Australia is reviewing the visa status of an American content creator who posted a video of herself taking a baby wombat away from its mother.
In the now-deleted video, Sam Jones is seen picking up the marsupial and running across a road as its mother follows from behind.
“I caught a baby wombat,” Jones, who describes herself as an “outdoor enthusiast” and “hunter” on social media, is heard saying in the video.
“OK, momma’s right there and she is pissed, let’s let him go,” Jones then says, before putting the animal back on the other side of the road.
It is not clear when or where the video was shot.
On Thursday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that his department was reviewing the incident to determine if Jones had breached the conditions of her stay.
“I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return,” Burke said in a statement.
Al Jazeera was unable to reach Jones, who set her Instagram account to private following the controversy, for comment.
The video prompted a swift backlash in Australia, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong among those joining the condemnation.
“They’re not kangaroos. They don’t run fast. They are gentle, lovely creatures,” Albanese told reporters.
“To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress from the mother, is just an outrage.
Manila, Philippines – It has been almost eight years since brothers Crisanto and Juan Carlos disappeared one morning in Quezon City, a sprawling northern district of Metro Manila.
Within a day, their lifeless bodies were discovered riddled with bullets. But the pain of their brutal killing has continued to haunt their mother, Llore Pasco, over all these years.
On that morning in May 2017, Crisanto, a 34-year-old father of four, had left home early to pick up a licence to work as a private security guard. Not long after, Juan Carlos, 31, a part-time utility bill collector, would follow his brother out of their home.
They would never come back.
The day after their disappearance, their mother told Al Jazeera how she and other relatives were shocked to learn from a television news report that her two sons had been killed, accused by police of robbery. It took a full week and a hefty $1, 500 fee for Pasco to recover their bodies from the morgue.
Their funerals were followed by years of agony as Pasco lived without hope for justice ever being done.
So on hearing the news this week of the arrest of the country’s former President Rodrigo Duterte over his brutal war on drugs, she was overcome with emotion.
“I felt so nervous and scared, but also excited”, said Pasco, a part-time food vendor and massage therapist.
“My eyes were filled with tears. At long last, after so many years of waiting, it’s happening. This is it”, she told Al Jazeera.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued the arrest warrant for Duterte, was her one last hope for justice, said Pasco, a leading member of Rise Up for Life and for Rights, a group of mothers and wives of those killed in the country’s drug war.
Pasco told how she had “little to no hope” of finding justice for the killing of her sons in the Philippines.
On Tuesday, the international police organisation (Interpol) served the ICC’s warrant against Duterte at Manila airport, on charges of “crimes against humanity” related to thousands of killings of suspected drug users and dealers during his time in power.
Later the same day, the government of the Philippines allowed Duterte to be flown to The Hague-based international court.
According to police records, more than 7, 000 people were killed in official antidrug operations ordered by Duterte while he was in office from 2016 to 2022.
Human rights groups say the actual number of killings could be closer to 30, 000, including those who were killed by gunmen, some of whom later turned out to be undercover police officers.
Duterte arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday afternoon, where he was officially handed over to the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Amid criticism and protest from Duterte’s supporters, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the surprise arrest was in compliance with his country’s “commitments to Interpol”.
Christine Pascual was at work in a hair salon when she heard the news about Duterte’s arrest.
“My client was asking me why I was crying while I was doing her hair”, Pascual told Al Jazeera, adding that memories of her late son, 17-year-old Joshua Pascual Laxamana, came rushing back at that moment.
“I went through so much anguish and pain from the time Joshua was killed until the time I started demanding justice for his death”, she said.
Laxamana, a professional online gamer, was on his way home from a tournament in the northern Philippines when he was shot and killed by police.
Records showed that he allegedly fired shots at officers and tried to flee on a motorcycle. But Laxamana did not know how to drive a motorcycle and his family have always maintained that he never used drugs or handled weapons, as the police claimed.
“For years, we’ve been very disappointed that nothing’s happening about my son’s case and other cases of extrajudicial killings”, Pascual said.
“So we were very surprised to hear the news about Duterte’s arrest. We are very happy that now he will have to face us in court”, she said, while also acknowledging that the two police officers involved in her son’s death would likely never be prosecuted.
“My family will never be the same because Joshua is now gone”, she added.
‘ Unbearable pain ‘
Luzviminda Siapo, the mother of another victim of the war on drugs, said she felt a sense of relief after learning that Duterte has been taken to The Hague.
“Seeing Duterte being arrested and taken to prison at The Hague, I feel like I have already attained a little amount of justice”, Siapo told Al Jazeera.
“For all that he has done, and for all the deaths that he caused, I wonder what he will reap in return”?
Duterte should also be thankful that he has only been arrested and will be accorded due process at the ICC – something that was denied to her slain son, Siapo said.
