In this bulletin;
- Adelaide Writers' Week cancelled after major controversy triggers writers boycott;
- Protesters in Iran use Starlink to evade communications blackout;
- And in sport, Josh Cavallo alleges homophobia at Adelaide United led to his reduced game time.
The Adelaide Writers' Week has been cancelled and all members of the board stood down in the wake of major controversy over their dumping of a Palestinian-Australian author.
The director of the Adelaide Writers' Week, Louise Adler quit earlier in the day over the decision, which had triggered a boycott of around 100 authors from the event.
Ms Adler says she fought against the board's decision to dump Randa Abdel-Fattah from the lineup over apparent concerns about "cultural sensitivity" in the wake of the Bondi attack.
In a statement, the Adelaide Festival says it apologies for the harm caused and recognises the distress that arose from it.
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The Federal government's strengthened hate laws will create offences for publicly promoting or inciting racial hatred in response to the Bondi terror attack.
According to new legislation, which aims to strengthen both hate speech and gun control laws, the government will have new powers to prescribe hate groups that currently fall below terrorist listing thresholds.
The draft laws create a national firearm buyback scheme, and tighten imports of classes of firearms, as well as suppressors and certain types of ammunition.
Shadow Home Affairs minister Jonothan Duniam says the coalition already has concerns about the bill.
"These are complex laws, and there are a range of issues that stakeholders are already raising less than 24 hours in. Our job is to interrogate these matters, what the government have put forward, and the government are saying these laws will fix the problems that led to Bondi. Well, that is the test, and we will interrogate that over the next few days. Again though, as I said yesterday, the opposition were not invited to contribute to the drafting of these laws, we were not consulted."
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Despite a nationwide communications blackout in the country, some Iranians are using Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet services to counter the shutdown.
As Iranian authorities launch a deadly crackdown on anti-government demonstrations sweeping Iran, the communications blackout has made it difficult to confirm facts on the ground.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 646 people have been killed and over 10,000 arrested since protests broke out on December 28.
In the US, Iranian political activist Roozbeh Farahanipour says the people of Iran will find a way to get information out.
“Because of many different ways. I don't want to go in detail. I don't want to just give the alarm to the regime. But every activist, they know how to find the access to international or their contacts outside of the countries. So as much as the regime try to black out, but the people find their own ways to communicate with the outside.”
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A group of opposition parties in Venezuela is disputing claims from the government that 116 political prisoners have been released since the U-S capture of Nicolas Maduro.
The Venezuelan government claims 116 have so far been released but Unidad Venezuela, a group of opposition parties, are reporting that just 65 had been freed so far.
Supporters and family members have been waiting outside detention centres in the capital Caracas, with some sleeping outside the facilities in the hopes of their loved ones release.
According to human rights organisation Foro Penal, at least 800 political prisoners were being detained in Venezuela at the start of the year.
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To sport and in football,
Openly gay footballer Josh Cavallo alleges homophobia was the reason for his reduced game time during his later years at Adelaide United and ultimately led to his departure.
It prompted Adelaide to "categorically" reject the allegations, adamant any selection decisions were based on what's best for football.
Cavallo came out as gay, with Adelaide's support, in 2021, becoming the world's first openly gay active professional male footballer.
He departed the club in May to move to the U-K after limited game time in his final two seasons, which he alleges was due to his sexuality and not injuries.
