World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

MH370: relatives of missing passengers threaten hunger strike – live
Migrants drown off Greek coast
Abbott minister Arthur Sinodinos in Icac storm - as it happened
Floating cities – in pictures
Has the time come for floating cities?
Roseanne Fulton: federal minister steps in to case of jailed Aboriginal woman
Ukraine: Putin approves draft bill for Russia to annex Crimea
Of all the world's children deprived of education, two-fifths are disabled | Rachel Williams
Victorian politician says rape is no justification for abortion
Bulldozers flatten last remnants of Swan Valley's Nyungah camp
The Jewish festival of Purim - in pictures
Bangkok state of emergency to end
Opium poppies to be legalised in Victoria as demand for painkillers soars
Cardinal Pell was 'giving instructions' as Catholic church fought abuse claims
Clive Palmer party backs renewable energy, putting heat on Coalition plans
Stones’ Perth concert cancelled after death of Jagger’s partner
Afghan suicide bombing kills 13
US rejects criticism of 'toothless' sanctions following Crimea referendum
Euroa residents prepare to fight introduction of poker machines
Warren Mundine, of course science needs an Indigenous perspective | Dawn Casey
Vaccination sceptics group dumped charity status ‘of its own accord’
MH370 search of Indian Ocean may take weeks, Australian authority admits
Icac inquiry: Obeids wanted $3m stake in water company ‘kept quiet’
Asio and others seek more, not fewer, surveillance powers
Financial victims unite to fight plans to water down consumer protection

MH370: relatives of missing passengers threaten hunger strike – live

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 01:44 AM PDT

Follow live updates as some Chinese relatives of the missing passengers threaten hunger strike to protest at the lack of information about the search for the missing Boeing.

Paul Farrell

Matthew Weaver

Migrants drown off Greek coast

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 01:28 AM PDT

Seven bodies found off coast of Lesbos after boat sailing from Turkey sinks in eastern Aegean Sea

Authorities in Greece say they have recovered the bodies of seven migrants who drowned overnight when a boat sank in the eastern Aegean Sea after travelling illegally from Turkey.

The merchant marine ministry said another eight people were rescued near the island of Lesbos. Two of the bodies were found in the water off the coast of the island, while the other five were recovered from their semi-sunken boat.

Authorities were still searching for two more migrants believed missing from the boat. Three coastguard vessels, a helicopter and private boats were involved in the search.

The migrants' nationalities and details of how the boat sank were not immediately known.

Greece is a major transit point for illegal immigration into the European Union, with many making the journey to Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast in small boats that are often overloaded and unseaworthy. In January, 12 people drowned when a boat overturned near the eastern Greek island of Farmakonisi

Abbott minister Arthur Sinodinos in Icac storm - as it happened

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 01:01 AM PDT

Assistant finance minister under pressure following allegations in Icac as parliament resumes. Follow it live...

Gabrielle Chan

Floating cities – in pictures

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 01:00 AM PDT

As rising sea levels threaten low-lying nations around the world, floating cities are gaining political backing and some serious investment

Has the time come for floating cities?

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:59 AM PDT

From schools at sea to a city that perpetually sails the oceans, is climate change creating a bold new era of floating urban design?

• Floating cities: in pictures

Until the late 1980s, nestled behind the Yan Ma Tei breakwater in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay, you could find tens of thousands of boat-dwellers who formed a bustling, floating district. The residents were members of the Tanka community, and their ancestors were fishermen who retreated from warfare on land to live permanently in their vessels. Until the mid-20th century, these traditional outcasts were forbidden even to step ashore.

The typhoon shelter was famous for its restaurants' cuisine – including Under Bridge Spicy Crab – and it was a nightlife hub, alive with mahjong games and hired singers. Shops on sampan (flat boats) catered to the floating district's needs.

It may seem like science fiction, but as rising sea levels threaten low-lying nations around the world, neighbourhoods like this may become more common. Whereas some coastal cities will double down on sea defences, others are beginning to explore a solution that welcomes approaching tides. What if our cities themselves were to take to the seas?

A floating village at London's Royal Docks has the official nod, and Rotterdam has a Rijnhaven waterfront development experiment well under way. Eventually, whole neighbourhoods of water-threatened land could be given over to the seas. After decades of speculation and small-scale applications, the floating solution is finally enjoying political momentum – and serious investment.

