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Former NRL star pulls out on the same day that NSW Greens unveiled policy to lower voting age to 16

NSW premier gives bill ‘in-principle’ support as independent Alex Greenwich hails a ‘good day for our state’

Share price of nursery retailer down as consumers prioritise essentials such as prams and car safety seats

The MP and chief of staff have been given more time to reach an agreement after a ‘robust exchange of views’ over four hours failed to settle the case

Former PM will warn in Tokyo ‘free world is in danger’ in apparent attempt to put pressure on Rishi SunakBritain and the rest of the G7 should urgently agree a tough package of sanctions to impose on China if it escalates military tensions with Taiwan, Liz Truss will argue, as she uses her first public overseas speech to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak.Speaking in Tokyo on Friday, the former prime minister will urge her successor to be more hawkish in standing up to Beijing, warning coordinated action is needed to block “the rise of a totalitarian China” given “the free world is in danger”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Data shows low bulk-billing rates in affluent Sydney suburbs as well as several regional electorates and Tasmania

In a damning report, human rights group says state permitted ‘excessive and lethal use of force’ against Indigenous groupsPeru used “excessive and lethal force” driven by “marked racist bias” against a largely indigenous and campesino population, Amnesty International has concluded, following an investigation into more than two months of anti-government protests which have claimed at least 60 lives.An Amnesty International fact-finding mission investigated 46 possible cases of human rights violations and documented 12 cases of deaths from the use of firearms – all the victims appeared to have been shot in the chest, torso or head – following visits to the capital Lima and the southern cities of Chincheros, Ayacucho and Andahuaylas. Continue reading...

Joseph Corré speaks out as family and friends pay tribute to designer at memorial service in LondonDame Vivienne Westwood’s son has called for his mother’s “dear friend” Julian Assange to be freed during an address at the late designer’s memorial.In a tribute delivered from the pulpit at Southwark Cathedral, the activist Joseph Corré praised his mother’s clothes, their relationship and her legacy. “To Vivienne, punk was a political idea not a social one,” he said, before criticising the “trumped up accusations from a corrupt establishment” that had meant that, despite the family’s best efforts, Assange was not present at the service. Continue reading...

SNP politicians fear quarrel weighing on leadership contest, while any compromise could break coalition with GreensThe future of transgender rights in Scotland remains in limbo, as SNP politicians warn that a leadership contest must not become dominated by ongoing rows on gender recognition reform.Meanwhile, Scottish Greens sources suggests that any rowback on reform could lead to the collapse of the party’s power-sharing agreement with the SNP. Continue reading...

Strikes to begin on 16 March after union rejects offers from train operators and Network RailThe RMT union has announced further national strikes and wider action on the railways after rejecting offers from both train operators and Network Rail last week.The union’s 40,000 members across Network Rail and 14 train operators will strike on 16 March. Train staff will walk out for three further days, on 18 and 30 March and 1 April. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Russia-Ukraine war coverage hereA poll has revealed that one year after Russia began its war of aggression against Ukraine, 61% of Europeans believe Ukraine will be successful.PA reports:One year into the war in Ukraine, 61% of Europeans believe that the country will prevail. Germans, however, are not quite so optimistic, although a 55% majority believes in a Ukrainian victory. These are the findings of the EU-wide survey conducted by eupinions. It is published in cooperation with the Belgian King Baudouin Foundation.Europeans are not only betting on victory, 68% also see the war of aggression as a matter affecting them all, because it is an attack on the whole of Europe. Most EU citizens polled also see Ukraine in a battle to defend a set of common values that are shared by all European states. Continue reading...

Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group call this a ‘conflict of interest’ in preliminary hearingThe team behind the Covid inquiry has insisted there is no conflict of interest in having a PR firm which worked on Whitehall’s response to the pandemic running a listening exercise with bereaved families.The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group reacted with dismay after their concerns were dismissed, saying they were “unbelievably let down”. Continue reading...

