Federal and state education ministers rule out a mass repeating, with every student to receive an AtarSign up for Guardian Australia’s daily coronavirus email

Shortages creating ‘catastrophic’ situation among vulnerable Indigenous groups with some services on brink of closing doors

Scottish care worker pleads for them to be treated as key workers as she shopped for elderly womanAldi has apologised after a care worker in Scotland was turned away from priority access at the supermarket when trying to buy food for an elderly client.Marion Kilmurray posted a plea on Facebook for care workers to be treated as frontline workers after the incident on Sunday in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, which quickly went viral and has been shared over 100,000 times. Continue reading...

Rules enforcement highlights problem of getting message across to minority community

I cheered the role of BAME medics in the battle against Covid-19 – but I didn’t expect the torrent of abuse that followed

The new leader’s aura of competence and message of unity won him the support of all sections of the partyA few days before Keir Starmer was crowned leader of the Labour party, one of his shadow cabinet colleagues, Jon Trickett, made this observation about the way he operates. “He just has this inner drive. I get this impression that he thinks he has been driven by fate.”This quiet sense of destiny and “innate hunger”, Trickett said, seemed to affect much that Starmer did, and how he behaved. “One of the things I have noticed about Keir is that you can be walking through the Commons, or wherever it is, with him in a reasonably comradely way and then, suddenly, he would end up two strides ahead. It is just how he is.” Continue reading...

Suspects questioned on Saturday in connection with murder of man outside houseThree men have been arrested in Belfast in connection with the murder of a man in the north of the city earlier on Saturday.The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the three suspects were taken to Musgrave Street police station in central Belfast for questioning on Saturday evening. Continue reading...

Overwhelming vote grants new leader strong mandate to take party in his own directionSir Keir Starmer has promised to rebuild the nation’s trust in the Labour party after winning a stunning victory to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader.Related: A conference call with his defeated rivals – then Keir Starmer was straight down to business Continue reading...

Simon Armitage pogos to neo-punk, Anne Enright craves for Cary Grant, The Seventh Seal cheers up Julian Barnes, Diana Evans works out to hip-hop and Jeanette Winterson talks to herself … writers reveal how they’re surviving the corona crisis Continue reading...

Beijing ‘aims to turn national disaster into global triumph’ with help of TV news channel and Twitter

Reporters say measures are being used to deny them access to information on pandemic

Von der Leyen apologises to Italy for lack of solidarity and proposes Covid-19 ‘Marshall plan’

The federal government has announced far-reaching changes to childcare funding arrangements. Here are the details

Positive test for 20-year-old woman from Kokama tribe comes amid fears virus could devastate remote communities

Based on current polling, current president Andrzej Duda would gain more than 50% of the vote

Leaders are warned that if division prevails, pandemic will be more destructive than Brexit, migration and bailout crises

The prime minister offers a prayer for the national cabinet and says his faith gives him ‘enormous encouragement’Follow the Australia coronavirus blog for live news and updatesSign up for Coronavirus: Australia at a glance, our daily email newsletterCoronavirus Australia maps and cases: live numbers and statisticsScott Morrison has offered a prayer for the national cabinet to stay “strong and united” and committed the Australian nation to God during times of “great need and suffering” as it responds to Covid-19.The prayer is contained in a video, first published by Eternity News but later removed and republished by Queensland Parents for Secular State Schools, in which Morrison explains his faith gives him “enormous encouragement” in how to respond to the crisis. Continue reading...

The 1.1 million people on temporary work visas have been conspicuously absent from the government’s assistance packages

Bernard Wilson suggests a way to get round the problems caused by the coronavirus-related shutdown of English football

Virgin Australia raises the prospect it might end up in government hands, confirming it is seeking $1.4bn

Here’s how the banks are doing their bit to help while businesses are closed and people are out of work due to coronavirus• Follow the Australia coronavirus blog for live news and updates

Kim Jong-un’s regime says ‘we will walk our own way’ but US secretary of state still hopes for dialogueNorth Korea has warned it could cut off dialogue with the United States but Mike Pompeo has said the US still looked forward to talks, even after the North called his insistence on sanctions “ludicrous”.The US secretary of state has asked nations to “stay committed to applying diplomatic and economic pressure” over the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes while calling on it to return to talks. Continue reading...

