World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- ‘It was hard rediscovering myself’: Judith Tebbutt on escaping Somali kidnappers
- Toronto mosque worshippers tackle man ‘brandishing a hatchet’
- Urban congestion funding for Coalition and marginal seats far outstrips safe Labor seats, report finds
- Greg Hunt backs Australia’s pandemic response despite spiking cases and complaints of ambulance ramping
- Payne calls Russia’s actions in Ukraine ‘war crimes’ – as it happened
- Kimberley Kitching was on track for preselection, says Labor powerbroker Don Farrell
- Australia bans exports of aluminium ores to Russia over ‘illegal’ aggression towards Ukraine
- Shane Warne remembered at private funeral in Melbourne
- Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 25 of the invasion
- Russia-Ukraine war: 56 elderly people killed by Russian forces, Ukraine says; Mariupol art school bombed, officials claim – live
- Ukraine suspends 11 political parties with links to Russia
- Russia bombed Mariupol art school sheltering 400 people, says Ukraine
- Ukraine orphans evacuated by Scottish football fans’ charity to travel to UK
- Prioritise mental health support for Ukrainians arriving in UK, experts say
- Pakistani PM steps up criticism of west as confidence vote looms
- Afghanistan’s former finance minister is now Uber driver in Washington DC
- Sri Lanka cancels school exams over paper shortage as financial crisis bites
- Rishi Sunak urged to restore UK aid spending after Ukraine invasion
- ‘Roll on the summer of love’: UK music festivals on song after Covid closures
- Wirral RSPB reserve ravaged by fire police suspect was started deliberately
- Oxford Covid jab gears up for final act: saving the rest of the world
- Police name woman killed in London student flat and seek 22-year-old man
- Rishi Sunak declines to say how many more people could face fuel poverty
- ‘Mosquito in a nudist colony’: Republican Ron Johnson targets Fauci and Hunter Biden
- Russian mercenaries in Ukraine linked to far-right extremists
- ‘Tucker the Untouchable’ goes soft on Putin but remains Fox News’s biggest power
- TikTok was ‘just a dancing app’. Then the Ukraine war started
- West Texas fires: crews make progress against giant blaze complex
- Kenosha off-duty police officer shown putting knee on 12-year-old girl’s neck
| ‘It was hard rediscovering myself’: Judith Tebbutt on escaping Somali kidnappers Posted: 20 Mar 2022 06:00 AM PDT Freed 10 years ago after seven months held hostage, Tebbutt watched homecoming of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with joy and trepidation Ten years ago on Monday, Judith Tebbutt walked onto a plane and out of the hands of the Somali pirates, kidnappers and murderers who had held her captive for almost seven months. Her husband, David, had been shot dead by Tebbutt's initial captors when they burst into the couple's bedroom in their isolated, luxury holiday resort. Continue reading... |
| Toronto mosque worshippers tackle man ‘brandishing a hatchet’ Posted: 19 Mar 2022 10:57 PM PDT Man attacked people with bear spray during morning prayer before being subdued, police say Worshippers at a mosque in Toronto subdued an allegedly axe-wielding man who police say attacked people with bear spray during a dawn prayer service. Police said the 24-year-old man walked into the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic centre in the suburb of Mississauga and allegedly "discharged bear spray towards people in the mosque while brandishing a hatchet" just before 7am on Saturday. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 20 Mar 2022 03:00 AM PDT At last election, just one of 71 Coalition promises worth $100m or more based on approved business case, says Grattan Institute The government's controversial urban congestion fund is pumping tens of millions of dollars more into marginal and safe Coalition seats than strong Labor electorates, a new report has found. The Grattan Institute on Sunday released a damning report examining the way successive governments have used transport spending promises to further their political interests. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading... |
| Posted: 20 Mar 2022 12:44 AM PDT 'We are a stronger and a better country than many acknowledge', says retiring health minister The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, says he is optimistic about the declining effect of the pandemic in Australia, saying the country's response to Covid has beaten expectations, despite increasing complaints of ambulance ramping across several states. The nation on Sunday recorded seven virus deaths and more than 40,400 new cases, while almost 2,100 patients were in hospital with 102 in intensive care and 21 on ventilation, according to state and territory figures. Continue reading... |
| Payne calls Russia’s actions in Ukraine ‘war crimes’ – as it happened Posted: 19 Mar 2022 11:31 PM PDT Scott Morrison says Russia must pay 'high price' for Ukraine invasion as further measures announced; Steven Marshall steps down after losing South Australia election to Labor and Peter Malinauskus; Josh Frydenberg says federal budget measures won't 'overheat' economy; four Covid deaths in NSW and three in SA. This blog is now closed
