Emails obtained by Guardian Australia show officials planned to dismiss suggestion Abbott’s trip represented Taiwan policy change

Ballina mayor calls for mobile Telstra tower to be set up urgently to ease residents’ distress

Latest updates: Liz Truss says Putin must lose in Ukraine as she praises courage of Baltic states

From a failed attempt to dress as Hermione Granger to a Hungry Caterpillar who truly committed to the role, parents and former students on the mad dash to put together a literary outfitA few years ago my son’s school organised a World Book Day in which pupils were asked to turn up in costume. Two kids turned up wearing full Viking outfits, complete with plastic axes and horned helmets. They looked brilliant. Only trouble was their parents had got the day wrong: they turned up in costume the day before the actual event, and as they had been dropped off by taxi, they had to spend the first part of the day in costume while their fellow pupils were in normal school uniform.

The royal family, partygate and cancel culture: can a Tory voter and a socialist find common ground over dinner?

The Australian soap has kept me hooked since 1986, becoming a major part of my daily existence – even when I didn’t have a TV signal. Ramsay Street, you will be missed• Beloved soap Neighbours to end after 37 years on airFrom the upbeat opening bars of its theme tune and the declaration that “Everybody needs good neighbours”, Neighbours was like a blast of fresh air blowing across British TV screens in 1986. Here was a show that was on BBC One twice a day; lunchtime and a repeat in the late afternoon. This was when Netflix was but a twinkle in Reed Hastings’s eye and a “streaming service” was probably a water-feature option offered by landscape gardeners. You watched Neighbours or you missed it.Centred on Ramsay Street, the Lassiters hotel complex, and the lives of the Ramsays and the Robinsons (think Jim Robinson and mother-in-law Helen Daniels), it was soon a must-watch for students in the UK because – despite being watched “ironically”, however one does that – it had young people at its heart. This is the show that brought us Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce and Panda from The Masked Singer, Natalie Imbruglia. Talk about a hit factory. But, wandering the banks of Lassiters lake, we were also in the company of Harold and Madge, Dr Karl and Susan Kennedy, “Toadfish” Rebecchi and more. But now, the curtain falls. After almost 9,000 episodes, Neighbours is to come to an end. Continue reading...

In TV address French president warns tough economic times are ahead following Ukraine invasion

Renaissance works transported for first time since the artist installed them in churches 600 years agoA collection of bronzes sculpted by Renaissance master Donatello has been moved for the first time from the Italian churches where he installed them 600 years ago so that they can be displayed at a ground-breaking exhibition in FlorenceThree of the four pieces, a relief, a statue and two bronze doors, from Siena Cathedral and San Lorenzo baptistery in Florence, are also being restored to their former glory using techniques ranging from chiselling with porcupine needles to thermographing to discover structural weaknesses. Continue reading...

Michael and Maria Spressler’s surprise could be worth $10,000. That’s a cut above the mice, frogs and condoms that diners have discovered elsewhereName: Food surprises.Age: Well, there was a 34th anniversary the other day. Continue reading...

The basement of a Kyiv hospital is now the maternity ward, where expecting and new mothers bring new life into a world violently upended by a Russian military invasion.Alina Shinkar is 32 weeks pregnant with her first child. She was admitted to one of Kyiv’s maternity hospitals two weeks ago because of pregnancy complications. 'I woke up on the 24th of February, at 5 o’clock in the morning from the hit, that I heard. The explosion. And then I heard women started to cry and scream. The war started.'

The show where household names such as Margot Robbie and Kylie Minogue had their start will wrap for the last time in June

Some reunions were also tempered by grief, as for many New Zealanders the reopening came too late

A series of explosions were reported in Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday following Russian airstrikes.At least four explosions were reported in Ukraine’s capital around 3am, not long after Ukraine’s state special communications service had issued an alert saying: “Air alarm, Kyiv!” CBS reporter Charlie D'Agata had justfinished a cross when a bright flash andlarge boom happened behind him

Occupation a confronting shift in tone from first two years of pandemic, which were characterised by high support for government“We will not be defined by this,” prime minister Jacinda Ardern said, as New Zealand’s parliament grounds descended into chaos, fire and violence in a shocking end to the anti-mandate protests that have occupied the capital city’s centre.An undercurrent of violence had simmered throughout the weeks-long Ottawa-inspired occupation, which was blighted by abusive behaviour, conspiracy theories, and death threats. On Wednesday, riot police moved in with pepper spray and rubber bullets, and the powder keg exploded. Protesters set their tents alight, and lit a bonfire beneath the parliamentary children’s playground. People could be heard whooping and yelling, “burn it down, burn it down.” As fires burned across the lawns, some protesters worked to spread them and set more tents alight, while a woman screamed “What are you doing? People will get hurt”. Gas bottles exploded as they were consumed by the blaze. At a bonfire next to the cenotaph war memorial, protesters threw tents, trash and wooden pallets on the flames. Others hurled anything within reach at lines of riot police: chairs, fireworks, rubbish bins, and paving stones ripped from the parliamentary paths. Continue reading...

