A dog is seen running at the site of a bomb attack in Kabul on May 31, 2017. Picture: Shah Marai/AFP

The Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced on May 30 it would be introducing a bill that would revoke convicted child sex offenders’ passports, marking a “world first” bid to prevent child sex tourism.

Appearing with Justice Minister Michael Keenan, she said the proposed laws would apply to all convicted child sex criminals on state and territory registers with reporting obligations. It’s estimated about 20,000 people would be denied passports. Bishop said once they are removed from the register they will be able to apply for a passport again. A person who is on the register for life, of which there about 3,200, will have an indefinite travel ban.

Bishop said almost 800 convicted child-sex offenders had travelled overseas. At least half of them were categorised by authorities as being of medium to high risk of reoffending and failed to notify police of their travel intentions.

Almost 40 per cent of the travellers were convicted of sex offences against children under the age of 13 and half of them travelled to South-East Asia where she said “local laws” do not protect children from foreign predators.

Deadly Explosion Devastates Kabul, Hundreds Killed or Injured

Emergency services scrambled to dig survivors from rubble caused by a massive truck bomb that exploded during rush hour in central Kabul on May 31.

In what has been described as one of the deadliest attacks in the Afghan capital since 2001, at least 90 people were killed and 400 injured when over 1.5 tonnes of explosives inside a sewage tanker exploded near the presidential palace and diplomatic quarter.

Among the dead were at least a dozen Afghan guards working for the US and German embassies and a staff member for Tolo TV. BBC said one its Afghan drivers was killed and four its journalists wounded. Eleven American citizens who were contractors were reportedly injured as well.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared the attack a “crime against humanity” and his condemnation was joined by world leaders including US President Donald Trump who called to offer his condolences.

While Afghan intelligence has blamed Haqqani Network — a Taliban-allied militant group — for the bombing, no group has claimed responsibility. The Taliban denied carrying the attack and condemned the blast.

The explosion occurred a few days into Ramadan.

Tropical Cyclone Mora Death Toll Continues to Rise in Sri Lanka

Hundreds of people have been reported killed or missing in Sri Lanka after heavy flooding and landslides were triggered by Tropical Cyclone Mora last week.

Sri Lanka has not experienced this level of flooding since 2003, according to the country’s meteorological body. More than 170 people have died and there are now fears that thousands of survivors are at risk of dengue fever.

The Sri Lankan government has dispatched thousands of members from the navy and armed forces to assist police and civilian agencies with rescue and relief efforts. The United Nations signalled it would be dispatching water containers, water purification tablets and tarpaulin sheets while the World Health Organisation would bolster relief efforts with medical teams.

Last year the monsoon killed more than 100 people, according to SBS.

Malcolm Roberts Attempts to Rattle CSIRO and Science Minister on Climate Change

A Senate Economics hearing on June 1 turned bizarre after One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts attempted to challenge climate science using a fake penis article published in an academic journal.

Appearing before an estimates hearing were members from CSIRO, Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel and Innovation, Industry and Science Minister Arthur Sinodinos. Roberts attempted to rattle them with questions about CSIRO’s peer review process. The Queensland senator and former mining engineer has campaigned against the scientific consensus on climate change.

After he was advised the science body had both internal and external peer review protocols, Roberts inquired as to whether they were aware of the Sokal affair — a 1996 incident in the United States where researchers submitted a hoax article that was subsequently published. He then asked if they were aware that last month a Portland study entitled “The conceptual penis as a social construct” was also published in a social sciences journal and turned out to a hoax as well. He attempted to imply that these examples showed a “gap” in the process and that peer reviews gave credibility where it was unwarranted.

Sinodinos was having none of it.

“You’ve quoted two papers, you’ve then jumped to a general proposition that every peer-reviewed papers in the world [is] subject to some sort of potential for fraud,” Sinodinos said.

“We really are in a Kafkaesque world.”

The two faced off again after lunch when Roberts questioned Chief Scientist Alan Finkel and suggested to him that NASA’s Goddard Institute had manipulated temperature data to further a presumed agenda.

Sinodinos interjected again and refused to allow Finkel to answer any more questions until Roberts clarified his line of questioning.

“That is a very serious allegation against a group of people who helped propel us to the moon,” Sinodinos said to Roberts. “You’re alleging that we’re dealing with a group [who are] essentially dishonest and fraudsters, is that right?”

“Yes,” Roberts said, adding he was referring to a small group within NASA and not the entire organisation. “And those people have been shown to have manipulated the data unscientifically and I would be happy to go through that discussion with you.”

“Have you raised this issue with the US Administration?” Sinodinos asked Roberts. “With the FBI, with any group within the American administration that can take action against these fraudsters?”

Roberts said he had written to members of President Donald Trump’s administration and insinuated he was partly responsible for a funding cut to the Goddard Institute.

When one of the sessions was being suspended, Sinodinos could be heard muttering into the microphone that he “[needed] a biscuit”.