The federal finance minister, Simon Birmingham, is appearing on ABC's Insiders now, and of course, has been asked why the Liberals experienced a landslide loss in the state election there overnight. Birmingham says that a number of voters were potentially tricked by "misleading statements" about Labor's ability to stop ambulance ramping. I think always when an election is lost, there are a number of factors at play. I think that history will judge Steven Marshall's government for its policy achievements and management more kindly than the electorate did yesterday. The economic confidence he delivered to South Australia, the ongoing growth in what will be higher-paying, more highly skilled [workers] in SA for many years to come, the transformation of schooling SA, investments in hospitals, these will be positives which he will be marked up for but clearly a disappointing day for the Liberal family in SA to have that result. The campaign was one in which we saw the Labor party run a very targeted, very singularly focused campaign around hospitals and ambulances. I think there were many misleading aspects to that campaign and even the Electoral Commission found so in the last day or so, but that again is a reminder to all of us that we can't underscore the potential for Labor to run these types of scare campaigns just like they did with mediscare back in 2016, particularly when they can roll out the public sector unions to devastating effects. So is that your take on this election result, the electorate was tricked? No, not entirely. I do think that Labor's campaign was effective, but I also think, as the Electoral Commission found, that it was based on misleading statements and that of course is something that does mean that some voters potentially were tricked but equally I think Covid did play a very difficult role for Steven Marshall. When he opened the borders from SA to the rest of the country on 23 November, it was 24 November, the very day after that Omicron was first reported to the World Health Organization as a variant of concern. You couldn't have had perhaps more unlucky timing than Steven Marshall faced in that regard and that the carefully calibrated plans he had for reopening were clearly blown out of the water at that time and that did create real challenges for the Government through the run-up and lead-up to the election, and, of course, in terms of what the narrative of their campaign was. Continue reading... |
| Kimberley Kitching was on track for preselection, says Labor powerbroker Don Farrell Posted: 19 Mar 2022 10:15 PM PDT ALP Senate leader Penny Wong calls for politics to 'take a backseat' ahead of Kitching's funeral on Monday Kimberley Kitching would have been preselected again as a Labor senator, according to party powerbroker Don Farrell, despite speculation the late politician's position was in jeopardy. Labor's Senate leader, Penny Wong, on Sunday called for politics to "take a backseat", and again denied claims of bullying against Kitching, ahead of her funeral on Monday. Continue reading... |
| Australia bans exports of aluminium ores to Russia over ‘illegal’ aggression towards Ukraine Posted: 19 Mar 2022 09:17 PM PDT Expanded sanctions seek to limit Russia's ability to produce aluminium which is critical to arms and munitions manufacturing
Australia has banned the sale of alumina and aluminium ores to Russia in response to what it described as "unrelenting and illegal aggression" towards Ukraine. Also on Sunday, prime minister Scott Morrison announced Australia would donate coal and further military equipment to Ukraine to "support the brave and courageous resistance" as part of a new aid package that also includes $30m in emergency humanitarian assistance. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading... |
| Shane Warne remembered at private funeral in Melbourne Posted: 19 Mar 2022 08:47 PM PDT Late cricketing great's family and friends attended the service at the St Kilda Football Club
Shane Warne's family and friends have held a private funeral in Melbourne, with about 80 guests gathering to say their goodbyes to the cricketing great. Warne's three children, Jackson, Brooke and Summer, and parents Keith and Brigette, along with close friends including retired Test captains Mark Taylor, Allan Border and Michael Clarke and former England skipper Michael Vaughan, attended the service. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading... |
| Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 25 of the invasion Posted: 20 Mar 2022 08:08 AM PDT Putin's forces have bombed art school sheltering 400 civilians in Mariupol, says city's council Mariupol's city council said Russian forces bombed an art school where 400 civilians including children were sheltering. Thousands of residents of Mariupol have been forcibly deported to Russia and then sent by rail to various economically depressed cities where they have to remain, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman claimed. An estimated 10 million people – more than a quarter of Ukraine's population – have now fled their homes as a result of Russia's "devastating" war, said the head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. One of Europe's largest metallurgical plants, the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, has been destroyed by the Russians, said Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister. Russia has struck Ukraine with cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, and launched hypersonic missiles from Crimean airspace, the Russian defence ministry said. An attack on a barracks in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Friday killed more than 40 Marines, according to the New York Times. If confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest known attacks on Ukrainian forces during the war. The Ukrainian parliament said 115 Ukrainian children have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion. It said at least 140 more had been injured. Pope Francis described what is happening in Ukraine as "inhumane and sacrilegious". Addressing tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square in Rome for his weekly blessing, he called on leaders to stop "this repugnant war". Continue reading... |
| Posted: 20 Mar 2022 08:02 AM PDT Dozens of elderly people in Luhansk region shot, Ukraine human rights ombudsman says; Mariupol council says people 'still under rubble' of art school
There are a few more updates of specific attacks and recent casualties. The Guardian has not independently verified these. According to the Kyiv Independent, three people were killed in Rubizhne, including two chidren. The outlet cited Luhansk Oblast Governor, Serhiy Haidai, saying that in the last 24 hours 24 houses and apartment buildings were destroyed in Rubizhne and Severodonetsk over the past 24 hours. Continue reading... |
| Ukraine suspends 11 political parties with links to Russia Posted: 20 Mar 2022 07:37 AM PDT Zelenskiy says parties such as Viktor Medvedchuk's Opposition Platform for Life are 'aimed at division or collusion' Eleven Ukrainian political parties have been suspended because of their links with Russia, according to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The country's national security and defence council took the decision to ban the parties from any political activity. Most of the parties affected were small, but one of them, the Opposition Platform for Life, has 44 seats in the 450-seat Ukrainian parliament. Continue reading... |
| Russia bombed Mariupol art school sheltering 400 people, says Ukraine Posted: 20 Mar 2022 07:11 AM PDT Officials say building destroyed with civilians inside, as further reports emerge of city residents being forcibly taken to Russia Ukrainian authorities have said Moscow's forces bombed an art school in Mariupol where more than 400 people had taken shelter, amid further reports that civilians from the devastated southern city were being forcibly transported to Russia. Days after Russian shells struck a theatre in the city also being used as a shelter, local authorities said Mariupol's G12 art school had been destroyed while women, children and elderly people were inside. There was no immediate word on casualties. Continue reading... |
| Ukraine orphans evacuated by Scottish football fans’ charity to travel to UK Posted: 20 Mar 2022 06:12 AM PDT Group of 50 children who were taken to Poland by Dnipro Kids due to arrive in Britain on Monday A group of 50 orphans evacuated from Ukraine by a charity established by Scottish football fans will arrive in the UK on Monday. After drying tears for abandoned teddy bears and navigating the demands of international bureaucracy, the children would be "welcomed with open arms", said Steven Carr, chairman of the Edinburgh-based charity Dnipro Kids. Continue reading... |
| Prioritise mental health support for Ukrainians arriving in UK, experts say Posted: 20 Mar 2022 06:00 AM PDT Many refugees will require emotional support as soon as they arrive in countries such as Britain Civilians fleeing conflict in Ukraine must be given immediate access to mental health support when they reach the UK, experts have said, adding there is an urgent need for more investment in such services. Jonathan Bisson, professor in psychiatry at Cardiff University and director of Traumatic Stress Wales, said many people remaining in Ukraine would be experiencing uncertainty, anxiety and fear and some were likely develop mental health problems. Continue reading... |
| Pakistani PM steps up criticism of west as confidence vote looms Posted: 20 Mar 2022 04:17 AM PDT Imran Khan seeks to bolster domestic support amid threat from opposition coalition and cooling relations with military Addressing the crowds at a public rally in Punjab last week, Pakistan's prime minister was on the attack. Western leaders, Imran Khan said, treated Pakistan as their "slave" and presumed that "whatever you say, we will do". Days before, it had been announced that Khan would be facing a vote of no confidence in parliament at the end of March, after more than 100 members of Pakistan's united opposition successfully tabled a motion to oust him. The vote will take place on Friday 25 March. Continue reading... |
