This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happens.
Key events
- UPDATE: Biden pledges 'advanced air systems' to Ukraine, condemns 'senseless' attack
- BREAKING: Delays at Melbourne airport after passenger skips security
- One thing to know now: Zelenskyy says air defences 'number one priority' in call with Biden
- More news while you snoozed: Iran workers strike
- News Australia is searching for:
- One more thing: Selena Gomez shares trailer for her upcoming doco
- Let's set you up for the day
Live updates
By Peta Fuller
That's it for The Loop this morning
If you're catching up now, here's what you need to know this morning:
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Joe Biden has pledged that the US will provide Ukraine with advanced air systems after a devastating missile barrage from Russia
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A security breach at Melbourne Airport has caused flight delays this morning as 'thousands' of passengers wait to be re-screened
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And Iranian security forces have intensified a crackdown on anti-government protests in several Kurdish cities, as demonstrations elsewhere in Iran spread into the country's vital energy sector
You can keep up-to-date on other news on the ABC's website, by watching News Channel or listening to local radio here, and by subscribing to our mobile alerts.
By Peta Fuller
Sexual assault rates rise for young women and girls
It's International Day of the Girl — but new figures reveal there's a long way to go to reduce gender-based violence across the globe.
Plan International has released its latest survey of almost 29,000 girls and women worldwide, aged between 15 and 24.
Plan's CEO Susanne Legena says some of the results of the survey are very disappointing:
"Sexual assault rates for this age group are up 22% in the decade rates of hospitalisation from self-harm are the highest for this age group across all age groups and genders thats showing us that we aren't advancing as quickly as we would like on gender-based violence as we would have hoped."
By Peta Fuller
Nobel winner discovered his prize by... checking the website
So the Economic Nobel prize was awarded overnight — and it turns out one of the winners found out by *checking the website*.
Philip Dybvig shared the prize with former US Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke and Douglas W. Diamond (their research showed why "avoiding bank collapses is vital") — but he didn't know about the accolade until
"When my alarm went off, I noticed that I had hundreds of different kinds of messages and I thought, 'Wow, this is Nobel time. Lightning didn't strike, did it?' And I checked the Nobel Prize website," Dybvig said.
Dybvigand Diamond won for their research on how regulating banks and propping up failing lenders with public cash can stave off an even deeper economic crisis, such as the Great Depression of the 1930s.
By Peta Fuller
It's 'Fat Bear' week - and the 'big one' is coming up
If you've missed *all* of this, we're talking about the ballooning popularity of Fat Bear Week in the US — where people vote for the bear with the "fattest" transformation, like "Grazer" here:
We heard the latest from one of the park rangers on News Breakfast this morning, saying just how popular this has become:
"Let's just say when it started in 2014, it was just Fat Bear Tuesday and we had 1,600 votes approximately during the contest. Last year, we added Fat Bear junior, there is a competition for cubs earlier in the month and then we had over 800,000 votes. It has ballooned in popularity and now we are hoping for over a million this year," she said.
The final two will go head to head today, US time (which is 10am AEDT tomorrow), so the "big" winner is about to be revealed.
By Peta Fuller
Ukraine's ambassador calls Russia's attack 'horrendous'
As Ukraine is reeling from one the most intense air strikes since the war began, its ambassador to Australia has spoken to the ABC.
Vasyl Myroshnychenko says the strikes were "horrendous" and have been very damaging:
"Russia has sent over 80 cruise missiles at different cities in Ukraine about 14 of those deliberatley hitting critical infrastructure electricity power generation there are blackouts in many cities right now."
By Peta Fuller
UPDATE: Melbourne Airport screening resumed but delays 'expected'
This is the latest from the airport, about 30 minutes ago:
And if you aren't there yourself, here's a bit of what it's like on the ground:
By Peta Fuller
UPDATE: Biden pledges 'advanced air systems' to Ukraine, condemns 'senseless' attack
Joe Biden has pledged to Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the US will provide Ukraine with advanced air systems after a devastating missile barrage from Russia.
Mr Biden gave assurances about continued US support and condemned the "senseless attacks" from Russia that hit civilian targets.
"President Biden pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defence systems," a White House statement on the phone call said.
The US has provided more than $16.8 billion in security assistance since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, along with sanctions on Russia.
By Peta Fuller
Mars life forms might have triggered own demise
It's not the happiest science news this morning but it is interesting...
