05/05/2026

TUESDAY | MAY 5, 2026

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Bondi Beach shooting public hearing begins

Nepal PM defends squatter clearances KATHMANDU: Nepal’s newly elected Prime Minister Balendra Shah defended yesterday his push to clear informal settlements from stiff criticism by rights groups, in rare public comments since assuming office. Authorities last month began demolishing informal settlements home to thousands of people on government land in the capital Kathmandu. Squatters have been living for decades on the banks of the Bagmati river and its tributaries which crisscross the Kathmandu valley. Many lived in flimsy shelters of wood and sheet metal shacks. Shah, 36, said in a post on social media the process was “in accordance with the law”. He criticised what he called “intentional attempts to create suspicions and spread fear” about the process among residents of informal settlements. “The government is fully committed to ensuring safe, dignified and permanent housing for every landless citizen,” Shah said. “No citizen will be allowed to become homeless.” About 3,500 houses and structures, home to about 25,000 people, have been demolished, according to Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj, a network of landless women. “There is a situation of uncertainly right now. The people don’t have a place to stay, nothing to eat and their jobs and schools have been disrupted,“ Bhagwati Adhikari of Nepal Mahila Ekata Samaj told AFP. A total of 1,816 families have registered as squatters, according to the government, with 794 transferred to government holding centres. The Supreme Court yesterday issued a show-cause order to the government, following petitions against the decision to remove squatters from public land. – AFP Australia targets healthy hearts MELBOURNE: Child health experts here have unveiled a nationally coordinated, multi pronged strategy to tackle rising childhood obesity, targeting heart health, diet, exercise and sleep. The initiative, known as GenHEART and led by Australia’s Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), will run over 10 years. It aims to reverse alarming obesity trends among children and their parents, the institute said in a statement yesterday. The programme will draw on Generation Australia, a large-scale research platform combining two long-term cohort studies tracking about 60,000 children and families in Victoria and Western Australia. “Good heart health in childhood is crucial to reducing the risk of chronic disease across a person’s lifetime,” said MCRI Professor Melissa Wake. Four major trials are planned from next year, examining whether earlier bedtimes, parental weight-loss treatments, school based blood pressure screening, and strength-focused physical activities can improve children’s long-term health. “We know the risk factors underlying cardiometabolic diseases such as unhealthy weight gain, high blood pressure, low physical activity and poor sleep often begin in the primary school years,” Wake said. The initiative represented a rare opportunity to reverse rising obesity rates and related chronic diseases, including cardiovascular conditions, diabetes and kidney disease, which together cost Australia more than A$23 billion (RM65.5 billion) annually in healthcare spending, she said. – Bernama

o ‘We don’t feel safe here’

“We never expected Jews to be hunted on Bondi Beach. My family and I no longer want to live in Australia. We don’t feel safe here. We don’t feel welcome.” Stefanie Schwartz, the president of Sydney Jewish primary school Mount Sinai College, spoke of holding drills to prepare young students to deal with attacks, and requiring an “extreme” security presence on campus. “You walk past our school and it looks a lot more like a prison than a primary school.” Antisemitism has “run riot”, with Jewish Australians being held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, said Benjamin Elton, the chief minister of the Great Synagogue in Sydney. The inquiry released an interim report of 14 recommendations last Thursday, urging greater security for Jewish public events and further counter-terrorism and gun reforms. A second block of hearings later this month will focus on the circumstances leading up to the Bondi Beach attack and issues raised in the interim report. The commission is due to deliver its final report on Dec 14, exactly a year after the attack. – Reuters

rising hostility since the October 2023 start of the war in Gaza. “What is happening in Australia today is not a faint echo of a distant past,” said Peter Halasz, an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor who fled to Australia from Hungary. “For those of us who lived through the 1930s and 1940s, it is something we recognise, and that recognition is frightening and cause for alarm.” Sheina Gutnick, who lost her father Reuven Morrison in the Bondi attack, said antisemitism had damaged her family’s sense of safety and freedom of movement. “As a mother, I’m constantly weighing up the risk of exposing my children to environments where they may be witness, or subject, to antisemitism,” she told the panel. She recounted an incident in which a stranger at a shopping centre called her an “effing terrorist” for wearing a Star of David necklace. Another witness said her family was relocating to Israel because of safety concerns. “We never expected synagogues to be burned down,” said the woman, who used the pseudonym “AAM”.

SYDNEY: Australia began public hearings yesterday in an inquiry into the Bondi Beach mass shooting in December, with Jewish Australians giving evidence of their experience of rising domestic antisemitism. The attack on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration killed 15, fuelling calls for tougher gun controls and more action to tackle hatred. The first block of public hearings will investigate the nature and prevalence of antisemitism, said Virginia Bell, the retired judge leading the national inquiry known as a Royal Commission. “The sharp spike in antisemitism that we’ve witnessed in Australia has been mirrored in other Western countries and seems clearly linked to events in the Middle East,” Bell said. “It’s important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians simply because they’re Jews.” Witnesses from the Jewish community told the inquiry they felt increasingly unsafe amid Speaking in Canberra after talks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, she said the two countries would respond urgently to secure stable energy supplies. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil normally flows through the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has been throttled by Iran since it was attacked by the United States and Israel. Most of that oil is destined for Asia, according to the International Energy Agency. “The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has been inflicting enormous impact on the Indo-Pacific,”Takaichi told journalists. “We affirmed that Japan and Australia will closely communicate with each other in responding with a sense of urgency.” She said both countries aim to strengthen autonomy and resilience to secure stable supplies of energy. Australia is the biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas to Japan, which in turn is a source for about 7% of Australia’s diesel. The two countries issued a string of statements vowing to work together on energy, the economy, defence, and critical minerals. “These agreements are to the benefit of both of our people,” Albanese said. “For Australians, it will mean we are less vulnerable to global shocks like we are seeing right now.” Japan’s government has said it is also keen to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals, essential for semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries and weapons systems. Australia has touted its abundant critical minerals as a way to loosen China’s grip over global supplies of rare earths. Australia and Japan have strengthened their defence ties, too, striking a A$10 billion (RM28.5 billion) deal last year for Japan to to provide Mogami-class stealth warships to the Australian navy. In a foreign policy address delivered in Vietnam at the weekend, Takaichi promised to do more to ensure a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, a strategy that has rankled China.

Oil crisis has enormous impact, says Takaichi CANBERRA: A global oil supply squeeze is inflicting an “enormous impact” on the Asia Pacific region, Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday.

Takaichi admiring poppies placed on the First World War Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Japan aimed to build its resilience, she said, notably strengthening its supply chains for energy and critical minerals, and enhancing security cooperation.

First articulated a decade ago by Takaichi’s mentor Shinzo Abe, the idea of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific has since been embraced by US partners and allies. – AFP