| Afghanistan’s former finance minister is now Uber driver in Washington DC Posted: 19 Mar 2022 11:00 PM PDT Washington Post rides with Khalid Payenda, who left for the US before the fall of Kabul Days before Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last August, Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, was "welcomed" to the United Arab Emirates. He was alleged to have taken with him $169m, from his country's treasury. Six months on, Khalid Payenda, once Ghani's finance minister, is driving an Uber in Washington DC. Continue reading... |
| Sri Lanka cancels school exams over paper shortage as financial crisis bites Posted: 19 Mar 2022 07:15 PM PDT Colombo unable to fund import of printing paper, leaving millions of students unable to take part in term assessments Sri Lanka has cancelled school exams for millions of students after running out of printing paper, as the country contends with its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948. Education authorities said on Saturday the term tests, scheduled a week from Monday, were postponed indefinitely due to an acute paper shortage, with Colombo short on funds to finance imports. Continue reading... |
| Rishi Sunak urged to restore UK aid spending after Ukraine invasion Posted: 20 Mar 2022 08:00 AM PDT Leading thinktank finds cuts made during pandemic have harmed the UK as well as recipient countries Rishi Sunak is being urged to boost aid UK spending in this week's mini-budget after an in-depth study by a leading thinktank showed government cuts had the biggest negative impact on the world's poorest countries. The campaign group One said the aid budget was at "breaking point" and would come under renewed pressure as a result of humanitarian and refugee spending in response to the war in Ukraine. Continue reading... |
| ‘Roll on the summer of love’: UK music festivals on song after Covid closures Posted: 20 Mar 2022 07:23 AM PDT From Glastonbury to Radio 1's Big Weekend there are heady expectations of a vintage season For a while it felt so far away: listening to your favourite artist, pints flying overhead, queueing for portable toilets, losing your friends and finding new ones. But after two years of cancellations and delays, music lovers can once again look forward to an array of festivals and gigs this summer. From Paul McCartney at Glastonbury and Tyler, the Creator at Parklife, to Adele and Elton John at BST Hyde Park and Liam Gallagher at the Etihad Stadium, there's something in the music calendar for everyone. Continue reading... |
| Wirral RSPB reserve ravaged by fire police suspect was started deliberately Posted: 20 Mar 2022 07:06 AM PDT The blaze near Parkgate, which burned reedbeds on a site of special scientific interest, has been put out A large fire that ravaged important reedbeds looked after by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is no longer burning but concern remains about its consequences for wildlife. Fire crews and six engines from Cheshire and Merseyside fire and rescue services tackled the blaze on marshland near Parkgate on the Wirral peninsula, after being called out at about 6.20pm on Saturday evening. Continue reading... |
| Oxford Covid jab gears up for final act: saving the rest of the world Posted: 20 Mar 2022 07:00 AM PDT After mishaps and misinformation, jab will build 'global wall of immunity', says director of Oxford Vaccine Group Exactly two years ago Prof Sir Andrew Pollard was starting to panic. "We were just waking up to the reality of Covid-19 and that we would need vaccines for our very survival," the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group told the Guardian this week. He joined forces with a colleague, Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, and together they launched one of the greatest medical missions in modern history. Their seemingly impossible task – to design, develop and deliver a vaccine from scratch to slow the advance of a lethal pandemic – was completed in less than 12 months, to the relief of millions. Today though, the coronavirus landscape – and the status of their jab, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 – looks very different. In the UK, half the population have had their vaccine, restrictions have ended, and while cases and hospitalisations are rising in the UK, a dramatic uptick in deaths is not expected. The jab has saved more than a million lives, according to estimates, but its reputation has been battered by a toxic mix of misinformation, miscommunication and mishaps. Two years after Pollard, Gilbert and their teams first began making the miracle jab now known as Vaxzevria or Covishield, it has been sidelined in the UK and Europe, and snubbed in the US. Continue reading... |
| Police name woman killed in London student flat and seek 22-year-old man Posted: 20 Mar 2022 06:39 AM PDT Met name 19-year-old woman as Sabita Thanwani and appeal for information about Maher Maaroufe A young woman who was killed in a student flat in London over the weekend has been named by police as 19-year-old Sabita Thanwani. Police were called to an accommodation block in Clerkenwell for students at City, University of London at 5.10am on Saturday after emergency services received reports of an injured woman. Continue reading... |