Tensions high as inflation hits 30% and Zelenskiy says Kyiv ‘intercepted Russian plan for destruction of Moldova’Moldova’s parliament has approved a pro-western government led by the new prime inister, Dorin Recean, amid continuing economic turmoil and allegations of Russian meddling.Recean, 48, was nominated by President Maia Sandu to replace Natalia Gavrilita whose government resigned last week amid a series of crises in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...

Police stopped ‘eight late-stage terror plots’ in the past yearOfficers have been forced to step in and stop the “real threat” of teenagers plotting US-style attacks on schools, the head of counter-terrorism policing has revealed.Matt Jukes said there are growing numbers of reports of children fixated on coverage of mass shootings, with more young men – and boys as young as 13 – coming to police attention as potential terrorist threats of all kinds. Continue reading...

A search located the bodies of miners Dylan Langridge and Trevor Davis who went missing on Wednesday after plunging into a void in the remote Dugald River zinc mine near Cloncurry

Visit is part of push by Lula’s government to beat back illegal miners, loggers and poachers who wrought environmental havocIndigenous activists are planning to take some of Brazil’s top ministers to the spot where Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were murdered in the Amazon rainforest amid reports security forces are poised to launch a major environmental clampdown in the remote border region.Leaders of Univaja, the Indigenous association for which Pereira worked in Brazil’s Javari valley, said senior politicians, including justice minister Flávio Dino and the minister for Indigenous peoples Sônia Guajajara, would travel there on 27 February. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our UK political coverage hereMayor of London Sadiq Khan has responded to criticism of his planned expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) by Boris Johnson.The scheme, which aims to cut emissions by charging for more polluting cars for a designated area, will be extended to the whole of the capital from 29 August. Continue reading...

Law will also ban conversion therapy and introduce menstrual leaveSpain’s parliament has approved new legislation that will allow anyone over 16 to change their legally registered gender, ease abortion limits for those aged 16 and 17, and make the country the first in Europe in Europe to introduce paid menstrual leave.The new transgender law – which was passed despite protests from feminist groups, warnings from opposition parties, and amid tensions between different wings of the Socialist-led coalition government – means that anyone aged over 16 will be able to change their gender on official documents without medical supervision. Continue reading...

Stefan Hug brought the Southern train to a standstill to recover the uninjured dogA puppy spotted on the tracks of a busy London railway has been rescued by a trainee who was in the middle of a train driving lesson.Stefan Hug, from east London, only started learning to drive a train in January but was forced to stop a Southern service from Beckenham Junction to London Bridge on Wednesday morning after seeing the small black puppy running alongside the train. Continue reading...

Royal Mail ‘uncertain what happened’ to delayed letter from Bath, which arrived in Crystal Palace in 2021A letter lost in the post in 1916 was finally delivered to a London address more than a century after being sent from Bath.Bearing a penny George V stamp and Bath and Sydenham postmarks, it dropped through the letterbox of theatre director Finlay Glen’s Crystal Palace flat in 2021. Continue reading...

Emerging markets-focused bank records strong performance with profits up by 28%

Court hears David Smith, 54, was motivated by antipathy towards UK and was paid for ‘treachery’The British embassy spy David Smith had an ongoing relationship with Russia and was paid for his treachery, a senior judge has ruled.Smith, 58, gathered secret documents and passed them on to Russian authorities while working as a security guard at the embassy in Berlin. He was caught after an undercover operation in 2021 and has admitted to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act. Continue reading...

Some of country’s most celebrated writers and journalists targeted as political crackdown intensifies

Discount supermarket plans to open 40 new stores as business expands during cost of living crisisAldi plans to hire more than 6,000 people across the UK this year, as the discount supermarket continues to expand following strong Christmas trading.The supermarket chain said it planned to open 40 new stores in 2023, with Norwich, Newcastle, Huddersfield and Shrewsbury among the locations. Continue reading...

