artificial intelligence (AI) models are announced pretty regularly these days: the latest version of ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini always has new features and new capabilities that its makers are eager for customers to try out.

But now Anthropic has announced a new model with great fanfare, but is only giving access to a select handful of users. In what the New York Times calls a “terrifying warning sign” of the model’s power, the company has instead started an initiative called Project Glasswing to use the model for good instead of evil.

Why? Early reports indicated that the model, with instruction, had been able to move outside a contained testing “sandbox” and send an email to a researcher.

A little alarming, perhaps. But more significantly, Anthropic claims Mythos has uncovered software vulnerabilities and bugs “in every major operating system and every major web browser”.

Finding hidden vulnerabilities

In one remarkable example, the model found a flaw in OpenBSD, a security-focused operating system used in firewalls and routers, which had gone undetected for 27 years. According to Anthropic, it also found a 16-year-old vulnerability in FFmpeg, a little-known but widely used behind-the-scenes piece of software that helps computers, apps, and websites handle audio and video files.

Anthropic also says Mythos found several vulnerabilities in the kernel of the Linux operating system, and chained them together in a way that could give an attacker complete control of a machine.

Anthropic’s internal assessment of the model highlights both its technical promise and the need for vigilance.

The report outlines a hypothetical risk that an advanced AI might exploit its access within an organisation, but concludes that the model poses a very low threat of harmful autonomous actions. In other words, it is unlikely to “go rogue” – but may follow human directions to do things that cause harm.

Why Anthropic is keeping Mythos off‑limits

Anthropic says it decided not to release the model publicly because of its capabilities and the potential risks it poses. At the same time, the company launched Project Glasswing.

The effort brings together a broad coalition of tech companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Apple, Cisco and NVIDIA, open-source organisations such as the Linux Foundation, and major financial actors such as JPMorganChase, to channel Mythos towards cyber defence rather than misuse.

The idea is to give defenders a head start to find and fix weaknesses in critical software before similar AI capabilities become widely available to attackers.

Reading between the lines of Anthropic’s messages

This is not the first time an AI firm has decided a model was too powerful to release widely. In 2019, years before the ChatGPT era, OpenAI did something similar with its (now quite primitive-looking) GPT-2 model. (Dario Amodei, now chief executive of Anthropic, was a key OpenAI researcher at the time.)

However, this doesn’t mean these announcements should not be taken seriously.

Anthropic has published unusually detailed material for a model it is not widely releasing. Reports suggest US authorities convened major US bank CEOs in Washington to discuss the cyber risks associated with Mythos.

However, we should exercise caution about Anthropic’s claims, because outsiders cannot yet verify most of the underlying evidence. Anthropic says more than 99% of the vulnerabilities it found are still undisclosed because they have not yet been patched. That is responsible disclosure, but it also means the public is being asked to trust a great deal it cannot fully inspect.

What Mythos could mean for the future of cybersecurity

Cybersecurity failures can have real effects on individuals. In Australia, the Optus breach exposed the personal information of about 9.5 million people. In another case, stolen Medibank records included sensitive health information, and some of the data was later released on the dark web.

These were not just database problems. They became crises of privacy, identity and trust.

That is why Mythos matters. Mythos and other AI models like it could change the basic economics of cybersecurity.

In the past, serious vulnerabilities have often stayed hidden simply because nobody found them. And this in turn was because finding them took rare skill, patience, and time.

If models like Mythos can scan the hidden plumbing of the internet – operating systems, browsers, routers, and shared open-source code – at an unprecedented scale, then what is now specialised hacking could become a routine and automated process.

For organisations and software development firms, Mythos is a double-edged sword. It could rapidly uncover hidden flaws in their own code, but it also raises the fear attackers could find the vulnerabilities first.

The implications reach well beyond tech companies. Much of that underlying, invisible software supports many of the services people rely on every day, from electricity and water to airlines, banking, retail and hospitals.

What now?

So far, cybersecurity and software companies have been remarkably quiet in public about Anthropic’s Mythos. Many firms appear to be waiting and watching, unwilling to signal their stance in case the model exposes weaknesses in their own systems.

But developments like Mythos are a reason to stop treating cybersecurity as somebody else’s problem. For now, for individuals, the response is simple: basic cyber hygiene matters more than ever.

Update phones, laptops, browsers and routers. Replace unsupported devices. Use a password manager. Turn on multi-factor authentication. Do not ignore patch notices.

Those are the immediate steps. Beyond them lies a harder set of questions about AI and cyber security – about who gets access to powerful AI models, who oversees their use, and who decides what counts as the “right hands”.

– ref. Claude Mythos and Project Glasswing: why an AI superhacker has the tech world on alert – https://theconversation.com/claude-mythos-and-project-glasswing-why-an-ai-superhacker-has-the-tech-world-on-alert-280374

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/claude-mythos-and-project-glasswing-why-an-ai-superhacker-has-the-tech-world-on-alert-280374/

COMMENTARY: By Bonface Chisutia

On the night of February 28, the Israel-US airstrike killed his father, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his wife, his brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

According to a recent report from Reuters, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei suffered life threatening injuries and apparently lost his leg and has a disfigured face.

The report said he communicated through written statements read by TV anchors and audio conferences with senior officials.

I don’t want to believe Reuters or any puppet media from the West but I would like to believe that the new supreme leader is not in full capacity as expected.

Well, despite all that, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is still grounded, strong and with no signs of collapse.

They lost 40+ senior leaders but still fought two superpower countries to a ceasefire. They still control the Strait of Hormuz and have thousands of missiles and drones left.

This simply points out to the fact that IRGC is in control and guess who is the leader?

Led IRGC for decades
Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of the martyred Ali Khamenei, who led IRGC for decades with a hand injury over a bomb explosion in a tape recorder in 1981.

Imagine you were Mojtaba who has just lost all your family to a brutal attack that claimed even more lives in your country.

In one way or another you survived and you have people taking instructions from you.

At this point I don’t think death scares you anymore because you saw death in its true colours and even had a conversation with it.

Back to myself, what if I was Mojtaba Khamenei? First, no surrender. I would fight to the last microsecond and die fighting but surrendering is where I draw the line.

Second, the Strait of Hormuz is non-negotiable. It is our territorial waters and remains under our control. We do with it what we want. It’s ours, period.

After all, it was open and safe for all until someone decided to attack us and now we call the shots. It’s either you agree with our terms of gerrarahia!

Two options on missiles
On our missile programme, two options. It’s either we maintain our missile programme or develop nukes.

We won’t sit here and be at the mercies of aggressive enemies like Israel and US with no options to protect ourselves.

It’s either we can nuke you or we can missile you one or both options. Imagine just being there and being limited to defensive missiles capabilities yet those asking you to do that are the same people attacking you during negotiations!

Uranium enrichment. Let everyone enrich uranium and use it however they want. It’s either everyone can or no one can’t. No selective privileges.

Lastly, if I was Mojtaba Khamenei, those who murdered my family would definitely pay, not by dollars, not by Shekel and of course not by propaganda but by blood.

What would you do, if you were Mojtaba Khamenei?

Bonface Chisutia is a Nairobi, Kenya, based writer and academic. This commentary is republished from his Facebook account.

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Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/what-i-would-do-if-i-was-mojtaba-khamenei-a-kenyan-perspective/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sanjoy Paul, Associate Professor in Operations and Supply Chain Management, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney

For weeks now, the world economy has been on tenterhooks, waiting for one outcome: reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

In response to war with Israel and the United States, Iran has effectively closed the narrow waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally passes.

Some ships have passed through the strait during the war, but largely on Iran’s terms, including by reportedly paying tolls for safe passage.

Opening the strait back up to all shipping traffic was a key condition of the two-week ceasefire agreed to last week. But after “marathon” talks between the US and Iran failed to result in a deal on the weekend, US President Donald Trump used a Truth Social post to announce a major escalation:

Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command later confirmed a blockade on all Iranian ports would begin on April 13 at 10am eastern time in the US.

The idea is to put severe pressure on the Iranian economy by restricting its exports, and force the country to allow all shipping through. But Iran – a major exporter of oil and gas – warned the global economy would pay.

So, under pressure to get oil and gas flowing again, why is the US blockading the Strait of Hormuz? What impacts could this have on the world?

