A four-year study into faith communities in Australia has determined that Muslims are the victims of more individual acts of violence than any other religious group.

Adelaide was identified as the most distressing city in terms of attitudes towards Muslims, with study director Professor Hickey-Moody claiming the city lacks the the kind of cosmopolitan consciousness that requires understanding social difference.

The Australian Labor Party has held its lead at 52-48 in the latest Guardian Essential poll despite both major parties suffering losses in their primary.

Minor parties have picked up the slack including the Greens at 12% up from 9% a week ago, and One Nation up from 6% to 7%.

The majority of voters believe the upcoming election will fall to Labor but the LNP’s Scott Morrison remains the preferred prime minister over Labor’s Bill Shorten.

China has claimed that the US has sent two guided-missile destroyers within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands.

The islands lie within the highly disputed South China Sea, which six other south-east Asian countries have also vocalised a claim to.

The US military maintains that its operations are carried out all over the world, regardless of political considerations.

After three years of work a UN-backed report says one million of the planet’s species are now under threat of extinction.

The report summarises 15,000 scientific and government sources and found the decline in biodiversity is happening at unprecedented rates.

The report names human expansion and exploitation of land and sea resources as the primary cause of the loss, followed by direct exploitation of animals, climate change, pollution, and invasive species.