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Members of Scott Morrison’s security detail injured during campaigning in Tasmania; at least 45 more Covid deaths around Australia, with 21 in NSW. This blog is now closed

Actor says ‘the misogyny is unbelievable’ after the response to her pretending to mistake Kirsten Dunst for a placeholding stand-inAmy Schumer received death threats of sufficient plausibility that the authorities contacted her in the wake of a joke she made at the Oscars, the actor has revealed.Speaking on the Howard Stern Show, Schumer discussed the segment of the 27 March ceremony in which she pretended to mistake the actor Kirsten Dunst, Oscar-nominated for her role in The Power of the Dog, for a seat-filler – someone who sits in a guest’s chair while they leave briefly to visit the bathroom, to give the impression of a full room. Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron and the far-right hopeful Marine Le Pen finished top in the first round of French presidential election. We look at the latest polling as the second round approachesEmmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen finished top in the first round of the French presidential election and now face each other in a run-off on 24 April that will determine who occupies the Élysée Palace for the next five years.The outgoing president won 27.8% of the first-round vote, while the leader of the far-right nationalist Rassemblement National (National Rally) managed 23.1%. Of the 10 other candidates in the field, only far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon exceeded 10%, scoring 22%. Continue reading...

Ukraine says it struck the Moskva with two anti-ship missiles without giving evidence as Zelenskiy says Russia ramping up offensive in east and south

Politicians, charities and rights groups condemn plans as ill-conceived, inhumane and evil

Suspension of Dover-Calais sailings adds to wider travel disruption across UK on bank holiday weekendP&O Ferries has suspended all passenger services on the Dover-Calais route over the Easter bank holiday weekend, causing further disruptions for UK travellers.Two of the beleaguered ferry firm’s eight vessels – the Pride of Kent and Spirit of Britain – are still being detained by Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) over safety concerns, resulting in ferry shortages on a key route in the run-up the busy travel period. Continue reading...

Tobias Ellwood says Boris Johnson owes it to the party and that Putin could exploit his law-breaker imageBoris Johnson should hold a vote of confidence to confirm his leadership after the conclusion of the police investigation into parties at No 10 and if local elections go badly for the Conservatives, a Tory MP has said.Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Commons defence committee, warned that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, could “exploit” the prime minister’s image as a law-breaker following the fixed-penalty notices for attending parties in No 10.

Focus now on retrieving bodies, says mayor, after strongest storm to hit archipelago this year devastates communitiesThe death toll from landslides and floods in the Philippines rose to 123 on Wednesday with scores missing and feared dead, officials said, as rescuers dug up more bodies with bare hands and backhoes in crushed villages.Most of the deaths from tropical storm Megi – the strongest to hit the archipelago this year – were in the central province of Leyte, where a series of landslides devastated communities. Continue reading...

Lawyers for Miller say the former Coalition staffer wishes to remove ‘any impediment’ preventing the PM giving a ‘full and truthful account’ of her caseThe former Coalition staffer Rachelle Miller has challenged Scott Morrison to publicly release details of the settlement payment she will receive after alleging harassment and bullying while working for senior ministers.It comes after the government cited confidentiality and privacy concerns in refusing to provide the information. But even after Miller’s lawyers said she was eager to “release” the Commonwealth and ministers from being bound by confidentiality around commenting on her case, Coalition ministers are still declining to comment. Continue reading...

After its wettest ever start to the year, Sydney is forecast to have a dry long weekend

Hasina Begum was separated from her family and forced return to Myanmar despite her refugee status. Hundreds of others now face expulsionThe deportation of a Rohingya women back to Myanmar has sparked fears that India is preparing to expel many more refugees from the country.Hasina Begum, 37, was deported from Indian-administered Kashmir two weeks ago, despite holding a UN verification of her refugee status, intended to protect holders from arbitrary detention. Begum was among 170 refugees arrested and detained in Jammu in March last year. Her husband and three children, who also have UN refugee status, remain in Kashmir. Continue reading...

Analysis: Russia’s indiscriminate use of weaponry has already led to high numbers of civilian deaths

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Exclusive: record infection rates are making targets for treating the 6m people on waiting lists look less achievableOperations are being cancelled across England as Covid causes “major disruption” inside the NHS, the country’s top surgeon has said, as doctors and health leaders say the government’s backlog targets look increasingly unachievable.Six million people are on the waiting list for NHS hospital care, including more than 23,000 who have waited more than two years. The NHS in England is due to publish its latest waiting times data on Thursday. Continue reading...