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Read more: Would a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz be legal?

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Iran’s reliance on oil

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Iran produced 3.59 million barrels of crude oil per day in February (before war broke out).

In 2025, global crude oil demand was about 105 million barrels per day. That means Iran’s production accounts for about 3.5% of global demand – significant enough to influence global oil economy.

Iran’s economy is overwhelmingly dependent on oil and gas, especially crude oil, which accounted for 57% of the country’s total export revenue in 2024.

China is the main buyer, receiving about 90% of Iran’s oil exports in 2024. Other buyers include Syria (3.3%) and UAE (2%). Iraq, Turkey, Malaysia, and Oman bought less than 1% of Iranian oil exports.

Iran also exports petrochemicals products, such as methanol, urea, polyethylene and ammonia.

How the blockade will work

US Central Command has announced the blockade will target all vessels entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas.

Iran has 11 major ports. Eight of them are in the Southern region in Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman regions and three in the Caspian Sea (North) for regional trade.

Iranian ports located in these regions are set to be impacted by the targeted blockade. This includes the port in Kharg Island that handles about 90% of the country’s crude exports.

What will the impacts be?

Oil prices rose again on the news, having fallen when a ceasefire was announced last week.

Trump isn’t planning a permanent blockade. As he stated in his Truth Social post announcing the the move:

At some point, we will reach an “ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT” basis but Iran has not allowed that to happen […] No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.

But it’s difficult to predict how long a blockade would last, how successful it would be, and the extent to which shipping would be affected.

China will be impacted first, as the main buyer of Iran’s crude oil. The knock-on effects may create a chronic shortage of oil and contribute to higher oil prices in the global market.

Adding to this, many Gulf countries typically import key materials and food products from Iran. For example, in 2022, the United Arab Emirates imported mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, organic chemicals, iron and steel, copper and fertilisers from Iran.

Oman and Qatar also import key materials and food products, such as steel, iron, construction materials, petrochemicals, agricultural products, and fruits.

Pressure on farming

Urea, a crucial fertiliser used for farming, deserves a special mention. Iran is a major producer of urea and is the largest exporter in the Gulf region.

Farmers around the world are already under pressure as the conflict puts severe strain on global fertiliser supplies.

Even if they don’t get fertiliser from Iran directly, countries such as Brazil, India, and Australia could be impacted from the flow-on effects of disruption to the fertiliser supply chain.

A tense wait

After failed peace talks, Trump says he is moving to stop Iran’s “world extortion” – referring primarily to charging ships for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. But the knock-on effects of a US blockade could create new costs for the global economy.

For countries around the world, the unpredictability further strengthens the case for diversifying crude oil sources and investing in their own refining capability.

In the longer term, greater adoption of renewable energy and electrification of transportation, manufacturing and logistics systems can help a country to become less reliant on oil.

– ref. Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockade risks new costs for the global economy – https://theconversation.com/trumps-strait-of-hormuz-blockade-risks-new-costs-for-the-global-economy-280448

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/trumps-strait-of-hormuz-blockade-risks-new-costs-for-the-global-economy-280448/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Associate Professor (Adj), Griffith Asia Institute; and Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University

Hungary’s most consequential election in decades has just delivered an important victory for democracy and accountability.

For Hungarians, opposition leader Péter Magyar’s emphatic defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his ruling Fidesz Party ends 16 years of corruption and quasi-authoritarianism.

The outcome will also be felt widely, from Moscow to Washington and beyond.

In a contest characterised as a referendum on whether Hungary should pivot west or continue its authoritarian drift, Magyar’s victory is a stern rebuke to the dark, transnational forces of nativism, division and the politics of resentment that have become part of mainstream political discourse.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the election was not the turnout (more than 74%, shattering previous records), or even the result (a two-thirds supermajority for Magyar’s Tisza party, winning at least 138 of 199 parliamentary seats).

Both had been predicted for some time, and Orbán’s soft authoritarianism had always left the door ajar for a possible opposition victory at the polls.

Rather, the biggest surprise might have been Orbán’s immediate concession. He didn’t try to manufacture a crisis or use his security services to hold onto power. Given the strength of anti-government sentiment in Hungary, such a move could have led to a “colour revolution” – the type of massive street protests seen previously in Ukraine, Georgia and other countries.

This could have turned bloody. Liberal Hungarians, and the European Union more broadly, will be heaving a collective sigh of relief.

Why Orbán was suddenly vulnerable

Having won office, Magyar will need to move quickly but also carefully to bring change, so as not to alienate too many former Fidesz voters.

He has already asked President Tamaś Sulyok to resign, along with other Orbán loyalists. The Tisza supermajority in parliament is important here. It will be required for constitutional amendments to dismantle the architecture of Orbán’s authoritarian state.

Fortunately, this will be easier in Hungary than fully fledged autocratic systems. Indeed, Orbán’s longevity can somewhat be attributed to the fact that his brand of authoritarianism was only partial.

Certainly, it had the structural elements of an autocracy. That included widespread, government-controlled gerrymandering to ensure Fidesz victories, and the cynical diversion of state funds to cities and provinces controlled by Orbán’s political allies.

In addition, the nationalised media ecosystem was heavily supportive of the government, although alternative voices kept debate alive via foreign-owned news organisations.

But Orbán’s success also came from facing weak and easily fragmented or coopted oppositions. Magyar – a former Orbán ally – ran a disciplined campaign that nullified the electoral advantage for Fidesz.

Ultimately, though, when voters have a choice – even a constrained one – they will eventually reject governments that rely on blame and victimhood to mask their inability to offer people a better future.

Under Orbán, Hungary was consistently ranked the most corrupt nation in Europe. In 2025, it ranked last in the EU on relative household wealth. It had also suffered rampant inflation and economic stagnation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Video footage of country estates built by Hungary’s elites, complete with zebras roaming the grounds, perfectly symbolised the popular outrage with wealth inequality.

A setback for Putin, Trump and right-wing populism

Hungary’s new start also sends a powerful message to other nations. Clearly the biggest loser from the election is Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which had hastily tapped Kremlin powerbroker Sergey Kiriyenko and a team of “political technologists” to assist Orbán.

Under Orbán, Hungary was the strongest pro-Kremlin voice in the EU. It regularly stymied aid packages for Ukraine, tied up decision-making on the war in bureaucratic processes, and held the European Commission to ransom by threatening hold-out votes.

In fact, just days before the election, Bloomberg published a transcript of a phone call between Orbán and Putin from October 2025, in which Orbán compared himself to a mouse helping free the caged Russian lion.

This came on the back of revelations that Orbán’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, and other Hungarian officials had regularly been leaking confidential EU discussions to Moscow.

Another loser from the Hungarian election is the Trump White House.

The pre-election Budapest visit by US Vice President JD Vance to shore up support for Orbán was breathtakingly hypocritical. Vance farcically demanded an end to foreign election meddling, while engaging in precisely that. The White House then doubled down, with Trump promising on Truth Social to aid Orbán with the “full Economic Might of the United States”.

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Now, though, Trump is very publicly on the losing side. And like the debacle of his Iran war, he tends to chafe at losing.

The election also shows that US foreign interference campaigns are not invulnerable, though the White House will doubtless continue excoriating Europe. The Trump administration’s view that Europe is heading for “civilisational erasure”, necessitating US efforts to “cultivate resistance” and “help Europe correct its current trajectory” is documented in its 2025 National Security Strategy.

But the broader movements representing what Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar calls the “Putinisation of global politics” have been repudiated by Hungary’s election result.

Under Orbán, Hungary was a hub for ultraconservative voices. Think tanks like the MAGA-boosting US Heritage Foundation and Hungary’s Danube Institute regularly held prominent dialogues bemoaning Europe’s capitulation to wokeism.

The Hungarian iteration of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), sponsored by the American Conservative Union, was a key calendar for Western right-wing politicians and commentators, including former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

China will also be keenly watching Magyar’s new government, especially since it has viewed Hungary as a soft entry point to the EU. The large-scale investment in electric vehicle manufacturing, especially battery production, are part of a growing Chinese business footprint in the country.

For Beijing, the question will be whether Magyar seeks to sacrifice this lucrative investment to burnish his European credentials.

