Rafqa Touma

Taiwan conducted a civil-defense exercise in which residents moved to shelters as sirens and mobile alerts sounded. For the first time, the drill also drastically reduced internet speeds to simulate a coordinated attack, highlighting concerns about China's growing threat across the Taiwan Strait.

The podcast examines why no woman has led the Australian Labor Party since Julia Gillard despite women achieving gender parity in the party’s parliamentary caucus. Tanya Plibersek, a highly experienced cabinet and shadow cabinet minister and former deputy leader, is identified as a prominent woman who is largely absent from speculation about Anthony Albanese’s successor. Political reporter Krishani Dhanji and Rafqa Touma discuss the structural and political factors behind the limited consideration of Labor women for the leadership.

Seven-year-old Miles Phillips wrote “Eastern Rosellas” after feeding birds on Raymond Island and being struck by the colorful native parrots. A home recording shared by his father, Joel Phillips, later became a professionally produced version that attracted more than 1.5 million views on Instagram and TikTok, appeared on Spotify and was played by several radio stations. The song has been compared to a range of pop and rock acts and covered by Ben Lee and Ball Park Music. Miles is also developing another song and a band with friends, while his father says the family prioritizes imagination and creative activity over excessive screen time.

Thousands of Australian and Turkish supporters gathered at Melbourne’s Federation Square to watch Australia face Turkey in its opening 2026 World Cup match. The crowd celebrated goals from Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe, along with strong saves from goalkeeper Patrick Beach, as Australia secured a 2-0 win. Fans described the match as a unifying national moment and left the square singing traditional Australian football chants.

Mohammed Massoud Morsi’s novel follows Ghassan, a Palestinian boy raised in Damascus’s Yarmouk refugee camp, from childhood through the Arab Spring and Syrian civil war. After being arrested, imprisoned and tortured for attending a protest, Ghassan escapes across the Mediterranean and seeks asylum in Copenhagen. The review praises Morsi’s vivid, lyrical and documentary-like prose, while highlighting the novel’s unsparing depiction of war, displacement, starvation, deaths at sea and multigenerational trauma. Despite its brutality, the story also finds hope in memory, friendship, community and human resilience.

Guardian Australia editors and critics recommend twelve Australian books for April, spanning novels, short stories, memoir, political history and cookbooks. The selections explore grief, family conflict, mortality, ecological crisis, refugee displacement, the housing crisis, media dynasties and the legacy of Bob Hawke’s government. Highlights include Fiona Wright’s dark housing-crisis novel Kill Your Boomers, Gabriel Sherman’s researched account of the Murdoch family, and Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo’s memoir-infused cookbook celebrating Gamilaroi culture and community cooking.

Lakemba’s Ramadan night markets are drawing more than one million Muslim and non-Muslim visitors to south-west Sydney, with food, prayer and communal celebrations creating an atmosphere residents describe as welcoming and peaceful. The festivities come amid criticism of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s claims that people feel unwelcome in Lakemba and her broader anti-Muslim comments. Community leaders argue that her rhetoric is divisive, while the mosque has faced death threats and a reported rise in Islamophobic abuse following the Bondi terror attack. Despite these pressures, vendors and visitors present the markets as a celebration of cultural diversity, generosity and belonging.