Erin Patterson appeal as it happened: The ruling on the mushroom cook’s appeal and what it means for her future behind bars

A Brunswick charity worker who moved to Ukraine to rebuild war-damaged homes has died after a house fire which is now the subject of a criminal investigation.

A raft of reforms to overhaul Hong Kong’s building maintenance sector has been hailed as a bold first step in tackling bid-rigging and other deep-rooted problems, but observers said its success would depend on the determination and persistence to implement them to restore public trust. They said the reforms signalled a departure from the government’s long-standing reliance on the self-discipline of industry professionals, but highlighted a notable absence of measures to tackle falsified...

A cornerstone of Mike Bush’s strategy to tackle organised crime will be cracking the encrypted apps used by the cartels to recruit, order gangland hits, and task kids to do firebombings.

This year the annual fright-fest falls on a Saturday for the first time since the depths of the pandemic – and Sydneysiders are embracing it.

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Three appeal judges rejected Patterson’s plea for her conviction to be overturned and instead increased her sentence because of her “shocking criminality”.

A Hong Kong judge who has overseen high-profile national security trials, including the collusion case of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, has been promoted to the Court of Appeal. A Judiciary statement on Thursday said the chief executive had accepted the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission to appoint Court of First Instance judge Alex Lee Wan-tang to his new role, with his appointment taking effect on the day. Handpicked by the city leader to adjudicate...

Chinese academic courses designed to deepen understanding of different countries or regions face a challenge in better informing policy and moving beyond frameworks developed in the West, a conference in Beijing has heard. Speakers said that as the country’s international engagement deepened, it needed a better understanding of the nations it engaged with, including their political systems, histories and strategic priorities. The discipline – known in China as “area studies” – draws on...

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Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson has lost her appeal and instead been re-sentenced to life behind bars without parole.

Chinese scientists are less satisfied with their jobs than researchers in any other major country, according to a survey that also found they are more optimistic about their careers than their counterparts in the United States and Britain. Only 51 per cent of the 157 respondents from China said they were satisfied with their jobs, according to the survey published this month in the British scientific journal Nature, down 24 per cent from 2018. The survey drew 3,882 respondents from 133...