Benjamin Netanyahu has stepped up warnings about national security ahead of Israel's election. He told voters that Iran's nuclear weapons could bring a second Holocaust, and posted an AI-generated image of a nuclear blast over a city widely read as Tel Aviv. He also said Israel needed a bypass economy to withstand possible sanctions, and agreed that cryptocurrency was one option. The Bank of Israel said cryptocurrencies could not avoid sanctions. Rival Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff, told supporters Israel faced a choice between international partnership and isolation.
Calls for an independent audit of Australia's courts have intensified after sensitive court data was accessed in India on at least two occasions. Internal emails show the Federal Court chief executive was notified of a data breach in 2016, but no action was taken. The Federal Court says its chief executive has no recollection of the notification. Former Auscript manager Paul Cutbush raised security concerns in 2014, and the Coalition and Greens are urging the Attorney-General to act.
A US court has ordered that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a former OpenAI engineer, remain in detention while he faces charges of secretly recording meetings at the company. US prosecutors say he planned to leave the country for Saudi Arabia, pointing to one-way tickets paid for by a Saudi official and his wife and son already leaving. Prosecutors allege that a folder called Saudi Gov Docs was accessed on his phone shortly before his arrest. Alfozan has not been convicted, and the court hearing was the first step in the process.
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A 54-year-old man from Ravenswood, near Launceston, has been charged after police allege an email threatening serious violence was sent to a federal politician's office. The Australian Federal Police charged him on Thursday. Police allege the email was sent on September 14. Officers searched his home with help from Tasmania Police and seized several electronic devices, which will undergo forensic examination. He faces one charge of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, and was granted police bail. He is due to appear in Launceston Magistrates Court on December 16.
Sydney-based activist Salman Shabbir says callers in Pakistan demanded he stop posting about the country's politics on X after his brother was taken in March 2024. Shabbir alleges the callers tortured his brother during a call and blames the Pakistani military, which has not responded to a request for comment. His case is one of several alleged transnational repression cases involving people in Australia. A Senate inquiry is examining the issue, and the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor has recommended reforms to foreign interference laws.
An alleged Chinese spying network used fake LinkedIn personas to approach thousands of people worldwide between 2016 and 2025. At least seven Australians were contacted in 2020 under the name of a fictional consultancy, Data 31, which claimed to be run by retired Australian police officers. The Chinese Embassy in Canberra described the Australian Federal Police's claims as entirely groundless. Sydney businessman Alexander Csergo was found guilty of reckless foreign interference in March. ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has warned publicly about the threat of Chinese espionage.
Sensitive Australian court transcripts were reportedly sent to India more than a decade ago, according to emails that have only recently come to light. Former Auscript national manager Paul Cutbush says he raised concerns with the federal courts and the Australian Federal Police in December 2014, but no action followed. The family court later described the failure to disclose offshoring as a minor breach. Cutbush said he received no reply for two years, and a 2016 court email said the contract did not expressly bar offshore work, though it did.
Two LinkedIn accounts linked to suspected Chinese spies approached dozens of Australians in government, policing and trade with paid consultancy offers, an ABC investigation has found. The Australian Federal Police allege China's Ministry of State Security ran the operation, which targeted more than 100 people between 2016 and 2025. The former Queensland premier Steven Miles was connected with one of the accounts in 2021, but the ABC has seen no messages between them. China's embassy rejected the allegations as groundless. The operation is linked to the case of businessman Alexander Csergo, the first person convicted of reckless foreign interference.
Secret extra hearings will be held by the anti-Semitism royal commission to examine Australia's counter-terrorism, intelligence and law enforcement agencies before the Bondi attack. Commissioner Virginia Bell said the sessions will be closed to the public because of the sensitivity of the evidence and to avoid prejudice to national security and ongoing criminal proceedings. The hearings will review the security environment, how intelligence about individuals was shared, security arrangements for the Chanukah by the Sea event, and counter-terrorism resourcing.
The Royal Commission into Anti-semitism and Social Cohesion will hold an additional hearing later this month, closed to the public. The commission said the evidence is sensitive and the hearing is classified to avoid prejudice to national security and ongoing criminal proceedings. The hearing is part of the second block, which examined the deadly Bondi Beach terror attack last December. The Coalition had earlier urged the government to continue the public investigation.
Six cranes are working on a National Security Office Precinct in Barton, Canberra, the biggest Commonwealth construction project in the city in almost 40 years. The Office of National Intelligence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will use the site, which is expected to house up to 5,000 workers. The project is confirmed to cost at least $1 billion, with the full price to be revealed after completion. Construction is expected to finish by the end of 2028, with occupation starting in 2029. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the precinct will be more secure than existing buildings.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor has defended the Coalition's plan to cut net overseas migration to 100,000 as an economic measure to lift productivity. Taylor said migrants should be assessed on their character and conduct, rejecting bans based on country of origin proposed by One Nation. He said the plan would raise the skill level of migrants while reducing overall numbers. Labor has proposed cutting net overseas migration to 225,000 by 2028, while One Nation has proposed capping visas at 130,000 per year.
Arafura has broken ground on the Nolans Project, which the federal Resources Minister says will become Australia's first integrated ore-to-oxide rare earths facility. Once running, the minister says the facility could supply as much as five per cent of world demand for rare earths used in high-performance magnets. The project has received an $840 million funding package and a $200 million commitment from the National Reconstruction Fund, along with backing from several international partners.
UK counter-terrorism police have arrested two Latvian men inside a Royal Air Force base in Cambridgeshire. The 32- and 36-year-old men were initially arrested for trespassing and criminal damage, then re-arrested under the National Security Act 2023. Police said there was no evidence linking the incident to a suspected plot to attack another air base in western England, which authorities have linked to Iran.
A 24-year-old Royal Navy sailor will appear in a London court on Thursday to face spying charges. Teddy Young is accused of preparing to disclose protected information and obtaining it for an undisclosed foreign power between November 2024 and May 2025. He was arrested at his home in Bedfordshire on Tuesday and has been in police custody since. Police said the charges were not related to a recent security alert at RAF Fairford.