PM said government had not broken its election promise to create anti-corruption body, despite never introducing legislation

Tateolena Tauaifaga died when Christopher Chandler drove into the backyard of her Sydney home during police pursuit in 2015

Strongman Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s position looks weak amid an economic crisis that threatens to turn into starvationHe was once known as “The Terminator”, the most feared man in Sri Lankan politics. But today, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s name can hardly be spoken without a loud chorus of derision and calls of “thief”, “madman”, “criminal” or “traitor”.As Sri Lanka endures its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, blame has fallen at the feet of one man. Rajapaksa, known to many simply as Gota, was elected in 2019 amid nationalistic fervour and a wave of support from the country’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority. But over the past three years, under his watch – and what many are calling “criminal financial mismanagement” – the economy has gone into freefall. Now many people can barely afford three meals a day. “He has dragged this country down into the gutter and we are all suffering,” said Dinesh Galgamuwa, 47, who was among the protesters in Colombo. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of people set to travel through domestic terminals on Thursday, the highest numbers since March 2020

Russia defence ministry says entire crew of Moskva warship evacuated after ammunition blast; Ukraine earlier claimed it had struck the cruiser

House and unit rental prices are up nationwide, research finds, as vacancies hit lowest national rate since 2006

Israeli troops open fire as crowd pelts them with rocks and incendiary devices in Nablus after clashes near vandalised Jewish sacred siteA Palestinian lawyer and a teenager have been killed on the fifth day of Israeli raids in the West Bank following deadly attacks in the Jewish state, amid heightened tensions after a religious site was vandalised.Israel has poured in additional forces and is reinforcing its wall and fence barrier with the occupied territory after four deadly attacks claimed 14 lives in Israel, most of them civilians, in the past three weeks. Continue reading...

Academy teacher suffered head injury, tinnitus, back injury and severe depressionA London teacher has been awarded £850,000 in compensation after being punched in the face and kicked during a science lesson by a pupil with a history of violence towards other children and teachers.The attack was so severe it left him with severe psychological trauma that resulted in him being sectioned twice under the Mental Health Act for his own safety, according to his trade union, the NASUWT. Continue reading...

Google is suing the alleged fake dog breeder, which used the company’s Voice and email accounts to perpetrate the fraudThe pandemic sent Americans’ demand for pets soaring as a growing number of people sought out a canine companion. Now, Google is going after an alleged fraudster for running a fake puppy scam that exploited people’s desire for “personal gain”.In the new lawsuit, filed on Monday, the company accused the Cameroon-based defendant of using a network of fake websites, Google Voice phone numbers and Gmail accounts to pretend to sell purebred puppies, including basset hounds and maltipoos, that didn’t exist. Continue reading...

Deal to outsource process, described by Labour as ‘unworkable and unethical’, among range of measures to be unveiledPeople seeking asylum in the UK will be flown 4,500 miles to Rwanda as part of a government crackdown on unauthorised migrants to be announced by Boris Johnson.The prime minister is expected to announce a range of measures including putting the navy in charge of Channel operations from Friday and a new reception centre to hold people attempting to enter the UK to aid ending the practice of housing asylum seekers in hotels. Continue reading...

Salah Abdeslam says he was ‘shocked’ when asked to blow himself up in a cafe and was given no details about the targetsThe last surviving suspected assailant in the deadly 2015 Paris attacks has told a court that he changed his mind about going through with the killings at the last moment.“The objective I was given was to go to a cafe in the 18th” district in northern Paris, Salah Abdeslam told the special Paris court hearing the case. “I’m going into the cafe, I’m ordering a drink, I’m looking at the people around me – and I said to myself: ‘No, I’m not going to do it.’” Continue reading...

Latest updates: Lord Wolfson says he cannot serve in the government because of its disregard for the rule of law

Moscow makes claim as leaders of four countries bordering Russia arrive in Kyiv in show of support for Ukraine

Sarah Everard’s killer accused of the flashing incidents in Swanley, Kent, in 2021Sarah Everard’s killer, Wayne Couzens, has requested a trial by jury to face four charges of indecent exposure.The alleged flashing incidents are said to have taken place in Swanley, Kent, in January and February last year while he was a serving Metropolitan police officer. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Junta detained at least 26 intellectuals last year as it sought to suppress oppositionMyanmar jailed more writers and public intellectuals in crackdowns last year than any other country, according to a freedom of expression advocacy group.PEN America’s annual census of detained writers, the Freedom to Write Index, found Myanmar’s junta detained at least 26 writers in 2021 as it sought to suppress opposition after seizing power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...

Lawyers acting for Coleen Rooney, who Vardy is suing for libel, want her to disclose conversations with agentRebekah Vardy is unable to disclose potentially crucial WhatsApp messages in the ongoing “Wagatha Christie” legal case because an IT expert has “forgotten the password” to the data.Vardy is suing fellow footballer’s wife Coleen Rooney for libel, after Rooney publicly alleged that Vardy leaked private information to the Sun. The wife of Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy strongly denies the claims made by the partner of Derby County manager Wayne Rooney. Continue reading...