What about the winners?

In addition to Hungarians outside Orbán’s orbit of elites, the EU will welcome the news that it remains an attractive force.

Ukraine, too, may find it easier to secure European assistance. At the very least, smaller Ukraine detractors like Slovakia will have to choose between acquiescing quietly or thrusting themselves uncomfortably into the open.

Yet, although Hungary’s result is promising, the world is still trending towards illiberalism.

And with the US midterm elections fast approaching, far-right American politicians, including Trump himself, will be studying Hungary’s lessons closely. If they conclude that Orbán’s brand of authoritarianism was too soft, a more hardline path looms as an ominous alternative.

– ref. What Viktor Orbán’s election loss means for Putin, Trump and the rise of right-wing populism – https://theconversation.com/what-viktor-orbans-election-loss-means-for-putin-trump-and-the-rise-of-right-wing-populism-280447

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/what-viktor-orbans-election-loss-means-for-putin-trump-and-the-rise-of-right-wing-populism-280447/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Art Cotterell, Postdoctoral Fellow, Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney

The successful Artemis II trip around the Moon was a historic achievement – the first crewed lunar fly-by in more than 50 years, and the greatest distance yet travelled by humans from our “pale blue dot”.

The mission was marked by engineering, scientific and technical feats, by the astronauts and team at NASA and beyond, who got the crew there and back safely.

With the technical achievement came symbolic firsts, too. The first woman and the first person of colour to orbit the Moon. As astronaut Victor Glover put it, “people need to be able to see themselves in the things that they dream about”.

Artemis II deserves celebration. But the celebration should not crowd out political scrutiny.

Power and resources on the Moon

Artemis II is one mission in a broader US program to start establishing a permanent Moon base by 2030.

This is about more than exploration. As US President Donald Trump has said, it is about asserting “American space superiority”, establishing a “sustained American presence” and developing a lunar economy. The US colonial thinking of a “manifest destiny to the stars” returns.

The bigger picture is that the US sees itself in a “space race” with what NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has called its “geopolitical adversary”, China.

One point of conflict is access to finite, valuable resources at the lunar south pole, where water ice could sustain life and provide rocket fuel for missions to Mars. More speculative, profit-driven visions also play a part, from mining helium-3 to extracting resources from asteroids and bringing them to Earth.

Global rules – beyond the globe

International space treaties, largely forged during the 20th century Cold War, have little to say about appropriating resources off-Earth.

The US wants to shape the rules, and the US-led Artemis Accords are part of that effort. They are non-binding principles, but consequential.

Grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, they offer a “blueprint” for how resource activities, and other unsettled topics, may be governed.

Many observers see the Artemis Accords as more transparent and open than China’s counterpart, the International Lunar Research Station. However, critics argue the Artemis Accords undermine multilateral, consensus-based processes.

Sixty-one countries have signed the Artemis Accords. Only nine new signatories have joined since Trump’s return as US president, versus 19 in the year prior. It remains to be seen if the trend continues.

Why US leadership in space demands scrutiny

US leadership in space is often discussed only in contrast to China. This binary view can help the US escape scrutiny, especially in allied nations.

Consider America’s recent actions here on Earth. As Artemis II drew our gaze skyward, the US–Israel war on Iran was intensifying.

In an expletive-filled post on Truth Social, Trump hinted at a nuclear attack with a threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight” unless Tehran reopened the Strait of Hormuz.

The US also threatened to target civilian infrastructure, after one strike hit a school, reportedly killing more than 150 people.

All of this occurred amid the ongoing crisis and civilian casualties in Gaza, where Trump’s “Board of Peace” has faced criticism for seeking to function as an “alternative UN”.

Trump has also revived territorial ambitions toward Greenland, saying: “We need it”. He floated annexing Canada as the fifty-first US state. He spoke of the “honour of taking Cuba”. He declared he would “run” Venezuela.

All of these places have natural resources that would give the US strategic advantages, including in critical minerals and oil.

This conduct has raised concerns from international lawyers and international organisations. Even US allies have spoken up, whom Trump criticised for not joining the Iran war.

Hard questions about a US-led future in space

A disregard for international law on Earth leads us to question how the US will ultimately act in space.

Scholars from the Global South, notably law professor Antony Anghie, have long argued that the US uses international law selectively and in line with its own interests. This is not new with Trump, even if the pattern has now become more visible and more intense. What may be changing is that more of the world is taking notice, including states that once benefited from that status quo.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described the “rules-based order” as “partially false”, in which “international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim”. He was not speaking about space – but his point applies here too.

This puts question marks over US leadership in space – and whether it will abide by agreed rules when control over lunar resources is no longer just a hypothetical question. Even America’s own Artemis Accords principles may prove optional if they stop being convenient to US interests.

That question is worth considering, given Trump has already justified withdrawing from many international instruments and organisations for this reason. Even NATO may be next.

No superpower should be immune from scrutiny – on Earth or beyond.

– ref. As Artemis II is celebrated, the world faces hard questions about US leadership in space – https://theconversation.com/as-artemis-ii-is-celebrated-the-world-faces-hard-questions-about-us-leadership-in-space-280371

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/as-artemis-ii-is-celebrated-the-world-faces-hard-questions-about-us-leadership-in-space-280371/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Smit, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Neuroscience‬, University of Sydney

Have you ever tasted a word, or seen colours while listening to music?

If you have, you may be among the 1% to 4% of people who have a fascinating trait known as synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is a neurological phenomenon where the activation of one sense, such as hearing, triggers the activation of another usually unrelated sense, such as sight. This means people with synaesthesia often experience additional sensations compared to the rest of us.

We’ve devoted a lot of time to understanding this rare phenomenon. While there’s much more to unpack, what we do know shows we don’t all perceive the world in the same way.

What is synaesthesia?

People with synaesthesia are known as synaesthetes. Research suggests synaesthesia may be more common among women, although this could reflect sampling biases, and may be influenced by genetics.

There are many different types of synaesthesia. Some people have auditory-visual synaesthesia, meaning they see colours when they hear sounds. Others see colours when they read, hear or think about letters or numbers. This is known as grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Another example is mirror-touch synaesthesia, where a person feels sensations on their own body when they see another person being touched.

All of us naturally combine information from different senses. For instance, when you watch someone speak, your brain blends what you see and hear to understand them better. In synaesthesia these links are a bit different – a sound might, for example, trigger a visual experience – but may still depend on the same mechanisms.

People with synaesthesia don’t have any control over how their senses collide. Instead, these are spontaneous, vivid experiences that usually stay the same over time. For example, today a person with grapheme-colour synaesthesia may perceive the letter “A” as being red. And they’ll most likely see it as being the same shade even years later.

It’s worth noting synaesthesia is not an illness or disorder. And it doesn’t cause harm or impairment, although some people may find their synaesthesia overwhelming at times. For example, if they feel pain every time they see someone else in pain, going to the movies can be quite disturbing. However, on the whole it does not seem to interfere with daily life. In fact, many people don’t realise they have synaesthesia because it’s simply how they perceive the world.

What causes it?

We don’t yet know exactly what causes synaesthesia. But scientists have come up with two main theories.

1. Synaesthetes have more connections in their brain

According to this view, known as the cross-activation theory, people with synaesthesia have more connections between different parts of their brain. This could happen because their brain hasn’t gotten rid of unused connections between brain cells. This process, known as synaptic pruning, helps the brain work more efficiently and is part of normal development.

Under this theory, a person with grapheme-colour synaesthesia for example, would have the region that recognises letters directly linked to the part that processes colour. So when they see a letter, they perceive it with a colour.

2. Synaesthetes have slightly different activity in their brain

The other main theory is that people with synaesthesia have the same neural connections as non-synaesthetes, but certain pathways might be stronger or more active. Synaesthesia does seem to build on mechanisms we all have. For example, when you see a picture of a grey banana, you know bananas are usually yellow. We even see patterns of brain activity that reflect this. Grapheme-colour synaesthetes might also do this with letters so that when they see black letters, their brain activates specific colours.

Simply put, the debate about what causes synaesthesia comes down to whether synaesthetes have a different brain structure or just use their brains in an alternative way.

Does it make you more creative?

