Australia has been galvanised by ‘melon-gate’. So what is the luxury fruit at the centre of the PM’s controversy?
Shizuoka Crown melons are part of an important cultural gifting practice in Japan, where they are hand-patted by growers to achieve an even shape and texture
US conducted ‘mass spying campaign’ against leftwing groups and anti-ICE protesters, records reveal
DHS sent undercover agents to meetings and infiltrated chats of groups opposing Trump’s immigration crackdown
I protested against Pauline Hanson 28 years ago – now my teenager is doing the same thing
In 1998, when I was in year 11, my friends and I wagged school to protest against the One Nation leader. Now my daughter has joined the school walkout
‘So much more respect for myself’: NZ ultrarunner Sophie Woods on smashing a 2,000km alpine run record
Sophie Woods speaks about the challenges she overcame while completing the notorious Via Alpina across eight European countries
The Guardian view on solar eclipses: moments of wonder that bring us together
Editorial: Wednesday’s eerie spectacle united crowds beneath the sky, continuing a human fascination that stretches from ancient myth to modern physics
Mine by Adam Ouston review – novel told in a single sentence is a hallucinatory reading experience
Ouston’s second novel follows a poet who is trapped in an abandoned mine in Tasmania while searching for inspiration for his ‘last great work’
I’d rather drink eel-infested lake water than put my hand up for Alone Australia – which is what makes it such great TV
Alone Australia is my idea of torture, but there is something charming about the contestants that put their hands up for this madness
Three men executed on same day in US for the first time in 15 years
Rare scheduling in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Alabama underlines the renewed appetite in US for state killings
‘Lauf’ and ‘minceur’: the words that made a 13-year-old from Melbourne a world Scrabble champion
Dineth Fernando – who moved to Australia with his family in February – says he just needed to ‘find the word and play – that’s all’
CPS director apologises for failings in case of rapist-murderer Simon Levy
Stephen Parkinson says court should have been told that sex offender was being investigated for even more serious offences
Fake sex worker and accomplice jailed for fatally spiking men’s drinks
Adina Mihai and Madalin Dumitru from Essex jailed for 17 years for drugging four men to steal from them, two of whom died