Construction union lifts green ban after being convinced plan will preserve site for public
Bondi Pavilion, the grand old deco lady of Bondi overlooking Australia’s most famous beach, is finally about to get a facelift.
After nearly a decade of rancorous debate, lustful looks from developers, community protests and a green ban, the work on restoring the pavilion is expected to begin in June.
Continue reading...Education minister claims scheme a success but says old system was effective as more parents set to return to work
Dan Tehan has suggested the days of free childcare are numbered, as a return to the old subsidy model will be needed to keep centres viable as Australians return to work.
The education minister told Radio National on Tuesday a new report on the free model showed it had “done its job” during the Covid-19 pandemic but will need to change.
Continue reading...Rescuer hailed a hero on social media but risks penalty for interfering with shark controls
A man who rescued a whale calf trapped in nets off the Gold Coast from a small boat may face a fine of almost $27,000.
The man rescued the stricken animal on Tuesday morning as officials took more than two hours to respond.
Continue reading...WHO chief promises review of global response; Afghanistan sees biggest one-day rise in new infections; Italy records lowest deaths since March
Twenty one more people have died from Covid-19 in the Netherlands, the lowest number reported on a Tuesday since March, taking the total death toll in the country to 5,715.
According to the latest update from the Dutch national institute for public health and the environment (RIVM), a further 108 people tested positive for the virus, the lowest number of new daily infections recorded since 10 March. So far, 44,249 confirmed cases have been reported.
The number of people who have fallen ill due to the novel coronavirus in the Netherlands has been decreasing since the end of March. This is apparent from the decrease in the number of newly reported patients, hospital admissions, ICU admissions and deaths per day.
The number of people who visit their GP because of symptoms that are consistent with the coronavirus is still decreasing. This is evident from figures provided by the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel).
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus across Africa has passed 86,000, the regional office of the World Health Organization has said.
Unlike in Europe, a widespread outbreak seems yet to happen in Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people. There had been fears that its comparatively limited healthcare infrastructure would be overrun by patients with Covid-19.
Over 86,000 confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent - with more than 33,000 recoveries & 2,700 deaths. View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTg pic.twitter.com/t8kU48MI7R
Continue reading...Daily death tolls fall in UK, Spain and Italy; South Africa reports highest daily increase; global infections pass 4.7 million. Follow the latest updates
Despite strong efforts, Taiwan did not get invited to this week’s meeting of a key World Health Organization body due to Chinese pressure, its foreign minister has said, adding they had agreed to put the issue off until later this year.
Non-WHO member Taiwan had been lobbying to take part in the World Health Assembly, which opens later on Monday.
Despite all our efforts and an unprecedented level of international support, Taiwan has not received an invitation to take part.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses deep regret and strong dissatisfaction that the World Health Organization Secretariat has yielded to pressure from the Chinese government and continues to disregard the right to health of the 23 million people of Taiwan.
Understandably, countries want to use the limited time available to concentrate on ways of containing the pandemic.
For this reason, like-minded nations and diplomatic allies have suggested that the proposal be taken up later this year when meetings will be conducted normally, to make sure there will be full and open discussion.
Hungary’s government will submit a proposal to parliament on 26 May to end its special coronavirus emergency powers, hirtv.hu quoted prime minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff as saying late on Sunday.
Gergely Gulyas said parliament would take a few days to pass the bill, which will end the much-criticised emergency powers by early June.
Continue reading...Firefighters pull two girls out of house fire but despite attempts to revive them, both died at the scene
Three-year-old twin girls have died in a house fire in New South Wales.
The girls were pulled from the house at Batlow, near Tumut, by firefighters on Monday morning, NSW police said in a statement, but despite efforts to revive them both died at the scene.
Continue reading...CCTV footage shows man strolling through exhibits at closed Australian Museum and posing for selfies with head inside mouth of T-Rex skull
A Sydney man will face court on Monday after allegedly breaking into Australia’s oldest museum and snapping selfies with the dinosaur exhibit.
The man broke into the heritage-listed Australian Museum in Sydney’s CBD just after 1am on Sunday 10 May, and was captured on CCTV cameras wandering around the exhibits for around 40 minutes, according to New South Wales police.
