Afternoon Update: Papua New Guinea massacre; Bob Brown forest protest arrest; and is Biden too old for presidency?
Good afternoon. Dozens have reportedly been killed in a fresh outbreak of tribal violence in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea.
A provincial police commander said men from two tribes staged an attack on another group who were “ambushed and killed”, with 26 men reported killed. Anthony Albanese called the attack “very disturbing”.
Top news
Four struck by lightning in Sydney’s botanic gardens |Four people have been taken to hospital with burns after being struck by lightning at 12.45pm Sydney time. The four – a teenage male, a female in her 20s, and a male and female both in their 30s – were sheltering under a tree at the time. Between 11am and 2pm, about 75,000 lightning strikes were detected within a 100km radius of Sydney.
Deputy Nationals leader admits to drinking before Senate hearing |Perin Davey admitted she had two drinks before a Senate committee hearing in which she appeared to slur and stumble over her words. The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, said, “people shouldn’t be drunk at work”, but Davey denies being drunk, saying she had only had two glasses of red wine at a staff function.
Perth breaks records amid WA heatwave |Perth is baking through a recordbreaking seventh 40C-plus February day as Western Australia’s extreme heatwave sees the state lock up the Top 15 hottest places in the world over the past 24 hours.
Bob Brown arrested at logging protest |Brown was calling for “an end to native forest logging in Australia” along the edge of the Tasmanian wilderness world heritage area when he was arrested for trespass with activists Colette Harmsen and Ali Alishah. “We slept out in the forest overnight and got arrested at 9 o’clock this morning, when the loggers turned up to start work,” he said. This is the fourth time Brown has been arrested in recent years.
Sports gambling giants face ‘wakeup call’ |The financial crime watchdog is finalising its investigation into suspected breaches of money-laundering law by Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and
Bet365. The findings could influence the federal government’s plans to regulate the industry amid calls for a total ban on gambling ads.
Gaza’s largest functioning hospital ‘completely out of service’ |Nasser hospital is “not functional any more” says the head of the World Health Organization. Israeli forces raided the hospital last week, claiming they had intelligence that hostages were being held there. Meanwhile, the UK is investigating reports that a cargo ship has come under attack off the coast of Yemen, after an apparent explosion close to the vessel on Sunday.
Rishi Sunak faces Tory revolt |Tory MPs critical of Rishi Sunak’s leadership are hoping he will stand down voluntarily to avoid the spectacle of a damaging coup and are looking to May’s local elections as a potential crunch point.
Oppenheimer takes top Baftas |
Christopher Nolan’s film wins best picture, director, leading and supporting actor, while Emma Stone was named best actress – and The Zone of Interest surprises to take three awards.
Full Story
Is Joe Biden too old to be president? The US president’s age is increasingly becoming a political liability – even though Donald Trump is just four years younger than Biden. The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, discusses the president’s age in this 24-minute episode.
What they said …
In the story that never dies, France has taken yet another dig at Australia for the Morrison government’s Aukus deal in 2021, with former French ambassador to the United States, Gérard Araud, responding to an innocent question on X/Twitter with the above pointed reply.
In numbers
Global Witness says the five “supermajor” oil companies are the “main winners of the war” while many struggle to heat their homes.
Before bed read
In her “frantic” last days before her estranged husband allegedly burnt her alive, Kelly Wilkinson went to one police station on the Gold Coast, received no help, and then drove to another one and again received no help. Lucy Clark, features and membership editor at Guardian Australia, has called on Queensland police to “do something about its rotten misogynistic core”.
“This is not just about one officer though, and yes, yes, of course there are Queensland cops who care, maybe even the ones who didn’t do anything to help Wilkinson. Please, we’re smart enough to know the difference between individual culpability and rotten systems. As in, yes sir, I know, you personally are not a misogynist, but you work in a system that reeks of it.”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: ARIL. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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