You might’ve heard artists such as Kandinsky or musicians such as Lorde describe their synaesthesia-like experiences. And there is some evidence to suggest synaesthesia is more common among people in creative fields.

One large survey of Australian synaesthetes found roughly 24% had creative occupations, such as being an artist, musician, architect or graphic designer. This is compared to the less than 2% of people in the general population who have these jobs. This gap is striking, even though we don’t understand what’s behind it. One reason may be synaesthetes link ideas and sensations in unusual ways, helping them think more creatively. Research suggests people with certain kinds of synaesthesia may form stronger memories or have more vivid imaginations, but only to a limited extent.

Synaesthesia is a powerful window into how our brains make sense of the world. It reminds us perception is not a fixed, one-size-fits-all process. Rather, it’s something the brain actively builds in ways that are often more varied, and far richer, than we might expect.

– ref. Do you taste words or hear colours? Here’s the neuroscience behind synaesthesia – https://theconversation.com/do-you-taste-words-or-hear-colours-heres-the-neuroscience-behind-synaesthesia-277960

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/do-you-taste-words-or-hear-colours-heres-the-neuroscience-behind-synaesthesia-277960/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexa Scarlata, Lecturer, Digital Communication, RMIT University

Australian kids’ TV shows are now few and far between. During the pandemic, the Australian government scrapped decades-old quotas for minimum hours of children’s content to try and bail out flailing commercial television networks. They were never reinstated.

In 2023, the Australian Communications and Media Authority reported the local kids TV sector decreased by more than 84% between 2019 and 2022. Certainly, Bluey continues to top global streaming charts. But beyond this phenomenon – which only financially benefits BBC Studios – local children’s TV has been in grave danger.

Last year, new laws were introduced in Australia to force streaming giants to invest in local content, including children’s programming. But these laws don’t include any minimum title numbers, or hours, per genre, so their tangible impact on kids’ TV remains unclear. For instance, Netflix’s 2026 Australian production slate includes no new kids content.

Essentially, it’s up to our national broadcaster the ABC, and advocacy organisations such as the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF), to carry the mantle and deliver this valued content.

The latest collaboration between the ABC and the ACTF is the new live-action family adventure series, Caper Crew. The first children’s series from acclaimed production company Easy Tiger, it demonstrates how good Australian kids TV can be, with a bit of resourcing.

[embedded content]

Heists, hijinks and heartwarming fun

In Caper Crew, 12-year-old Amelia and 9-year-old Kai Delaney live in Woodspring, which they consider to be “the most boring town on Earth”.

Its only claim to fame is that 27 years ago the infamous Kangaroo Gang stole the town’s priceless golden meteorite, “The Nug”. Despite a $100,000 reward, its whereabouts remain a mystery. The series draws inspiration from the true story of the Kangaroo Gang, a group of Australian crooks who pulled off daring jewellery heists around Europe in the 1960s.

Just as Amelia embarks on a campaign to become the Year 6 school captain – against her nemesis and heir to the town’s dynasty, Emilia Katinkatonk – her glamourous con-artist grandmother Queenie mysteriously appears.

Queenie starts to teach her grandchildren the art of the grift, imparting a series of mischievous “con-mandments” from her personal playbook. As she shares her wisdom, Amelia and Kai can’t help but wonder: was this grandmother they never knew about once the Kangaroo Gang’s leader? Does she know where The Nug is?

Amelia and Kai, along with their friends Penelope and Ophelbert, form their own gang called the Joeys. They’re hell-bent on finding The Nug and claiming the reward.

The young cast of Caper Crew are very endearing, even when they precociously break the fourth wall. Tina Bursill’s Queenie is magnetic, Annie Maynard’s Mayor Katie Katinkatonk is gloriously grating, and ABC-favourite Michael Theo as drama teacher Jo Jo Encore will captivate the whole family.

For parents and carers watching with kids, Caper Crew combines a nostalgic ode to millennial classics such as Matilda and Harriet the Spy, with a Wes Anderson-esque visual quality. The series will likely charm young viewers into taking up magic or planning their own heist; parents be warned.

Family viewing key for the ABC

Caper Crew is emblematic of the ABC’s recent strategic shift to make shows optimised for co-viewing between parents and kids.

In June 2024, the ABC rebranded its ABC TV Plus channel (a more general family entertainment channel) to ABC Family, which is described as a “destination for big kids and their parents, with comedies, game shows, natural history, and movies”.

According to the ABC’s then-head of programming, acquisitions and streaming, Roberta Allan, this shift sought to capitalise on how most viewers were engaging with the ABC: via smart TVs, rather than on desktop or mobile browsers. As Allan explained:

Creating a brand like ABC Family will mean that we’ll be able to transition children as they get older with their families into that co-viewing safe environment. And expose them to some of the other content we have.

It’s a smart and appealing way to bolster kids programming at the ABC and to encourage a new generation of Australian families to watch together.

Caper Crew is available now on ABC iview and broadcasting on ABC Family.

– ref. ABC’s Caper Crew delivers heists and heart – a bright spot in a struggling kids’ TV sector – https://theconversation.com/abcs-caper-crew-delivers-heists-and-heart-a-bright-spot-in-a-struggling-kids-tv-sector-279216

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/abcs-caper-crew-delivers-heists-and-heart-a-bright-spot-in-a-struggling-kids-tv-sector-279216/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

Australia will get its first female chief of army, with the appointment of Lieutenant General Susan Coyle to the post.

Coyle, currently chief of joint capabilities, is the first woman to be appointed head of any of the services in the Australian military.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the appointments of new military chiefs on Monday, ahead the government unveiling its 2026 statement on defence strategy and investment later this week. The appointments commence in July.

The current navy chief, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, will become the new chief of the Defence Force, replacing Admiral David Johnston.

Hammond has commanded submarines and the Australian fleet. He has been chief of navy since 2022. As the second naval officer in a row to serve as chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), his expertise is particularly relevant as Australia deals with the AUKUS agreement.

Coyle, who enlisted in the Army Reserves in 1987, has worked at the tactical, operational and strategic levels and in command roles. These include commander of the Task Group Afghanistan and commanding officer of the 17th Signal Regiment. She replaces Lieutenant General Stuart as army chief.

Rear Admiral Matthew Buckley was promoted to navy chief from deputy chief.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said Coyle’s appointment was deeply significant for women in the ADF, as well as for those considering serving in the future.

Appearing with Albanese and Marles, Hammond confirmed that Australia had the naval capability to respond to any United States request for help in the Strait of Hormuz – although no request had been made.

Hammond said: “We’ve got 10 surface combatants right now, eight of them are at sea today. The navy is ready as it ever has been.”

Speaking earlier, Albanese said Australia had not been asked to help with a Trump blockade of the strait.

He told the ABC: “I want to see the resumption of peace talks. We want to see an end to this conflict. It’s having a devastating impact on the global economy, and the longer it goes, the bigger the impact will be, and the longer the tail will be, as well.”

Albanese leaves on Tuesday on his fuel diplomacy trip to Brunei and Malaysia, following a similar visit to Singapore last week.

– ref. Australia gets its first female army chief, Susan Coyle – https://theconversation.com/australia-gets-its-first-female-army-chief-susan-coyle-280435

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/australia-gets-its-first-female-army-chief-susan-coyle-280435/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Upton, PhD Candidate in Psychology, UNSW Sydney; Black Dog Institute

Anxiety itself is not a mental illness. It’s a normal, adaptive emotion that helps us respond to perceived threats.

Anxiety is the automatic reaction that makes you jump back when you think you’ve seen a snake while bushwalking – before realising it’s a stick.

It’s also (inconveniently) the sweaty palms and shaky voice you notice before a presentation or a first date, or the circling thoughts that keep you awake at 3am.

Most of us have ways to cope with anxious thoughts and feelings that can give us more of a sense of control. This could be checking and double-checking we’ve got the room right for our presentation, or seeking reassurance from someone we love.

But when might these behaviours fit a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder? And when could they actually be a sign of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)?

As clinical psychologists, we find these questions come up a lot, perhaps spurred by a recent surge of interest in OCD on social media. So what’s the difference between anxiety and OCD? And how are they treated?

When is anxiety something more serious?

“Normal” anxiety can become an anxiety disorder when fears or worry are persistent, intense and start interfering with everyday life.

