International News
Flood: Over 50,000 Stranded In Eastern Australia
Rising floodwaters stranded more than 50,000 people in eastern Australia on Thursday, as torrential rain pummelled water-logged towns for a second day and engorged rivers swallowed roads, leaving two dead.
Police have pulled two bodies from floodwaters on the Mid North Coast, a river-braided region of rugged hills and fertile valleys about 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Sydney.
Authorities launched a major search and rescue mission as people clambered atop cars, houses and highway bridges to escape the tide of muddy water.
The storms have in some areas dumped more than half a year’s worth of rain over just three days, the government weather bureau said.
“I must also say that we’re bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours. This natural disaster has been terrible for this community,” New South Wales (NSW) state premier Chris Minns told reporters on Thursday.
The town of Kempsey — a farming hub on the banks of the Macleay River — had been cut off with little warning, Mayor Kinne Ring told AFP.
“You often think of rain on tin roof as relaxing, but at the moment it is deafening and horrible,” Ring said.
“The downpours are torrential and every time it rains, you wonder what is going to happen next.”
Ring said more than 20,000 people were isolated in her local government area alone.
About 140 kilometres south in the town of Taree, business owner Jeremy Thornton said the “gut-wrenching” flood was among the worst he had seen.
“It is pretty tough, we’ve had a few moments but you have to suck it up and push on,” he told AFP.
“We are reliving it every second — hearing the rain, hearing the helicopters, hearing the siren.”
Authorities said more than 50,000 people were cut off with some rivers still to reach peak levels late on Thursday.
An elderly couple climbed on to the roof of their car to escape a fast-rising flash flood before a rescue helicopter winched them to safety, NSW police in Taree said in a statement.
Others sought sanctuary on a raised highway bridge before they were spotted and rescued by a navy Seahawk chopper.
Locals spotted dead cows washing up on beaches after swollen rivers swept them from their pastures inland.
The government has declared the emergency a natural disaster, unlocking greater resources for impacted areas.
Police said they were still searching for two people reported missing.
‘Abnormally warm’
From the arid outback to the tropical coast, swaths of Australia have recently been pummelled by wild weather.
The oceans surrounding Australia have been “abnormally warm” in recent months, according to the weather bureau.
Warmer seas evaporate more moisture into the atmosphere, which can eventually lead to more intense rains.
Although difficult to link to specific disasters, scientists warn that climate change is already fuelling more extreme weather patterns.
“I don’t think there is a question that climate change is having a significant impact on weather events right across the world,” emergency management minister Kristy McBain told reporters.
“In Australia, we’re not immune to that. We’re seeing more devastating events like this happen more frequently.”
About 2,500 emergency workers have been deployed to the region, alongside rescue boats, a fleet of helicopters and hundreds of search drones.
“We aren’t over the worst of it yet,” McBain said.
Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Steve Bernasconi said some towns had recorded more than half a metre (1.6 feet) of rain in the space of three days.
But he said rain was expected to slowly taper off late Thursday night when the weather system moved south.
AFP
Hundreds of British teenagers will trial social media bans and time limits on apps as part of consultations over new measures to keep children safe online, the government announced Wednesday.
The pilot comes as the government seeks views from parents on whether to follow Australia and issue a blanket ban on social media for children under 16.
Three hundred youngsters aged 13 to 17 will try out different restrictions on social media use over six weeks to gauge the impact on their schoolwork, sleep and family life.
Some will have their social media apps disabled entirely, while others will have no access to them overnight, said the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
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A young student uses her mobile phone at a public school in Planaltina
A third group will have a one-hour-per-day cap on the most popular apps for teenagers, including Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The results will be compared to a fourth set of children who will continue to receive unlimited access.
“We are determined to give young people the childhood they deserve and to prepare them for the future,” said technology minister Liz Kendall.
“These pilots will give us the evidence we need to take the next steps, informed by the experiences of families themselves.”
Australia in December became the first nation to prohibit people under the age of 16 from using immensely popular and profitable social media platforms.
Several other countries are considering similar bans, including France where lawmakers in January passed a bill that would prohibit use by under-15s, which still needs final approval.
The British government has launched a consultation on a potential Australia-style ban, which will also look at measures including age restrictions and banning addictive features like scrolling.
Earlier this month, British MPs struck down proposals by the upper House of Lords chamber to ban social media for under-16s while it awaits the outcome of the consultation, due to close on May 26.
British public figures including actor Hugh Grant have urged the government to back a prohibition, saying parents alone cannot counter social media harms.
But some experts warn restrictions could be easily circumvented and would rather that tech platforms focus on making their sites safer.
Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not ruled out a ban.
Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike had killed Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ navy.
“Last night, in a precise and lethal operation, the IDF eliminated the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy, Tangsiri, along with senior officers of the naval command,” Katz said in a video statement.
“The man who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to shipping was blown up and eliminated.”
Since the start of the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, Israel has announced the killing of several top Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic republic’s powerful security chief, Ali Larijani.
In recent days, Israeli forces have carried out several strikes targeting the naval assets of Iran.
Last week, Israeli airstrikes hit several Iranian naval ships in the Caspian Sea, including ones equipped with missile systems, support vessels and patrol craft.
AFP
US President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that Iran was taking part in peace talks, suggesting Tehran’s denials were because Iranian negotiators fear being killed by their own side.
“They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly. But they’re afraid to say it, because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people,” Trump told a dinner for Republican members of Congress.
“They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us.”
The US leader’s comments came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “we do not intend to negotiate”.
Trump repeated his assertion that Iran was being “decimated” in the conflict now in its fourth week, even though Tehran still maintains an effective stranglehold over the crucial Strait of Hormuz oil route.
Lashing out at his domestic opponents, Trump also claimed Democrats were trying to “deflect from all of the tremendous success that we’re having in this military operation.”
In a mocking reference to calls from Democrats for him to seek the approval of Congress for the conflict, Trump added: “They don’t like the word ‘war,’ because you’re supposed to get approval, so I’ll use the word military operation.”
The White House said earlier that Trump was ready to “unleash hell” if Iran did not admit defeat, while also insisting that Tehran is still taking part in talks.
Iranian state media had earlier cited an unidentified official as saying that the Islamic republic had responded “negatively” to a reported 15-point plan from Washington.
‘Talks continue’
“If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
“President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again.”
Asked if negotiations with Iran had stalled, Leavitt replied: “Talks continue. They are productive.”
Leavitt declined to say whom the US was dealing with in Tehran following the assassination of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, whose son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public.
Reports have suggested the Trump administration’s interlocutor is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s speaker of parliament and one of its most prominent non-clerical figures.
The spokeswoman also declined to confirm reports that top US officials including Vice President JD Vance were set to hold talks with the Iranians in Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator.
Trump is moving thousands of airborne troops and extra marines to the Gulf amid speculation that he might order a ground invasion to either seize Iranian oil assets in the Gulf or secure the Strait of Hormuz.
The White House meanwhile appeared to stick to the four to six-week timeline it has previously given for the war.
Trump announced Wednesday that his visit to China to meet Xi Jinping had now been rescheduled for mid-May, having postponed it by six weeks to deal with the conflict.
“We’ve always estimated approximately four to six weeks (for the length of military operations against Iran), so you could do the math on that,” Leavitt added.
AFP
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