More than 200 whales have been found stranded on a remote beach on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia. Half of the pod, thought to be pilot whales, are believed to be still alive. Rescuers are being sent to the area. It’s unclear what caused the whales to beach on a sandflat at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour, the same remote location where Australia’s worst stranding occurred two years ago. It comes a day after a separate mass stranding in northern Tasmania. The incident on Tuesday saw 14 young sperm whales found dead on King Island, in the Bass Strait. Experts were planning a rescue of the 230 whales discovered on Wednesday but the operation would be “complex” due to the location, Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment said in a statement. “It appears about half of the animals are alive.” Macquarie Harbour is a large, shallow inlet in a rural area. More of the whales are expected to die overnight.(BBC)…[+]
english news
Germany nationalises gas giant amid energy crisis
Germany is to nationalise gas giant Uniper in an effort to secure energy supplies amid the war in Ukraine. The deal will see the German government take on a 98.5% stake in the firm at a cost of €8.5bn (£7.4bn). Germany is Europe’s biggest importer of Russian gas, and has been particularly squeezed as Russia has reduced supplies in recent months. Chief executive Klaus-Dieter Maubach said the deal would help Uniper’s role as “a system-critical energy supplier”. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine it supplied Europe with about 40% of its natural gas, and has responded to Western sanctions by gradually cutting off supplies. At the start of this month, it halted supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, claiming repairs were needed – but later said supplies would not resume until sanctions were lifted. Uniper is the biggest buyer of Russian gas in Germany. In recent months it has had to replace Russian supplies with alternatives from the open market, where prices have soared. Uniper’s Finnish owner Fortum said the company has accumulated close to €8.5bn (£7.4bn) in gas-related losses “and cannot continue to fulfil its role as a critical provider of security of supply as a privately-owned company”.(BBC)…[+]
Danish queen tests positive for Covid day after Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral
The Queen of Denmark has tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time this year, the Danish Royal Court has confirmed. Queen Margrethe II has cancelled her appointments for this week after the diagnosis on Tuesday evening. The 82-year-old monarch was one of 2,000 guests who attended Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral on Monday. She is Europe’s longest-serving head of state following the British monarch’s death. She and Queen Elizabeth were third cousins, both being descended from Queen Victoria. Queen Margrethe has been vaccinated against Covid and last tested positive in February this year when she presented mild symptoms. In a statement on the palace website, a spokesperson said she would be recovering at Fredensborg Palace, north of Copenhagen.(BBC)…[+]
Justin Trudeau’s team defends singing Bohemian Rhapsody before Queen’s funeral
Justin Trudeau’s office has defended the Canadian PM, after he was filmed singing by a piano in a London hotel, two days before the Queen’s funeral. In a video shared on social media, the prime minister can be seen singing Bohemian Rhapsody by the British rock band, Queen. The Queen was Canada’s head of state, and Mr Trudeau designated 19 September a national day of mourning in Canada. Critics accused the PM of a lack of respect – but others defended him. The video has been shared on social media, but while a spokesperson for the prime minister confirmed it was genuine, it is not clear who filmed it. It was taken at the Corinthia, where the Canadian delegation was staying, on the evening of Saturday 17 September. Mr Trudeau can be seen in a T-shirt, leaning on a piano as Gregory Charles, a musician from Quebec and recipient of the Order of Canada, plays Bohemian Rhapsody.(BBC)…[+]
Mudslides and flooding as typhoon batters Japan
Rescue workers in Japan have warned of mudslides and flooding after one of the biggest storms in recent decades battered the country. Typhoon Nanmadol killed at least four people and injured more than 100 others after making landfall on the southern island of Kyushu on Sunday morning. By Tuesday, 140,000 homes were still without electricity. The storm has now been downgraded to a cyclone, after moving across much of the country and heading out to sea. State broadcaster NHK said one man was killed when his car was submerged in flooding, and another died after being buried in a landslide. Two more people were found “without vital signs”, a term often used to refer to a death before it is certified by a coroner. At least 114 people have been injured, 14 of them seriously. The super typhoon brought gusts of up to 234km/h (145mph), destroying homes, and disrupting transport and businesses. It is equivalent to a category four or five hurricane.(BBC)…[+]