Chris O’Shea urged to ‘look at his conscience’ amid cost of living crisis and prepayment meter scandalThe chief executive of Centrica has refused to say whether he will waive a £1.6m bonus, as the British Gas owner’s annual profits tripled to a record £3.3bn after a price surge triggered by Russia’s halt on gas supplies to Europe.The company’s “monster” profits angered campaigners who are calling for tougher windfall taxes, lower bills and better treatment of vulnerable customers, after British Gas and other energy suppliers were ordered by regulators to halt forced installations of prepayment meters. Continue reading...

Speech in Tokyo draws parallel with the Munich agreement with Hitler, and claims credit for urging others to stand up to Beijing ‘bullying’The former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has accused the west of “appeasing” Beijing and has claimed credit for rallying other countries to “call out the bullying of the Chinese ­government”.In a speech to be delivered at a conference in Tokyo on Friday, Morrison is also expected to urge the Albanese government to consider using Magnitsky-style targeted human rights sanctions laws to hold Chinese government officials accountable. Continue reading...

Advocates of Huang Xueqin accuse authorities of ‘trying to exert mental pressure and physical torture’Advocates for a Chinese journalist and activist who has been held in detention without trial for almost 18 months have said she needs urgent medical attention.Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing, a labour rights activist, were detained in September 2021 and formally arrested a month later. They have been accused of inciting subversion of state power, and held in Guangzhou without access to family or lawyers. Continue reading...

Work at National Archaeological Museum will be overseen by UK architect David ChipperfieldIt is slated to be the “western world’s museum of museums,” a showcase of Greece’s greatest repository of ancient art.Once completed, the revamped National Archaeological Museum in Athens will, say officials, not only have been expanded but “reborn” at a time of record tourism to the country. Continue reading...

Coin available to buy as part of 25th anniversary collection is first in series to feature King CharlesA coin featuring Prof Albus Dumbledore has been launched as part of a Harry Potter-themed collection from the Royal Mint.The collection was introduced in 2022 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Continue reading...

Agreement in principle believed to be in closing stages with announcement expected next weekRishi Sunak is to meet the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, over the weekend, raising hopes of an imminent deal to end the protracted Northern Ireland protocol dispute.They are expected to meet on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich that will also be attended by EU leaders including the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron. Continue reading...

Westminster chief and president say conference on outgoing leader’s strategy should be delayed

Labour’s Stella Creasy among those questioning why Lancashire police told public of ‘issues with alcohol’MPs and campaigners have criticised the police for releasing personal details about the missing woman Nicola Bulley’s issues with alcohol and the menopause, with one describing it as “deeply troubling”.Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, was one of a number of people who questioned why Lancashire police took the unusual step of releasing private details about Bulley. Continue reading...

Aural clock, designed by Turner prize winner Susan Philipz for Curzon Street HS2 station, features sounds made by 1,092 city folk“I think your voice would suit an F sharp. So that will be six o’clock,” said composer Andy Ingamells as he listened to my feeble attempts to sing Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, my go-to karaoke song.He is in the process of recording the voices of 1,092 ordinary people from across Birmingham and Solihull so they can be immortalised in the chimes of a singing station clock, which will be placed in the centre of the HS2 railway station being built in the city. Continue reading...

Domain chief Jason Pellegrino says decline is worse than during Covid lockdowns and banking royal commission

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Dr Timothy Graham says his analysis shows that after the algorithm change was reported to have occurred, impressions of billionaire owner’s tweets went up 737%Data collected by an Australian researcher via Twitter’s API appears to support media claims that the reach of the tweets of the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk have been artificially inflated.On Wednesday, the tech news site Platformer reported 80 Twitter engineers had been engaged to tweak the platform’s algorithm after Musk noticed a tweet from the US president, Joe Biden, about the Super Bowl outperformed his own, despite Musk having more than three times the number of followers. Continue reading...

