A juvenile humpback whale has been found dead after becoming entangled in a shark net off the New South Wales coast.
The 8-metre whale, estimated to be two years old, was found wrapped in netting north of Wollongong on Tuesday, in waters between Coledale and Wombarra.
Playwright Bess Wohl looks back on her mother’s activism in a moving and cleverly constructed look at how to balance the personal and the political
Though not listed in the program, Liberation, an inventive and resonant new play by Bess Wohl, possesses a subtitle: A Memory Play About Things I Don’t Remember. The line presumably refers to the personal nature of the show, based in part on the life of Wohl’s mother, Lisa Cronin Wohl, who worked for Ms Magazine in New York during Wohl’s early years, but it also applies to the conversations at hand, within a women’s lib group in small-town Ohio, 1970. On the basketball court of a local rec center, six women hit the blinkered beats of second-wave feminism – workplace inequalities, consciousness raising, The Feminine Mystique – that many in the audience will only know secondhand, through family histories, re-creations like FX’s superb series Mrs America or inherited cultural shorthand. I, like Wohl – like anyone born after Roe – have only inherited memories of this stage in the fight for sex and gender equality.
There’s often a tone of light derision applied to second-wave feminism, whose white, upper-middle class limitations were glaring even if its aims were noble, albeit tragically fragile. Lizzie, an adult woman of our times, seems to know this. She’s played, by Susannah Flood, as anxious, apologetic, eager to over-explain; she addresses the audience first as a peer, with the lights up, the required sealing of phones acknowledged, the fourth wall unbuilt. Perhaps, to get a restless crowd of New Yorkers to sit for two and a half hours with this circle in Ohio, one must lure them slowly through the back door of theater – here, a resurrection of the group in which Lizzie plays both herself, its chronicler, and her late mother, its founder – with slowly solidifying artifice and the eternally alluring question of who our parents were before us. The mother, according to the daughter, sewed the costumes for every school play, made every family dinner and did all the dishes – how could she have ever been radical?
President remains barred from deploying national guard as appeals court agrees to ‘en banc’ rehearing of case
The Trump administration remains barred from deploying the national guard in Portland, Oregon, following a federal appeals court ruling.
The ninth circuit court of appeals agreed on Tuesday that it would rehear a case over the president’s authority with a broader court of 11 judges. The appeals court also vacated a ruling from a three-judge panel last week that sided with the Trump administration.
4th over: England 25-1 (Smith 13, Root 11) Jamie Smith clatters a pull shot to the midwicket fence for four and then picks up a single in the same region. Root continues his busy start with a single past point and Jamie Smith then plays a nonchalant flick for SIX onto the grass bank on the leg side.
3rd over: England 13-1 (Smith 2, Root 10) Joe Root is the new batter. He whips Duffy off his pads for two and then times the next one even better for four. Root then pings a drive through cover for four more! Ten runs and the wicket of Duckett off the over.
EU edges towards using ‘reparations loan’ using Russian frozen assets; Kremlin pressing ahead with year-round conscription. What we know on day 1,344
Ukraine sent drones towards Moscow for the third consecutive night, closing airports, Russian authorities said late on Tuesday. Rosaviatsiya, the air transport watchdog, said Moscow’s Sheremetyevo,Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports had flights halted or restricted. Russia usually says all incoming drones were destroyed, regardless of the outcome, and typically gives limited details about the effects of Ukrainian strikes unless civilians or civilian infrastructure are hit. Over the previous two nights, Russia’s defence ministry said there were 35 Ukrainian drones destroyed over the Moscow region. Ukraine says its long-range drone strikes of recent months on Moscow and other Russian regions are aimed at hitting military and industrial assets, damaging Russia’s war economy and bringing the conflict home to Russians.