Yelena Osipova, a 77-year-old activist and a survivor of the infamous wartime siege of Leningrad, was marched away by a group of police while she protested against the war in Ukraine in the city, which was renamed St Petersburg in 1991. Thousands of people have been defying police threats and staging protests across Russia. Authorities have a low tolerance for demonstrations and marches, and attending them can have serious consequences including fines, arrests and even imprisonment

Complaint filed in Los Angeles accuses Wood and partner Illma Gore of ‘malicious falsehood’ that has derailed Manson’s careerMarilyn Manson has filed a lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood for defamation over the actor’s sexual abuse allegations against him.Manson, the American “shock rocker” born Brian Warner, filed the complaint in Los Angeles superior court on Wednesday. The complaint accuses Wood and her “on-again, off-again” partner Ashley “Illma” Gore, of depicting him as “a rapist and abuser – a malicious falsehood that has derailed Warner’s successful music, TV, and film career.” Continue reading...

Shelling of residential areas leaves hundreds dead and forces more than 800,000 to flee country

Action taken upon Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven by holding company that owns Holland & Barrett after EU imposed sanctionsThe UK-based Russian billionaire oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have had their shares in the $22bn (£17bn) conglomerate LetterOne, which owns Holland & Barrett, “frozen”, days after they were hit with EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.LetterOne, which is just under 50% owned by Fridman and Aven, announced on Wednesday night that the men had “ceased to have any involvement with the company” and that it had frozen their shares. Continue reading...

Thursday: The UN general assembly approves resolution demanding that Russia stop the war in Ukraine and withdraw all troops. Plus: Darren Hanlon on losing faith and moving homeGood morning. Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s cities has intensified. In Australia, the floods crisis continues with major warnings in place and evacuation orders in some parts of NSW. And Scott Morrison has drawn criticism from Christian groups over Australia’s refugee intake.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia is trying “to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all” after Russian forces intensified missile attacks on residential precincts of multiple major cities. Russia claims to have secured the key southern city of Kherson after another day of relentless shelling, but this has been disputed by the city’s mayor. Both Kyiv and Kharkiv remain under attack, with Russian airborne troops landing in the country’s second-most populous city and engaging in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces. In New York, the United Nations voted overwhelmingly for a resolution deploring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, highlighting Russia’s increasing international isolation with 141 of the 193 member states supporting the resolution, 35 abstaining, and five voting against. Only Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria voted in support of the Kremlin, with historical allies Cuba, Venezuela and China abstaining. Continue reading...

Filming was in progress when about 20 people broke on to set of Netflix heist dramaA gang of masked thieves have stolen €300,000 (£250,000) worth of equipment from the set of the Netflix heist drama Lupin in France, according to reports.About 20 people broke on to the set after throwing mortar fireworks while the actor Omar Sy, who plays the protagonist, was performing in a scene, according to AFP. Continue reading...

Divorcees Clive Warrington and Valerie Warrington found dead with stab wounds at separate locationsPolice have arrested a man as part of a double murder investigation after a divorced couple were found dead at separate locations in Gloucestershire.Emergency services discovered the body of Clive Warrington, 67, after being called to reports of a serious assault in Sherborne Place, Cheltenham, at 6.25am on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands are fleeing the vicious assault upon their country’s independence. They need helpUkrainians do not want to flee. They do not want to pack their lives into a suitcase. They do not want to crowd aboard packed trains that carry them away from their homes, or trudge for days with their children. They do not want to leave behind husbands and sons and parents. They do not want to begin again in a foreign country where they have nothing, far from those they love.They go because they are under attack. They go because missiles are falling. They go because their sisters call to say that Russian soldiers have entered their towns. They go because they see what Vladimir Putin’s war machine is already doing in Ukraine, and because they know what it has done before. They go because if they do not go now, tomorrow may be too late. They go because they must. Continue reading...

The streamer has halted work on four original series as a result of the ongoing invasion of UkraineNetflix has paused all future Russian projects and acquisitions as a result of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.According to Variety, the streamer is “assessing the impact of current events”, which has led to four Russian original series being indefinitely paused. Zato, a crime series set after the fall of the Soviet Union, directed by the Belarus-born director Darya Zhuk, was already in production but has now been put on hold. Continue reading...