On a now-deleted website, Katherine Deves criticised NSW police for endorsing Wear it Purple Day and makes a series of inflammatory posts about trans people

Detailed business case for Queensland project includes analysis that shows a negative return on investment

City’s weekend foot traffic was up 15% due to F1 and comedy festival, but office occupancy still lags behind rest of Australia at 30%

‘Whole security landscape’ changed with Russian invasion of Ukraine, say leaders at joint press conferenceFinland and Sweden could both seek to join Nato within weeks, their prime ministers have announced, saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had changed Europe’s “whole security landscape” and “dramatically shaped mindsets” in the Nordic countries.The Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, said on Wednesday that her country, which shares a 1,300km (810 mile) border with Russia, would decide whether to apply to join the alliance “quite fast, in weeks not months” despite the risk of infuriating Moscow. Continue reading...

Moscow claims Ukrainian marines in Mariupol have surrendered as Zelenskiy asks for arms to prevent ‘endless bloodbath’

Bear walks 150km ‘home’ to Abruzzo town three weeks after being returned to natural habitatAn errant bear has reappeared in his favourite Italian town after a failed attempt to rewild him.The two-year-old Marsican brown bear, affectionately known as Juan Carrito, walked 150km “home” to Roccaraso, a small mountain town in the Abruzzo region, bypassing several other towns along the way. Continue reading...

Three-year-old girl and five-year-old boy die after being taken to hospital following blaze on FridayTwo children have died after a house fire in Preston.Lancashire police said the three-year-old girl and five-year-old boy died on Tuesday after they and their mother were taken to hospital on Friday evening. Emergency services had been called to the address in Coronation Crescent at about 8pm following reports of a house fire with several people trapped inside. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says 178 of those targeted helped prop up self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk

The wide-ranging legislation, which comes amid a rise in such cases, is heralded as a victory ‘for all women’Indonesia has passed a landmark bill that for the first time outlaws forced marriage and sexual harassment.To tears and cheers from supporters in the gallery, on Tuesday the House of Representatives passed the long-awaited legislation that criminalises nine forms of sexual violence, including physical and verbal assault, harassment, forced sterilisation and exploitation. Continue reading...

Mason, a 20-year veteran at the BBC seen as a safe pair of hands, did not originally apply for jobChris Mason has been named as the BBC’s new political editor, replacing Laura Kuenssberg in one of the most prominent and powerful roles in British journalism.The 41-year-old Yorkshire-born reporter has been at the BBC for 20 years, including a decade reporting on Westminster for television and radio. The role gives him an unparalleled ability to shape how the UK interprets Westminster politics – and the government’s policies. As a result, he will face enormous pressure from Downing Street and opposition parties who want to shape narratives to fit their agenda. Continue reading...

Committee summons Paul Bew to give evidence on No 10’s role in Standard owner’s appointment to LordsThe chair of the commission that advised on the appointment of the Evening Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev to the House of Lords has been summoned to give evidence to MPs when parliament returns next week.Paul Bew, an Irish historian, will appear before parliament’s public administration committee on Wednesday to answer what its chair described as “very serious questions” about Downing’s Street’s role in the appointment. Continue reading...

Despite the cabinet rallying to defend the prime minister, some MPs are calling for him to resign

Residents express dismay online about tribute to city’s handling of outbreak after extended lockdownA state-owned TV station in Shanghai has postponed a show that highlights the positive sides of the city’s response to an Omicron outbreak after an online backlash.Shanghai Dragon Television, the city’s main TV channel that also broadcasts via satellite to Chinese-speaking audiences globally, announced the decision on social media late on Tuesday night, hours after it was criticised online. Dragon TV said it welcomed “valuable feedback to our work”. Continue reading...

Morrison says Warringah candidate Katherine Deves has ‘apologised’ over social media posts; nation records at least 39 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Decision over Spirit of Britain comes as firm planned to resume cross-Channel services for Easter weekendAnother P&O Ferries vessel has been detained after surveyors identified “a number of deficiencies”, casting doubt on the firm’s plans to restart the Dover-Calais route before Easter.The Spirit of Britain, which is based at Dover, has been detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and will not be released until a further inspection is carried out. Continue reading...

News Corp Australasia executive chairman issues all-staff memo, with scrutiny on election coverage likely to increase

UN agency intervenes in wake of claims predatory men using Homes for Ukraine scheme to target vulnerable

Former LNP MP backtracks on retirement plans, saying he should have made the move to Pauline Hanson’s party ‘a long time ago’

Archbishop of Canterbury says Church of England has long way to go on journey towards racial justiceThe archbishop of Canterbury has intervened for the second time in a dispute over a contested memorial in the chapel at Jesus College, Cambridge, stating emphatically that “memorials to slave-traders do not belong in places of worship”.Commenting on the legal battle over a memorial plaque to Tobias Rustat, a 17th-century benefactor who invested in slavery, Justin Welby gave his unequivocal support to those seeking its removal and suggested the Church of England still has a long way to go on its journey towards racial justice. Continue reading...

Attorney general asks for legal clarification in wake of acquittals of Black Lives Matter protestersThe attorney general has asked for clarification from the court of appeal over the circumstances in which defendants can cite their human rights as a defence in a case of criminal damage.Suella Braverman made the referral in the wake of the acquittals of four people accused of pulling down the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol during a Black Lives Matter protest. Continue reading...