The immediate and most numerous victims of climate change are sure to be in the developing world. In Lagos, the sprawling slum of Makoko regularly suffers floods, and its stilted houses are shored up with each new inundation. It's under threat of razing by authorities.

The Nigerian-born architect Kunlé Adeyemi proposes a series of A-frame floating houses to replace the existing slum. As proof of concept, his team constructed a floating school for the community. Still, many buildings do not make a city: infrastructure remains a problem here. One solution would be to use docking stations with centralised services, rather like hooking up a caravan to power, water and drainage lines at a campground.

You could extend an existing city like London into the water quite far before ever being seriously challenged by infrastructure issues. But some ideas for floating life move well beyond the urban extension model. In the 1960s, futurist Buckminster Fuller designed a floating city, Triton, for 100,000 residents, and even had his plans approved by the US Navy. UK designer Phil Pauley has updated Fuller's geodesic concept: a ring of spherical modules, his SubBiosphere2 would float in fair weather, then submerge whenever the seas became rough.

Florida architect Jacque Fresco, meanwhile, foresees a time when humans must colonise the sea, to escape land made uninhabitable by overpopulation. He has spent his career designing cities of the future, and himself lives in a dome-shaped prototype. Fresco's floating city designs – generally gear-shaped – prescribe the use of "memory metals". Compressed into small cubes, they are easily towed out to sea, where they can be snapped back to the size of buildings.

Mobility among the waves lends floating communities a degree of political independence. The Seasteading Institute, founded by Patri Friedman (grandson of Milton), proposes a series of floating villages, and claims to be in active negotiations with potential host nations that would give the villages political autonomy. Billed as a startup incubator for political systems, the aquatic communities would serve as experiments in governance – and represent a rejection of what Seasteaders see as big government intrusion.

In an implementation plan for these Seasteading cities [pdf], the Dutch engineering firm DeltaSync has proposed a modular building strategy. It too would have movable parts, for gradual growth and financing, and a dynamic geography: if new friends decide to be neighbours, they could simply tow their houses together.

At first the villages would aggregate in protected waters. Later, they would cut ties with land altogether. That's when all the trappings of civic life would be either abandoned or reproduced in microcosm on the rafted village.

Many of the technical components of DeltaSync's plan are well-trodden territory for engineers. Platforms and mooring systems are not so different from those required for large boats or oil rigs. Along with reclaimed land, floating additions to city infrastructure are becoming a regular part of municipal planning. Airports are particularly prime for floating: they essentially require a large platform that is close to the destination city without being intrusive.

As for infrastructure solutions, they range from the well-tested to the speculative. The abundant wind available at sea could power turbines. Ocean thermal energy conversion could harness the temperature difference between the surface and the depths – a process that also provides fresh water as a byproduct. DeltaSync even envisions residents cultivating aquaculture in lieu of gardens, manufacturing their food requirements from nutrients found in upwellings at the edge of continental shelves. A so-called "Blue Revolution" in aquaculture would be required for the oceans to provide this level of sustenance. (Even without cities at sea, though, ocean harvesting may be our best hope, as land-based agriculture faces salinated soils and a critical phosphorus shortage.)

For untethered floating societies, it's not just physical infrastructure that needs to be planned out – it's the social infrastructure, too. Floating citizens still need jobs to do; they need to do their shopping and educate their children. When the worst happens, they need access to medical care.

A full-service floating city already exists for residents of The World, a 644-foot yacht that continuously circles the planet. Launched in 2002, the ship contains 165 condominium spaces that sell for millions.

And it may soon be upstaged. Freedom Ship would essentially be a mile-long flat-bottomed barge with a high-rise building on top. Weighing 3 million tonnes and with a top speed of 10 knots, the floating city would circle the globe every three years, stopping 12 miles offshore at each port for a week at a time. High-speed ferries would connect the 40,000 residents and 20,000 crew to the mainland and bring back visitors. "We won't just be visiting those countries," says Freedom Ship director and executive vice president Roger Gooch. "We anticipate those countries visiting us."

Freedom Ship's size – and its $11bn price tag – gives it a credibility problem. But Gooch has "two or three irons in the fire in Asia" to secure his team's capital for the three-year construction process. It will be too big for any existing shipyard to build, so the ship must be constructed in pieces and – a familiar idea by now – towed out to be assembled at sea.

