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Thursday: Forces ‘ready to go now if they get the order’ to invade Ukraine, US defence official says. Plus: key questions about the NSW transport rowGood morning. A senior US defence official says Russia has moved nearly 100% of its troops into a position needed for an invasion as the UN chief warns: “The world is facing a moment of peril.” Ukraine has urged millions of its citizens in Russia to leave immediately.Nato has accused Russia of attempting to “rewrite the entire global security architecture”, saying the Kremlin is using “force and ultimatums … to redraw borders in Europe”. The EU approved wide-ranging sanctions that go beyond the UK and US response, including leading Russian military figures, state “propagandists” and parliamentarians. The former US president Donald Trump has called Vladimir Putin’s decision to declare independent states within Ukraine “genius”, praising as a “smart move” the call to send “the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen” into the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament is set to unveil state of emergency laws that will allow citizens to carry lethal firearms, with Ukrainians reportedly rushing to buy guns and ammunition at weapons stores across the nation. Continue reading...

Group calling itself the ‘people’s convoy’ is one of several due to arrive in capital, similar to the demonstrations in OttawaA group of US truckers embarked in a convoy of vehicles on Wednesday on a 2,500 mile cross-country trip from Barstow, California to Washington DC to protest against coronavirus restrictions.The group, which is calling itself the “people’s convoy”, is one of several starting from different parts of the country and due to start arriving in the US capital at various points through to late next week – all inspired by the demonstrations that recently paralyzed Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, for weeks. Continue reading...

Threat of invasion, and draft law giving Ukrainians permission to carry firearms, leads to long queues inside weapons stores

‘It’s from a series of photographs I took across Ukraine intended to combat falsehoods about the country propagated by the Kremlin’This was taken in May last year in Myrnohrad, an industrial town 50 miles from Donetsk, a stronghold of the illegal Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine. Then, as now, fears of a Russian invasion were high. While much of the west thinks the threat of conflict started only a few weeks ago, it’s been the reality for Ukrainians for almost a decade.I was walking around Myrnohrad taking photos with a big portable flash and a plate camera when I saw this woman sit down and light a cigarette. She looked so confident and self-absorbed. I speak a little Russian, so I told her I was taking pictures of ordinary life across Ukraine and asked if she would pose. She agreed without hesitation. Continue reading...

From snails the size of dogs to the most venemous arachnids on the planet, new true-crime series Bug Out profiles the utterly bizarre investigation into a robbery at America’s first bug zooA room swarming with thousands of giant, exotic creepy-crawlies may sound like your worst nightmare (or one of Ant and Dec’s Bushtucker Trials on I’m a Celebrity). It is also the starting point for Bug Out, the latest bizarre true-crime documentary series, which is set in the US’s first bug zoo, the Philadelphia Insectarium & Butterfly Pavilion. Prepare for a mystery with more twists than a worm colony.The show focuses on the moment in August 2018 when the museum’s boss, Dr John Cambridge, arrived at work and did a double take when he realised his room, that ought to have been full of critters, was suddenly empty. Glass tanks were upended, shelves bare, displays cleared out. Thousands of live bugs, worth an estimated $50,000 (£38,000), had been stolen. It was the biggest insect heist in history. Continue reading...

Sir Stephen House, the force’s deputy commissioner, claims due process not followed by London mayorScotland Yard’s leadership has hit back at Sadiq Khan’s ousting of the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Cressida Dick, claiming “due process” was not followed by the mayor of London and calling on the home secretary, Priti Patel, to review her alleged unfair treatment.Sir Stephen House, the Met deputy commissioner and a close ally of Dick, made the comments against Khan, who publicly clashed with Dick earlier this month. Continue reading...

