The integration of live passenger data is part of the Victorian government’s push to maintain social distancingCommuters in Melbourne will be able to see how crowded specific trains are on Google Maps as part of a Victorian government push to preserve social distancing on traditionally crowded services.The integration of live passenger data in the mapping service – to be launched on Friday – comes as Victorian offices last week increased to 50% capacity. It is the latest move to help stagger when people use Melbourne’s public transport. Continue reading...
Wave of migration comes amid worsening crackdown on freedoms following the introduction of Beijing’s national security lawTaiwan issued nearly twice as many residence permits to Hongkongers in 2020 compared with the previous year, new government data have shown, further evidence of the continued exodus of people from the city that is under a worsening crackdown.Pro-democracy supporters and basic freedoms in Hong Kong have been under pressure since the introduction of a national security law by Beijing in late June. Continue reading...
Law would widen strict rules in country where thousands suffer complications from unsafe terminationsA bill to liberalise Malawi’s abortion laws will be debated by MPs today in the face of opposition from faith groups.If passed, the termination of pregnancy bill would allow abortions when a woman’s mental or physical health is in danger, in cases of rape and incest, and when there are serious foetal abnormalities. Continue reading...
Church court had objected to loving tribute to Margaret Keane for fear of arousing political ‘passions’A grieving family has won its battle to erect a gravestone with an inscription in Irish after overturning a church court ban issued on the grounds that it might arouse political “passions”.The family of Margaret Keane, a Coventry dinner lady who died aged 73 in 2018, now hope a Celtic cross bearing the words “In ár gcroíthe go deo” – “in our hearts forever” – will be in place on her grave in the grounds of St Giles church in Exhall, near Nuneaton, in time for St Patrick’s Day on 17 March. Continue reading...
Proposal criticised for not allowing the auditing of individual decisions about developments or the environmentConservation groups say a new environmental assurance commissioner proposed by the Morrison government would be effectively “toothless” because it would have no power to investigate individual development approval decisions.They also expressed concern that ministers would have the authority to make decisions that are inconsistent with new national environmental standards if they considered it in the public interest to do so. Continue reading...
It was a spring afternoon in 1955 when a teenager’s spontaneous act of defiance changed US history. Why did it take 40 years for her to get any credit?
Exclusive: Draft code aimed at encouraging staffers to speak up if they experience sexual harassment, assault or bullyingAllegations of sexual harassment, assault and bullying within the federal Labor party would be dealt with by officials outside parliament under a proposed national code of conduct that aims to encourage staffers to speak up.The draft code, seen by Guardian Australia, would ensure alleged victims can access external advice – creating a degree of separation from their offices. It would also mandate compulsory training for Labor MPs, elected officials and senior staff to help professionalise human resources management in political offices. Continue reading...
Family of politician, who is a dual Australian and Iraqi citizen, allegedly targeted via attacks on a Sydney home and online extortion attempts linked to an address in western CanadaFour people have been charged in Sydney and Canada over alleged attempts to extort $10 million from a senior Iraqi politician, after what was described as a year-long campaign of intimidation.Dual raids were launched at dawn on Wednesday after a string of attacks on a Sydney home and online extortion attempts linked to an address in Canada. Continue reading...
Escaped merino ram found on the lam in regional Australia is said to be recovering wellA rogue overgrown sheep found roaming through regional Australia has been shorn of his 35kg fleece – a weight even greater than that of the famous New Zealand sheep Shrek, who was captured in 2005 after six years on the loose.The merino ram, dubbed Baarack by rescuers, was discovered wandering alone with an extraordinarily overgrown wool coat, and was promptly shorn to save his life. Continue reading...
Officers in Dunedin say having a few large pubs would place students into a ‘controlled environment’It’s an unusual request from police: more pubs.But officers in a South Island city renowned for student recklessness and couch burning say they wish more drinking holes would open, as it helps them manage the revellers. Continue reading...
Vidam Perevertilov, a supply ship engineer, fell overboard between New Zealand and the isolated British territory of PitcairnA sailor who fell overboard from a supply ship in the Pacific Ocean at 4am spent more than 14 hours clinging to an old fishing buoy before being rescued.Alone in the middle of the ocean, and without a lifejacket, at dawn he chose to swim towards a black speck on the horizon, a decision that would ultimately save his life. Continue reading...