Ukraine also launched several drones targeting the Budyonnovsk industrial zone in Russia’s Stavropol oblast, said its governor, Vladimir Vladimirov. Online reporting suggested the drones targeted a petrochemical and plastics plant, with videos showing a fire.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and leaders of Nordic countries said on Tuesday that they were confident that using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s benefit would be approved by December. EU leaders last week stopped short of approving a mammoth “reparations loan” backed by the assets, because Belgium, where the bulk of the €200bn pot is held, fears facing any legal consequences alone. Instead, they told the European Commission to move ahead with options for funding Ukraine for two more years, leaving the door open for a €140bn “reparations loan” using frozen Russian assets. “It’s legally a sound proposal, not trivial, but a sound proposal,” said von der Leyen.
Russia is poised to enforce year-long military conscription, rather than just in the spring and autumn. Russian conscripts are theoretically not liable to be sent to Ukraine, but human rights groups and media reports say many have been coerced into signing contracts as volunteers for the war. The Russian parliament is in the process of approving a permanent draft. Putin has ordered the number of active troops to be increased by 180,000, to 1.5 million. He said in September that the military has over 700,000 troops fighting in Ukraine. Putin in 2022 ordered a “partial mobilisation” of 300,000 reservists into the war but was forced to abandon the hugely unpopular programme after protests erupted, recruiting stations were burned and many thousands of men fled to other countries. Russia has since relied on recruiting volunteers with the promise of relatively high wages and other benefits.
Volodymyr ZelenskyysaidUkrainian and European officials would meet at the end of the week to discuss the details of a ceasefire plan, Reuters reported. “It is not a plan to end the war. First of all, a ceasefire is needed,” said the Ukrainian president. “This is a plan to begin diplomacy … Our advisers will meet in the coming days, we agreed on Friday or Saturday. They will discuss the details of this plan.”
Ukraine plans to begin limited exports of weapons next month, Zelenskyy said. During his meeting with a government team, Zelenskyy also ordered a continued increase in drone production and sought to ensure that domestically produced weapons and ammunition cover about 50% of the army’s needs.
The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, announced plans to reopen two border crossings with Belarus in Kuźnica-Bruzgi and Bobrowniki to facilitate local traffic and trade, saying it was possible thanks to strengthened controls alongside the entire border line. Poland closed its border with Belarus on 12 September as a result of Russia-led military exercises taking place in Belarus and 21 Russian drones entering Polish airspace on the night of 9-10 September. Tusk noted that the opening needed to be coordinated with Lithuania, acknowledging its decision to close its crossings with Belarus in response to balloons coming across the border over the last week. Lithuania says the balloons are used to smuggle cigarettes but the Belarusian ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, allows the flights to take place as a form of “hybrid warfare” harassment.
Bipartisan measure would terminate sweeping tariffs on coffee, beed and other products – key US politics stories from 28 October at a glance
The Republican-led US Senate has passed a measure that would terminate Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Brazilian imports, including coffee, beef and other products, in a rare bipartisan show of opposition to the president’s trade war.
The vote passed 52-48. The resolution was led by Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat of Virginia, and seeks to overturn the national emergency that Trump has declared to justify the levies.
US president will meet his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae Myung, but expectations of a breakthrough on tariffs are low
Donald Trump heads to South Korea on Wednesday to meet President Lee Jae Myung, with deadlocked talks over a $350bn trade deal between the two countries threatening to cast a shadow over the event.
After arriving on a flight from Tokyo, where he signed a rare earths deal with Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, the US president is due to address a summit of CEOs and meet Lee in the town of Gyeongju, a historical city playing host to the annual Apec summit.
Soyinka, 91, who recently compared US president to Idi Amin, says ‘I have no visa – I am banned’
The Trump administration has revoked the visa for Wole Soyinka, the acclaimed Nigerian Nobel prize-winning writer who has been critical of Trump since his first presidency, Soyinka revealed on Tuesday.
“I want to assure the consulate … that I’m very content with the revocation of my visa,” Soyinka, who won the 1986 Nobel prize for literature, told a news conference.