Ancient Mars may have had an environment capable of harbouring an underground world teeming with microscopic life, according to French scientists
But if they existed, these simple organisms would have altered the atmosphere so profoundly that they triggered a Martian Ice Age and snuffed themselves out.
Boris Sauterey, the study's lead author, said the results “are a bit gloomy, but I think they are also very stimulating."
"They challenge us to rethink the way a biosphere and its planet interact."
In a study in the journal Nature Astronomy, Sauterey and his team said they used climate and terrain models to evaluate the habitability of the Martian crust some 4 billion years ago when the red planet was thought to be flush with water and much more hospitable than today.
By Peta Fuller
Harvey Weinstein on trial *again* today, could face an extra 140 years in jail
Disgraced Hollywood director Harvey Weinstein is facing 11 further charges of abuse in the LA trial.
The 70-year-old movie producer is currently serving 23 years in jail in New York, after being convicted there for sexual assaults, including rape.
The latest charges include allegations he assaulted and raped women in Los Angeles hotels between 2004 and 2013, which he denies.
If convicted, Weinstein could face 140 additional years behind bars.
By Peta Fuller
'We were a minute away from taking off': Passenger on Melbourne Airport delays
Passenger Tim Joyce was on ABC's News Breakfast this morning from Melbourne Airport, saying the breach happened around 6am today, forcing the evacuation:
Tim Joyce: A customer, somebody flipped through security. Australian Federal Police were advised and they shut down the terminal, essentially. We were a minute away from taking off. And they took us all off the plane. There's thousands of people out here waiting. They've now cleared it. They've now cleared and they're putting people back through.
Lisa Millar: Where did you go?
TJ: Every single person that has been through screening, including staff, were told to leave the terminal and go back to be rescreened. And the screening staff members, they're doing it initially now and then rescreening everybody based on their boarding. So hopefully I'm one of the first to get rescreened.
By Peta Fuller
BREAKING: Delays at Melbourne airport after passenger skips security
If you're flying out of Melbourne this morning, Qantas flights have been delayed after a security breach at Terminal one.
The airline says it's believed a passenger inadvertently passed from an 'unscreened' area to a 'screened' part of the airport — forcing everyone to be re-screened.
The incident is being investigated.
And this about sums up the feeling there today:
By Peta Fuller
One thing to know now: Zelenskyy says air defences 'number one priority' in call with Biden
Ukraine's president has just spoken to US president Joe Biden in the hours after Russia's cruise missile attacks.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said air defences were the "number one priority in our defence cooperation".
Mr Zelenskyy also just delivered an update:
"Unfortunately, twelve people were killed today as a result of this terrorist attack. More than 80 were wounded or injured. Everyone asking for aid will receive it.
"Out of 84 Russian missiles, which were fired atUkraine, 43 were shot down. Out of 24 drones, 13 were shot down. And even after that, every 10 minutes, I receive messages about shooting down Iranian Shahed [drones]."
He recorded his earlier address to the nation on the streets of Kyiv, after the bombing:
"They seek panic and chaos. But we are Ukrainians. Helping each other. We believe in ourselves. We restore everything that was destroyed. Now there may be temporary interruptions in electricity, but there will never be interruptions with certainty - the certainty of victory."
By Peta Fuller
More news while you snoozed: Iran workers strike
Iranian security forces have intensified a crackdown on anti-government protests in several Kurdish cities, as demonstrations elsewhere in Iran spread into the country's vital energy sector.
Unconfirmed reports on social media showed workers at Abadan and Kangan oil refineries and the Bushehr Petrochemical Project had joined in:
A combination of mass protests and strikes by oil workers helped to sweep the clergy to power four decades ago.
By Peta Fuller
News Australia is searching for:
- Belarus: The president has claimed that Ukraine, NATO, and what he called "certain European countries", are all planning to launch an attack on Belarussian territory — and he's ordered the country's troops to deploy with Russian forces to respond to what he's described as "a clear threat".
By Peta Fuller
One more thing: Selena Gomez shares trailer for her upcoming doco
The pop star has released a snippet of the Apple TV show, revealing how she's been working her "whole life... since I was a kid" and some of the pressure she's faced:
"Just be who you are, Selena. No one cares about what you’re doing. It’s about who I am, being okay with where I am. I am grateful to be alive."
You can check it out here:
By Peta Fuller
Let's set you up for the day
From Ukraine's president on the latest casualties from Russia's mass strike "revenge" (and Biden's defences pledge) to Melbourne airport delays, and Selena Gomez sharing a sneak peek at a new doco, here's what you need to know this morning.