Angelo Gafa says all those who masterminded killing of Maltese journalist now apprehended or chargedEvery person involved in the 2017 murder of the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has been apprehended, Malta’s national police chief has declared.Commissioner Angelo Gafa was speaking before a court hearing on Wednesday evening at which two new suspects were arraigned. Continue reading...
The number of people doing their business alfresco has shot up. But what else can you do when nature calls and there aren’t any public loos?Name: Wild toileting.Age: Dates back to Homo erectus. Urinating and defecating are part of the human condition – “I shit, therefore I am” (“Coshito, ergo sum”), as Descartes almost said – and was undomesticated until the Mesopotamians invented toilets almost 4,500 years ago.
Sylvie Bermann, former French ambassador, puts PM’s handling of pandemic alongside Donald Trump’sBoris Johnson is “an unrepentant and inveterate liar” who feels he is not subject to the same rules as others, Sylvie Bermann, the former French ambassador to the UK during the Brexit vote, says in a new book.She also claims some Brexiters are consumed with hatred for Germany and gripped by a myth that they liberated Europe on their own, describing Brexit as a triumph of emotion over reason, won by a campaign full of lies in which negative attitudes to migration were exploited by figures such as Johnson and Michael Gove. Continue reading...
Scène de rue à Montmartre has been part of same French family’s private collection for more than a centuryA major Paris work by Vincent van Gogh that has been part of the same French family’s private collection for more than a century is to go on public display for the first time since it was painted in the spring of 1887.Scène de rue à Montmartre is part of a very rare series depicting the celebrated Moulin de la Galette, on the hilltop overlooking the capital, painted during the two years the Dutch artist spent sharing an apartment with his brother Theo on rue Lepic. Continue reading...
Report lays out ‘multiple instances’ where the Coalition used public interest immunity to block access• Doctor did not get vaccine training before giving nursing home residents excessive dose
After Italy’s government loosened Covid-19 restrictions in much of the country – including Lazio, the region that contains Rome and Vatican City – newly reopened museums are offering local visitors the opportunity to enjoy artworks undisturbed by the usual crowds of international tourists Continue reading...
Case is believed to be the first to set a monetary value on housework since the implementation of a new civil codeA Chinese divorce court has ordered a man to pay his wife the equivalent of US $7,700 as compensation for housework during their five-year marriage.Under a new civil code that came into effect last month, a person may seek compensation from their partner during a divorce if they were the primary carer for children or elderly parents, or did most of the unpaid household work. The amount should be negotiated, but if that fails then it will be decided by court. Continue reading...
In the end it came down to Chelsea’s ambition. While Atletico Madrid were held back by Diego Simeone’s negativity, Thomas Tuchel told his team to play. Liberated, Chelsea stood up to be counted. They let their football do the talking instead of rising to Luis Suárez’s provocation, earning their reward when Olivier Giroud gave them a slender advantage to take back to Stamford Bridge with a special goal.Tuchel could celebrate a perfect away display in Bucharest, where the tie was played due to Covid-19 restrictions. Chelsea, who have a wonderful chance to progress beyond the last 16 for the first time since 2016, were far more progressive than Atlético. It was a complete performance and the only disappointment is that Jorginho and the outstanding Mason Mount will be suspended for the second leg on 17 March. Continue reading...
by Julian Borger in Washington and David Agren in Mex on (#5EJDX)
Emma Coronel is ‘not a big fish’, experts say, but indictment accuses her of assisting dramatic jailbreak in 2015The wife of the world’s most notorious drug cartel boss, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, has appeared in court charged with helping him run his drug empire from jail, a day after she was arrested at Washington’s international airport.Emma Coronel Aispuro, a 31-year-old Mexican-American who married the drug kingpin in 2007 after he spotted her in a beauty pageant, is also accused of helping organise her husband’s breathtaking jailbreak in 2015, which involved a mile-long tunnel leading from his prison shower and a motorbike adapted to run on rails from one end to the other. Continue reading...