Analysis: Criticism of invasion has been muted and officials yet to condemn Moscow for attack on Holocaust memorialA week ago the sight was unthinkable: a memorial at the site of one of the worst massacres of the Holocaust, engulfed in smoke and flame from an airstrike.Yet on Tuesday a Russian attack near the Babyn Yar memorial complex in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, achieved exactly that. Five people died in the strike targeting the television broadcast tower next door, while firefighters battled to extinguish a fire caused by the explosion in a building inside the Jewish cemetery. Continue reading...

As he beams aboard another Star Trek adventure, the 81-year-old actor talks about playing Picard as an intergalactic Prospero, hitting the bottle during an exhausting Macbeth – and reaching page 310 of his memoir

Some brands and designers have already issued statements and stopped Russian revenue streams

Non-white refugees face violence and racist abuse in Przemyśl, as police warn of fake reports of ‘migrants committing crimes’

The proposal, expected to be approved, is based on a law drawn up in the aftermath of the Balkan wars

Latest updates: PM response comes as Keir Starmer asks why Roman Abramovich is not subject to sanctions in UK

Labour calls for tougher action against Russian oligarchs at PMQs as Ukrainian ambassador watches from gallery

The coin from 1344 is one of three gold detectorist finds being auctioned this monthFor more than 20 years, Andy Carter spent his free time scouring muddy fields, stubbornly convinced that he would strike gold. Then one day he did.The retired research scientist from north Norfolk unearthed an extremely rare gold “leopard” coin, dating back to the reign of Edward III. Next week it is expected to fetch up to £140,000 at auction. “I just felt numb when I found it,” Carter said. “And then I did the gold dance.” Continue reading...

A special edition on the invasion of Ukraine

NSW flood death toll rises to five; evacuation order for North Richmond area downstream of Redbank dam; Queensland premier warns ‘high-impact’ storms could lead to more flash flooding; Warragamba Dam spills; Ballina mayor calls for ‘desperate help’; drivers still stranded on M1; at least 59 Covid-related deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news

Most underground lines in capital remain suspended, with second walkout planned for ThursdayLondon commuters faced another challenging journey into work as most tube lines stayed closed following strike action.The majority of London Underground lines remained suspended on Wednesday morning after a 24-hour strike action by tube workers on Tuesday, with a further 24-hour walkout planned for Thursday. Continue reading...

The cosmic-minded Denver band broke out with two albums of frenetic riffs and blast beats. Are they risking it all by embracing their inner Zen?In Blood Incantation’s lyrics, cosmic conspiracy theories abound, telling tales of ancient civilisations, aliens and hallucinogens. But woe betide anyone who describes the Denver metal band’s interests as sci-fi. “The quantum field and holographic universe, DMT and the psychedelic connection, these things are not fictional!” frontman Paul Riedl insists. Clearly he’s argued this before.“This band isn’t about exploring a fantasy world,” says drummer Isaac Faulk. “It’s about asking questions about the universe that we live in – and that’s way bigger than any fictional universe.” The aim, they say, is for listeners to ask themselves these questions. “We aim to give space for those moments when you can truly attain Zen,” says Riedl. Continue reading...

Activists should champion Ukraine’s right to resist and an international order based on shared values and peaceDo we ever learn? Vladimir Putin joins a cast of monsters – from Saddam Hussein to Muammar Gaddafi – who were once blessed by western patronage. His regime was forged in the ruins of Grozny, and legitimised in the property portfolios of Highgate and Chelsea. Twenty-three years ago, the then largely unknown Putin surfed a national wave of jingoism to become Boris Yeltsin’s successor, after a series of supposed terrorist bombings in Russian apartment buildings provided a prete​​xt for the country’s second Chechen war. Never mind that there is compelling evidence that Russian security services carried out these bombings to provide a casus belli for the invasion, never mind that tens of thousands of Chechens were slaughtered amid horrendous war crimes: Putin was lauded and embraced.The former MI6 chief, Sir Richard Dearlove, expressed his regret in 2018 for our security services’ role in Putin’s rise to power, including the time Tony Blair was offered up to the Russians for a photo op in 2000. The following year the former prime minister also drew parallels between Chechnya and the west’s “war on terror”. Putin’s descent into unapologetic authoritarianism didn’t lead Blair to revise his opinions – instead, he urged the west to put aside its displeasure at the annexation of Crimea in 2014 to ally with Putin against “radical Islam”, a plea he repeated in 2018, just three months after the Salisbury poisonings.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Medics unable to keep babies alive, says doctor, as Ethiopia’s civil war creates desperate shortages of drugs, oxygen, fuel and foodPeople in Tigray are dying due to a lack of oxygen and medicines, a doctor at the region’s largest hospital has said, as medics struggle to care for the sick amid frequent electricity blackouts and fuel shortages.As the 16-month conflict between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopian government forces drags on, the isolated northern region of 5.5 million people continues to suffer under what the UN has called a de facto blockade. Continue reading...

