Emily Jane Smith

Fana, Tesfu and Amele are from the Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia. In November 2020, a brutal conflict unfolded in their home country. They say their families and friends are experiencing extreme human rights abuses. In a desperate attempt to tell the world their story, they spoke to SBS Dateline.

It’s summer in Australia and Yalda Hakim is home for the first time in years. Having been prevented from returning until now because of the pandemic, it’s a relief to see family and nice to watch her two-year-old enjoy his grandparents’ backyard, with a hose, in the summer heat. Just like she remembered as a kid. “It's nice to see him experience what we had as kids here in Sydney, ” Yalda said. “It's really nice to be home in Australia after so…

Violent protests in the Solomon Islands sparked a call from their Prime Minister to Australia for help. At the centre of the unrest is the Solomons’ foreign policy on China, which might be surprising and confusing. It’s a complicated web of domestic affairs and geopolitics. This article will get you across the basics. On 24 November about 1,000 people held a peaceful anti-government protest in the capital Honiara. The demonstrations got out of hand and violence and looting followed…

An Australian citizen charged with espionage in China still does not know the outcome of his trial months after proceedings. Dr Yang Hengjun, a writer and academic, has been detained since 2019 after his arrest at an airport. He stood trial in May over charges that carry a sentence ranging from three years to the death penalty. Chinese authorities have not released any specific details of the charges against Dr Yang. The verdict has been delayed, with Amnesty International Australia stating that…

Jen* never thought she would be describing the possibility of her death if she returned to her country. She has been studying in Australia for five years, with dreams of becoming a lawyer and returning home to teach people in her country. “I really want to study law, because in our country, there is no value for the law, because it is made by the military and they can modify it,” she explained. “I want to get a better education, so I decided to come to Australia to study law…

One Nation says it will do “everything in its power” to stop both “illegal arrivals" entering Australia and people "illegally squatting" on domain names, after discovering a website with Pauline Hanson’s name redirects to the Refugee Council of Australia. Visitors to the website paulinehanson.com.au are being redirected to the Refugee Council of Australia website, a not-for-profit organisation advocating for the rights of refugees. “One Nation…

“It was like a zombie apocalypse.”  That’s how Hussein Kazoun describes the moments after the blast at the Port of Beirut on August 4. After shielding himself inside his home, the 28-year-old stepped outside to a horror scene. “You have old people walking around, completely bloodied, half unconscious, people running barefoot.” It was the aftermath of the world’s biggest non-nuclear explosion caused by more than 2500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that w…

Three Native American women have been elected to congress after a record number ran for Congress in the 2020 election on Tuesday, according to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP).  Nine Democrats and nine Republican Native American women entered the race for congress. That’s compared to just two in 2018. Democrat Deb Haaland is a 35th generation New Mexican who is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, a tribe in west-central New Mexico.  She was first elected into th…

It was one of a string of combative moments in the controversial presidential debate. When US President Donald Trump was asked to condemn white supremacists by the moderator, then prompted by Biden to specifically criticise the Proud Boys, he said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by”. While Trump said today that he hadn’t heard of them  before the debate, the group is one of a number of right-wing fringe groups formed in the past five years and who have engaged in political…

When Marie Caussy returned to her native Mauritius in early March, she was desperate for it to be a quick trip. The Melbourne chef was seven months pregnant and had only returned to her home country to apply for her daughter’s visa. Born in Australia, her two-year-old had become ‘illegal’ because Marie didn’t fill out the correct paperwork after giving birth, a mistake she was scrambling to fix. The only way to rectify the situation, as instructed by the Australian Bo…

South Korea has warned it is on the brink of a new COVID-19 crisis after more than 400 infections are traced to a Seoul church. South Korea has added almost 1,000 new cases over the past week after 400 infections were linked to the Sarang Jeil church, whose leader, Jun Kwang-hun, and some of the church’s members tested positive for COVID-19. The leader, also a conservative activist, has led protests against government-imposed lockdowns, including a demonstration in Seoul on Saturday att…

Malaysian authorities have refused to renew the work visas of two Australian journalists -- Drew Ambrose and Jenni Henderson -- who are being investigated for an Al Jazeera documentary on migrant workers in the country. The pair are among seven Al Jazeera journalists being investigated for sedition, defamation and violation of the Communications and Multimedia Act. This is a criminal offence in Malaysia. The visa refusal follows a raid on Al Jazeera’s offices by Malaysian police on Tuesda…

If you find yourself locked-up abroad, the Australian government and foreign diplomacy can affect the outcome of your imprisonment. The Australian government has different agreements and treaties with different countries. Depending on the nation, the government would have negotiated certain terms and conditions for when an Australian is imprisoned. For example, the right to receive Australian consular assistance. Sometimes there is no agreement. Many countries have signed the Vienna Convention…

Riah Milton was “loved by everyone.” Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells was “one of a kind.” Thousands in the US have protested following the deaths of the two black transgender women who were killed within a 24 hour period last week. Violence against trans people in the US, particularly against black trans people, has been labeled an epidemic. Riah Milton, 25, was shot during an attempted robbery. A day earlier, Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fe…

If you’re not British and you don’t follow UK politics you’d be excused if you aren’t familiar with Dominic Cummings and are perplexed by why he’s hit headlines. Here are four important points to carry you through your next Zoom drinks or restriction-friendly dinner party if someone mentions his name, his parents’ property and his eyesight. Dominic Cummings is a chief advisor to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. That means he is Johnson’s right han…

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore school kids have each owned their own thermometer.  “A thermometer is part of the stationery, you can get them at book-stores,” said Yueh Mei Liu, a Singapore education expert. The mother of two school age children runs an education technology startup, is a former teacher, and was an architect for Singapore’s maths curriculum.  Singapore schools have been preparing for a viral outbreak for nearly two decades, she explain…

The coronavirus is disrupting supply chains across the world and so-called ‘panic-buying’ has seen consumers flock to supermarkets to stock-up on essential items, including toilet paper. The average person who buys toilet paper used about 9.8kg last year, according to consumer data group Statistica. Costco in the US has seen a run on supplies and the chairman of Japan’s paper manufacturing companies, Hirofumi Hayashi, told a news conference last week , “there is a su…

“Visa on arrival” are the three magic words proving to be an ongoing pressure point on the diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Australia. Indonesian tourists pay a $140 visa application fee and complete a 17 page questionnaire, which includes questions like “have you ever committed an act of genocide,” to obtain a travel visa. Indonesian visitors must also apply for the visa before leaving their country. In comparison, Australians visiting Indonesia can receive…

Tragic news of four children killed in a pedestrian crash at the weekend has reached Lebanon as their families grieve. A group of seven children had been walking on a footpath in Sydney’s north-west suburb Oatlands Saturday evening when police allege a 29-year-old driver mounted the curb and hit the group. Siblings Anthony, Angelina and Sienna Abdallah, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, died instantly -- three other children were hospitalised. The driver Samuel Davidson has been charged wi…

Eric Zanotto has had more than 25 years firefighting experience in the United States. In the six weeks he has been in Australia, Eric has faced the most intense fires of his career. The American had been stationed south-west of Sydney when a catastrophic fire tore through the area mid-December. “The sheer magnitude of what was happening on those days across the entire country I think was pretty unprecedented,” he said. As out of control fires raged around around Balmoral and B…