The thriving Hong Kong sampan-dwelling community of Causeway Bay was not to last. There was no garbage or sewerage treatment system, and fire constantly threatened the wooden structures. Breakwaters that made up the typhoon shelter also limited water circulation, leaving pollution to accumulate in the harbour. The wastewater from the moored vessels combined with leaked sewer discharge and storm drain runoff to create unsanitary living conditions.

When Tanka families were offered public housing on land in the 1980s, most chose this option. Now only a few traditional sampans are left, used as ferries to take tourists to their luxury yachts. Despite sewerage improvement schemes, E Coli levels remain high, and tests show alarmingly high levels of tributyltin, a toxic biocide, in the water. If floating communities are the way of the future, we will have to learn this lesson well: we can no longer simply outrun our own refuse.

Untethering from land seems a big moment for a floating city, akin to blasting off to colonise another planet. To reject our ancestral habitat to this degree seems like hubris. How could a group of people survive alone among the waves?

But it is a fallacy to imagine we're self-sustaining even in our land-based communities. Many of our essential goods arrive by tanker anyway – a sea-based location would be all the more convenient. Far from impractical utopias, floating cities could be every bit as integrated into global society as the ones we already have on land.

• Resilient cities: project blends Rotterdam knowhow with Ho Chi Minh City street smarts

Jessa Gamble

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Roseanne Fulton: federal minister steps in to case of jailed Aboriginal woman

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:50 AM PDT

Nigel Scullion writes to WA and NT attorneys-general about case of mentally impaired woman

Bridie Jabour

Ukraine: Putin approves draft bill for Russia to annex Crimea

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:42 AM PDT

Russian president recognises Crimea as sovereign state as US and EU impose 'toothless' sanctions in wake of referendum

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has approved a draft bill for the annexation of Crimea following a referendum in the peninsula that overwhelmingly supported seceding from Ukraine.

In an address to a joint session of Russia's parliamentary houses scheduled for 11am GMT today, Putin will deliver his position on the hugely contentious Crimean question. His is expected to set the stage for parliament to approve the absorption of Crimea.

The US and the EU retaliated over the referendum – which the west considers illegal – with sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials on Monday, a move widely seen as "toothless".

The White House imposed sanctions against 11 named individuals: seven senior Russian politicians and officials and four Crimea-based separatist leaders accused of undermining the "democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine".

But the US pointedly avoided targeting Putin or key figures in his inner circle.

The EU imposed sanctions on 21 individuals, including three senior Russian commanders, the prime minister of Crimea, a deputy speaker of the Duma and other senior officials.

There are divisions within Europe over how to respond to Russia, and this is reflected in the fact that action is being taken against fewer than two dozen individuals from an original proposed list of 120.

The sanctions came on the eve of Putin's address to the Russian parliament. On Monday night, he posted a decree on the Kremlin website recognising Crimea as a sovereign state, in what appeared to be a first step toward integrating Crimea as a part of the Russian Federation. The decree, which took effect immediately, said Moscow's recognition of Crimea as independent was based on "the will of the people of Crimea".

Putin pressed ahead on Tuesday, informing his government and parliament of the Crimean leadership's proposal to join Russia ahead of his address to parliament. He was expected to sign the treaty formalising the annexation with Crimea's leader on Tuesday.

Russian troops have also massed near the border with Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, where there have been fatalities during clashes between pro- and anti-Moscow demonstrators in recent days.

Obama added: "We will continue to make clear to Russia that further provocations will achieve nothing except to further isolate Russia and diminish its place in the world."

The White House insisted the sanctions were "by far and away the most comprehensive sanctions since the end of the cold war" and rejected criticism that they were too limited in scope or would be easily circumvented by asset transfers.

"We think they will be effective," one senior administration official told reporters in Washington. But the kind of sanctions that might bite, such as hitting Russian oligarchs or even their companies, particularly energy firms, were pointedly absent.

Officials in Washington suggested that Crimea referendum results showing 96.8% voting in favour of joining Russia and a 83.1% turnout were implausibly high, especially when an estimated 99% of Crimean Tatars refused to take part.

White House sources also claimed it was suspicious that there was not a single complaint to election authorities, and have promised extra funding to help make sure there is a record number of international observers present when Ukraine holds its national elections in May.

The EU condemned the referendum as illegal and said it would not recognise the outcome.