About one in three people will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lifetime.

Among the most common are social anxiety disorder (fear in social situations), panic disorder (frequent panic attacks, and fears you’ll have another) and generalised anxiety disorder (persistent and excessive worry).

These disorders have slightly different symptoms. But all share excessive and persistent fear or worry that causes distress or leads people to avoid important parts of life including work, study or social activities.

So, what about OCD?

Although OCD involves anxiety, it is actually considered a separate disorder in the diagnostic manual used by mental health professionals.

It is possible to have both – around half to three-quarters of individuals with OCD also meet criteria for one or more anxiety disorders as well.

OCD involves obsessions, compulsions, or both. These cause significant distress or interfere with daily functioning.

Obsessions are intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images or urges. This could mean an intense fear your food is contaminated, suddenly visualising hurting someone, or a feeling that keeps entering your mind that you’ve made a serious mistake.

Compulsions are the repetitive behaviours (or mental rituals) people feel driven to perform to ease that distress, such as checking, repeating phrases, excessive hand-washing or seeking reassurance.

Many of us will occasionally experience unwanted thoughts or go back to check the oven is actually off. Keeping things tidy or being particular about routines can simply be habits that don’t cause distress.

But what makes OCD different is its severity and impact.

If obsessions or compulsions take up large amounts of time, cause you significant distress, or interfere with daily life, it may be a sign of OCD.

You can’t “spot” OCD from behaviour alone. OCD can also be invisible because many compulsions happen mentally, such as repeating phrases or counting. People with OCD may also try to hide their symptoms out of shame.

Are OCD and anxiety treated differently?

While anxiety disorders and OCD share some similarities, including repetitive distressing thoughts, the patterns and beliefs driving them are different. This means the way they’re treated will also differ.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective treatments for both anxiety disorders and OCD.

For OCD, treatment often involves a specialised form of CBT called exposure and response prevention (ERP). It involves gradually facing situations that trigger distressing thoughts while resisting the urge to perform compulsions.

For example, someone with contamination fears might gradually reduce the number of times they wash their hands before eating. Over time, people learn the feared outcome does not occur, that they can tolerate their discomfort without the ritual, and that the anxiety passes on its own.

Treatment for anxiety disorders focuses on the specific fear. For generalised anxiety, for example, it involves understanding patterns of worry, challenging beliefs that keep worries going, and developing more helpful ways to respond to problems, such as brainstorming solutions and taking small actions.

Antidepressant medication (particularly selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, or SSRIs) can be an effective component of treatment for both anxiety disorders and OCD. A combined treatment approach of medication (SSRIs) and therapy (CBT) often leads to the best treatment outcomes, especially for severe OCD.

A final note

While it’s great mental health is being discussed more openly online and stigma is reducing, social media can also blur the line between personal experience and evidence-based information.

If something you’ve seen online has sparked curiosity about your mental health, the best next step is to talk with a qualified professional who can help you understand what you’re experiencing and what support might help.

For more information and resources about anxiety and OCD, visit the Black Dog Institute or Beyond Blue, and ReachOut or Headspace for young people.

There are lots of evidence-based online treatment programs for anxiety disorders and OCD you can access for free or low-cost, such as This Way Up, MyNewWay or Mindspot.

There are also online treatments for kids and teens with OCD and anxiety.

You can also ask your GP about a Mental Health Care Plan for Medicare-rebated psychology sessions.

– ref. Is it anxiety or OCD? 2 psychology experts explain the difference – https://theconversation.com/is-it-anxiety-or-ocd-2-psychology-experts-explain-the-difference-277624

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/is-it-anxiety-or-ocd-2-psychology-experts-explain-the-difference-277624/

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 13, 2026.

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Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-april-13-2026/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lee, Associate Professor of History, UNSW Sydney

A new federal government advertising campaign is prompting Australians to reduce their fuel consumption during the current global oil crisis.

It asks Australians to consider using their car less and offers tips to boost fuel efficiency, such as “driving smoothly” and “unloading excess weight”.

It comes soon after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s whirlwind trip to Singapore, which makes up more than a quarter of Australia’s refined fuel imports, including more than half of our petrol, 22% of jet fuel and 15% of diesel.

However, the launch of the campaign shows the government is concerned to some degree about fuel supplies in Australia.

[embedded content]

So, why is this happening, are there historic precedents in Australia and what are other countries doing at the moment?

Why the concerns about fuel supply?

The campaign comes two weeks after national cabinet endorsed a four-stage National Fuel Security Plan – which mentions rationing as a final step – as global fuel supplies continue to fluctuate due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The Strait of Hormuz is a key factor – it was tentatively re-opened after the two-week ceasefire was agreed to last week. Since then, Iran has blocked ships from passing through the strait after Israel launched a wave of strikes in Lebanon. Then on Monday, US President Donald Trump threatened to block it via the US Navy.

Even before the ceasefire, the Australian government said it had secured supplies into May and that rationing would not be needed.

But it may be necessary if there’s no lasting peace in the Middle East.

How Asian countries are responding

Asian economies are particularly dependent on oil and gas supplies from the Middle East. According to the US Energy Information Administration, 84% of crude oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024 was bound for Asia.

Understandably, several countries have already introduced rationing or other measures:

Countries in Europe and Africa have also implemented rationing but Asian countries have been particularly affected.

Australia’s experience with fuel conservation

Australia has rationed petrol in earlier emergencies.

When the second world war broke out in September 1939, Australia only had enough petrol to last three months of normal consumption.

At first, the wartime government led by Robert Menzies encouraged Australians voluntarily to reduce their petrol consumption and promoted conversion to vehicles powered by gas from coal.

But as the fighting intensified, oil tankers which were on their way to Australia turned around because of the war, and supplies dwindled.

In June 1940, cabinet aimed to reduce consumption by 50%, a goal later reduced to 30%.

Under national security regulations, civilians were issued ration coupons limiting how much fuel a person could purchase. Non-essential driving was restricted. Public transport and essential industries were prioritised and diesel was tightly controlled for military and agricultural operations.

Even in wartime, rationing was unpopular. The issue contributed to Menzies’s near-defeat at the September 1940 election. His government was replaced the following year by a Labor government.

The end of the war did not automatically lead to the end of petrol rationing.

This was because Australia had to use US dollars to purchase most of its petrol, which were in short supply throughout the British Commonwealth. Consequently, the Chifley government continued with rationing to conserve dollars.

In June 1949, the High Court decided rationing was a matter for states – not the Commonwealth.

Australia’s next serious oil crisis came in the 1970s.

In 1973, the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) reduced oil production and suspended deliveries to some western countries.

Like many other countries, Australia experienced “stagflation” – higher unemployment and inflation – for about a decade.

But Australia was shielded from the full reverberations because it reached about 70% sufficiency in oil through the discovery of oil and natural gas in Bass Strait.

Only in 1979, after a second oil price spike and a strike at the Caltex Refinery in Kurnell, New South Wales, was petrol rationing introduced through an “odd-even” number plate method.

Further action on fuel supply

After the 1970s oil crisis, the Hawke government sponsored legislation to allow the Governor-General to declare a formal national liquid fuel emergency.

The Liquid Fuel Emergency Act may be invoked as a last resort when a fuel shortage has national implications.

Under the act, the minister for climate change and energy can direct refineries, importers and distributors to adjust production and manage stocks.

The legislation also allows the government to implement two levels of rationing: retail and bulk.

Retail rationing involves service stations limiting how much individual motorists can buy at a time while also exempting essential users.

Bulk rationing targets large-scale distributors and wholesale customers, such as mining companies and large transport fleets.

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A reprieve, for now

Albanese’s National Fuel Security Plan mentions rationing as a final step.

Triggers include shortages threatening the operation of critical infrastructure, stockpiles being dangerously depleted and if the economy is at risk of stalling.

The wobbly ceasefire in the Middle East means Australians have been granted a reprieve. But rationing remains a possibility if hostilities resume.

– ref. A new ad campaign is pushing Australians to use less petrol. Has this happened before? – https://theconversation.com/a-new-ad-campaign-is-pushing-australians-to-use-less-petrol-has-this-happened-before-280038

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/a-new-ad-campaign-is-pushing-australians-to-use-less-petrol-has-this-happened-before-280038/

RNZ Pacific

Cyclone Maila has been downgraded to a tropical low but has caused widespread damage in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

Ten people were reported dead in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville, including eight people killed in a landslide.