The British prime minister has claimed the UK is 'out in front' in terms of sanctions against Russia as the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, pushed him for further measures during PMQs.Boris Johnson said 275 people were subject to sanctions and bank assets were frozen. Only three individuals have been added to the list since the Ukraine crisis escalated at the beginning of the week, but Johnson added: 'There is more to come.'The UK is expected to provide further military support to Ukraine, including lethal and non-lethal aid

Amrit Magar, who repeatedly turned up at tennis star’s home, must also do 200 hours of community serviceA man who stalked and harassed the British tennis star Emma Raducanu has been given a five-year restraining order and sentenced to community service.Amrit Magar, 35, who said he had walked 23 miles to the US Open champion’s home in London and then took her father’s shoe – thinking it belonged to Raducanu – as a souvenir, was found guilty of stalking at Bromley magistrates court last month. Continue reading...

Secret protocols have long been in place for how the death of the Queen will be revealed. Or they were until ‘sources close to the Royal Kingdom’ got chattyFive years ago, this publication’s Sam Knight wrote a long read entitled ‘London Bridge is down’; a sombre, forensic examination of what will happen in the immediate aftermath of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Knight explained that the news will break in an orderly, frictionless way. First to government officials via codeword, then to the BBC and the Press Association and finally a black-edged notice pinned to the gates of Buckingham Palace. When it happens, it will be well rehearsed and highly organised.What Sam Knight didn’t predict, however, was that the news of the Queen’s death would be exclusively leaked to a celebrity news blog run by a man best known for having a bit-part in a spin-off to a VH1 reality hip-hop dating show. But, hey, nobody gets everything right all the time. Continue reading...

New book details allegations of unprofessional behaviour and aggression during making of George Miller’s 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury RoadFurther details of the animosity between Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy have been detailed in a new book about the making of George Miller’s 2015 action blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road.The co-stars were known to have a frosty relationship through the lengthy shoot in the Namibian desert, but Kyle Buchanan’s new book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road suggests Theron felt sufficiently threatened to require on-set protection from the “aggressive” Hardy. Continue reading...

Three plaintiffs who suffered under eugenics law to get payouts after judge overturns lower court decisionA court in Japan has awarded damages for the first time to people who were forcibly sterilised under a now-defunct eugenics law designed to prevent the births of “inferior children”.The Osaka high court overturned a lower court decision and ordered the government to pay a combined ¥27.5m (£175,600) to the three plaintiffs, who are in their 70s and 80s. It described the law, which was abolished in 1996, as “inhumane”. Continue reading...

Roger Michell’s final feature retells story of the cussed Newcastle pensioner who stole a Goya portrait in protest at government spending prioritiesFor what has become his final feature film, director Roger Michell made this sweet-natured and genial comedy in the spirit of Ealing, which bobs up like a ping pong ball on a water-fountain. It is based on the true story of Kempton Bunton, the Newcastle bus driver who in 1965 was had up at the Old Bailey for stealing Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery. The mystery of its disappearance had so electrified the media that there was even a gag about it in the James Bond film Dr No, using a copy personally painted by the legendary production designer Ken Adam, which was itself stolen. Maybe there should be a film about that as well.The court heard this was Bunton’s protest at government misuse of taxpayers’ money (the painting had been saved for the nation at some cost) and to publicise his demand for pensioners to be given free TV licences. (This film features the usual “historical coda” sentences over the closing credits, and one sentimentally records that free TV licences for the over-75s were finally introduced in 2000. But no mention of these being taken away again in 2020.) Continue reading...

Proportion of UK worker’s salary covered is typically less than quarter of Germany’s 100% in first six weeksAsked this week about whether his move to drop Covid isolation requirements would drive infectious workers into the office, Boris Johnson said UK workers should learn from their German counterparts and stay home when unwell.The prime minister did not mention the stark differences in the support available for British workers compared with Germany and the rest of the world, and whether this could explain their reluctance to take a sick day. Continue reading...