The Crimean parliament, in the aftermath of the referendum, declared independence from Ukraine on Monday and confiscated Ukrainian state property. Crimea also sent a delegation to Moscow to discuss next steps.

Moscow treated the sanctions with derision. The Russian deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, who faces sanctions on the US list, was dismissive, tweeting that the move drawn up by Obama must have been the work of a "prankster".

The Russian stock market was equally dismissive, with the rouble performing well on the day. Markets elsewhere in Europe rose, judging that the prospect of trade battles was receding.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com, told Associated Press: "So far, the sanctions seem fairly toothless and much less severe than had been expected last week. From the market's perspective, the biggest risk was that the referendum would trigger tough sanctions against Russia that could lead to another cold war."

David Cameron's spokesman, asked whether the sanctions were feeble, said they should be seen in the context of others already announced and that the EU was prepared to add to them if necessary. Asked about Rogozin's response, he insisted the sanctions were "important measures".

Asked what would happen if Russia goes into eastern Ukraine, the UK prime minister's spokesman said: "What we are saying very clearly is that they should not escalate."

The relative weakness of the sanctions may reflect a sense in the US and European governments that Crimea is already lost and the focus should be on preventing a Russian takeover of major population centres in eastern Ukraine.

EU leaders are to meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a summit dominated by Ukraine and could agree to lengthen the blacklist. Increasing the numbers on the sanctions list is almost certain to be discussed at the summit. Some EU states are torn about taking punitive measures against Russia for fear of undoing years of patient attempts to establish closer ties with Moscow and increase trade. The EU has already suspended talks with Russia on an economic pact and a visa agreement.

A meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels decided on the reprisals following non-stop talks over the weekend until late on Sunday.

Senior EU officials expect the Kremlin to retaliate in a tit-for-tat sanctions war that is likely to spiral. A senior EU official warned on Monday that the EU's 28-member states and Ukraine could run out of gas by the end of October if Russia plays "energy politics" and cuts off supplies in the diplomatic war over the future of Crimea.

A survey of gas supplies in the EU, conducted in the wake of the Crimea crisis, found that the EU has 40bn cubic metres in its energy supplies – enough to last until the onset of winter.

The EU official said of a cut in Russian energy supplies: "We are under no illusions: come next winter, yes, we would have a significant problem." But, the official added: "The silver lining is if you were going to go [into] Crimea from a gas politics point of view – doing it in March, February wasn't perhaps the cleverest move."

European ministers and EU officials said the 21 people – mainly political rather than business figures – would face a freeze on assets as well as a travel ban. That number could be expanded later in the week, they added.

Sanctions legislation published on Monday on the website of the Official Journal of the European Union named eight Ukrainian officials and 13 Russian officials. As with the US list, the EU list included the Crimean prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, parliamentary speaker Vladimir Konstantinov, and Russian state Duma deputies Andrei Klishas and Leonid Slutsky. In addition, however, it targeted more prominent Russian politicians than the US sanctions, including Duma deputy speaker Sergei Zheleznyak, who has made numerous public appearances to comment on the Kremlin line in support of Crimea, and Sergei Mironov, leader of the party A Just Russia, who has also called for Russian intervention in Ukraine and initiated legislation to speed up the process of obtaining Russian citizenship for Ukrainians. Most of the Russian politicians were sanctioned for supporting the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine on 1 March, the list said.

The EU sanctions also targeted Deniz Berezovsky, the Ukrainian naval commander who joined Crimean forces, and Russian military commanders Alexander Vitko, Anatoly Sidorov and Alexander Galkin, who the legislation claimed led the Crimea deployment.

It is notoriously difficult to secure EU agreement on sanctions because they require unanimity from the 28 member states. There were wide differences over the numbers of Russians and Crimeans to be punished, with countries including Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Spain reluctant to penalise Moscow for fear of closing down channels of dialogue.

The Dutch foreign minister, Frans Timmermans, described sanctions as inevitable, saying: "I hope the Russians will realise that sanctions will hurt everyone, but no one more than the Russians themselves."

The aim of some members is to gradually increase sanctions, just as the EU did with Iran, to put pressure on Putin rather than apply all the pressure now. The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said any measure must leave "ways and possibilities open to prevent a further escalation that could lead to the division of Europe".

