Concerns are growing for the wellbeing of an Australian democracy activist who has not been heard from for almost a month after being detained in Vietnam. His wife, Chloe Dang, described his plight as “truly heartbreaking”.
Detention and Isolation
Tran Hiep, an Australian democracy campaigner imprisoned in Vietnam on alleged terrorism offences, has become uncontactable, according to his wife. She believes he spent his 51st birthday alone in a notorious detention centre in Ho Chi Minh City after his sudden arrest last month.
Other Morning Mail Headlines
In other news, renters face online fees from property companies trying to claw back money from credit card payments. The surge in EV imports from China could help to lower inflation, and Australia are on the brink of winning the first Test in South Africa.
Online property management platforms are charging renters new fees or pushing them on to paid “memberships” to avoid processing costs associated with card payments after the ban on surcharges.
More part-time bosses and “co-CEOs” could keep women in leadership and narrow Australia’s gender pay gap, the federal government’s equality agency says.
The leader of a Melbourne Islamic centre allegedly linked to the accused Flydubai hijacker has rejected any connection with the radicalised pilot, saying he never met the suspect, and condemned “violence in all its forms”.
A specialist child safety doctor was “stonewalled” by a child safety officer after repeatedly warning that Elizabeth Struhs would not be safe living with her mother, years before her parents allowed her to die by withdrawing lifesaving medicine, a coronial inquest has heard.
World News and Sport
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to respond to Russia’s continuing attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as European leaders rally around Kyiv amid a feud with Donald Trump over Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries. Saudi Arabia was forced to extend the suspension of all flights to and from its main international airport in Riyadh on Monday after a further round of Houthi missile attacks caused more damage and left one dead. Federal agents have searched the home of Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar as part of a criminal fraud investigation. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered the country’s attorney general and the security service to reveal the identities of soldiers and officers interviewed in the investigative documentary NAZA and prosecute them for causing “harm to Israel’s diplomatic and security interests”.
The surge in sales of electric vehicles in Australia has become an unexpected weapon in combatting higher inflation, according to experts, who say that the low cost of many of the China-made vehicles is helping contain the overall cost-of-living rise. In addition, the lower insurance rates associated with EVs and less spending on petrol are also helping swell the so-called “BYD effect”.
In sport, Australia marched closer to victory in the first Test over South Africa in Durban after another dominant day – and more Matt Renshaw heroics – which ended with the hosts on 4-102 and still needing another 319 to win. A low-stakes women’s cricket match – Hobart Hurricanes v ACT Meteors – attracted $350,000 in bets and exposes a new threat to Australian sport. The former Australia cyclist Matt Richardson has been withdrawn from the Great Britain team for next week’s World Cycling Championships in Shanghai amid allegations of misconduct.
Freshwater turtles rescued from a dried-up water hole in western New South Wales after the state government cut environmental water to the area are being returned home.
