Yahoo Movies Afternoon Update: earthquake casualties could exceed 20,000; BLM protest charges dropped; and a quoll faces extinction
The number of casualties after devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria could exceed 20,000, the World Health Organization says, as rescuers battle with difficult wintry conditions to save thousands still trapped beneath the rubble.
As of writing, 4,365 people have been confirmed dead, but that number is rising by the hour.
Turkey says it has received offers of aid from 45 governments, while prime minister Anthony Albanese pledged “an initial $10m in humanitarian assistance” from Australia.
Coordinating help in Syria will prove more challenging, as some of the worst-affected towns fall under opposition-held areas still in conflict with the Syrian government.
Top news
RBA lifts cash rate to 3.35% | The Reserve Bank has extended its record run of rate hikes, with today’s bump of 25 basis points. The hikes are likely to continue over coming months, the central bank says, “to ensure that inflation returns to target”.
Victoria police withdraw charges against BLM protesters | Black Lives Matter protesters Meriki Onus and Crystal McKinnon had been accused of breaching public health orders by organising a Melbourne protest during a 2020 Covid lockdown. The magistrate formally struck out the charges and ordered Victoria police to cover the reasonable costs of the pair’s defence.
Tony Abbott joins UK climate skeptic thinktank | The former prime minister has joined the board of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which has become known for its consistent attacks on climate science, the risks of global heating and – more recently – policies to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Spotted-tail quoll faces extinction | Numbers of the marsupials in north Queensland have dwindled to critically endangered levels, new research shows. The population has halved from previous estimates of 500 quolls around 25 years ago to 221 adult quolls. After the Tasmanian devil, the spotted-tail quoll is the second-largest carnivorous marsupial.
David Pocock blasts Labor over Nauru | The Albanese government will move to reauthorise offshore immigration detention on Nauru and overturn a court decision that forced it to release about 100 people from onshore detention – moves independent senator David Pocock has described as a “massive fuck-up”. Pocock told Guardian Australia “the last thing” he wants to see “is a return to failed border policies of the past that cost hundreds of lives”.
Scammer who targeted Optus hack avoids jail | Dennis Su, 20, has been slapped with an 18-month community corrections order for trying to scam $2,000 from Optus customers affected by its September data breach.
Prescribing MDMA and psychedelics | From July, Australian psychiatrists will be able to prescribe MDMA (ecstasy) and psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms) for mental health disorders. So who will get the drugs? And how do eligible people get them? We have the answers.
Woman declared dead later found breathing | Is there a worse nightmare than being presumed dead when you’re actually not? That’s what happened to an 82-year-old New York woman, who was pronounced dead at a nursing home, only to be found breathing three hours later as her funeral was being prepared.
Google trials AI chatbot | The success of Microsoft-backed ChatGPT has caught the attention of tech rivals, and they’re wasting no time getting in on the action. Google will be making its own AI chatbot, Bard, available to the public in the coming weeks.
In pictures
There are some truly horrific images coming out of Turkey and Syria – many of which we won’t show for sensitivity reasons. But we have assembled a gallery to capture the devastating impact the earthquake has had on communities along the border region.
What they said …
***
“We hear noises, voices here and there, but most of the time, nothing. There is no one to help save them, there is no support.” – Ali Batel
A resident from the Syrian border town of Jindires recalled the horror of the earthquake. Batel pleaded for international assistance as family members lie under the rubble, with the town lacking the means and equipment to rescue those trapped.
In numbers
The RBA signalled today it expects the cash rate to rise by at least another half percentage point.
Before bed read
Where do you sit on the long-haired men ledger? Men have been letting it flow for, well, a couple million years. But what is it about long hair on certain men that just looks all wrong?
“Perhaps emboldened by men growing it out during the pandemic and then deciding to hold on to what they’ve got, long hair is having a moment just as soon as it’s being chopped away.”
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