State funding for the project has plunged, while construction has slowed and few civil servants have been eager to move away from Jakarta
Indonesia’sutopian new capital Nusantara seems to appear out of nowhere. Deep in the forest, a multilane highway abruptly opens up through the trees, leading to a palace topped by a winged eagle that glows under the equatorial sun.
But along the rows of futuristic new buildings, Nusantara’s boulevards are largely empty save for a few gardeners and curious tourists.
Republicans break ranks as vote passes 52-48 in rare bipartisan rebuke of US president’s trade policies
The US Senate on Tuesday approved a measure that would terminate Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Brazilian imports, including coffee, beef and other products, in a rare bipartisan show of opposition to the president’s trade war.
The legislation passed in a 52-48 vote, with five Republicans – senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and the former Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky – joining all Democrats in favor. The vote took place on day 28 of the federal government shutdown with both sides at loggerheads over spending legislation.
BBC ‘deeply concerned’ for journalist’s wellbeing after Vietnamese police withhold their ID card and renewed passport
Vietnamese authorities have barred a BBC journalist from leaving the country and subjected them to days of interrogation, in a press freedom case that comes to light during a high-profile visit by Vietnam’s leader to the UK.
The journalist, a Vietnamese citizen who lives and works in Thailand, had returned to their home country in August to renew their passport, according a source with knowledge of the situation.
Biggest analysis of its kind finds millions are dying each year because of failure to tackle climate crisis
Rising global heat is now killing one person a minute around the world, a major report on the health impact of the climate crisis has revealed.
It says the world’s addiction to fossil fuels also causes toxic air pollution, wildfires and the spread of diseases such as dengue fever, and millions each year are dying owing to the failure to tackle global heating.
Those in need of free emergency contraception no longer have to see their GP or attend a sexual health clinic
The NHS has made the morning-after pill available for free across pharmacies in England in an effort to reduce a “postcode lottery” of access to emergency contraception.
Almost 10,000 pharmacies are now able to offer the pill without charge, saving those in need of free emergency contraception from having to visit their GP or to get an appointment at a sexual health clinic.
Relying on penalties to see off lowly opposition from League One will do little for Fulham’s morale. Marco Silva’s team are in a sticky spot, four consecutive defeats dragging them towards the Premier League’s bottom three, and making a meal out of reaching the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup at Wycombe Wanderers’ expense was not exactly the required tonic before a vital home game against Wolves on Saturday.
The positives for Fulham did not extend far beyond Josh King scoring his first senior goal. The 18‑year‑old midfielder cancelled out Cauley Woodrow’s early opener against his old side and the favourites went through 5-4 on penalties. Benjamin Lecomte saved from Ewan Henderson, Fred Onyedinma and Donnell McNeilly before Issa Diop’s emphatic spot-kick killed off Wycombe in sudden death.
‘Do you remember the throws? Now more teams do that’
Haaland likely to be rested for Swansea Carabao Cup tie
Pep Guardiola has suggested Tony Pulis’s Stoke side have inspired Premier League clubs to become more direct and place greater emphasis on set pieces. The Manchester City head coach says he will not change his principles but is open to turning Omar Marmoush and Erling Haaland into a more classical strike partnership.
City travel to Swansea on Wednesday night in the Carabao Cup fourth round, where they will face a Championship side eager to keep the ball. Long throw-ins and corners are becoming increasingly important in the Premier League. Pulis used them to his advantage during his Stoke tenure in the late-2000s, helping the side defy the odds in the top flight.
After more than 21 years without facing one another, Cardiff had to wait a little longer to reacquaint themselves with their Welsh rivals, as Wrexham completely failed to turn up for the first half. The Bluebirds’ victory came as little of a shock, if anything their progress to the quarter‑finals should have been far easier.
