Connie Agius
Connie Agius is a journalist at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She has also worked for Channel 4 News in London, and contributed to Newsweek and Deutsche Welle. She tweets @con_agius
These ancient sites are under threat due to war and conflict
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Conflict, insurgency and vandalism are some of the reasons behind a new spate of ancient sites being reclassified by UNESCO as under threat.
Topics: history, unrest-conflict-and-war, syrian-arab-republic, mali, yemen, iraq, libyan-arab-jamahiriya
Family, violence and silence: Life and death for women in the Italian mafia
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Married at 13 and pregnant by 15, the story of Maria Concetta Cacciola, who died after deliberately swallowing acid, offers an insight into the life of a woman born into the 'Ndrangheta — the mafia group in Italy's Calabria region.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, women, italy
Boko Haram school attacks rob 1 million Nigerian children of education
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Boko Haram attacks on schools, students, and teachers in north-east Nigeria have left nearly 1 million children with little or no access to school, Human Rights Watch says.
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, schools, nigeria
Panama Papers and the mafia: how a corrupt empire can be built Opinion
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Tax havens are an ideal environment for organised crime to launder the piles of cash they accrue. And the evidence is the Italian mafia have been using these havens to funnel their dirty money for decades.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, international-law, business-economics-and-finance
Europol struggling to keep up with sophisticated mafia operations
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The Panama Papers fiasco has shown how firms are happy to act as gatekeepers to the illegal secrets of clients, but the Italian mafia has been investing money made from illegal activities for decades, complicating the job of law enforcement organisations.
Topics: crime, fraud-and-corporate-crime, european-union, italy
Locals trained to report from war-torn Nuba Mountains in Sudan
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A group in the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, where journalists are banned from entering, is training locals to report on the region's otherwise undocumented war.
Topics: journalism, information-and-communication, unrest-conflict-and-war, sudan
Australia urged to do more to tackle stillbirth problem
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Women in low-income countries are twice as likely to deliver a stillborn baby as those in richer nations, while Australia lags behind other developed nations in tackling the problem, a new study published in The Lancet suggests.
Topics: pregnancy-and-childbirth, research, medical-research, australia
Burundi refugee crisis escalates as 230,000 flee conflict
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There are fears the African nation of Burundi could enter civil war if a resolution is not reached at the next round of peace talks later this month.
Topics: refugees, unrest-conflict-and-war, burundi, tanzania-united-republic-of
Malta rapidly expands progressive LGBTIQ laws but society struggles to keep up
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Malta is ranked as the most progressive country in the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and genderqueer (LGBTIQ) rights, and the Maltese Government is continuing to push ahead on the issue.
Topics: gays-and-lesbians, fertility-and-infertility, international-law, malta
From Syria to Sweden (and possibly back again) Opinion
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After leaving his home town which had become a scene of war, and escaping imprisonment by Islamic State, Abo Taim finally made it to Sweden. But now he says he may have to go back.
Topics: refugees, world-politics
How organised crime profits from Italy's immigration boom Opinion
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Unlike Australia, Italy is forced to absorb hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers. And as the immigration sector there thrives, so too do the organised crime groups that are seeking to profit from the public contracts on offer.
Topics: immigration, law-crime-and-justice, foreign-affairs, government-and-politics
Mundine raises concern about cuts to Indigenous family violence service
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A key Government appointee in Indigenous affairs has spoken out against planned cuts to an organisation which helps Aboriginal victims of domestic violence.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, community-and-society, indigenous-policy, federal-government, government-and-politics, domestic-violence, australia, nt
Palmer's aggressive behaviour 'threatens Chinese investment'
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A Chinese company in business with federal MP Clive Palmer has warned that his aggressive behaviour could force other Chinese investors to reconsider putting money into his other ventures.
CITIC Pacific's president Zhang Jijing told Four Corners that Mr Palmer's behaviour would be closely examined by the business community.
Mr Palmer is in what is being described as a "poisonous" legal dispute with Chinese state-owned CITIC Pacific over royalty payments in a huge iron ore development in Western Australia.
Tonight's Four Corners will examine Mr Palmer's business interests and how they may have influenced his decision to enter federal politics.
Topics: mining-industry, industry, business-economics-and-finance, federal-government, government-and-politics, states-and-territories, australia, qld, wa
RBA subsidiary's 'dirty deal' with Saddam Hussein revealed
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A company owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia made illegal attempts to strike a business deal with brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
A joint Four Corners/Fairfax Media investigation uncovered secret files showing officials from the RBA's Note Printing Australia (NPA) went to Iraq in 1998 to discuss the sale of plastic banknotes to Iraq.
They met with Saddam's brother-in-law Arshad Yassin, who documents said was "willing to open all doors for us".
The deal was called off six months later after Australian diplomats uncovered the NPA's dealings with the Saddam regime.
Topics: corruption, banking, currency, world-politics, international-law, iraq, australia
Dogs the key to a successful truffle harvest (audio)
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Truffle grower Colin Roberts knows the value of a good working dog.
Topics: food-and-cooking, animals, crop-harvesting, oberon-2787
Rural Reporter: Sniffing out a good truffle dog Audio
Audio
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Truffle farmer Colin Roberts knows the value of having a good truffle dog
Topics: food-and-cooking, crop-harvesting, animals, oberon-2787
Witness describes bloody aftermath of Syrian uni blasts
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A resident of the Syrian city of Aleppo has described the aftermath of two deadly explosions at a university in the city.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, terrorism, syrian-arab-republic
Africa battles poachers to save its wild lions
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Zambia has become the latest country to ban the hunting of lions and other endangered wild cats as the continent tries to arrest the predators' plummeting population.
Topics: animals, conservation, world-politics, nigeria, united-kingdom, zambia
Reporting on Syria: fraught but crucial Analysis
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Syria's chargé d'affaires Jawdat Ali has been sent back to Damascus in the wake of the dreadful Houla massacre.
In countless phone conversations and many unanswered emails to Mr Ali, I tried and failed to get comment from the Syrian government on the unrest.
But journalists shouldn't leave the Syrian government alone. They have a job to do, and all those committing crimes against humanity must be held to account.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, journalism, world-politics
Bahrain deports British journalists after Grand Prix
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Bahrain has deported a group of journalists and producers for Britain's Channel 4 News after the controversial Formula One Grand Prix.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, bahrain
Amnesty releases Syria torture details
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An Amnesty International report details 31 methods of torture used in Syria and says the scale of torture has risen to levels not witnessed in years.
The report compares the torture regime to the notorious era of president Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad.
One opposition protester says he was restrained, gagged and forced to watch his father being beaten in front of him.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, law-crime-and-justice, syrian-arab-republic
Bahrain at boiling point Analysis
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Doctors and medical professionals in the Kingdom of Bahrain are suffering appalling consequences for simply doing their duty.
Topics: government-and-politics, world-politics, activism-and-lobbying, health, doctors-and-medical-professionals
Death of a Syrian doctor Analysis (audio)
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How did Sakher Hallak, a Syrian doctor with no vendetta against President Bashar al-Assad, end up being tortured to death by Syrian forces?
Topics: death, rights, world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, human, syrian-arab-republic
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