EU member states are threatening to move to broader economic and trade blocks on the Russians, leading to fears of a full-blown trade war that could be ruinous to both sides. The Hungarian government warned of a "long economic war" between Russia and the EU, while the Polish foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, described the Kremlin's effective land grab in Ukraine as an "anschlüss" or annexation, using the term coined to describe Hitler's takeover of Austria in 1938.

"The EU does not recognise the illegal 'referendum' and its outcome," a statement said following the Brussels meeting. "It was held in the visible presence of armed soldiers under conditions of intimidation of civic activists and journalists, blacking out of Ukrainian television channels and obstruction of civilian traffic in and out of Crimea."

The Lithuanian foreign minister, Linas Linkevicius, predicted that Thursday's European summit would expand the sanctions against Russia.

"The targeted sanctions against Russia are just the beginning as long as Russia does not change its strategy of gradual escalation," said the leading German Christian Democratic MEP, Elmar Brok. "These measures include an embargo on munitions and dual-use technologies, as well as measures against Russian companies and their subsidiaries."

The EU and Ukraine are scheduled to sign the political part of their association pact at the summit on Friday.

Ukraine's foreign minister, Andriy Deshchytsya, visited Nato headquarters on Monday and was promised "increased ties with Ukraine's political and military leadership".

Nato, in a statement, described the referendum as "illegal and illegitimate".

The US alleged a series of specific irregularities in the conduct of the referendum, but there is no suggestion they would have been enough to change the outcome of a vote, given the wider political and military circumstances.

"There has been broad speculation and some concrete evidence that ballots have arrived in Crimea for the referendum and had been pre-marked in many cities," said a senior US administration official. "There are massive anomalies in the vote, even as it is recorded, including the fact that, based on the census in Sevastopol city, 123% of the Sevastopol population would have had to have voted yes for the referendum."

Additional reporting by Ian Traynor in Vienna, Rowena Mason and Nicholas Watt

Ewen MacAskill

Shaun Walker

Dan Roberts

Of all the world's children deprived of education, two-fifths are disabled | Rachel Williams

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:35 AM PDT

Young ambassadors for the global education campaign this year went to Uganda to visit children with visual impairments

It is dark and still in the smooth-walled room in Mifumi village. Hamza Kamuna, tall and well built and wearing a T-shirt peppered with little holes, sits with his legs apart on a small wooden chair, his arms resting on his flared jeans.

"The school was good," the 16-year-old says of his education. "It was the only one I could go to and use braille. I went to other schools for some time, but I could not see what they were writing on the blackboard.

"At that school there was no discrimination, because even the headmistress encouraged the others to treat us well. I learned a lot."

Two years ago, Hamza, who is was born with severe low vision, was forced to leave Bishop Willis primary school 28km from his home in Iganga, eastern Uganda. At that distance, boarding was the only option, and with fees set at 250,000 Ugandan shillings (around £60) per term, the cost was simply too high. His father is also blind, and there are five other children. They are dependent on an uncle.

Without school, Hamza's world has shrunk. "I do nothing apart from sitting here," he says. "I wake up in the morning and sit. I only think about one thing – that I will wake up and be back in school."

This year the Global Campaign for Education, the umbrella body of charities and teaching unions dedicated to pursuing education for all, brings its focus to disability. Of the 57 million children worldwide estimated to still be missing out on school, more than 40% are thought to be disabled. A 2009 Department for International Development study found that the majority of Ugandan children with disabilities didn't attend primary school. Of those who did, most didn't complete all seven grades because most schools weren't set up for inclusive learning. Uganda's 2002 Population and Housing Census found that around 90% of disabled children didn't get further than primary education.

Of the total education budget – itself only 14% of the government's annual spending – one-tenth is supposed to be for special needs education, but even that sum, campaigners say, doesn't materialise in full. In the field of visual impairment, there is a dismal lack of equipment such as braille machines, and of teachers trained to deal with pupils' needs. Special needs teachers are badly paid and looked down on, says Sightsavers' Uganda programme officer, Juliet Sentongo. Too often no effort is made to help children who cannot see what is being written on a board, and with class sizes sometimes topping 100, it's hard for teachers to identify children needing extra attention. The charity has been working with the government on a special needs education policy that will address issues including teachers' pay and training, but there is no timeline for when it will be passed.

