Good morning. Russia’s war in Ukraine “going to be a long slog” America’s top General Mark Milley has warned. In Australia, more residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes in NSW amid predictions of historic flooding. It comes as Sydney surpasses its average annual rainfall in just over three months of 2022.
Russia has been suspended from the United Nations’ leading human rights body as its invasion of Ukraine continues to provoke revulsion and outrage around the world. At a meeting of the UN general assembly on Thursday, 93 members voted in favour of the diplomatic rebuke while 24 were against and 58 abstained. “War criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted in response. “Grateful to all member states which … chose the right side of history.” Radio transmissions in which Russian soldiers appear to talk among themselves about carrying out premeditated civilian killings in Ukraine have been intercepted by Germany’s foreign intelligence service, a source close to the findings has said. And Western observers fear that genocidal language in Russian media may prompt more war crimes.
Australian Border Force officials searched 822 travellers’ mobile phones in 2021, despite admitting it has no power to force arrivals to give them the passcode to their devices. In January, Sydney software developer James told Guardian Australia that he and his partner were stopped on their return from Fiji by border force officials who asked them to write their phone passcodes on a piece of paper before taking the codes and their phones to another room to examine for half an hour. The phones were then returned and they were allowed to leave. Border force confirmed the practice was allowed under the Customs Act, but declined to expand on how often it was used, or what officers did with the devices once unlocked.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms has removed a network of social media accounts with ties to the Brazilian military that posed as fake non-profits to play down the dangers of deforestation. The comments by Meta, published in a quarterly report, pose a reputational risk to Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. The far-right former army captain, a longtime sceptic of environmentalism, has deployed the armed forces to the Amazon on unsuccessful missions to reduce destruction of the world’s largest rainforest. Although the individuals involved in the network were active military personnel, Meta’s investigation did not find enough evidence to establish if they were following orders or acting independently, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Australia
Craig Kelly is being investigated for billing taxpayers to fly to anti-vaccine mandate, anti-lockdown rallies in Melbourne, internal records show. Kelly, the leader of the United Australia party, charged taxpayers for his flights to and from Melbourne for two rallies in November and December last year, which were organised chiefly as protests against Victoria’s pandemic powers and the Victorian premier, Dan Andrews.
Scott Morrison is moving to head off an electoral backlash in South Australia after the prime minister appeared to water down the government’s commitment to building Aukus nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide.
A former supreme court associate who says she was forced out of her job after it was revealed she was in a sexual relationship with a Tasmanian judge has lodged a complaint with the state’s equal opportunity commission.
Australia has rolled back a ban on exporting sheep to the Middle East during the hottest months of the year in a move animal rights groups say ignores scientific recommendations introduced to protect animal welfare.
The world
Shanghai is allowing at least some parents to stay with children infected with Covid-19, making an exception to a policy of isolating anyone who tests positive after a public outcry. The announcement came as China’s largest city remained in lockdown and conducted more mass testing on Wednesday following another jump in new cases.
Donald Trump has said he regrets not marching on the US Capitol building with his supporters on the day of the January 6 insurrection and again rejected suggestions he used “burner phones” on the day of the assault.
A Turkish court has confirmed a request from prosecutors to transfer the case against the alleged assassins of Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, shutting down a trial that had been a centrepiece of attempts to cast light on the plot and expose the hit squad’s ultimate leader.
North Korea could be planning its first nuclear weapon test in nearly five years, according to a senior US official who urged the regime to step back from further provocations following its recent long-range missile test.
Britain is preparing to unveil a fresh package of military aid for Ukraine and has demonstrated new missile systems and armoured vehicles that it believes can help Kyiv in the next phases of fighting.
Recommended reads
Armed conflict between the world’s two superpowers, while not yet inevitable, has become a real possibility, Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister of Australia warns. But apocalyptic thinking, he says, is not the solution. “We have arrived at a point in the long evolution of the US-China relationship when serious analysts and commentators increasingly assume that some form of crisis, conflict or even war is inevitable. This thinking is dangerous. The advantage of diplomatic history – if we study it seriously – is that the risk of talking ourselves into a crisis is real.”
Yuri Possokhov’s beautiful and distilled version of Leo Tolstoy’s epic tale Anna Karenina is a ballet for adults rather than children: no lavish “chocolate-box” elements, no snow on stage, no one arrives in a troika, there are no ballrooms. Instead, we witness a complex psychological drama full of yearning and restraint, desire and madness, on a bare stage with little more than a bed, an easel or a hay bale to provide physical context.
The Spiderbait trio are known for being three distinctive songwriters – but a new compilation of 33 tracks spotlights the work of their ‘accidental hero’.
Listen
Labor is making itself a small target while the government fights internal battles in public. At a time of multiple crises – the Covid pandemic, the climate crisis, war in Ukraine – will either party pitch a vision to win the hearts and minds of Australian voters this election? In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson speaks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about whether politics as usual is really fit for the times we are living in.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Emerging quick Jhye Richardson has been cut from Cricket Australia’s contract list after the extraordinary rise of Scott Boland. The Western Australian is the most surprising omission from CA’s 20-player list for the 2022-23 season.
Media roundup
Raymond Drury, the man who confronted Scott Morrison in a Newcastle pub on Wednesday, says he seized an opportunity after being “ignored by everyone” over concerns his pension was being unfairly cut, the Australian reports. Almost one in three trains ran late in Sydney last month as the city’s rail network continues to struggle with severe weather conditions, Covid-19 staff shortages and a 24-hour shutdown, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
And if you’ve read this far …
Record-breaking wet season sees frog numbers in Queensland leaping ‘through the roof’.
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