Dan Butler, 29, a radio journalist, and his husband, Hugh O’Connor, 31, a theatre production designer, are also in a relationship with Charles Davis, 28, another theatre production designerDan remembers one evening, sitting on the sofa and talking to his husband, Hugh, about Charles. “It was the most amazing experience because we were really falling in love with this person,” he says. “And we could talk about it with each other, like: ‘Isn’t it amazing about him that he does this thing?’ I remember taking a deep breath and saying: ‘This is becoming something; this is something real.’”Dan and Hugh, who live in Sydney, have been together for eight years, but this was about five years into their relationship. They had met as students at a party. “At some point, the cops came and shut it down,” says Hugh. “I said to a whole load of people in the street: ‘Do you want to come back to my house?’ I wasn’t ready to stop having a good time. Dan and I started talking, and on the way home we talked about Carl Sagan and Beyoncé. We covered a pretty wide range of topics.” Continue reading...

The RBA begged the government for stimulus to kickstart the economy – to no avail. But coronavirus has seen a radical change in thinkingOn 12 March Scott Morrison came to his courtyard with $17.6bn. A week later the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate to 0.25% and pumped more than $100bn into the financial system in an effort to keep struggling businesses afloat and stave off substantial job losses.On 22 March Morrison returned to his courtyard with another $66bn. Then on 30 March, Monday, the prime minister came back with $130bn for wage subsidies. Monday’s $130bn will be spent not over the four-year forward estimates, which is the budgetary convention. It will be spent over the next six months. Continue reading...

After the coronavirus outbreak, life is returning to normal here. Other countries face a much longer wait

Donald Trump backs away from quarantine of states as US death toll tops 2,000 and global infections pass 660,000

National lockdown tightened as single-day death toll reaches new high of 832

Swipe at lawmakers as judge says only ‘undemocratic and authoritarian regimes’ seek to ban peaceful protestsGovernment opponents and human rights activists have welcomed a decision by Uganda’s constitutional court to overturn legislation that gave police “supernatural powers” to stop public gatherings and protests.“It is only in undemocratic and authoritarian regimes that peaceful protests and public gatherings of a political nature are not tolerated,” said Justice Cheborion Barishaki in a ruling on Thursday. Continue reading...

No one takes bugs into space, and therapists have ditched the couch: 16 people reflect on how their worlds have changed Continue reading...

With scarce resources instilling a spirit of togetherness, Italians have quickly learned to cherish what we once took for granted

Irish taoiseach says new measures aimed at ‘saving as many people’s lives as possible’The Irish government has announced sweeping restrictions that will put Ireland in a de facto lockdown to try to slow the spread of coronavirus.The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said on Friday evening that from midnight people should stay at home for two weeks, until 12 April, in a significant tightening of curbs on social and commercial life. Continue reading...

British summer time officially starts at 1am on Sunday, when the clocks go forward an hourIt is that time of year again, the ritual of trying to work out which of your electronic gadgets automatically adjusts for clock changes, and which do not. British summer time (BST) officially starts at 1am on Sunday 29 March, when the clocks go forward an hour to 2am.With the country in lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, it will be one of the strangest clock changes in living memory. With time spent outside being limited, very few people will be able to take advantage of the extended sunlight hours, and any plans for long summer evenings lounging around outside socialising look like they will have to be postponed to next year. Continue reading...

Factions step up offensives while international actors distracted by coronavirus pandemicLibyan armed factions have defied a UN call for a “global ceasefire” by escalating fighting across the country, with forces loyal to eastern warlord Gen Khalifa Haftar claiming to have gained control of a string of towns in the north-west.A spokesman for Haftar said his forces, the Libyan National Army (LNA), had also repulsed an offensive by the UN-backed government of national accord designed to capture its key airbase – the failure of which will increase the fragility of the Tripoli government and its dependence on its Turkish backers. Continue reading...

Fotofest in Houston is one of the major photography events in the world, and its central show this year was to have been African Cosmologies: Photography, Time and the Other. Curated by Mark Sealy of Autograph ABP, London, the show has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Howeverm the work of the 31 featured artists, looking at the intersection between the African diaspora, contemporary life and issues of colonialism and representation, can be seen in a companion book published by Schilt Continue reading...

