MELBOURNE, Australia — Karen Nettleton has spent the past five years in search of her grandchildren, who were taken by their parents in 2014 from Sydney, Australia, to join the Islamic State in Syria. Finally, in late March, she made it to the sprawling al-Hawl refugee camp in Syria’s Kurdish northeast.
There, she found a teenager she believed to be her granddaughter. As she lifted a niqab to reveal the face of the girl she was holding in her arms, Ms. Nettleton wailed.
She clung to her granddaughter, Hoda Sharrouf, 16, who sobbed and told her she was certain she was dreaming. Ms. Nettleton promised her she was not. “You’re not going to wake up,” she said in footage broadcast on Monday by the Australian show “Four Corners,” whose crew had accompanied Ms. Nettleton to the camp.
More than 200 Australian citizens have left the country to join the Islamic State, 70 of them minors, according to a 2018 report from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London. While many were killed during the war, dozens are thought to remain in Syria’s refugee camps.
Paris burns
Yellow vest protesters are setting fires on the streets of Paris, angry that Notre Dame’s $1bn rebuild is being given priority over them.
A NSW police officer has undergone surgery after he was stabbed in the back with a hunting knife at Sydney's Central railway station.
Police Transport Command officers were dealing with an unrelated matter on a platform when a 53-year-old man allegedly approached Constable Hayden Edwards and stabbed him from behind about 6.45pm on Friday.
The 30-year-old officer was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he underwent surgery for a six centimetre cut to his back overnight.
He is now recovering and in a stable condition.
The alleged offender used a 45cm hunting knife which had a 30cm blade, Assistant Commissioner Karen Webb said.
"Having seen an image of that knife - our officer is very lucky to only have minor injuries," Ms Webb told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.
"(It) was an unprovoked attack. (We) allege the offender has approached with some vigour."
The alleged attacker was arrested at the scene and taken to St Vincent's Hospital where he was treated for a cut to his head.
He has since been released from hospital and taken into custody at Sydney Police Station where he's expected to be charged.
Const Edwards, who has been with the police force for three years, only recently moved to Sydney after transferring from Moree in northern NSW.
Chief Inspector Paul Carrett said the "very competent" young officer was sore and tired after the attack.
"A stabbing of a police officer - unprovoked - is a very serious matter," Insp Carrett said alongside Ms Webb.
The police union described the attack as "cowardly" and said it highlighted the dangers police officers face on the job.
"The offender has just walked up behind the police officer, who was doing his job talking to someone else, and stabbed him in the back," Police Association of NSW president Tony King told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.
"It's a cowardly act from behind."
A Sydney Trains employee who witnessed part of the incident said the alleged attacker was tasered by police.
"I just saw this Caucasian guy wielding a knife and the cops were trying to pacify him but he wouldn't stop," the man told ABC TV on Friday.
"He didn't stop so he was tasered."
The matter does not appear to be terror related.
A bus crash in Kazakhstan has left at least 11 people dead, the country's interior ministry has announced.
The accident occurred as the driver took evasive action to avoid colliding with a parked vehicle.
The driver then lost control of the bus and it overturned several times.
At least 30 others were injured in the accident, which took place on a highway in the south of country.
According to authorities, the victims are mainly Uzbeks.
Kazakhstan's interim president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, sent his condolences to the relatives and said more would be done to improve the poor state of roads in the central Asian country.
Bill Shorten has tried to flip the script on the cost of his climate change policies, describing them as investments instead.
Mr Shorten has also committed a future Labor government to legislating the National Energy Guarantee, even if it opposed by the coalition.
His pledge has dragged Malcolm Turnbull back into the political fray for the first time this election campaign.
As the campaign rolls its second week, the opposition leader continues to face questions about the price tag attached to his carbon targets.
The coalition claims Labor's plan to reduce emissions will cost the economy at least $35 billion and rely on buying carbon credits from overseas.
Mr Shorten flatly dismisses this estimate, but has steadfastly refused to name a price of his own.
He insists the emission reductions won't cost taxpayers a cent, and argues the cost to businesses will be comparable to the coalition's policy settings.
Facing a fresh round of interrogation in St Kilda on Saturday, the Labor leader tried to pivot to the big picture, questioning what value people placed on saving the planet.
"The problem this government has is what they call cost, I call investing," he told reporters at Luna Park.
Mr Shorten accused the coalition and some in the media of harbouring an unhealthy obsession with his policies.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison clearly enjoyed his opponent's amusement park tangle.
"He's stuck on a costings merry-go-round which he doesn't seem to be able to get off," Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
Repeatedly pressed to place a price of his policies, Mr Shorten said there was no "mythical figure".
"We believe if you invest in making climate change changes now and lowering carbon pollution this will benefit the economy," he said.
The prime minister is now trying to turn the ambiguity around Labor's climate policies into an electoral asset.
"I understand Bill Shorten's policy better than he does - it's not even my policy - I don't support it," Mr Morrison said.
"I don't support it because I understand it. If you don't understand it, I wouldn't suggest you vote for it either."
The Labor leader has committed to pursuing the National Energy Guarantee - with a higher emissions reduction target - even if the framework does not receive bipartisan support.
"We will use some of the Turnbull, Morrison, Frydenberg architecture and we will work with that structure," he told reporters.
Malcolm Turnbull, who dropped the policy in the dying days of his leadership, said abandoning it altogether would lead to higher emissions and electricity prices.
He pointed out Mr Morrison was "especially" fond of the policy, which had the support of the business community and energy sector.
"However a right wing minority in the party room refused to accept the majority position and threatened to cross the floor and defeat their own government," Mr Turnbull tweeted.
"That is the only reason it has been abandoned by the government. The consequence is no integration of energy and climate policy, uncertainty continues to discourage investment with the consequence, as I have often warned, of both higher emissions and higher electricity prices."