After perilous journeys fleeing human rights abuse in Eritrea, the four boys had arrived safely in the UK. Yet in the space of 16 months they were all dead. What went wrong?For a while, the four teenage boys, Alex, Filmon, Osman and Mulue, did a reasonably good job of looking after each other. Filmon and Mulue had met in Eritrea before they embarked on their long, dangerous journey to Britain; the others became friends en route or in London, in a park near a Home Office registration centre for unaccompanied child refugees. Their similar backgrounds drew them together, as did the shared experience of travelling 3,300 miles in search of safety.Mulue and Alex had both spent time in foster care before moving into independent accommodation; Osman and Filmon were living in a hostel in north London. They had all become used to surviving without parents, instead leaning on each other for support. All of them were also struggling with the unsettling reality of their precarious new lives, which was so different from the expectations they had clung to during their traumatic journeys. Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin has said Moscow is ready to look for 'diplomatic solutions' over Ukraine, but stressed that Russia’s interests were non-negotiable.

Witness tells royal commission she arrived at new job as barista trainer to find only a home coffee machine and bottle of long life milk

Scott Morrison speaks to Ukraine PM as Peter Dutton says crisis ‘ominous’ and could become ‘bloody conflict’ and Penny Wong urges all Australians still there to leave; construction giant Probuild reportedly facing collapse; at least 60 Covid deaths reported. Follow all the day’s news live

Australia joins US, UK and Europe with ‘first tranche’ of measures, but will they help sway Vladimir Putin on Ukraine?

Global Fund urges UK and other donors to pledge billions to get efforts to end diseases by 2030 ‘back on track’ after catastrophic impact of CovidBritain is being urged to pledge billions of dollars to get the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and Aids “back on track” after efforts were ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.The UK has historically been one of the main donors to the Global Fund, an international financing organisation aimed at ending the three deadly epidemics by 2030. Now it is warning that, unless donors make an unprecedented total funding pledge of $18bn (£13.25bn) this year, that goal will be missed. Continue reading...

Trump’s former lawyer may reveal the roles played by Republicans to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s election victoryDonald Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani is expected to cooperate with the House select committee investigating January 6, and potentially reveal his contacts with Republican members of Congress involved in the former president’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.The move by Giuliani to appear before the panel – in a cooperation deal that could be agreed within weeks, according to two sources briefed on negotiations – could mark a breakthrough moment for the inquiry as it seeks to interview key members of Trump’s inner circle. Continue reading...

I encountered grief for the first time as a boy, overcome by a sudden outpouring of emotion at a funeral. I have experienced it many times since in irrational and alarming ways – or as a peculiar source of comfortWhen I was a boy we were not encouraged to think about death, presumably because we could not be expected to cope with such a challenge to the imagination. The closest we got to its complexities was watching Zulu, and the song from Shenandoah, and burying a succession of pets.Then auntie Flo died. I didn’t know her. I must have met her three or four times. I did know that she had been married to uncle John, who was a bit deaf, had been in the war and played tennis to quite a high standard until he got old and had bony claw-like hands with which he used to pat me on the knee. I also knew that she ran a sewing shop somewhere in Stechford, Birmingham, but that was it. Continue reading...

Kim Boo-kyum says pandemic is at a ‘manageable level’ and sharp rise in cases should not be as feared as it once was

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and beyond are using poetry to come to terms with atrocities – and as a form of resistanceIt has now been a year since the military coup, and the breeze of democracy has become a dead wind in Myanmar. People breathe the air of fear and pass nights of rage and despair as men and women are shot or burnt alive at the hands of the Myanmar military. Villagers leave their loved ones at home and take refuge in the forest. Once-vibrant city streets have become rows of haunted houses. The whole country is trapped in a shadowland.As Rohingya refugees, we are all too familiar with the military’s capacity for violence and destruction. Over the past year, Rohingya people have watched with terror and anguish as the same military forces that perpetrated genocide against us now unleash their atrocities across the country. Continue reading...

