Hi there. It's Monday, October 10 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.
One thing to know: Casualties have been reported after explosions in Ukrainian cities
Several explosions have rocked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv — as well as Dnipro in central Ukraine and the cities of Lviv, Ternopil and Zhytomyr in the country's west — after Russia accused Ukraine of orchestrating a powerful blast that damaged a key bridge linking Russia and Crimea.
The number of casualties is not yet known.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there were dead and wounded, and accused Russia of trying to wipe his country "off the face of the Earth".
"The air raid sirens do not subside throughout Ukraine. There are missiles hitting. Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded," he said on the Telegram messaging app.
There were several explosions in Kyiv, the city's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said, after months of relative calm in the capital.
He said the explosions were reported in the city's Shevchenko district, a large area in the centre of Kyiv, which includes the historic old town, as well as several government offices.
Vision from the scene showed images of damaged cars, roads and buildings.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of orchestrating a powerful blast on the weekend that damaged a bridge linking Russia and Crimea, describing the explosion as an "act of terrorism".
The blast on the bridge across the Kerch Strait — a key supply route for Moscow's forces in southern Ukraine — had prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials over the weekend, but no claim of responsibility.
"There is no doubt. This is an act of terrorism aimed at destroying critically important civilian infrastructure," Mr Putin said in a video on the Kremlin's Telegram channel. "This was devised, carried out and ordered by the Ukrainian special services."
Alexander Bastrykin — the head of Russia's Investigative Committee — said Ukrainian special services and citizens of Russia and other countries took part in the act.
Today we heard Australia is facing more cyclones and floods
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) released its severe weather outlook today, covering the period from October 2022 to April 2023.
Here's what it says Australians can expect in the coming months:
- An increased risk of widespread flooding for eastern and northern Australia
- An increased risk of an above-average number of tropical cyclones and tropical lows
- Normal bushfire potential in eastern states but an elevated risk of grass fire in southern Australia
- Increased risk of prolonged heatwaves in southern areas, along with higher humidity
- A normal risk of severe thunderstorms, but a possible increased risk of thunderstorm asthma events if conditions are dry in late spring and early summer.
These wet and wild conditions are being fuelled by the combination of La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole in the west.
Here's how the BOM explains what we should expect:
News you might have missed
- New government analysis has found numerous program delays are placing surging cost pressures on the Defence budget, with at least 28 major Defence projects running a cumulative 97 years late. Defence Minister Richard Marles said the former Morrison government saw "key projects blow out in both cost and time" and said Labor would carry out "prudent management of the Defence budget"
- Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins was unavailable for today's continuation of the trial of her former-colleague Bruce Lehrmann over her alleged rape. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Mr Lehrmann's lawyers began cross-examining Ms Higgins last week, and were expected to continue today. Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said the trial would resume, but that the prosecution needed time to gather other witnesses
- Australian adults can get Moderna's Omicron COVID-19 booster from today. It's the first combination COVID-19 booster to be introduced to Australia's vaccine program, and contains vaccines against the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and the BA.1 Omicron sub-variant. You can learn more about who can get it and how, right here.
Here's what Australia has been searching for online
There's been a lot of soccer news popping up in the search trends today, including:
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Iker Casillas. The Spanish former goalkeeper claimed his Twitter account had been hacked after a post saying he was gay received a lot of attention before it was deleted. "I hope I'll be respected: I'm gay," stated the tweet, along with the hashtag "HappySunday," also in Spanish. Casillas's former Spain teammate, Carles Puyol, replied: "It's time to tell our story, Iker." After Casillas's tweet was deleted, his account tweeted: "Hacked account. Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And, of course, more apologies to the LGBT community." It was all widely seen as a cruel joke, with Adelaide United midfielder Josh Cavallo — who announced last year that he is gay — criticising the posts
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West Ham vs Fulham. Fulham manager Marco Silva felt West Ham United's last two goals in Sunday's 3-1 defeat should not have stood as Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio were guilty of handballs. Scamacca appeared to lightly brush his hand against the ball before he chipped the goalkeeper to give West Ham a 2-1 lead and did not celebrate as he looked worryingly at the linesman, but the goal was allowed to stand after a lengthy VAR check. In added time, substitute Antonio handled the ball before he profited from a defensive mix-up to score West Ham's third but it was not caught by the referee.
One more thing: There's been a Fat Bear Week voting scandal
It turns out even the cutest of polls can be messed with, as the organisers of Fat Bear Week now know all too well.
For the uninitiated, Fat Bear Week is a competition in which members of the public vote for their favourite bear in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve, where the animals are captured on live webcams fattening themselves up before their winter hibernation.
Organisers from the nature webcam site explore.org say they've seen "a scandal for the ages" after something fishy happened with the votes while bear 435 was going up against bear 747 in this year's first semi-final.
After a surge of votes for bear 435, who is known as Holly, organisers said they undertook a review and found someone had "stuffed the ballot box".
They announced that the bear known as 747 was the real winner, that "fake votes" had been discarded and all of the past days' votes had been reviewed.
And just look at 747's startling transformation from "skinny bear" to "bear who is almost the size of an actual 747" …
And just look at how excited he was to win following today's vote review …
The Fat Bear Week final is expected to take place on Tuesday in the US — so some time on Wednesday, Australian time — and we'll keep you across it.
You can also learn more about Fat Bear Week in our interview with naturalist Mike Fitz below.
You're up to date!
We'll be back tomorrow with more, if you can bear it.
ABC/wires