Eva Nalubanga, who has low vision, recalls the time when straining to see the smaller letters on the blackboard began to cause her pain: "I told the teachers I had a problem but they did nothing." She adds: "When I was at school I had happiness all over me," a bright smile on her face. Eventually she left. "If I had a teacher who could help me I would like to go back," she says. But schools like Bishop Willis, where more than 80 children with visual impairment learn alongside their peers, helped by Sightsavers, are rare.

Fear and prejudice also play a crippling role in visually impaired children's chances. "Some parents think their children they can't learn, even if they go to school – that it's a waste of time and money because they can't achieve anything," says David Kaule, a co-ordinator of itinerant special needs teachers, who are trained by Sightsavers and funded by the district authorities, each one working in about 10 schools. Primary and secondary education are free in Uganda, but items like uniform, pencils and paper must still be paid for.

Midiragi Kasambage, 16, missed out on school between the ages of nine and 11 for financial reasons, though his sighted siblings continued with their education. He has returned and hopes to go to university, but his father still thinks his education is a waste of money, he says: "It's only my mother who supports me."

Children with visual impairment are sometimes hidden at home, not allowed out even to greet visitors. Some people believe blindness is catching ("They will say, 'you want to infect me with your eyes'," says Hamza); others that it's a result of witchcraft, curable only by a witchdoctor. "There was a girl recently where there was too much use of traditional medicine to the eyes," Kaule says. "By the time we intervened it was too late. In the end she lost her sight." The 15-year-old had been made to sit, covered with a blanket, in the smoke from witchdoctor's burning "medicine", he says, for four-minute periods, three times a day for six months.

Community members suspect bewitching in the case of 16-year-old Martha Nalwadda, whose sight deteriorated over time. "Other people laughed and said why did we waste our money taking such a child to school," says her mother, Stella, who does not believe in witchcraft.

"There were no facilities at all and the other pupils didn't want to play with me because of my problem," Martha says. "If I was sitting on a stool they would push it over. They used to me call names. It hurt me a lot."

Sightsavers' inclusive education programme aims to increase enrolment of blind and low-vision children in Uganda by 25% by 2016. The charity provides equipment like braille machines and paper, as well as training for teachers in mainstream schools so children can be taught alongside their peers. Itinerant teachers (ITs) monitor pupils' progress within schools, working in each with a "contact teacher" who receives basic training in special needs. Out in the community, ITs identify new cases and bring successful blind people to village meetings, where they seek to convince parents that their children deserve education, too.

But while inclusive schools remain thin on the ground, children from poor families will continue to miss out. Martha is delighted to receive a kit that will help her to learn braille, but it is only funding from a private donor that will allow her to use her new skills at a school with a special unit for visually impaired people, where she must be a boarder.

Like Hamza and Martha, Nabirye Haliyati, 15, lives a sedentary existence. One of her legs is paralysed, and she sits on a woven mat in the brick porch of her family home in Idudi village, tucked away from the main thoroughfare. Her education ended at the age of 10 when her sight began to fail.

"The school was the only one I could afford to go to and it wasn't a school for the disabled," she says, in a gentle voice. "My parents had no money to take me to other schools, because they were using all the money to take me to the hospitals."

On the other side of the house, a small army of secondary school girls marches past, white socks pulled up to their knees, cornflower blue skirts swinging with each self-assured step. "I can't see anything," Nabirye says. "I have nothing to do, but I'm just waiting for god – if he can help me. I need eyes, and education."

The injustice is what stays with you

It is the sheer injustice of the situations of visually impaired teenagers robbed of their chance to get an education – and how much being able to go to school would mean to them – that stays with Rebecca Unwin (above left) and Maisie Le Masurier (right), this year's young ambassadors for the Send ALL My Friends to School campaign.

Rebecca, 15, and Maisie, 14, winners of the Steve Sinnott award, travelled to Uganda to learn about the barriers to education faced by children with disabilities. Now the pair, from Guildford county school in Surrey, will encourage other young people in the UK to lobby politicians on the issue.

Maisie was struck by the gulf between Hamza and another teenager she met, who was able to attend an inclusive school, and was determined to become a lawyer. "They both had a visual impairment and the same work ethic and motivation," she says. "It was eye-opening to see such similar potential, yet such contrasting futures ahead."

For Rebecca, who is partially sighted herself after a brain tumour four years ago, the experience was particularly personal. "Interestingly, none of the young people said what they aimed for was to get their eyesight back," she says. "They all said they wanted education."