His liberal-baiting plays have caused punch-ups in the aisles and he hasn’t finished yet. As The Woods – his incendiary take on sexual politics – returns, the writer cuts loose‘I have no idea how to work these machines,” says David Mamet, trying to get himself on to Zoom. He has managed to log on but is just a disembodied voice. “It’s like those old movies where they have one of the first telephones and the grumpy old guy doesn’t know how to make it work.”Mamet is far from a grump, though he is now 74. His tone is baritone deep, bouncy, surprisingly Tigger-ish. He fiddles with his laptop but quickly concedes defeat with regards to us speaking face to face, saying: “Look, I can give you a description. I’m not that interesting anyway.” The writer is at home in Santa Monica, California, where it’s 72 degrees outside. He is sipping tea. There are occasional interjections from others who are ushered away politely with the words: “I’m speaking to the Guardian.” Continue reading...

Analysis: advance forces’ battle readiness will quickly degrade, giving Putin only days to choose invasion or retreat

Minister grilled over museum’s ability to withstand one-in-100-year flood levels at Parramatta riverbank site

US, UK and European sanctions on Russian banks and oligarchs are welcomed by Ukraine as strong ‘first move’; Zelenskiy rules out a general mobilisation

Morrison said the Russian government is acting like ‘thugs’ and ‘bullies’ as the likelihood of war with Ukraine escalates. 'Australia will always stands up to bullies’, Morrison said while announcing a suite of sanctions against Russian interests► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Tony Wittman admits holding victim hostage at Melbourne Lost Dogs Home with an assault weapon while dressed in military-style gear

The inquiry comes after Vanuatu seasonal workers made allegations of bullying and exploitative working conditions in the Australian schemeThe Vanuatu government has launched an inquiry into the country’s labour mobility programs, including the seasonal worker program in Australia, citing concerns around safety.The inquiry comes in the wake of testimony from Vanuatu seasonal workers in Australia to a parliamentary hearing earlier this month, in which they alleged they had experienced bullying, exploitative working conditions, poor housing arrangements and lack of support services while under the scheme. Continue reading...

Match each diplomatic, inflammatory or amusing quote to the politician from which it emerged

Shows about ‘aunts and uncles’ looking for love go viral as they debunk negative stereotypes of elderly peopleStanding before the studio audience the slim older man holds a microphone in front of his blue polo shirt, buttoned to the neck. Wang Qingming seems a little nervous as he faces his prospective date, a formidable looking woman with long black hair piled in a loose bun, her name tag obscured.“What bad habits do you have?” he asks. Continue reading...

Primary-aged children produce about four times fewer particles than adults, which may help explain their lower transmission riskPrimary school-aged children produce about four times fewer aerosol particles when breathing, speaking or singing compared with adults, which could help explain why they seem to be at lower risk of spreading Covid.Various studies have suggested that young children are about half as susceptible to catching Covid as adults, and, despite carrying a similar amount of virus in their noses and throats, appear to pass it to fewer people if they do become infected. Continue reading...

Latest updates: Ireland will drop most restrictions, including mandatory face masks, on Monday

Brand delivers an assault on the senses with Telfar TV interspersed with live experimental jazz and sportswear-influenced clothesThe motto of Black-owned New York fashion brand Telfar is “It’s not for you – it’s for everybody”. If this has been hailed as a win for inclusivity, the epic show at New York fashion week was about defining what that meant for designer Telfar Clemens and his collaborators. A press release, handed out to guests, asked “how can a Black business with almost entirely Black customers - be the result of someone else’s inclusivity?”The exploration of what inclusivity means to Clemens and collaborators was an assault on the senses. Continue reading...

Dutch police say all hostages are safe after a man with a firearm entered a shop in the city centre, starting a siege that lasted several hoursA man with a firearm who held several people hostage in an Apple store in central Amsterdam has been overpowered after a siege lasting several hours, police have said, adding that the last of the hostages had been freed.Police had deployed several special units to “get the situation under control” after being alerted of an armed robbery at 5.40 pm (1640 GMT) on Tuesday, which had rapidly transformed into a hostage situation. Continue reading...

Musician and author has died at his home in Ireland after a storied career including being a member of Queens of the Stone AgeMusician Mark Lanegan has died at the age of 57.The singer, songwriter and musician was known as the lead vocalist for Screaming Trees as well as being part of Queens of the Stone Age. Continue reading...

