Good morning. Senior European Union officials are worried about a deepening alliance forming between Russia and China. Families in Victoria earning up to $132,000 will be able to rent homes from the state government. And flood-hit regions in New South Wales have been left reeling from the latest devastation as rains finally ease.
European Union leaders are being urged to tell China it will face sanctions if it offers military aid to Russia for the war in Ukraine, amid concerns about a deepening authoritarian alliance that threatens the rules-based international order. Senior EU and Chinese leaders are expected to hold discussions on Friday at a video summit that is likely to be dominated by the war. EU diplomats said the the bloc’s representatives needed to pass on a message that Beijing would pay a price for any intervention in support of Russia’s war. Current sanctions on Russian oligarchs and officials, however, do not appear to be stopping them from flying into and out of EU and UK airports despite flight bans and sanctions imposed, a Guardian data investigation has found.
