Tens of thousands of people in Australia's New South Wales state were without power on Saturday after a low pressure system brought damaging winds and heavy rains, sparking flood warnings.

George Brandis, who is now a professor of national security at the Australian National University, says Australia's hate crime laws and their penalties are not strong enough.

Detectives in Australia are investigating whether foreign actors paying criminals are behind the recent string of antisemitic attacks.

Australian detectives are examining whether foreign entities are funding criminal groups to carry out antisemitic attacks in the country.

Authorities declared a natural disaster Saturday in parts of eastern Australia where gales have toppled trees and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes. Heavy rain, lightning and winds as strong as 100 kph have swept across Sydney and other areas of New South Wales since Wednesday.

The national cabinet has announced the creation of a new national database to share intel on increasing crimes.

The building, adjacent to a synagogue and Jewish school, was set on fire and antisemitic slogans were graffitied in is the second antisemitic incident in four days

Police say they are stepping up investigations after building was graffitied with anti-Jewish slogans and then burnt, causing massive damage but no injuries

Australia has been grappling with a spate of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.

Dec 7: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says antisemitic attacks in Australia linked to the government's position at the United Nations on Palestine. Dec 9: Federal police taskforce on antisemitism launched. Dec 11: Cars torched, buildings vandalised in Sydney’s east.

Rystad Energy's David Dixon stated that New South Wales was the best-performing state for utility-scale solar in December 2024.

A number of animals, plants and an entire ecosystem were added to Australia's extinction watch list in 2024. We look at the new species under threat.