The incident happened at Asiko Village in Kongara constituency in Central Bougainville.

Reports received by NBC News said the tragedy struck early Thursday evening, April 9.

A couple, their son and grandchild are among those killed in the landslide.

Their bodies have been recovered.

A government assessment is underway to determine the immediate extent of damage and destruction across the region.

A number of other people, including a pregnant mother, were injured and hospitalised at the local Kakusida Health Centre.

Roads have also been cut off due to flooding, and food gardens reportedly damaged as well.

Bougainville Copper has been delivering food supplies and other items to families of the deceased.

The Australian government has pledged A$2.5 million in aid for those affected by Maila.

Cyclone Vaianu
Cyclone Vaianu caused flooding in Fiji before bringing rain and strong winds to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Vaianu tracked away from mainland New Zealand overnight Sunday, after battering the country’s north-east over the weekend.

The cyclone is expected to affect the Chatham Islands on Monday.

The weather system brought 220mm of rain to Coromandel and wind gusts of 126 km/h were recorded at Māhia.

Evacuated Hawkes Bay residents will find out on Monday if they can return to their homes.

Bay of Plenty evacuees were allowed to return home on Sunday.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/ten-dead-in-bougainville-amid-cyclone-maila-aftermath/

IRNA News Agency

When news reports first indicated that US Vice-President JD Vance was going to lead the Americans in the negotiations with Iran, the country the US and Israel are waging a foolish war against, there was a sense that someone even as young him may have recognised the train wreck that Donald Trump was creating.

Former top negotiators real estate developer Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had already proven to be self-enriching charlatans like Trump.

If someone understood a little — only a little — more about the state of affairs, they could be excellent replacements to Witkoff and Kushner and save America from a crisis of its own making.

As it transpired, that person was not Vance.
​
In the negotiations with Iran in Islamabad, the US vice-president proved to be no more than a minion to Trump, not someone who can rise to the occasion and stop the stupid war that is taking down the American military and the global economy.
​
If you cannot see how disastrously America and Israel are conducting the war, here is Professor Timothy Snyder, an expert on European history, parsing it for you in plain language on March 18, just two weeks after the war started:
​

“[Trump] took the greatest military force in world history, lost the war to a middle power in a week, begged the world to save him, and demanded that the media lie about this and everything else.

I try, but at a simple human level I do not see how anyone can mistake this man’s almost supernatural weakness for strength.”
​

By now, it is an open secret that Trump is being blackmailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who holds evidence of degenerate behavior by the US president from his devilish days on disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s island.

But even in a moment of incompetence, incredible loss, and national humiliation for America like this, Vance had a chance to save his country.
​
Now we know for certain that everyone who has ever worked for Trump is diminished by it. Vance was an exception only for a second.
​
IRNA News Agency is state-controlled media.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/why-vance-couldnt-stop-the-trump-train-wreck-an-iranian-perspective/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ronald Kramer, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

There is a seemingly endless flow of crime dramas on streaming platforms these days. Many are fictional, some dramatise real historical crimes and criminal figures.

But have you noticed how many characters – hero or villain, fictional or based on a real person – are explicitly or implicitly written as neurodivergent?

Consider the super-sleuth detectives of The Killing, The Bridge, Bones and more recently Will Trent.

The protagonist of The Killing obsesses over cases to the point of abandoning almost all other social obligations. And it’s hard to miss how Saga Norén from The Bridge (Sonya Cross in the American remake) or Temperance Brennan from Bones are portrayed as “on the spectrum”.

As for Will Trent, he is explicitly known to be dyslexic and implicitly portrayed as somewhere on that same autism spectrum.

The same often applies to an anti-hero, too. Dexter Morgan, the much-loved serial killer of Dexter, is a psychopath, albeit one who has been trained to work on the right side of the moral fence.

Shows that reimagine historical crimes and characters – often as archetypes of evil – also depict them as different in ways other than simply their propensity for violence.

Take the popular recreation of American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The show suggests Dahmer suffered a brain injury and frequently portrays him as socially stunted.

In Manhunt, there are numerous references to the supposedly high IQ (alongside his mental illness and insanity) of Ted Kaczynski, otherwise known as the Unabomber – the stereotypical “evil genius” in other words.

Why this prevalence of neurodivergent protagonists, and what are viewers gaining by watching crime stories predicated on this form of difference?

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Different but conformist

In my book Ableism, Now Streaming: Disability and Cultural Representations of Crime, I argue this staple of popular culture is less about any voyeuristic impulse or offering glimpses into otherwise forbidden worlds, and more about providing flattering reflections of the status quo.

In one sense, this follows simply from the depiction and casting of these characters. Productions can be seen as inclusive and tolerant of difference, as can audiences.

But in another sense, these neurodivergent heroes and anti-heroes are loved because they are ultimately conformist. They do the work society, especially its branches of criminal justice, demands.

This is obvious in The Killing, The Bridge and Bones, where the neurodivergent hero is “weird” and “quirky” but works with and within the state, usually ensuring the demise of the “bad guy”.

Even Dexter has a moral code, which turns out to reflect a very conventional worldview. Rightly or wrongly, he is a walking advertisement for the moral justification of the death penalty.

Dexter frequently does away with due process, all those pesky legal technicalities that supposedly help the worst of the worst escape punishment. He embodies the type of immediate, vengeful justice many seem to desire.

[embedded content]

Reassuringly not normal

The other flattering reflection of the status quo involves the audience being reassured about the relative normality of its own existence. This is most obvious in the cultural fascination with serial killers and rare, extreme forms of criminal behaviour.

In her book Extraordinary Bodies, critical disability scholar Rosemarie Garland Thomson suggests the notorious “freak shows” of the 19th and 20th centuries became popular American attractions because they served a similar function.

By putting disabled bodies (often due to unusual medical conditions) on display, these shows allowed audiences to feel good about themselves. They could exit the spectacle taking comfort in the knowledge they were “not like that”.

The freak show worked by playing with familiarity and difference: the bodies on display were recognisable as human, but still apart. Similarly, many serial killers seem to superficially embody normal attributes – often white, male, able-bodied, calm and rational – while hiding a twisted psyche.

The message is hard to miss: the serial killer is quite distant from normal, and their dramatic depiction can be viewed as a 21st century version of the freak show.

Crime storytelling is a way to naturalise social boundaries between normal and abnormal, acceptable and unacceptable, moral and immoral. We are fascinated by Dahmer’s cannibalism, for example, partly because it tacitly normalises the consumption of animal flesh as something that need not be questioned.

People can leave the cinematic or televisual freak show saying to themselves, “Well, at least I don’t eat people, I can’t be all that bad.”

Meanwhile, those neurodivergent detectives and police operatives reassure us that we can embrace difference when it conforms to, or serves the interests of, a society we want to believe is fair and just.

– ref. Special agents: the rise of the neurodivergent hero in TV crime drama – https://theconversation.com/special-agents-the-rise-of-the-neurodivergent-hero-in-tv-crime-drama-279312

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/special-agents-the-rise-of-the-neurodivergent-hero-in-tv-crime-drama-279312/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Ley, Deputy Books + Ideas Editor, The Conversation

Tumultuous times create heightened, often complex, emotions. It can be hard to voice or even identify our feelings when faced with war, illness, worry, or great changes of any kind.

Poetry offers many gifts – among them, capturing, reflecting or even just sitting beside us with our thoughts and feelings.

We asked five poetry experts – all poets themselves – for the poems they turn to in anxious times, for comfort or company.

We’d love to hear yours, too – you can share them in the comments section.

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The Storm – Eugenio Montale

One poem I’ve been returning to this year is an old favourite: Charles Wright’s translation of Eugenio Montale’s The Storm. The title in Italian is La Bufera, an idiom Dante introduced in the Inferno, more akin to “tempest” or “squall” than “storm”, though I like the simplicity of Wright’s translation.