• Rachel Williams's trip was funded by the Global Campaign for Education UK and the National Union of Teachers. A free resources pack is available for schools: www.sendmyfriend.org

Rachel Williams

Victorian politician says rape is no justification for abortion

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:22 AM PDT

Liberal upper house member Bernie Finn says rapists and paedophiles use abortion to dispose of evidence of their crimes

Helen Davidson

Bulldozers flatten last remnants of Swan Valley's Nyungah camp

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:21 AM PDT

WA government will build a place of Indigenous cultural significance but Aboriginal elder is outraged

The Jewish festival of Purim - in pictures

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:20 AM PDT

The carnival-like Purim holiday is celebrated with parades and costume parties to commemorate the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to exterminate them in the ancient Persian empire 2,500 years ago, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther

Bangkok state of emergency to end

Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:13 AM PDT

Government preparing to ease restrictions on demonstrations, saying number taking part in protests has dwindled

Opium poppies to be legalised in Victoria as demand for painkillers soars

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 11:59 PM PDT

Bill to decriminalise the narcotic crop passes parliament, potentially bringing $100m in annual revenue to the state

Michael Safi

Cardinal Pell was 'giving instructions' as Catholic church fought abuse claims

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 11:56 PM PDT

Lawyer's evidence to royal commission contradicts Pell's claims he knew little about offers to victim John Ellis

David Marr

Clive Palmer party backs renewable energy, putting heat on Coalition plans

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 11:55 PM PDT

WA Senate candidate declares existing scheme 'right for maintaining and improving environment'

Lenore Taylor

Stones’ Perth concert cancelled after death of Jagger’s partner

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 11:49 PM PDT

Organisers ask fans to hold onto their tickets until they have more information on other shows in Australia and New Zealand

Michael Safi

Afghan suicide bombing kills 13

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 11:44 PM PDT

Man riding rickshaw blew himself up at market in Faryab province, authorities say

US rejects criticism of 'toothless' sanctions following Crimea referendum

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 11:30 PM PDT

Russia issues decree recognising Crimea as sovereign state as US and EU enact measures against 32 Russians and Ukrainians

The US and the European Union retaliated over the Crimea referendum by targeting sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials on Monday, a move widely greeted with scepticism as "toothless".

But the US pointedly avoided targeting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, or key figures in his inner circle.

The EU imposed sanctions on 21 individuals, including three senior Russian commanders, the prime minister of Crimea, a deputy speaker of the Duma and other senior officials.

There are divisions within Europe over how to respond to Russia, and this is reflected in the fact that action is being taken against less than two dozen from an original proposed list of 120.

The sanctions came on the eve of an address to the Russian parliament by President Vladimir Putin on the next moves for Crimea.On Monday night, Putin posted a decree on the Kremlin website, recognising Crimea as a sovereign state – in what appeared to be a first step toward integrating Crimea as a part of the Russian Federation. The decree, which took effect immediately, says Moscow's recognition of Crimea as independent is based on "the will of the people of Crimea".

Putin pressed ahead on Tuesday, informing his government and parliament of the Crimean leadership's proposal to join Russia ahead of an expected address to parliament.

Barack Obama, who is set to visit Europe next week to discuss the crisis with European allies, warned of further action. "If Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions," he said. Russian troops have also massed near the border with Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine where there have been fatalities during clashes between pro- and anti-Moscow demonstrators in recent days.

Obama added: "We will continue to make clear to Russia that further provocations will achieve nothing except to further isolate Russia and diminish its place in the world."

Officials in Washington suggested results showing 96.8% of those voting in favour of joining Russia and a 83.1% turnout were implausibly high, especially when an estimated 99% of Crimean Tatars refused to take part.

The EU condemned the referendum as illegal and said it would not recognise the outcome.

The Russian market was equally dismissive, with the rouble doing well on the day. Markets elsewhere in Europe rose, judging that the prospect of trade battles was receding.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com, told AP: "So far the sanctions seem fairly toothless and much less severe than had been expected last week. From the market's perspective, the biggest risk was that the referendum would trigger tough sanctions against Russia that could lead to another cold war."

David Cameron's spokesman, asked whether the sanctions were feeble, said they should be seen in the context of others already announced and that the EU was prepared to add to them if necessary. Asked about Rogozin's response, the spokesman insisted the sanctions were "important measures".