One day a man in a tan mac and a comb-over appeared at my family’s door. I have no idea how he found me but he had an exciting propositionI grew up in a modest, family hotel on the Dutch coast. The scenes of my boyhood were of German seaside tourists, drunken men and women at the bar, wedding receptions, and bingo nights in the function room. We slaved all year round – my father at the kitchen stove, my mother serving, cleaning the hotel rooms, and caring for three children. Books passed me by so it was an anomaly that, at the age of 12, I found myself attending a grammar school in Haarlem that churned out politicians, artists and writers.I was embarrassed about my non-intellectual origins. Each morning, when my classmates’ fathers drove their expensive cars to solicitors’ offices, banks or ministries, my father would don his cook’s uniform. One day, when I was 14, I went to our village library. After I’d filled out the membership card, a woman said: “And now you can choose three books!” I snatched three off the shelf. The thinnest was First Love, by Ivan Turgenev. From the start, the words struck me like a hammer-blow. I was drawn in by the language and the 19th-century Russian world that the writer evoked. I’d become a reader. Continue reading...

Public prosecutors’ claim that detainees inflicted injuries on themselves with a coin is ‘laughable’, says Human Rights WatchDetainees seen in videos allegedly showing torture in a Cairo police station inflicted their injuries on themselves, according to Egyptian authorities, who have charged the prisoners with spreading “fake news”.Up to 13 people detained in El-Salam First police station for unknown petty crimes made multiple videos that they say show the abuse they suffered at the hands of police officers and security forces. Continue reading...

Beijing reacts angrily to the visit by former US top security officials to Chinese-claimed Taiwan amid fears of a possible conflict in the regionChina has denounced a visit by a US delegation to Taiwan as the island’s president Tsai Ing-wen vowed to work more closely with allies in response to what she called China’s growing military threat.The delegation of former US top security and defence officials has been sent by president Joe Biden and is visiting Chinese-claimed Taiwan against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is being closely watched on the democratic island. Continue reading...

Severe weather warning issued for damaging winds and rain for region stretching from near Newcastle to almost the Victorian border

US president gives State of the Union address as Russia intensifies bombardment of cities across Ukraine

Clashes erupt between police in riot-gear and protesters as Māori leaders denounce violence at demonstrations that have run for weeksFires burned across parliament grounds, and violent clashes broke out between protesters and police at an anti-vaccine mandate demonstration on New Zealand’s parliament grounds, in extraordinary and chaotic scenes rarely seen in the country.After nearly four weeks of impasse between the protesters and police at parliament, hundreds of officers in riot gear stormed the occupation on Wednesday morning, and by the afternoon had gained significant ground, tearing down tents, towing vehicles and making 38 arrests. The police said protesters used fire extinguishers, paint-filled projectiles, homemade plywood shields and pitchforks as weapons and a cord was set up as a trip wire. Continue reading...

Caritas says most of the children will come from heavily hit eastern Ukraine amid fears ‘humanitarian catastrophe approaching fast’

Video released by Ukraine's State Emergency Service on Tuesday shows a rescue operation following a Russian missile strike in northern Ukraine. The video shows clouds of smoke and rescue workers digging through debris in Zhytomyr.Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said on his Telegram channel on Tuesday that four people were killed when homes in Zhytomyr were hit by a Russian cruise missile apparently aimed at a nearby air base.

The coordinated decision, only the fourth in the International Energy Agency’s history, comes as Russia continues Kyiv siegeThe United States and 30 countries have agreed to release 60m barrels of oil from their strategic reserves to stabilise global energy markets, the US Department of Energy said on Tuesday, as oil prices surged to a seven-year high.The move, ahead of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address to Congress, failed to calm fears about supply disruption from the Ukraine crisis and sanctions against Russia. US stock markets fell sharply even after the news. Continue reading...

Rival broadcaster ITV will also put a stop on new programme sales to Russian clientsThe BBC will no longer license TV content to Russian clients in response to the invasion of Ukraine.Britain’s public broadcaster is also requesting the remaining episodes of two programmes, Dancing with the Stars and David Attenborough’s The Green Planet, are not aired on Russian state TV, despite the rights to both having already been sold. Continue reading...

Move will come as a result of EU sanctions set to be officially approved on Tuesday night

Chernihiv children’s hospital is running out of morphine and mines cover all roads in and out