The first stanza begins in a relatively recognisable, concrete world: a thunderous March storm pummels a magnolia tree with hail. The storm swiftly becomes figurative as the poet addresses someone who has been startled awake from a “nest of sleep” by “sounds of shaking crystal”. The realist world becomes populated with surrealist images of gold flaring:

like a grain of sugar in the shell
of your eyelids,

and lightning that

                                          blanches
the trees and walls, freezing them
like images on a negative.

The poem sweeps up destabilising images and sounds of a storm’s destruction:

the jangling sistrums, the rustle
of tambourines in the dark ditch of the night,
the tramp, scrape, jump of the fandango.

Montale moves entirely into metaphor with his subtly devastating final lines, where the reader is invited to see the storm as a metaphor for death’s simultaneous release and devastation:

sweeping clear your forehead
of its cloud of hair,

you waved to me — and entered the dark.

For all its residual mystery and strangeness, The Storm is a poem that insists on recording, with striking clarity, what loss leaves behind: a heightened and twinning attention to the world’s ephemeral beauty, and the permanence of its grievous absences.

Sarah Holland-Batt is a poet and professor, and head of writing at UTS.

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The Peace of Wild Things – Wendell Berry

“The mind has mountains, cliffs of fall,” as Gerard Manly Hopkins wrote. But a poem can create an inner room in the mind, a place of shelter from a threatening and precarious world. Poems can be “amulets against the darkness”, as the poet Molly Peacock noted. It’s another good reason to commit them to memory.

Wendell Berry is a Kentucky tobacco farmer and environmental activist, better known for his prose than poetry. His plain diction is lightly rhetorical. Always grounded in the material, his poems are gently sacramental.

The Peace of Wild Things opens in anxiety, but the speaker finds temporary rest in nature’s immanence:

I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief.

Two overt metaphors are crucial. The future taxes our lives, whether it’s making plans, or fearing the worst; other animals are tax-exempt. The “day-blinds stars” are a reminder that certain transcendent and objective realities remain, whatever our perception may suggest.

Unlikely as it seems, peace is always a possibility.

Aidan Coleman is a poet and senior lecturer, English and creative writing, Southern Cross University.

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Of Mutability – Jo Shapcott

I first came across Jo Shapcott’s Of Mutability in a time of illness – which is also, fittingly, the circumstances under which it was written. I love the awful sensuality with which Shapcott speaks of this in the opening lines of the poem –

Too many of the best cells in my body
are itching, feeling jagged, turning
in this spring chill

– and how immediately this opens up into something shared, an almost universal vulnerability. There are so many ways you can understand what it means to

                                          feel small
among the numbers. Razor small.

The poem establishes a sense of great fragility and deep uncertainty:

Look down these days to see your feet
mistrust the pavement and your blood tests
turn the doctor’s expression grave.

But then it turns to offer a hope that’s grounded in the real world, and, in its metaphysical possibilities, marvel at the world and all that it contains:

Look up to catch eclipses, gold leaf, comets,
angels, chandeliers, out of the corner of your eye,
join them if you like, learn astrophysics, or
learn folksong, human sacrifice, mortality,
flying, fishing, sex without touching too much.
Don’t trouble, though, to head anywhere but the sky.

This vulnerability exists, it says, but so does all of this wonder – and it is up to you what you make of it.

Fiona Wright is a poet, writer and tutor in creative writing and communications at Western Sydney University.

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God’s Grandeur – Gerard Manley Hopkins

In trying to cope with the death and destruction being meted out by people towards each other and the biosphere, I have a clutch of poems I turn to as a means of survival.

A poem that often helps gets me through, due to the sheer power of its language, the “sprung rhythm” engagement with an essence of being, is Gerard Manley Hopkins’ God’s Grandeur, which contemplates “bright wings” over and around damage, while deeply lamenting it. It begins gloriously –

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

and unfolds into the reality of human impact on the (“bent”) world as it –

wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And yet, Hopkins then lifts us, with “And, for all this, nature is never spent”.

Though the poem resolves in the spirit through Hopkins’ specific faith, it can be extrapolated into something we might all share in, across cultural spaces.

What matters here is his search for the “inscape” of the specificities of “nature”, which ultimately opens words out to unseen meaning.

John Kinsella is a poet and emeritus professor of literature and environment, Curtin University.

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The Art of Disappearing – Sarah Holland-Batt

The quintessential poem for anxious times has to be W.B. Yeats’ The Second Coming. Several of its lines have found their way into popular discourse, including the apocalyptic “the centre cannot hold”.

In her poem The Art of Disappearing, Sarah Holland-Batt improvises upon Yeats’ evidently timeless theme with a sensual, intimate and relatable lyricism. The poem begins with the lines:

The moon that broke on the fence post will not hold.
Desire will not hold. Memory will not hold.
The house you grew up in; its eaves; its attic will not hold.

Holland-Batt goes on to lay out fragments of a life that appears, always and inevitably, to be slipping from the grasp of its speaker. The poem manages the feat of being nostalgic and equanimous at the same time. I find its homages – Rilke makes an appearance alongside Yeats – reassuringly connective.

Luke Johnson is a poet and senior lecturer in creative writing, University of Wollongong.

– ref. Poetry for an anxious world: 5 experts share poems of grief, hope and restoration – https://theconversation.com/poetry-for-an-anxious-world-5-experts-share-poems-of-grief-hope-and-restoration-279859

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/poetry-for-an-anxious-world-5-experts-share-poems-of-grief-hope-and-restoration-279859/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Cordes, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona

Spiders are among Earth’s most resourceful predators, nabbing prey by any means necessary. Orb weavers spin webs for capture. Wolf spiders ambush on the ground at night. Almost all spiders use venom when they hunt.

But each spider’s venom is a cocktail of ingredients as varied as their hunting behavior. Some venom ingredients can harm people, while others do not. As a result, only a few spiders threaten human health, while most are harmless and even beneficial for pest control.

In the United States, spiders that are dangerous to people include the brown recluse, which carries a necrotic toxin that destroys tissue, and the black widow, which has a special neurotoxin that damages nerve cells.

But how do these toxins work? My laboratory, in collaboration with my colleague Greta Binford, has been studying venom toxins for over two decades. In newly published research led by my former student Alexandra Sundman, we captured the structure of the recluse toxin made by the six-eyed sand spider, a relative of the brown recluse that is found in Chile. Our findings provide new clues for developing new treatments for spider bites.

Mowing down the cell’s surface

The toxin in recluse venom is an enzyme, which is a protein that makes certain chemical reactions go faster.

The recluse toxin binds to the surface of cells and scoots along it like a lawn mower, clipping the heads off molecules on this surface. While working in my lab, my former student Dan Lajoie discovered that the toxin transforms these surface molecules into unusual ring structures. When the immune system attacks these damaged and fragile cells, it can lead to widespread tissue death called necrosis.

For reasons researchers still don’t understand, these toxins cause necrosis in humans but seem to primarily affect the nerve cells of insect prey. Both effects probably result from damaged or rearranged cell membranes.

To better understand how spider venom damages cells, my team and I crystallized and took X-rays of a toxin from a Chilean six-eyed sand spider as it binds to target molecules found in cell membranes. We were amazed to behold a structure that reveals how the toxin binds to cell surfaces. Clearly visible in the mouth of the enzyme were the cell surface molecules, positioned in a way that showed how the enzyme cuts the head off and turns it into a ring.

When we compared the structure of the toxin when it’s bound to its target molecules to its structure when it is not, we saw changes that suggest it gets activated when it binds to cell surfaces. That is, it begins to damage cells once it attaches to their surface.

Uncovering the recluse

True to their name, recluses tend to reside in dark, covered places such as woodpiles, closets and pillowcases, and they may accidentally come into contact with people. They are not aggressive, but they do bite when threatened. The most common symptom is a serious skin wound that may require grafts, but the toxin may also damage red blood cells and cause life-threatening kidney failure.

Recluse spider lesions can be misdiagnosed due to their similarity to sores from bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus. There are no approved treatments in the U.S., though antivenoms are available in South America.

Our hope is that this work can guide scientists in developing new ways to treat spider bites and block the effect of their toxins, by either interfering with their ability to bind to the surface of cells or to chemically alter them.

