Good morning, it's Tuesday, March 15. Here's what you need to get going today.
One thing to know right now: A convoy has made it out of besieged Mariupol
But the city's deputy mayor has stressed it was an unofficial move. Here's the lowdown:
- A convoy of at least 160 cars left the city in the first successful attempt to arrange a humanitarian corridor out of the encircled Ukrainian city after more than a week of trying.
- Russia is claiming the mass evacuation of people from Mariupol has started, via 10 humanitarian corridors.
- Mariupol's deputy mayor Sergei Orlov says those that left the city today were not part of an official evacuation convoy and were leaving at their own risk:
- And for those left behind, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned the "worst-case scenario" is yet to come if aid doesn't reach the city — and a few hours ago, senior Ukrainian presidential official Kyrylo Tymoshenko accused Russia of blocking a humanitarian aid convoy sent to relieve the city.
- Meanwhile, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has raised "deep" concerns about China's alignment with Russia in an "intense" seven-hour conversation with China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi, a senior official of the Biden administration said.
- And Russian forces have been bearing down on Kyiv from the north-east and north-west, but have made little progress so far towards the capital itself, despite heavy fighting that has reduced suburbs on its outskirts to rubble. In Kyiv itself, an apartment block was hit by a missile overnight, killing at least one person, officials said.
One thing you’ll be hearing about today: Kids climate case decision
The full bench of the Federal Court is making a call on this today — here's what's happened already:
- They already had a win in May last year — the group of eight young Australians argued duty of care existed and also applied for an injunction to be granted to stop the federal minister from approving Whitehaven's extension to its Vickery coal mine in NSW, on the basis that it would exacerbate climate change and cause serious harm to them in the future.
- Justice Mordecai Bromberg agreed the minister had the duty of care to protect young people from climate change — but the application for an injunction was dismissed on technical grounds.
- Today we're expecting the decision on the government's appeal (which was heard last year) — if that "duty of care" is upheld, it would be a world-first law (but there's still High Court appeals as an option).
News while you snoozed
Let's get you up to speed.
- Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has failed in his final legal bid in the UK to avoid extradition to the United States to face espionage charges. Britain's top Court said it refused to hear the case because it "didn’t raise an arguable point of law" — he could still go to the European Court of Human Rights.
- Facebook's parent company Meta will have dedicated staff monitoring violent and abusive threats hurled at Australia's politicians on its platforms during this year's federal election campaign.
The news Australia is searching for
- #PAKvAUS: Australia holds a massive 489-run lead after three days of the second Test against Pakistan in Karachi, electing not to enforce the follow-on after they dismissed the home side for 148.
- Elon Musk Putin: Check these tweets from the billionaire. Fill in the non-english parts with "Vladimir Putin" and "Ukraine" and you'll get the drift:
One more thing: Dolly Parton has pulled out of nomination for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The star has announced she'll turn it down, saying:
Eminem, Beck, A Tribe Called Quest, Carly Simon and Duran Duran are all still on the list.
The country music icon has turned down other awards in the past, including a Presidential medal of freedom from Donald Trump.
You can read her whole statement here:
That's it for now
We'll be back later on with more.
ABC/wires