Asked what would happen if Russia goes into eastern Ukraine, the spokesman said: "What we are saying very clearly is that they should not escalate."

Increasing the numbers on the sanctions list is almost certain to be discussed at the EU summit on Thursday and Friday. Some EU states are torn about taking punitive measures against Russia for fear of undoing years of patient attempts to establish closer ties with Moscow and increase trade. The EU has already suspended talks with Russia on an economic pact and a visa agreement.

A meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels decided on the reprisals following non-stop talks over the weekend until late on Sunday.

Senior EU officials expect the Kremlin to retaliate in a tit-for-tat sanctions war that is likely to spiral.

A senior EU official warned on Monday that the EU's 28 member states and Ukraine could run out of gas by the end of October if Russia plays "energy politics" and cuts off supplies in the diplomatic war over the future of Crimea.

A survey of gas supplies in the EU, conducted in the wake of the Russian occupation, found that the EU has 40bn cubic metres in its energy supplies – enough to last until the onset of winter.

The EU official said of a cut in Russian energy supplies: "We are under no illusions: come next winter, yes, we would have a significant problem.

But, the official added, "the silver lining is if you were going to go [into] Crimea from a gas politics point of view – doing it in March, February wasn't perhaps the cleverest move.

EU leaders are to meet in Brussels on Thursday for a summit dominated by Ukraine and could agree to lengthen the blacklist.

Sanctions legislation published on Monday on the website of the Official Journal of the European Union named 8 Ukrainian officials and 13 Russian officials. Like the US list, the EU list included the Crimean prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov; and Russian state Duma deputies Andrei Klishas and Leonid Slutsky. In addition, however, it targeted more prominent Russian politicians than the US sanctions, including Duma deputy speaker Sergei Zheleznyak, who has made numerous public appearances to comment on the Kremlin line in support of Crimea, and Sergei Mironov, leader of the party A Just Russia who has also called for Russian intervention in Ukraine and initiated legislation to speed up the process of obtaining Russian citizenship for Ukrainians. Most of the Russian politicians were sanctioned for supporting the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine on 1 March, the list said.

It is notoriously difficult to secure EU agreement on sanctions because they require unanimity from the 28 member states. There were wide differences over the numbers of Russians and Crimeans to be punished, with countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Spain reluctant to penalise Moscow for fear of closing down channels of dialogue.

The aim of some members is to gradually increase sanctions, just as the EU did with Iran, to put pressure on Putin rather than apply all the pressure now.

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said any measure must leave "ways and possibilities open to prevent a further escalation that could lead to the division of Europe".

EU member states are threatening to move to broader economic and trade blocks on the Russians, leading to fears of a full-blown trade war that could be ruinous to both sides.

The Hungarian government warned of a "long economic war" between Russia and the EU, while the Polish foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, described the Kremlin's effective land grab in Ukraine as an 'anschluss' or annexation, using the term coined to describe Hitler's takeover of Austria in 1938.

The Lithuanian foreign minister, Linas Linkevicius, predicted that Thursday's European summit, which will be dominated by the Ukraine crisis, would expand the sanctions against Russia.

"The targeted sanctions against Russia are just the beginning as long as Russia does not change its strategy of gradual escalation," said the leading German christian democratic MEP, Elmar Brok. "These measures include an embargo on munitions and dual-use technologies, as well as measures against Russian companies and their subsidiaries."

The EU and Ukraine are scheduled to sign the political part of their association pact at the summit on Friday.

Ukraine's foreign minister, Andriy Deshchytsya, visited Nato headquarters on Monday and was promised "increased ties with Ukraine's political and military leadership."

Nato, in a statement, described the referendum as "illegal and illegitimate".

The US alleged a series of specific irregularities in the conduct of the referendum, but there is no suggestion they would have been enough to change the outcome of a vote given the wider political and military circumstances.

"There has been broad speculation and some concrete evidence that ballots have arrived in Crimea for the referendum and had been pre-marked in many cities," said a senior US administration official.

"There are massive anomalies in the vote, even as it is recorded, including the fact that, based on the census in Sevastopol city, 123% of the Sevastopol population would have had to have voted yes for the referendum."

Additional reporting by Ian Traynor in Vienna, Rowena Mason and Nicholas Watt

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