Wednesday: Peter Dutton refuses to say if he was told about rape allegations according to standard police practice. Plus: Facebook, Google and the reality of regulationGood morning. It’s Wednesday 24 February and allegations of inappropriate behaviour from Australian politicians and staffers will continue to dominate the news today. US Senate hearings into the Capitol attacks have begun, and don’t miss the latest in the Guardian’s Web of Lies series: today’s instalment looks at how the rise of rightwing conspiracies on Sky News is capturing digital audiences. Continue reading...
My father, Frank Edgar, who has died aged 87, was one of Northern Ireland’s most experienced civil servants and made significant contributions to many aspects of life in the province. He was one of a postwar generation that fundamentally believed in the value of public service.Frank was born in Belfast, the oldest of two sons to Mae (nee McNeice), a hairdresser, and Bob, a mechanic, and won a scholarship to attend Methodist College. An enthusiastic cricketer, sailor and golfer, he once undertook school detention with a fellow pupil, James Ellis (later an actor, and star of Z Cars) for throwing snowballs in the quadrangle. Continue reading...
by Kalyeena Makortoff and Martin Farrer on (#5EHAQ)
Bank also reaffirms greater shift towards Asia-Pacific, where most of its earnings come fromHSBC is to reduce its office space around the world by nearly 40% as part of sweeping cost cutting designed to capitalise on new part office-part homeworking arrangements after the pandemic.The decision to move to new hybrid working arrangements was announced as HSBC confirmed it was accelerating its pivot towards Asia, including China and Hong Kong, despite concerns about the political crackdown in the former British colony. Continue reading...
Lockdown has triggered a boom in the exchange of intimate shots – and now a new book called Sending Nudes is celebrating the pleasures and perils of baring all to the cameraHave you ever sent a nude selfie? The question draws a thick red line between generations, throwing one side into a panic while the other just laughs. And yet, as far back as 2009, that fount of moral wisdom, Kanye West, was advising how to stay safe. “When you take the picture cut off your face / And cover up the tattoo by the waist,” he rapped in Jamie Foxx’s song Digital Girl.As the pandemic forces relationships to be conducted remotely, more people than ever are resorting to the virtual exchange of intimacies. Last autumn, a poll of 7,000 UK schoolchildren by the youth sexual health charity Brook put the figure at nearly one in five who said they would send a naked selfie to a partner during a lockdown. Continue reading...
The last days of Pinochet’s regime form the backdrop of this exciting dramatisation of a real prison-break plotHere is the story of the biggest prison escape in Chilean history. In 1990, during the final days of the Pinochet regime, 49 leftwing prisoners escaped from a Santiago jail via a 60-metre-long tunnel dug over 18 gruelling months with spoons and screwdrivers. Local newspapers called it “The Great Escape” and “An Escape for the Movies”; the event was a natural for the big screen. Jailbreak digs into this historic episode with thrilling oomph and awe.Much of the film’s pleasure derives from the ingenious ways the prisoners manage to dig the tunnel right under the noses of the watchful, sadistic guards. At one point, the crew use a pornographic poster to cover the opening to the crawl space where they would ultimately stack more than 50 tonnes of dirt. The guard takes no notice; he quips that the model is still wearing too many clothes. Later, the camera pulls back to reveal the real scope of the tunnel, all masterfully rigged with lights. Goosebumps. Continue reading...
Europe’s most active volcano produces one of most striking eruptions in decadesMount Etna’s spectacular eruptions reached a peak on Monday when the volcano’s lava fountains soared to 1,500 metres – a display described by one expert as “one of the most striking in the last few decades”.Europe’s most active volcano has been on explosive form in recent weeks, spewing incandescent magma and a copious shower of ash, reaching as far as Catania. Continue reading...
by Amanda Meade Becca Leaver Antoun Issa on (#5EHK7)
Guardian Australia’s media correspondent Amanda Meade looks at why the Australian government has gone into battle with two of the world’s biggest tech companies Continue reading...
All election participants will have to swear allegiance or face five-year ban under bill to be tabled next monthHong Kong’s government has announced electoral changes requiring office-holders to pledge and maintain an oath of loyalty to Hong Kong and Beijing, or face disqualification and a five-year ban on running for re-election.A bill to “ensure patriots govern Hong Kong” has been endorsed by the chief executive council and will be tabled in March, the secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, Erick Tsang, told a press conference on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Authorities say the man yelled racial obscenities during the ‘cowardly and random attack’West Australian police are hunting a man who had a swastika painted on his head when he allegedly attacked a woman with a makeshift flamethrower.Police say the 40-year-old woman and her teenage daughter were approached by the man in the southeast Perth suburb of Gosnells on Saturday night. Continue reading...