The truth about how you can catch coronavirus, who is most vulnerable and what you can do to avoid infection

Majority of those infected during early stages in the north when protective equipment lackingForty-one health workers in Italy have died from coronavirus since the outbreak there began, as medics work relentlessly to try to turn the tide in Europe’s worst-affected country.The virus has infected more than 5,000 doctors, nurses, technicians, ambulance staff and other health employees. The majority were on the frontline in the badly affected northern regions and contracted the illness at the start of the outbreak when protective equipment was lacking. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Confidential documents reveal size and impact of years-long debacle and that government is still pursuing Australians to try and validate debtsThe federal government has privately admitted it will be forced to refund more than 400,000 welfare debts worth about $550m that were wrongly issued to hundreds of thousands of Australians under the botched robodebt scheme.Confidential government advice seen by the Guardian reveals for the first time the scope, size and impact on the vulnerable of the years-long robodebt debacle, including that the government expects to lose an upcoming class action against the income compliance program and intends to settle. Continue reading...

IMF and World Bank sign off $5bn in assistance with help of bridge financing from Norway, Italy, the UK and the EUSomalia’s debt will be slashed to a fraction of its current levels after almost $5bn (£4.1bn) of assistance was approved by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.A joint statement from the global financial institutions praised Somalia’s efforts at economic reform, allowing it to qualify for a debt relief programme and reintegrate into the global economy after 30 years. Continue reading...

The actor was one of the first celebrities to contract coronavirus. To celebrate his recovery, we round up his finest performancesYikes. This was one of the Hankster’s two directorial credits and it is a dull and lifeless autumn-years romcom, with Hanks playing opposite Julia Roberts, who is every bit as uneasy as the man himself. Continue reading...

Monarch has weekly meeting remotely, and royal guests at Commonwealth event are told flag-bearer had coronavirus

Isis gunmen held hostages for hours while Afghan special forces tried to end siegeGunmen and suicide bombers have killed at least 25 worshippers, including women and children, and injured many others in an early morning attack on a Sikh Gurdwara in the heart of Kabul.The attack lasted hours as the gunmen held hostages on Wednesday while Afghan special forces and international troops tried to end the siege in a complex that is home to many families, as well as a place of worship. Continue reading...

Spain records 738 deaths in past 24 hours, while death toll in Italy now double that of Hubei

Yuli Edelstein quits amid row over decision to shut Knesset citing coronavirus crisisThe speaker of Israel’s Knesset has resigned after fierce criticism of his refusal to reopen parliament, which he suspended last week citing a ban of large gatherings while the country tackled the coronavirus.Yuli Edelstein – a close ally of Benjamin Netanyahu in the ruling Likud party – came under fire as the suspension was decried as an attempt to shield both him and the embattled prime minister. Continue reading...

WHO says numbers likely to be significantly higher as South Africa imposes lockdown

IMF and World Bank lend their support in bid to help poorest countries strengthen their health systems

Alleged ringleader forced victims to carve ‘slave’ into their bodies and send him degrading images that were shared with scores of othersA sexual blackmail ring that operated on the app Telegram and targeted dozens of women, including underage girls, has rocked South Korea and triggered demands for authorities to crack down on the rising number of sexual offences online.Police on Wednesday took the unusual step of naming the man who allegedly ran an online network that lured at least 58 women and 16 girls into what authorities called “virtual enslavement” by blackmailing them into sending degrading and, in come cases, violent sexual images of themselves. Continue reading...

Australian academic, psychologist and author Lea Waters shares some advice as other activities and social engagements are cancelled during the coronavirus crisis. The video forms part of a multipart series looking at ways we can all stay positive

Wednesday: PM announces strict new limits on public life in Australia. Plus, what to cook with your pantry leftoversGood morning, this is James Murray bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 25 March. Continue reading...

Men were part of hooligan skinhead scene in country’s former communist east

Bodies found in cargo container alongside 14 survivorsSixty-four people from Ethiopia have been found dead crammed inside a freight container in north-west Mozambique, a senior hospital official has said.The victims were discovered on Tuesday in a blue cargo container loaded on to a truck in the province of Tete. They were surrounded by survivors. Daily temperature highs in Tete are currently about 34C (93F). Continue reading...