Continue reading...Discovery of a single vertebra of an elaphrosaur in Victoria hugely expands known range of the group, which had teeth as juveniles but beaks as adults
A dinosaur relative of T. rex and Velociraptor with an unusually long neck, and which may have transitioned from predator to plant-eater as it reached adulthood, has been unearthed in Victoria.
The elaphrosaur was a member of the theropod family of dinosaurs that included all of the predatory species. It stood about the height of a small emu, measuring 2m from its head to the end of a long tail, and had short arms, each ending in four fingers.
Continue reading...Family’s first statement on Moore-Gilbert, who has been held in Tehran since September 2018, says she is in good health ‘considering her situation’
The family of detained Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert have denied reports she has attempted suicide in an Iranian prison, or that she has been tortured by the country’s Revolutionary Guards.
Moore-Gilbert’s family have not spoken publicly since the Cambridge-educated Melbourne University lecturer was summarily arrested at Tehran airport in September 2018.
Continue reading...Premier Dan Andrews says the easing of restrictions is due to low numbers of new cases, but patrons will still have to abide by social distancing. Follow live
Hazzard warns people in New South Wales to still stay 1.5 metres apart, and to not see friends if they are sick, even if it is just a runny nose.
I would just like to warn everybody that we are still vulnerable. We have to temper it in a way that when we go out, we’re still exercising the social distancing.
The 1.5 metres is a magic figure – it can keep you safe! I’ve observed today, people at cafes and restaurants, and many of them do not appear to be exercising that 1.5 metres. I’ll just say to them – please be careful.
New South Wales health minister Brad Hazzard is speaking now. He announces that as of 8pm last night, NSW only had one new case.
However, he says the source of that transmission is unknown, which means people should be on high alert.
Moving about Sydney this morning, I think it’s fair to say that there has been, in a sense, the great NSW bust-out.
People are rewarding themselves for many weeks of sacrifice and having themselves locked inside.
Continue reading...Australia reserves the right to take China to the WTO amid growing trade dispute, Simon Birmingham says
Simon Birmingham has warned China’s “unpredictable” trade interventions may force Australian producers to sell to other markets and diversification is to be encouraged given the “risk” of trade with China.
The trade minister told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that Australia reserves its right to take China to the World Trade Organisation, and revealed he is still yet to hear back from his Chinese counterpart about the growing trade dispute. He said his call “ought to be returned”.
Continue reading...Russia records highest daily fatalities; German football gets back under way; French child dies of Kawasaki disease. Follow the latest updates
This live blog is now closed – the new one is here where you can join Rebecca Ratcliffe for continuing coverage.
Related: Coronavirus live news: Barack Obama attacks Trump virus response
Tens of thousands of impoverished migrant workers are on the move across India, walking on highways and railway tracks or riding in trucks, buses and crowded trains in blazing heat, Associated Press reports.
Some are accompanied by pregnant wives and young children, braving threats from the coronavirus pandemic. They say they have been forced to leave cities and towns where they had toiled for years building homes and roads after they were abandoned by their employers casualties of a nationwide lockdown to stop the virus from spreading.
On Saturday, at least 23 laborers died in northern India when a truck they were traveling in smashed into a stationary truck on a highway. Last week, a train crashed into a group of tired workers who fell asleep on the tracks while walking back home in western Maharashtra state, killing 16.
The government and charities have tried to set up shelters for them, but their numbers are simply overwhelming, leaving them little choice but to head on a perilous journey home.
Bank files its defence to an Austrac lawsuit that accuses it of more than 23m breaches of anti-money laundering laws
Westpac has admitted to breaking the law by failing to monitor whether a dozen customers were making transactions consistent with child exploitation.
The admission is contained in Westpac’s defence to a lawsuit brought by Australia’s financial intelligence agency, Austrac, in which the bank is accused of more than 23m breaches of anti-money laundering laws.