| Rishi Sunak declines to say how many more people could face fuel poverty Posted: 20 Mar 2022 06:34 AM PDT Chancellor says rising energy prices mean 'it's not going to be easy' after consumer expert Martin Lewis gives stark assessment Rishi Sunak has repeatedly declined to say how many more people could be pushed into fuel poverty by rising energy prices, saying only that people should not be scared. The chancellor is facing increasing pressure over cost of living issues in the run-up to Wednesday's spring budgetary statement, with particular concerns that a rise in energy bills next month, followed by another in October, will be devastating for household budgets. Continue reading... |
| ‘Mosquito in a nudist colony’: Republican Ron Johnson targets Fauci and Hunter Biden Posted: 20 Mar 2022 05:21 AM PDT Wisconsin senator says if GOP retakes control it will use committees to move against Democrats and Biden Hunter Biden and Anthony Fauci will be prime targets of Senate Republicans should the party win control in November, a senior senator said. Asked by the Hill what he would want to investigate should he control a committee with subpoena power, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said: "Like everything? It's like a mosquito in a nudist colony, it's a target-rich environment." Continue reading... |
| Russian mercenaries in Ukraine linked to far-right extremists Posted: 20 Mar 2022 02:15 AM PDT Wagner Group connected to white supremacists, Tech against Terrorism investigation finds Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, including the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group, have been linked to far-right extremism including an organisation designated by the US as terrorist, analysis reveals. Although Vladimir Putin says his "special military operation" is aimed at the "denazification" of Ukraine, an investigation has found links between pro-Russian forces and violent rightwing extremism, including those directly affiliated with Wagner. Continue reading... |
| ‘Tucker the Untouchable’ goes soft on Putin but remains Fox News’s biggest power Posted: 20 Mar 2022 12:00 AM PDT Primetime host rejects suggestion he is pushing pro-Putin rhetoric – and he's still hugely popular with viewers Last week, two Fox News journalists died in Ukraine, and the news channel grieved along with the rest of the country amid anger at the Russian onslaught. Republicans, too, rapidly shed past views on Russia and some called for no-fly zones and supplying Ukraine with Polish MiG fighter jets as Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion ground on. But the far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the alternately flabbergasted and outraged primetime host and Trumpist standard-bearer, carried on presenting his conspiratorial show with such a seeming lack of regard that the Kremlin itself reportedly considers his equivocations over the causes of the conflict vital to its propaganda apparatus. Continue reading... |
| TikTok was ‘just a dancing app’. Then the Ukraine war started Posted: 19 Mar 2022 10:00 PM PDT Many features make the platform susceptible to disinformation as world leaders try to harness influencers' power for good Many have called the invasion of Ukraine the world's first "TikTok war", and experts say it is high time for the short video platform – once known primarily for silly lip syncs and dance challenge – to be taken seriously. Some politicians are doing just that. In a speech, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, appealed to "TikTokers" as a group that could help end the war. Last week, Joe Biden spoke to dozens of top users on the app in a first-of-its kind meeting to brief the influencers on the conflict in Ukraine and how the US is addressing it. Continue reading... |
| West Texas fires: crews make progress against giant blaze complex Posted: 19 Mar 2022 02:28 PM PDT Governor declares disaster in 11 counties as experts warn of fires in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska Fire crews in Texas made progress on Saturday against a massive complex of wildfires that killed a deputy sheriff and burned at least 50 homes, officials said. "Progress has been made but fire activity has picked up with rising temperatures and lower humidity," said Matt Ford, spokesperson for Texas A&M Forest Services. He said about 25% of the flames were contained, up from about 4% late on Friday as the fire burned thick brush and grass fields. Continue reading... |
| Kenosha off-duty police officer shown putting knee on 12-year-old girl’s neck Posted: 19 Mar 2022 02:10 PM PDT Officer resigns from school security guard job after officials release footage of fight and girl's father calls for criminal charges School officials in Kenosha, Wisconsin released surveillance footage that showed an off-duty police officer putting his knee on a 12-year-old girl's neck to restrain her amid a lunchtime fight. The Kenosha Unified School District released redacted footage of the 4 March fight on Friday. Continue reading... |
| You are subscribed to email updates from World news | The Guardian. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
Posting Komentar