Victoria to axe thousands of public service jobs as treasurer warns of ‘difficult decisions’

Posted on by

Independent review asked to recommend cuts to public service to reduce workforce by 5%-6%

Thousands of public service jobs in Victoria are to be slashed after a review ordered by the state’s new treasurer, who has warned “difficult decisions” need to be made to bring the budget under control.

Jaclyn Symes and the premier, Jacinta Allan, on Thursday announced an independent review into the Victorian public service (VPS), to be headed by Helen Silver, a banking executive and former head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet under John Brumby and Ted Baillieu.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Australia will ‘watch every move’ of Chinese warships detected off east coast

Posted on by

Ships’ presence off east coast follows incident in South China Sea in which a Chinese fighter jet released flares in front of Australian military plane

Australia will “watch every move” of three Chinese warships which have been detected off the country’s east coast, the defence minister has said.

Three People’s Liberation Army-Navy vessels – the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu – were detected off north-east Queensland last week and have been surveilled since as they have sailed south. The Financial Times reported the ships were about 150 nautical miles off the coast of Sydney.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Indian prime minister’s party names a woman as top government official in New Delhi state – The Associated Press

Posted on by
  1. Indian prime minister’s party names a woman as top government official in New Delhi state  The Associated Press
  2. Delhi's New Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's Old Social Media Posts Trigger Row  NDTV
  3. Rekha Gupta sworn in as Delhi chief minister as BJP returns to power after 26 years  The Indian Express
  4. 'Arvind Kejriwal will have to spend most of his time in jail': BJP's Delhi minister-pick Manjinder Singh  The Times of India
  5. PM Narendra Modi on Delhi CM Rekha Gupta: 'Risen from the grassroots'  Hindustan Times
Posted in Uncategorized

Troubled Whyalla steelworks gets $2.4bn government bailout as hunt for new owner begins

Posted on by

GFG chair Sanjeev Gupta says SA government is on the ‘wrong course’ after it forced the operation into administration

A support package of $2.4bn will be poured into the Whyalla steelworks to protect thousands of jobs and “invest in the nation”, the prime minister says.

The federal and South Australian governments would “combine dollar for dollar on administration” to ensure the steelworks kept operating, and staff and creditors were paid, while a new owner was found, Anthony Albanese told steelworkers.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Martial law was Yoon Suk Yeol’s answer to ‘legislative dictatorship’, insurrection trial hears

Posted on by

Lawyers for impeached South Korean president who caused chaos argue that court has no jurisdiction to put him on trial for ‘act of governance’

Lawyers for Yoon Suk Yeol have told a court in Seoul that the impeached president declared martial law in late 2024 to prevent the country becoming a “legislative dictatorship” controlled by his political opponents.

The claim came as Yoon became the first South Korean president to stand trial in a criminal case, brought over his short-lived declaration of martial law in early December.

Continue reading...

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 19, 2025 – Institute for the Study of War

Posted on by
  1. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 19, 2025  Institute for the Study of War
  2. Ukraine’s Borders in Maps: Pre-2014 Invasion to Now  The New York Times
  3. Mapped: Russia’s and Ukraine’s competing visions for peace  The Washington Post
  4. Ukraine-Russia war map: What territory has Putin taken as British troops could be sent to defend border  The Independent
  5. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 18, 2025  Kyiv Post
Posted in Uncategorized

Missouri man who pleaded guilty in shooting of Black teen at wrong door dies

Posted on by

Andrew Lester, who is white, was charged with assault after Ralph Yarl, who survived, rang doorbell by mistake in 2023

An 86-year-old Missouri man died just days after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang the white man’s doorbell by mistake, prosecutors announced on Wednesday.

Andrew Lester of Kansas City had been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the then 16-year-old, who survived and is now a freshman at Texas A&M. Before his trial was scheduled to begin, Lester had pleaded guilty on Friday to a lesser charge of second-degree assault, which carries up to seven years behind bars. He had been scheduled to be sentenced on 7 March.

Continue reading...

Dissatisfaction among gen Z staff is ‘ticking timebomb’ for NHS

Posted on by

Warning from the Royal College of Nursing is based on Nuffield Trust analysis of NHS England staff surveys

The NHS in England is facing a “ticking timebomb” when it comes to retaining young staff, nursing leaders have warned, after new analysis showed its generation Z workers are becoming more stressed and unhappy over time.

A new report by the Nuffield Trust shows soaring dissatisfaction rates among staff in the health service’s youngest cohort, aged 21 to 30 – based on analysis of NHS surveys.

Continue reading...

Archaeologists discover first pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt in more than a century

Posted on by

Uncovering tomb of Thutmose II hailed as most significant discovery since Tutankhamun in 1922

It was when British archaeologist Dr Piers Litherland saw that the ceiling of the burial chamber was painted blue with yellow stars that he realised he had just discovered the first tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh to be found in more than a century.

Litherland had been exploring the Valley of the Kings in Egypt for more than a decade when he discovered a staircase that led to the tomb, now known to have belonged to Thutmose II, who reigned from 1493 to 1479BC.

Continue reading...

Archaeologists discover first pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt in more than a century – The Guardian

Posted on by
  1. Archaeologists discover first pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt in more than a century  The Guardian
  2. Ancient pharaoh’s tomb unearthed in Egypt, first since Tutankhamun’s in 1922  The Washington Post
  3. Hunting Egypt’s lost pharaoh: Briton makes ‘find of the century’  The Times
  4. Egypt discovers first royal tomb in over 100 years  ABC News
  5. First Tomb Of Ancient Egyptian King Discovered In A Century  Forbes
Posted in Uncategorized