– ref. How does spider venom damage human cells? Researchers uncover the killer mechanism of recluse spider toxin – https://theconversation.com/how-does-spider-venom-damage-human-cells-researchers-uncover-the-killer-mechanism-of-recluse-spider-toxin-279903

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/how-does-spider-venom-damage-human-cells-researchers-uncover-the-killer-mechanism-of-recluse-spider-toxin-279903/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Benoit, Associate professor in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand

Between 280 and 200 million years ago, a group of animals evolved which would eventually give rise to mammals, including humans: the therapsids. They were first described more than 150 years ago, based on fossils from South Africa. Since then, many more fossils have been discovered.

James Kitching, one of the most talented South African fossil hunters of the 20th century, excavated many thousands of therapsids from the rocks of the Karoo (a semi-arid region of the country’s interior). He also found fossilised dinosaur eggs, but neither he nor any palaeontologist after him ever found therapsid eggs.

They should exist, because some mammals (platypus and echidnas) do lay eggs. But Kitching began to doubt that therapsids laid eggs: perhaps, he thought, they were, like most of their mammalian descendants, already viviparous (giving live birth)?

We are scientists who study extinct animals and the environments they lived in millions of years ago to understand more about the evolution of life. In our new paper we describe, for the first time, the embryo-containing fossilised egg of a 250 million-year-old mammalian ancestor.

It finally shows that therapsids were indeed egg-laying (oviparous). This discovery sheds new light on the reproduction and survival strategy of that group of animals.

A 20-year-old mystery

The fossil egg and embryo we described was discovered near Oviston, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, by John Nyaphuli, a palaeontologist from Bloemfontein, in 2008. It’s been kept in the National Museum in Bloemfontein. We knew that it belonged to a species that lived 252 million to 250 million years ago called Lystrosaurus, but we didn’t know whether the species was an egg-layer. The adult looked like a pig, with naked skin, a beak like a turtle, and two tusks sticking out and pointing down.

The reason it took 20 years to prove that it had been in an egg is that this fossil preserves no shell. Only a curled-up embryo is visible. If there was a shell, it was likely leathery or had dissolved. Only the most advanced dinosaurs laid hard-shelled eggs.

So how could we find out whether this young creature had once been inside an egg?

The answer to this question lay in the advanced technology of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility at Grenoble, France. There, we used a powerful X-ray source to image the inside of the bones of the embryo. Under this treatment, the fossil unveiled all its long-kept secrets – most crucially, its stage of development.

We discovered that the lower jaws of its beak were not completely fused. This developmental trait is only found in modern turtles and birds in which jaw bones fuse long before they are born so that their beak is strong enough for the hatchling to catch and crush its food.

This meant that our curled up Lystrosaurus embryo had died in ovo (in an egg), tightly nestled in its soft, leathery eggshell. This was the evidence palaeontologists had been looking for.

Thanks to the synchrotron-assisted examination of its lower jaw, we could finally demonstrate that this embryo was indeed that of an unhatched Lystrosaurus baby.

Famous survivor

What does it unravel about the survival strategy of Lystrosaurus?

Lystrosaurus is a herbivorous (plant-eating) therapsid famous for surviving the “Great Dying”, which was a major mass extinction of species 252 million years ago. During this event, 90% of all living things on Earth died. Life almost ceased to exist, which makes this the second most important event in the history of life on Earth after the origin of life itself.

How Lystrosaurus survived this is still an intriguing mystery, but the egg gives a possible clue. The fossil we describe shows that the animal laid arguably large eggs for its body size. Large eggs are produced by species that feed their embryos with yolk rather than milk. The young develop to an advanced stage in the egg and then they hatch. In contrast, monotremes (the platypus and echidnas), which feed milk to their young, lay small eggs because the baby is fed after hatching. The large size of its egg implies that Lystrosaurus did not feed milk to its young.

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Read more: A secret mathematical rule has shaped the beaks of birds and other dinosaurs for 200 million years

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More relevant to its survival strategy, this further indicates two things. Firstly, it means that the egg was less prone to desiccation (drying out). The larger the egg, the smaller its surface area (comparatively speaking), so Lystrosaurus eggs would lose less water through their leathery shell than those of other species of that time. Given the dry environment during and in the immediate aftermath of the extinction, this was a significant advantage, especially since hard-shelled eggs would not evolve for another 50 million years, at least.

Secondly, a large egg implies that Lystrosaurus was likely precocial, meaning that the babies likely hatched at an advanced stage of their development. Lystrosaurus hatchlings were big enough to feed by themselves and run away from predators, and would reach maturity faster so they could reproduce early.

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Read more: How predators may have shaped the way some southern African lizards survive and reproduce

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Growing up fast, reproducing young and proliferating were the secrets of Lystrosaurus survival.

Our ability to identify the fossil egg adds to our understanding of the origin of mammalian reproductive biology and lactation, and the survival strategy of Lystrosaurus in the most devastating biological crisis. This is significant to better grasp how modern species might cope with the current sixth mass extinction of species.

– ref. Embryo fossil found in South Africa is world’s oldest proof that mammal ancestors laid eggs – https://theconversation.com/embryo-fossil-found-in-south-africa-is-worlds-oldest-proof-that-mammal-ancestors-laid-eggs-277673

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/embryo-fossil-found-in-south-africa-is-worlds-oldest-proof-that-mammal-ancestors-laid-eggs-277673/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Marchant, Research Assistant & PhD Candidate in Mental Health, Swansea University

Family courts step in at some of the hardest moments in a child’s life, when parents separate or when there are concerns about their safety.

We already know that children involved in care proceedings are more likely to self-harm. But most children who come into contact with family courts are there because of disputes between parents, not safeguarding concerns. Until now we have known comparatively little about these children or what happens to them after court proceedings end.

For the first time, our research tracked self-harm over time in these children. We found that children who go through the family courts, whether because of parental separation or welfare concerns, are more likely to self-harm than those who do not.

This doesn’t mean the courts themselves are causing harm. This increased risk is more likely linked to the circumstances that lead families to court in the first place. Family courts are an often-missed opportunity to offer help.

We analysed anonymised family court records alongside routinely collected health data for more than 700,000 children between 2011 and 2018. Around 17,000 had been involved in private cases – usually disputes over finances or living arrangements after separation. Another 5,500 were involved in public cases, where local authorities step in over concerns about a child’s welfare.

The risk of self-harm was about twice as high after private cases and more than three times as high after public ones.

Previous research shows that families in contact with courts often face challenges beyond the courtroom. They are more likely to live in deprived areas and to experience mental or physical health problems, in both caregivers and children. These factors are already known to increase the risk of self-harm in young people.

Historically, people designing services for families have not always had enough data to guide the decisions made in family courts. Evidence now shows elevated risks not just of self-harm but for a range of adverse outcomes, including depression, anxiety and poorer educational attainment. Yet family courts receive far less public attention than many other issues affecting young people.

A warning sign we shouldn’t ignore

Self-harm is relatively common in adolescents. Most young people who self-harm do not go on to die by suicide. However, it is one of the clearest signals of distress and one of the strongest risk factors for suicide. This makes early identification and support especially important.

Children who come into contact with family courts should be a priority for support.

Parental separations are common. Many children experience them and their effects can be underestimated and downplayed because of that. Around one in ten separating families turn to family courts to resolve disputes, often as a last resort because of the financial and emotional costs. It may also reflect high levels of conflict between parents.

The decisions made during these proceedings can be life changing for children. Where families reach the point of involving family courts, we should ensure that support is available for the whole family, especially for children.

Family courts are in a unique position. They come into contact with children and families, with complex and intersecting needs, at important moments that have the potential to shape the rest of their lives.

We believe that contact with the courts should be seen as an opportunity to identify the needs of these families and offer practical, timely support to children and their families. This might include wider networks such as schools, community services and primary care or to provide clearer pathways to specialist mental health support where needed.

Decisions made in family courts have the potential to shape children’s lives at critical moments. These moments should be seen as signals of need, not just legal milestones. If we act on them, we have a real chance to support children at the point they need it most.

– ref. Children going through family courts face increased risk of self-harm, new research finds – https://theconversation.com/children-going-through-family-courts-face-increased-risk-of-self-harm-new-research-finds-278263

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/13/children-going-through-family-courts-face-increased-risk-of-self-harm-new-research-finds-278263/