After the former Liberal’s brawl with Tanya Plibersek, the PM told him to stop promoting unproven Covid therapies and also to ‘look at his office’When you pull this story apart, a lot of people have been talking to Craig Kelly over the past couple of weeks. It’s interesting, so let’s work through the list.Scott Morrison spoke to the outspoken MP after he brawled in unseemly fashion with Tanya Plibersek in the press gallery corridor on 3 February. According to Kelly, Morrison told him to stop freelancing about unproven Covid-19 therapies and also to “look at his office”. Continue reading...
by Elias Visontay (now) and Amy Remeikis (earlier) on (#5EGWM)
ACTU president Michele O’Neil says jobseeker changes not enough for people to ‘live with dignity’; social media giant reaches agreement with Australian government. This blog is now closed
by Todd Woody, Garry Blight, Chris Michael and Lydia on (#5EHCD)
Descend through the different zones of the ocean to discover its mesmerising marine life, how human pollutants are interfering – and what we can still do about it Continue reading...
The men – plus one teenager living overseas – were targeted for allegedly posting ‘defamatory’ material about soldiers who died in clashes last yearChinese authorities have arrested at least six people, and is targeting a teenager living overseas, for posting online about Chinese soldiers killed in a border clash last year.Last week the Chinese government bestowed posthumous honours on four soldiers who died after the Galwan valley clash with Indian forces, in the disputed Himalayan border regions. Continue reading...
The Australian has spent four weeks in isolation – double the usual requirement – to ensure she did not have coronavirusThere are calls to deport an Australian woman who has spent four weeks in New Zealand hotel quarantine because she is refusing to be tested for Covid-19.Last month, Lucinda Baulch travelled to New Zealand from Victoria with three foster children who were moving into the care of local families in a trip arranged by the country’s child protection authorities. Continue reading...
Swathes of England’s landscape were shaped by the immense block of chalk that has lain beneath it for 100 million years. For a long time, even geologists paid it little heed – but now its secrets and symbolism are being revealedOn the British Geological Survey’s map, chalk is represented by a swathe of pale, limey green that begins on the east coast of Yorkshire and curves in a sinuous green sweep down the east coast, breaking off where the Wash nibbles inland. In the south, the chalk centres on Salisbury Plain, radiating out in four great ridges: heading west, the Dorset Downs; heading east, the North Downs, the South Downs and the Chilterns.Stand on Oxford Street in the middle of the West End of London and beneath you, beneath the concrete and the London clay and the sands and gravels, is an immense block of white chalk lying there in the darkness like some vast subterranean iceberg, in places 200 metres thick. The Chalk Escarpment, as this block is known, is the single largest geological feature in Britain. Where I grew up, in a suburb of Croydon at the edge of south London, this chalk rises up from underneath the clays and gravels to form the ridge of hills called the North Downs. These add drama to quiet streets of bungalows and interwar semis: every so often a gap between the houses shows land falling away, sky opening up, the towers and lights of the city visible far in the distance. Continue reading...
US reveals preliminary results of inquiry into Pratt & Whitney engine fire that led to grounding of dozens of Boeing 777s around the worldMetal fatigue in the fan blades may have been behind the engine failure of a Boeing jet in Denver at the weekend, the US National Transportation Safety Board has said.The Pratt & Whitney engine caught fire shortly after take off on a United Airlines Boeing 777-200, during a flight from Denver to Honolulu, with 231 passengers and 10 crew onboard. Pilots issued a mayday call and returned to Denver. Continue reading...
by Amanda Meade, Josh Taylor and Daniel Hurst on (#5EH73)
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announces a compromise has been reached at the 11th hour as the legislation is debated in the SenateFacebook will restore Australian news pages in the next few days after the government agreed to changes to the Australian government’s landmark media bargaining code that makes the social network and Google pay for news.Last week Facebook blocked all news on its platform in Australia, and inadvertently blocked information and government pages including health and emergency services. Continue reading...
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