Good afternoon. We start the week with the arrest and charging of a former SAS soldier, who is accused of a war crime in Afghanistan.
Oliver Schulz, 41, was arrested in the southern highlands of New South Wales by Australian federal police and NSW police, and charged with the war crime of murder for allegedly killing an Afghan civilian during a mission in southern Afghanistan more than a decade ago.
“The maximum penalty for a war crime – murder offence is life imprisonment,” the AFP said in a statement.
It comes on a day of some discussion about Australia’s military deployments, with the Greens pushing for a Senate debate about the nation’s role in the Iraq war – 20 years after John Howard signed up to “illegally” invade Iraq along with the US and UK.
The debate never took place as Labor and Coalition senators voted down the Greens motion, but the Coalition’s Michaelia Cash defended the decision to invade, saying it helped rid Iraq of a “brutal dictator”. We’ve got a special global series running on the Iraq war anniversary – check it out.
Top news
Victoria to ban Nazi salutes | The Andrews government will move to ban the Nazi salute within months after the gesture was used at an anti-trans protest attended by neo-Nazis at the weekend. The rally was also attended by Liberal state senator, Moira Deeming, who is facing expulsion from her party as a result. “This is the right decision. It’s a necessary decision,” Victorian Liberal leader, John Pesutto, said of the plan to expel Deeming. Deeming condemned the actions of the masked men and their “despicable” Nazi salute and said she would fight the “unjust” expulsion motion.
Pro-tobacco lobbyists target vaping reform | Big tobacco are preparing to tussle with the Australian government over the latter’s proposed reforms that could see access to nicotine vaping products tightened. British American Tobacco appears to have increased its presence in Australia, with the federal lobby register showing that as of 3 February the company has signed up as a client of Jeremy Greenwood’s firm, JPG Advisory.
Queensland considers rent caps | Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed rent caps are on the agenda for a meeting of government, industry and advocacy groups next week. Median rents have risen 80% in the central Queensland city of Gladstone, 51% in Noosa and 33% on the Gold Coast over the past five years.
McLeod’s Daughters actor Peter Hardy drowns | The 66-year-old actor, who also appeared in Chopper and Neighbours, died while snorkelling at Fremantle’s South beach. “Rest in peace my beloved little brother,” his brother, Michael Hardy, wrote on social media.
RBA confident in Australian banks | Central banks around the world are boosting the flow of cash amid fears of a global banking crisis, but Australia’s reserve bank remains confident in the resilience of the country’s financial sector. “Australian banks are unquestionably strong,” the RBA’s assistant governor, Christopher Kent, said.
E-bike causes home fire | A man has jumped from a second-storey balcony of a Sydney home to escape a blaze after an e-bike charging in the garage exploded and flames spread to the ground floor.
Kitchen renovation unearths 400-year-old art | A UK man renovating his kitchen has found a wall painting dating back to about 1660 of “national significance”. The paintings are thought to be older than the buildings at either side of the wall and are based on scenes from the 1635 book Emblems, written by the poet Francis Quarles.
French protests | The French government will face a no-confidence vote on Monday local time, as MPs said they feared for their safety, strike action intensified and police banned demonstrators from parts of central Paris after Emmanuel Macron’s decision to push through an unpopular rise in the pension age without a parliament vote.
Xi goes to Moscow | Vladimir Putin has praised “good old friend” Xi Jinping in a newspaper article published in China on the eve of a state visit by the Chinese president that will reaffirm the strong ties between the two powers. Moscow’s isolation from the west means Russia has become increasingly dependent on Beijing. China now accounts for more than 40% of Russia’s total imports.
In video
Tokyo’s micro-apartments: smart living or a prison cell?
Would you live in a 9m2 flat where you can cook while on the toilet? The Guardian’s Justin McCurry spent a night in a Tokyo micro-apartment to see if it’s indeed suitable for human habitation. Watch the two-minute video.
What they said …
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“We don’t need a treaty.” – Dominic Perrottet
New South Wales under the Coalition will not follow Queensland and Victoria on a path to treaty with First Nations groups, but the premier has reiterated his support for an Indigenous voice to parliament.
In numbers
And nearly half of principals – 47.8% – had triggered “red flag” alerts, which occur when principals are at risk of self-harm or serious mental health issues, according to the Australian Catholic University’s annual survey.
Before bed read
Questions abound after an opening AFL round that was exhilarating at times (especially if you were at the MCG on Friday night), savage and gruesome at others. Sports columnist, Jonathan Horn, reviews round one.
“Do we overcomplicate football? Do we read too much into round one in particular? Is it, as Malcolm Blight always insisted, the least important round of the season? Or it is a vital launching pad?”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: CANE. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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