Acronyms, in-jokes and online fan clubs spring up as viewers across the globe prepare for Sydney’s first corpse bloom in 15 years – from a safe distance

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In a Sydney greenhouse, a tall pointed flower is about to bloom for the first time in years.

To the scientific community, the Botanic Gardens of Sydney’s corpse flower is known as amorphophallus titanum, which translates to large, deformed penis. But online, the rare endangered plant has taken on a new name: Putricia.

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Mittens made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia after she was not spotted in cargo hold

A Maine Coon cat named Mittens became an accidental jetsetter this month when her cage was overlooked in a plane cargo hold and she made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.

Mittens, eight, was booked for one-way travel with her family from Christchurch, New Zealand to their new home in Melbourne, Australia on 13 January. Her owner, Margo Neas, said on Wednesday that she waited for Mittens to be unloaded from the plane’s freight area, but three hours passed with no sign of the cat.

Adam Edward Moule is ninth person charged under Strike Force Pearl investigation into spate of antisemitic attacks across Sydney

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The arrest of a man who allegedly attempted to set a synagogue on fire in Sydney’s inner west this month is a “big breakthrough”, the New South Wales premier has said, as investigations continue into a spate of antisemitic vandalism in the city.

Adam Edward Moule, 33, had his case briefly mentioned at Downing Centre local court on Wednesday and was scheduled to appear again on Thursday before the same court.

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It was once a privilege afforded to only Singapore, Brunei and Japan but now travel rules have been relaxed for dozens of countries. But are many people coming?

A few years ago, getting a visa to visit China was a “ball ache”, says Kate Murray. The Australian was going for a four-day trade show, but the visa required a formal invitation from the organisers and what felt like “a thousand forms”.

“They wanted so many details about your life and personal life,” she tells the Guardian. “The paperwork was bonkers.”

AFP investigating if ‘criminals for hire’ have been behind at least some recent incidents across the nation

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Anthony Albanese says it appears some of the perpetrators behind a spate of antisemitic attacks in New South Wales and Victoria could have been paid actors rather than ideologically motivated offenders, seemingly confirming the target of police investigations.

Hours later, the Australian federal police commissioner, Reece Kershaw, said that authorities were probing whether potential “criminals for hire” were behind at least some of the recent incidents, warning it could be a long investigation.

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It may have no sand, but Putney beach, which opens on Wednesday, gives residents far from the coast the chance to have a dip without the long commute

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Julie Magson always believed Putney park would be a great location for a swimming spot. So much so that she helped convince the local council to turn a section of the riverside park into Putney beach, which opens to the public on Wednesday.

It’s a quiet, unassuming spot bordering western Sydney on the north side of the Parramatta River, far from the hustle and bustle of the city’s traditional swimming spots in the east and north.

More than 40% of individual corals monitored around One Tree Island reef bleached by heat stress and damaged by flesh-eating disease

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More than 40% of individual corals monitored around a Great Barrier Reef island were killed last year in the most widespread coral bleaching outbreak to hit the reef system, a study has found.

Scientists tracked 462 colonies of corals at One Tree Island in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef after heat stress began to turn the corals white in early 2024. Researchers said they encountered “catastrophic” scenes at the reef.

‘This is attacking where Jewish and non-Jewish people go,’ one mother says after Maroubra childcare centre was targeted on Tuesday morning

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The news of another antisemitic incident is a “punch in the guts” for Australia’s Jewish community, but an arson attack on a Sydney daycare centre has created a heightened sense of anxiety.

Only About Children, a non-religious daycare centre near the Maroubra synagogue and Mount Sinai college, was set alight and graffitied in the early hours of Tuesday.