Good morning. Ukrainian officials have accused Moscow of forcibly deporting thousands of people from Mariupol to Russia, as Turkey says a peace deal between the two countries is close. In Australia, Peter Malinauskas is due to be sworn in as South Australia’s new premier, and paramedics are set to take industrial action in New South Wales.
Forced civilian deportations from Mariupol to Russia are “disturbing” and “unconscionable” if true, the United States has said, after Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of transporting thousands of people against their will out of the devastated port city. Though Turkey’s foreign minister has claimed a peace deal between the two countries is “close”, skepticism among western countries about Putin’s intentions remains. Meanwhile, Germany has agreed a contract with Qatar for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) that will help the European country wean itself off its dependency on Russian energy.
In Australia, the government has banned the sale of alumina and aluminium ores to Russia in response to what it described as “unrelenting and illegal aggression” towards Ukraine. On Sunday, the prime minister Scott Morrison announced Australia would donate coal and further military equipment to Ukraine to “support the brave and courageous resistance” as part of a new aid package that also includes $30m in emergency humanitarian assistance.
The SA election result should have Morrison’s Coalition “trembling” ahead of the federal poll, Labor says, after Malinauskas became the first opposition leader to defeat an incumbent government since the start of the pandemic. The outgoing premier, Steven Marshall, announced on Sunday he would step down as Liberal leader after the landslide loss to Labor, saying he “takes full responsibility for the result” and accepts “the will of the people”. The prime minister sought to downplay what the resounding Labor win in SA could mean on a federal level, saying Anthony Albanese doesn’t match up to his state colleagues.
Australia
Fifty-one asylum seekers who were brought to Australia for medical treatment continue to languish in detention in Australia, including 18 in the Park hotel in Melbourne, with no indication of when they might be released, according to a prominent refugee support group.
Soaring commodity prices and a shrinking jobless rate will combine to slice almost $90bn from projected federal budget deficits out to 2024-25, although excessive pre-election promises would undermine the government’s fiscal repair efforts, according to Chris Richardson, a senior economist at Deloitte.
A toxic chemical released from tyres as they wear down on roads and implicated in mass deaths of salmon in the US has been found in an Australian waterway for the first time.
Teachers at Brisbane religious school Citipointe Christian College are being asked to sign employment contracts that warn they could be sacked for being openly homosexual.
The world
The US is likely to see an increase in Covid cases like that in Europe and the UK thanks to the BA.2 virus subvariant but not a dangerous surge, Anthony Fauci said on Sunday.
Worshippers at a mosque in Toronto subdued an allegedly axe-wielding man who police say attacked people with bear spray during a dawn prayer service.
Police investigating the death of Sabita Thanwani, 19, at a student flat in London over the weekend have arrested a man.
Ministers in the UK are looking “sympathetically” at plans to stop the government buying health goods made in China’s Xinjiang province when the health and social care bill returns to the House of Commons later this month. The move would be a first sign that the UK government is willing to toughen its approach to authoritarian regimes in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
Recommended reads
A commitment to fly the Aboriginal flag permanently atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge was the pinnacle of relentless campaigning by Cheree Toka, a young Kamilaroi woman. “I looked up as we were driving over the bridge and saw the Aboriginal flag wasn’t there – just the NSW and Australian flags,” Toka tells Guardian Australia. “I remember getting riled and saying to my friends ‘this country is so messed up sometimes’.”
There are so many things to learn and so much knowledge that seems to be embedded in your bones when caring for children. Some skills and approach to child-rearing comes from a visceral instinct and there are thousands of books and social media accounts that offer advice and doctrines about how to do it right. But there are a few things that Emily Mulligan wishes someone had told her. Here, she shares her hard-earned wisdom.
Over four novels, the award-winning Australian author Steven Carroll has picked apart TS Eliot and his relationships with women – but felt moved to give the poet’s first wife Vivienne a happier end.
Listen
On paper, the company does not exist: there is no company registration for the Wagner Group, no tax returns, no recruitment office. Officially, private military companies remain illegal in Russia.
But those who have followed the group’s activities since its founding in 2014 – when it was used to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine – say that after successful incursions in Syria and several countries in Africa, it is now playing an important role in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Pjotr Sauer has reported on the Wagner Group for the Guardian and he recently interviewed Marat Gabidullin, a former mercenary who joined the group in 2015. He tells Nosheen Iqbal that Wagner is an unofficial foreign policy tool of the Kremlin.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Australia’s athletics team is celebrating a double medal success at the world indoor championships in Belgrade with high jumper Eleanor Patterson soaring to silver and Ash Moloney battling to heptathlon bronze as Yaroslava Mahuchikh won gold after fleeing Ukraine.
Media roundup
The ABC has interviewed Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, who says Russia’s attack on Ukraine threatens the rest of the world. The ABC has conducted 16 investigations into conduct of staff on social media since last August, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Coming up
Peter Malinauskas, the new SA premier, is set to be sworn in.
And if you’ve read this far …
The 10 best Bluey episodes, for both kids and parents – sorted.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com.
Discover Australian Weekend
Every Saturday at 6am, enjoy early access to the best journalism planned for the weekend in one elegant app, plus a curated selection of the week’s news and analysis from Australia and the world.