Children killed after Myanmar army helicopters fire at school
At least 11 children have been killed and 15 more are missing after army helicopters shot at a school in northern Myanmar, Unicef has said. Troops and helicopter gunships opened fire last Friday on the temple school in Sagaing region, a rebel stronghold. Myanmar’s military government said it had been an attack on insurgents they claimed were hiding in the school in Let Yet Kone village. The school’s students ranged from those in kindergarten to young teenagers. The BBC’s Burmese service had earlier confirmed that at least six children were killed – two boys aged seven and 14 and three girls aged seven, nine and 11. Another boy, aged 13, was hit by a bullet while fishing nearby with his father. Most of the children’s bodies were taken away by military troops, they said. Six adult villagers were also killed on the day by troops, said BBC Burmese, including five men and one woman.(BBC)…[+]
French air traffic control strike affects thousands of passengers
Tens of thousands of passengers are set to be affected by a French air traffic control strike on Friday. Ryanair has cancelled 420 flights, most of which were scheduled to fly over France, affecting 80,000 passengers. EasyJet has cut 76 flights, British Airways has cancelled 22, while Air France said it would only run 45% of its short-haul flights. Separately, on Monday 15% of Heathrow Airport’s schedule will be altered during Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral. To ensure the skies over London fall quiet during the events, there will be flight cancellations, including 100 British Airways flights and four Virgin Atlantic flights.(BBC)…[+]
Italy: Floods and rain kill at least 10 overnight – officials
At least 10 people have died after flash floods hit the Italian region of Marche overnight, authorities said. Torrential rain falling late on Thursday caused rivers and streams to overflow and inundate coastal towns around the regional capital of Ancona. Around 400mm (16 inches) of rain – half a year’s worth – were recorded in just a few hours. Rescuers are still searching for four others, including a child who was separated when a river burst its banks. “It was like an earthquake.” said local mayor Ludovico Caverni to RAI state radio. According to one local report, a mother who managed to escape her car with her child in her arms became separated from him after being overwhelmed by water when the River Misa burst its banks. Emergency workers managed to rescue the woman overnight but her six-year-old child is one of several still missing, local outlets report.(BBC)…[+]
Lakhimpur: India family shattered by rape and murder of Dalit sisters
Days after two sisters were found hanging from a tree in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a post-mortem has reportedly confirmed that the girls were raped and murdered. The BBC’s Geeta Pandey reports from the girls’ village in Lakhimpur district where their families are trying to come to terms with their colossal loss. Torrential rains have lashed the region since Wednesday night, muddying the narrow path to their home in Tamoli Purva village, just over 200km (124 miles) from the state capital Lucknow.
The gloom inside the two-room home perfectly mirrors the grey skies outside. Here sits the Dalit (formerly known as untouchables) family of two sisters – 17 and 15 – whose lives were brutally cut short, when they were raped and strangled to death in a sugarcane field, not far away from their home. Their mother, the only witness to her daughters’ kidnappings by three men who came on a motorbike on Wednesday afternoon, sits on a rope bed, surrounded by female relatives. She is inconsolable.(BBC)…[+]
Texas sends migrants to vice-president’s Washington residence
Two buses carrying migrants were sent from Texas to just outside Vice-President Kamala Harris’s residence in Washington DC on Thursday, amid a growing political row over immigration. The state’s Republican governor said the move was intentional and called for tighter immigration policies. It comes a day after Florida sent migrants to a Massachusetts island. Both states appear to be escalating a tactic which has seen Republican states send migrants to Democratic areas. As political tension over the number of people arriving at the US-Mexico border grows, states such as Texas and Arizona have sent thousands of migrants to cities such as Chicago, New York and Washington DC which they accuse of failing to fully enforce immigration laws. While legal experts say the tactic will likely be challenged in court, it remains unclear what the legal basis for such a challenge would be.(BBC)…[+]