CPS agrees, following legal challenge, to record age and race data after studies show young men and black boys suffer mostJoint enterprise prosecutions in England and Wales are to be monitored after a legal challenge from campaigners who argued it disproportionately targets black males and young men.Under the doctrine, an individual can be jointly charged with the crime of another if the court decides they foresaw that the other party was likely to commit that crime. This has resulted in bystanders, or people involved in much lesser criminal offences, being convicted of murder or manslaughter. Continue reading...

Josh Frydenberg and Greg Hunt make endorsements for party’s candidates in Victorian seat being vacated by Alan Tudge

Friends of Duangpetch Promthep share emotional messages after the talented player was found dead in his dorm at a football academyTributes have been paid to Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys rescued from a flooded Thai cave in 2018, who died in the UK on Tuesday.Kiatisuk Senamuang, the founder of the Zico Foundation and a mentor to Duangpetch, known also as Dom, wrote in a message: “Have fun playing football in heaven, be what Dom wanted to be, just go for it, go to watch every match you want to.” Continue reading...

‘Racist’ inequalities leave sub-Saharan region bearing burden of more that half world’s new HIV infections, says Winnie ByanyimaThe head of UNAids, Winnie Byanyima, has attacked pharmaceutical giants for prioritising profits over saving lives, and warned that “racist” inequalities are undermining progress towards ending Aids, especially in Africa.Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than half of all new infections, with women and marginalised groups facing higher new infection rates. Aids-related illnesses were the leading cause of mortality among African women, and adolescent girls and young women were three times more likely than men to get HIV. Continue reading...

The inquiry will begin hearings into regional branch closures next month in Gippsland

Top bureaucrat defends Australian foreign minister’s comments amid opposition criticism that it was an unnecessary ‘distraction’

US man labelled an ongoing person of interest as Queensland police say there is no evidence of domestic accomplices

US deputy secretary of state says Beijing is claiming ‘a gazillion balloons by the US over China … That is absolutely not true’Diplomatic friction has worsened between the United States and China after Beijing claimed, without evidence, that US high-altitude balloons flew over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions, and threatened unspecified measures against US entities for undermining Chinese sovereignty.Washington and Beijing are locked in a tussle over flying objects after the US military this month shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon over the coast of South Carolina. Beijing said it was a civilian research vehicle mistakenly blown off course, and that Washington overreacted. Continue reading...

Digital mapping leads to around 7,000 new islands being discovered though it’s unlikely to expand Japan’s territory, media reports sayIt can’t be easy keeping count of the number of islands scattered around an area of more than 370,000 square kilometres, in a country that is regularly subjected to volcanic activity and extreme weather.While Japan has seen the formation of new islands, and the quiet disappearance of another, geographers have said official statistics showing it is made up of around 6,000 islands are way off the mark. Continue reading...

Succession of interest rate rises by the RBA trims jobs growth as unemployment jumps to its highest level since May 2022

Interview by YouTuber Jordan Shanks with Troy Stolz sparked legal proceedings but the clubs lobby has sought leave to withdraw the charges

Newspapers react to the sudden departure of Scotland’s first minister and what it means for the SNP and the UKNicola Sturgeon’s surprise resignation as Scotland’s first minister fills newspaper front pages, along with what the move may mean for the future of Scottish independence.Scotland’s Daily Record splashes with “I want my independence” alongside a picture of a smiling Sturgeon waving from a window. The paper says the “physical and mental impact” of the job was a major factor in her decision. Continue reading...

In decision on bail for Aboriginal 12-year-old, judge says she has ‘disquiet’ about 2005 bail protocol between children’s court and youth justice

Thirty-year-old pleaded guilty and judge calls her choice to leave daughters in vehicle ‘inexcusable’A Queensland woman has been jailed for nine years for negligently leaving her two young daughters to die in a hot car.Kerri-Ann Conley, 30, of Waterford West in Logan, pleaded guilty in Brisbane supreme court this week to two counts of manslaughter and was sentenced on Thursday.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...