Meryl Streep brings global attention to the ever-deteriorating situation for Afghan women. Her speech at the UN General Assembly went viral, creating space to talk about the myriad ways the Taliban’s gender apartheid regime is breaching the rights of women in Afghanistan and what we can do to help.

The Afghan Taliban have commenced an aggressive attempt to thrust aside and silence critical Afghan voices in international circles. If Western governments are sincere in their protestations of concern about human rights in Afghanistan, they will resist these endeavours, forcefully.

Mid-July 2024 saw two major events on China’s economic and trade sectors. At the Third Plenum in Beijing, the Party-State presented options to fortify China’s economy by its 80th anniversary in 2029. At the same time in Brussels, the World Trade Organization (WTO) conducted its ninth biannual review of China’s trade policy. Countries around the world, including Australia, are deeply interested in how China’s economic trajectory will forge international trade relations into the future.

Spamouflage, a form of disinformation spread through fake social media accounts, poses a growing threat to democratic processes by manipulating public opinion and amplifying polarisation. Governments must take proactive steps to curb the impact of these campaigns and protect the integrity of elections.

In China, the deprivations precarious workers suffer go beyond the labour market to impact family relations, social participation, and mental and emotional health. Even if policy has made some attempts to reduce precarity in recent times, there is still significant room for improvement.

This week in Australian foreign affairs: Marles in Timor-Leste to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Popular Consultation independence referendum; Marles and Wong host counterparts in Australia-Japan 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Consultation; humanitarian assistance for Bangladesh, and more.

The development of the Australia-Japan relationship from former adversaries to close allies is a remarkable statement of the ongoing closeness each nation perceives in the other. From the strategic importance of trade, defense cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges to the challenges of addressing shared concerns about China's rise, there is a clear rationale for the deepening of political and strategic collaboration between the two nations.

Nuclear energy is increasingly recognised as a vital source of clean and reliable baseload power to support the global energy transition. Countries around the world are embracing, or in some cases re-embracing, nuclear energy as an essential component of their future decarbonised energy systems, be it through life extension programs or the refurbishment of existing plants, embarking on newbuild initiatives, or by the championing of new and advanced nuclear technologies in pilot or demonstration projects.

In the Indo-Pacific, navies play a major role in shaping a balance of power that generates deterrence effects. The roles and strategies of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in the Indo-Pacific are crucial to this deterrence. 

The relationship between populism and conspiracy theories highlights how populist movements often incorporate conspiracy theories to explain perceived injustices by elites against the people. This dynamic is more prevalent in environments where conspiracy theories are less stigmatized, influencing populist rhetoric and strategies significantly across different global contexts.

India has been grappling with several contradictions under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP rule since 2014, often characterised by cultural prioritisation over secular liberalism, rising nationalism, and Hindu-first ideologies. Despite these challenges and decreased political inclusivity, Modi has retained significant popularity and power.