Dan Jarvis and Johnny Mercer criticised government for removing £2,389 immigration bill only for long-serving veteransMinisters are subjecting the families of Commonwealth military veterans to “deeply unjust” visa fees after pleas to waive the costly sums for spouses and children were rejected, two MPs have argued.Labour’s Dan Jarvis and the former Conservative minister Johnny Mercer criticised the government for removing the £2,389 immigration bill only for long-serving veterans. Continue reading...

Angharad Williamson, her partner and a 14-year-old boy on trial in Cardiff for murdering five-year-old Logan MwangiA mother accused of murdering her five-year-old son while he was isolating with Covid screamed for help when she reported him missing, a jury has heard.Angharad Williamson, 30, her partner John Cole, 40, and a 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny murdering Logan Mwangi between 28 July and 1 August. Continue reading...

Met’s questionnaire asks recipients if they have ‘reasonable excuse’ for attending gatherings in lockdownThe first glimpse of a Partygate questionnaire confirms that Downing Street insiders are being questioned under police caution – and asked if they have a “reasonable excuse” for attending lockdown-busting gatherings.Boris Johnson has already returned his replies to the Metropolitan police’s questions, and is believed to have argued that he attended social events in No 10 in a work capacity. Continue reading...

David Elliott says he went to bed before a decision was made to cancel all Sydney train services, as government withdraws Fair Work case

As protesters condemn Russian president, city’s defence chief says it is ready for ‘any situation’

Far-right candidate yet to secure the 500 signatures needed to qualify for first round of voteThe French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has postponed several campaign events because she is yet to secure the 500 endorsements from elected officials needed to qualify for the first round of the vote.Le Pen, the leader of the nationalist-populist National Rally, is lying second in the polls and is widely considered to be Emmanuel Macron’s most likely opponent in a second-round runoff on 24 April. Continue reading...

Prime minister Justin Trudeau says situation ‘still fragile’ after biggest police operation in nation’s historyCanadian lawmakers have voted to extend the federal government’s emergency powers, granting the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, powerful tools to prevent new blockades by those opposed to Covid-19 restrictions.Despite opposition from rival Conservatives and legal challenges to the decision from civil rights groups, experts expect the decision will have little lasting damage for Trudeau. Continue reading...

Carrie Lam announces mandatory mass testing as virus surge threatens to overwhelm healthcare system

In the damning new Netflix documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, the errors and oversights that led to two crashes are examinedFor the vast majority of travelers, stepping foot on an airplane entails a tremendous act of near-blind faith. We control our own cars, trains operate on set tracks at ground level, but flying requires us to put total trust in the expertise of a complete stranger to operate a machine too complex for us to understand. Every time these gargantuan hunks of metal don’t plummet screaming from the sky towards a certain fiery doom, it feels like a miracle, even if that’s how the majority of flights play out. Rory Kennedy’s damning new documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing takes a close look at two incidents included within the small number of flights when things go wrong, and shows us the tragedy that strikes when that sacred compact between passenger and airline is violated.“I fly a good deal, and the truth is I’ve got a bit of a fear of flying,” Kennedy tells the Guardian from behind the wheel of her car, talking transit in transit. “I like to think that when I walk down that jetway, the manufacturer of that plane is invested in keeping it up in the air, that the regulatory agencies focused on safety are doing in their job, and that at least in our country, the government is making sure the regulatory agencies enforce those safety measures. In this case, it seems that all of those agencies failed us.” Continue reading...

Liberal Fiona Martin labelled a ‘coward’ and a ‘rat from a sinking ship’ by self-styled ‘independent journalist’

Unusual calendar date reads the same forwards or backwards and is rumoured to bring good luckSome are calling it palindrome day while others are opting for the twos day (or “Twosday”) pun but, it seems, everyone is excited about the unusual calendar event taking place on the 22 February 2022 (22.02.2022), when the day’s date can be read the same way forwards or backwards.