The US Justice Department will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution as the Trump administration moves to ramp up and expedite capital punishment cases, officials said.

The Justice Department is also reauthorising the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during the first Trump administration — more than under any president in modern history. The Biden administration had removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering.

The moves were announced as part of a broader push to step up federal executions after a moratorium under the Biden administration. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison, though the Trump administration has so far authorised seeking death sentences against 44 defendants.

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“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

The federal government has not previously included firing squad as a method of execution in its protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre. Five states currently allow executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.

The pentobarbital protocol was adopted by Bill Barr, attorney general during Trump’s first term, to replace a three-drug mix used in the 2000s, the last time federal executions were carried out before Trump's first term in office.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in the final days of the Biden administration withdrew the pentobarbital lethal injection policy after a government review of scientific and medical research found there remains “significant uncertainty" about whether its use causes unnecessary pain and suffering."

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In 2020, under Barr's leadership, the Justice Department published a rule in the Federal Register to allow the federal government to conduct executions by lethal injection or use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed.”

A number of states allow other methods of execution, including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad.

The Trump administration, in a report released Friday, said the Biden administration “got the standard and the science wrong."

The Biden administration's findings, among other things, “failed to address the overwhelming evidence” that an injected with pentobarbital quickly “quickly loses consciousness—rendering him unable to experience pain," the report said.

Currently on death row are are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history.

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The partial remains of eight Australian soldiers have been laid to rest in France ahead of ANZAC Day, more than a century on from World War I.

They'd been used for medical research at a museum in the US, which came as a shock to relatives like Olwyn Crimp, whose great-great-uncle was one of the soldiers.

William Alexander Pavey was just 21 years old when he left his life as a Brisbane labourer behind to join the fight on the western front.

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Private Pavey survived almost three years of war in France before he died from gunshot wounds in May 1918.

"He fought right through until he was killed, just before the end of the war," Crimp tells 9News.

"You know, that's a long time to be in the trenches in France."

The brave young ANZAC was among those whose partial remains have recently been returned to his grave.

They had been kept in the US for medical research for more than a century.

"I was pretty uncomfortable with it initially," Crimp said.

"I'm still trying to come to terms with what they might have done.
The remains were taken from the hospital from what I can gather."

The medical research they underwent would have helped soldiers that came after them, Brenton Philp from the Department of Veterans' Affairs tells 9News.

"It would have absolutely contributed to the survivability and treatment of military wounds and war wounds for others that followed," he said.

"It does seem strange by our standards, but it was common after the first world war."

Seven other Australian soldiers' remains were also handed back.

"We understand that the remains have been treated with great respect and dignity," Philp said.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission completed burial works at Private Pavey's grave and at others in the Mont Huon Military Cemetery ahead of Anzac Day commemorations, as people journey to France to pay their respects.

"We're very proud that the Australian Army was able to be there as part of the reinterment ceremony to ensure that our soldiers are well respected," Philp said.

And the news is comforting for Crimp.

"He wasn't forgotten then and hopefully he won't be forgotten now," she said.

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Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has attended the Anzac Day Currumbin Dawn Service on the Gold Coast.

Wearing a suit and adorned with the medals he received for his service, Roberts-Smith arrived at the service at around 4.30am, sitting alongside thousands of other attendees.

"I've never thought about not coming, I was always going to be here," he said.

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He added that it was a day "everyone should be reflecting and commemorating the service of all of those Australians that have given us the country that we live in".

After the ceremony he spent time and shook hands with many of the other attendees and supporters, and was asked by some for his picture to be taken with them. Roberts-Smith said he found the support 'overwhelming'.

The former SAS soldier was arrested on April 7 and charged with murdering or ordering the murders of five unarmed detainees while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.

He denies all the allegations.

He successfully applied for bail on April 17 at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court.

He was released from Silverwater Correctional Centre before travelling back to Queensland.

I accidentally stumbled across the most secretive town in Australia, and no one could tell me anything about it – because they're not allowed to. 

The town of Useless Loop has a population of just 134 people and is situated in Western Australia's Shark Bay Shire. 

Useless Loop sits right next to a massive Shark Bay Salt Mine, which is a subsidiary of Japanese trading and investment company Mitsui & Co.

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The town only exists to give the miners somewhere to live with their families.

More than four million tonnes of salt come from the mine every year, with each grain exported directly to Asia, including Japan.

It is one of Australia's only closed communities, meaning no one is allowed in without approval from "the mine" first. 

The town is so secretive that you can't even access it on Google Earth's street view feature.

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After I discovered this town thanks to a TikTok video, I knew it would make a good story – I just needed to find someone who lived there, so I started digging.

The town isn't as barren as you'd think; there's a local public primary school, a few shops and even an infamous tavern that is legendary among the locals. 

I figured my best bet would be to reach out to the school, which is a public school run by the WA Government.

If you used to live in Useless Loop and wish to speak to me about life in the town, email me at Mi****************@******om.au

I found the school's Facebook page and started messaging people who had commented on their posts.

I also managed to find the principal's email address, so I sent him an email and kept searching.

I found the local community page and popped a message in there explaining I was looking to speak to someone from Useless Loop for a story. 

As I was digging into this town and the people who lived there, I gathered that it's a pretty cool place to live.

Locals spend their time fishing, swimming and hanging out with the local community – what more could you want!

Everyone online was super friendly…I knew this was a closed community, so visiting was out of the question, but an over-the-phone interview? I thought I was in for a good chance.

I was wrong.

The first glimmer of hope came in a DM from a local who had seen my Facebook post.

He expressed that he was keen to talk to me; he just needed his boss's approval to speak to the media first.

I also had the blessing from WA Education, who told me they were trying their best to get my media request to speak to someone from the school approved. 

Then, everything started to fall apart.

After a few hours, the miner reached back out and apologetically told me he didn't want to get into trouble for speaking to the media, and he was unable to help me.

I thought, 'that's okay', like all good journos, I had a backup source, the school!

However, after a week of emailing (and pleading), it soon became clear talking to someone from the school wasn't going to happen.

I even reached out to Shark Bay Salt directly, who never replied to my media enquiry. 

I have been a journalist for four years – I have never dealt with anything like this before.

At this point, it's been over a month since I fell down this rabbit hole of Useless Loop, and I have more questions than answers.

Why is this town so secretive?

What is the mine gaining from refusing my media requests?

What is life like in this place?

I remain stuck in my own Useless Loop of questions about this tiny town in Western Australia, and I fear I may never get my answers.

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