Continue reading...Queensland’s chief health officer says staff member in facility with 115 residents continued to work when sick. Follow live
One of the eight new cases of Covid-19 detected in New South Wales in the past 24 hours is an overseas traveller who recently flew from Brisbane to Sydney after completing their mandatory 14-day quarantine period, the state’s health department said.
Despite completing the quarantine in Brisbane, the person developed symptoms afterwards and NSW Health believes “it is likely they were infectious on the flight to Sydney”.
Look I know it’s not strictly coronavirus-related but this video, put together by my colleagues Steph Harmon and Becca Leaver, of beloved children’s author Andy Griffiths answering questions sent in by our younger readers is very good and fun and wholesome.
Continue reading...Spain hails large-scale antibody study; no Danish virus deaths for first time since March; China marks one month with no Covid-19 deaths
New York will join the nearby states of New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware in partially reopening beaches for the Memorial Day weekend, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday.
Reuters reports that Cuomo’s announcement comes one day after New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said he was opening the beaches for the traditional May 23-25 start of summer.
Related: Coronavirus US live: House to vote on $3tn stimulus package opposed by Trump and Senate
There were 242 new coronavirus fatalities in Italy on Friday, down by 20 from Thursday, bringing the total death toll to 31,610.
New infections rose by 789, down by over 200 within the last 24 hours, according to the civil protection authority.
Continue reading...Japan expected to ease state of emergency in many regions; Russia has second highest number of infections; Wuhan mass testing begins; follow the latest updates
Morning/evening/whatever-it-is-where-you-are everyone. This is Simon Burnton taking on the live blog for the next few hours. If you have seen any stories that deserve our attention, or if you have any tips, comments or suggestions for our coverage then please let me know by sending me a message either to @Simon_Burnton on Twitter or via email. Thanks!
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan for today.
Today I leave you with something a little different – a Ghanaian pallbearer and his band of merry, morbid men, who have become the unofficial mascots of the pandemic in countries around the world:
Related: 'Why should you cry?' Ghana's dancing pallbearers find new fame during Covid-19
Continue reading...Clive Palmer bought millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine but those who rely on it for autoimmune conditions will not have access, government says
The federal government has no plans to make millions of doses of an experimental drug being used in clinical trials on Covid-19 patients available to people who rely on the medicine to treat severe autoimmune conditions, despite Australia’s low number of Covid-19 cases.
The former politician Clive Palmer was granted permission by Australia’s drugs regulator to import the drug, hydroxychloroquine, and the materials required to produce it, so that doses could be added to the national medical stockpile. The drug is used overseas to prevent and treat malaria, and is mostly prescribed in Australia to treat painful symptoms of autoimmune conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Continue reading...Coronavirus may never be eradicated, warns WHO as Spanish study reveals 5% of the population has antibodies
We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:
Donald Trump has ratcheted up his “Obamagate” conspiracy theory to implicate Joe Biden and other former White House officials in what critics say is a desperate attempt to distract from the coronavirus pandemic.
Related: Trump deepens 'Obamagate' conspiracy theory with Biden unmasking move
Continue reading...Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce among those who raised objections to the Peter Dutton proposal for regional airport fees
The Morrison government has overhauled cost recovery arrangements for regional airports to conduct security screening to head off a potential revolt by the Nationals in the Senate.
The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick sought on Wednesday night to disallow regulations imposing security screening requirements that he says would have forced small airports to seek cost recovery through increases in landing charges. Patrick said the changes originally proposed by the home affairs minister Peter Dutton could see fares from Whyalla increase by $54 to $70 per passenger.
Continue reading...Trump walks out of press conference; White House staff ordered to wear masks; WHO urges ‘extreme vigilance’ as lockdowns end
Taiwan confirmed no new Covid-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday, keeping the country’s total at 440, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
At a daily press briefing, the health minister and head of the CECC, Chen Shih-chung, said it was also the 30th straight day that no domestically transmitted infections had been recorded in Taiwan, CNA reports.
The United Kingdom’s Covid-19 death toll topped 38,000 at the start of the month, including suspected cases, by far the worst official toll yet in Europe, according to official data published on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it recorded 34,978 Covid-19 related deaths as of 1 May in England and Wales.
Continue reading...