Yousef Salech put the League One side into a 13th-minute lead, but Cardiff missed numerous chances to finish off the derby before it began in earnest. Wrexham joined the tie in the second half; substitute Kieffer Moore equalised, but it was Will Fish who settled the match for the visitors.
Several rhesus monkeys escaped after the interstate crash, but all but one were reportedly ‘destroyed’ by late Tuesday
A group of potentially diseased lab monkeys escaped after a vehicle crash on a main interstate highway in Mississippi.
A truck carrying rhesus monkeys was involved in a wreck on Interstate 59 on Tuesday afternoon, according to a Facebook post from the Jasper county sheriff’s department.
British No 2 recovers to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in second round
Alcaraz’s fine run ends with tally of 54 unforced errors
Cameron Norrie produced the greatest win of his career as he recovered from a set down to topple the world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters.
Although he has defeated Alcaraz on two previous occasions, Norrie’s triumph marks his first ever victory over a reigning No 1.
A chorus of Happy Birthday echoed around Pride Park after England’s Euro 2025 warrior Lucy Bronze had fired in England’s second against Australia, but the party mood was marred by a nasty looking knee injury to a distraught Michelle Agyemang.
It was better from the Lionesses in Derby, a more structured and controlled performance than the one on display in the 2-1 defeat against Brazil on Saturday night, Aggie Beever‑Jones and Georgia Stanway scoring either side of Bronze’s effort. It is hard to say whether that was down to the change in personnel and positions, or just that the cobwebs needed to be shaken off in the first fixture since their big win in Switzerland before things started to click into place.
Long throws have doubled in Premier League this season
The trend has led to a reduction of in-play time
Football’s lawmakers are considering taking action against the most fashionable trend in the game: long throws.
The International Football Association Board (Ifab) has discussed the possibility of limiting how long a player can spend on a throw-in, in a bid to increase the amount of time the ball is in play during a match.
The US government shutdown stretched into its 28th day with no resolution in sight on Tuesday, as the Senate remained deadlocked over spending legislation even as a crucial food aid program teeters on the brink of exhausting its funding.
For the 13th time, Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-backed bill that would have funded federal agencies through 21 November. The minority party has refused to provide the necessary support for the bill to clear the 60-vote threshold for advancement in the Senate because it does not include funding for healthcare programs, or curbs on Donald Trump’s cuts to congressionally approved funding.
Billionaire’s statement comes a day after UN said humanity missed 1.5C climate target and warned of devastation
Bill Gates has called for a “strategic pivot” in the effort against the climate crisis, writing that the world should shift away from trying to limit rising temperatures to instead focusing on efforts to prevent disease and poverty.
Writing on his Gates Notes website, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder criticized what he described as a “doomsday view of climate change” which is focusing “too much on near-term emissions goals”.
Versatile stage and screen actor who found TV comedy fame as Sybil Fawlty and later played Elizabeth II on stage
Although it became virtually a weekly occurrence to find Queen Elizabeth II treading the boards in recent years, the first time a reigning monarch was portrayed on the contemporary British stage came when Prunella Scales, who has died aged 93, played Her Majesty in Alan Bennett’s A Question of Attribution at the National Theatre in 1988.
She did so to the displeasure of the NT’s board, which had then lately added Royal to the title of the theatre as the artistic director, Richard Eyre, began his tenure. Eyre stuck to his guns in presenting the play on a double bill, Single Spies, with another Bennett piece, An Englishman Abroad, the stage version of Bennett’s TV play based on the friendship struck up between the actor Coral Browne (also played by Scales) and the spy Guy Burgess in Moscow in 1955.
Claimants seek compensation from RWE and Heidelberg Materials after extreme flooding destroyed harvests
A group of Pakistani farmers whose livelihoods were devastated by floods three years ago has fired the starting shot in legal action against two of Germany’s most polluting companies.
Lawyers acting for 43 men and women from the Sindh region sent the energy firm RWE and the cement producer Heidelberg formal letters before action on Tuesday warning of their intention to sue later this year.
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