Maryanne Taouk

4 days ago | abc.net.au | Maryanne Taouk |Jonathan Hair

Doubts are being raised about the authenticity of a video being widely shared online purporting to show a strike on Iran's Evin prison. The facility in Tehran has been the primary prison for housing political detainees since Iran's 1979 revolution, according to Reuters. The agency said it had been the site of executions, and that several high-profile foreign prisoners were held there.

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Jonathan Hair |Maryanne Taouk

Local law enforcement is now on the ground in Los Angeles, as well as state and federal troops, as the city braces for fresh waves of demonstrations against immigration enforcement. The unrest in the United States' second largest city was sparked after agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, made arrests related to alleged illegal immigrants.

3 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Jonathan Hair |Maryanne Taouk

In the early morning of June 1, a large number of Palestinians were killed with claims it happened as they were trying to approach a new aid distribution centre near the southern Gazan city of Rafah. The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital received 179 casualty cases that morning, the majority with "gunshot or shrapnel wounds", with 21 declared dead on arrival.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Janine Cohen |Mary Fallon |Dylan Welch |Maryanne Taouk

Pod 12 at Silverwater remand centre is bigger than the other pods. Prisoners say this makes it perfect for brawls. It's won the nickname the "octagon". Adam Watt strides into the jail courtyard and immediately feels out of place, slumping against a chain link fence. Like many of the other detainees, he claims he's innocent. When he was arrested, a few weeks earlier, he remembers thinking how embarrassed the police would be when they find out how wrong they've got it.

Mar 2, 2025 | abc.net.au | Dan Oakes |Kirsten Robb |Mayeta Clark |Maryanne Taouk

It takes less than 30 seconds after entering a store in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs before we have a pack of illicit cigarettes in our hands. There are no screening questions. No suspicious looks. In fact, the black-market tobacconist — on Buckley Street in the bustling suburb of Noble Park — is having a sale on Manchester cigarettes. "It's still on special — $13," the cashier says. The store quickly fills with more people waiting to be served. Metres away is another tobacconist.