Her son, Raymart Siapo, was just 19 when he was abducted and shot twice in the head by several masked gunmen. His body was left in a village near Manila Bay.
According to news reports at the time, Raymart had a dispute with a neighbour that resulted in false accusations being made to authorities that the teenager was involved in selling marijuana.
A day after the damning accusation was made, unknown suspects came looking for Raymart, forcing him onto a motorcycle and taking him to an adjacent neighbourhood, where he was ordered to get off and run for his life.
Born with deformed feet, the teenager did not get far when the gunmen proceeded to shoot him dead.
“I feel an unbearable pain losing a child to the drug war”, Siapo told Al Jazeera.
Catholic priest Flavie Villanueva comforts relatives of victims of the country’s drug war and extrajudicial killings before a mass following the arrest of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday]Lisa Marie David/Reuters]
Children as ‘ collateral damage ‘
Family members of others killed in the drug war came together on Wednesday, during a news conference organised by the Rise Up group and the National Union of People’s Lawyers.
At the event, Emily Soriano, the mother of a slain 15-year-old son, Angelito, said that while she welcomed Duterte’s arrest, she wanted others prosecuted and jailed, including those who gave direct orders to carry out the police operation that resulted in the death of her child.
Soriano singled out Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who once served as the chief police enforcer during Duterte’s drug war.
Dela Rosa has repeatedly defended the legality of Duterte’s war on drugs. He once famously quipped that children killed in the crossfire during police operations were “collateral damage”, adding that “sh** happens”.
Soriano said that dela Rosa and other police officers are just as guilty as Duterte.
“Good for Duterte that he is being accorded due process. He’s still enjoying his bed”, she said between tears.
“What about my son who was killed? My son’s remains have been rotting in the cemetery for more than eight years now”.
Soriano insisted that her son was not a drug user and that he happened to be at a house targeted by authorities, which led to his killing.
During that operation, six other people were killed, including two other teenagers and a pregnant woman.
“It’s been a very painful experience to lose a son who is not really a drug addict. There have been so many who jumped to conclusions that they were addicted to drugs. But they do not know the truth”, Soriano said.
Duterte’s antidrug policy was also a war against the poor, she added.
Late on Wednesday at The Hague, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan hailed the arrest of Duterte, noting that it “means a lot to the victims” and proves that “international law is not as weak as some may think”.
“When we come together and build partnerships, the rule of law can prevail, warrants can be executed”, Khan said.
Khan also said that his office has been investigating the situation in the Philippines for some years, adding that the allegations of crimes against humanity also cover those cases committed before Duterte was elected president in 2016 and while he was still the mayor of the southern city of Davao.
Khan also stressed that despite his arrest, “Mister Duterte is presumed innocent”.
Students light candles during a protest following the arrest of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila]Lisa Marie David/Reuters]
Russia pushed Ukrainian forces out of most of the territory they controlled in the Russian region of Kursk during the past week, raising questions about whether a weeklong US intelligence cutoff materially helped the Russian counterattack.
The US said it had restored intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine on Tuesday night, after Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire plan discussed in Riyadh for nine-and-a-half hours.
Russian efforts to recapture Kursk intensified on March 6, a day after the White House cut off military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine.
Russian forces attacked 32 times in Kursk, said Ukraine’s general staff.
According to Russian military reporters, Russia had prioritised that front, moving some of its best drone operators there and deploying electronic warfare to prevent Ukrainian drone counterattacks.
The effort became clearer on Friday, March 7, when Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian border areas in Sumy for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, in an attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces in Kursk from the south and cut off their supply lines.
]Al Jazeera]
On Saturday, Russian forces captured several settlements north of Sudzha, the main Ukrainian stronghold in Kursk, and began to fire upon Sudzha itself. One Russian operation involved infiltrating the industrial zone by making soldiers crawl inside a gas pipeline.
The UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Ukraine was considering a withdrawal to avoid encirclement, but Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, on Monday said, “There is no threat of encirclement of Ukrainian units in the Kursk region”.
He did, however, send drone and electronic warfare reinforcements.
By Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry announced it had recaptured more than 100sq km (40sq miles) in Kursk, including a dozen settlements.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told media on Wednesday that Sudzha had been liberated.
“The data from our military shows that our troops have been successfully progressing in the Kursk region as they liberate those areas that have been controlled by]Ukrainian] militants”, he said.
Later on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk for the first time in months and a day later, the Kremlin claimed Moscow’s operation in Kursk was in its final stage.
Ukraine caught Russia off-guard in its August counter-invasion last year, and succeeded in leveraging a single division of 11, 000 soldiers to pin down an estimated 78, 000 Russian soldiers, slowing Russia’s advances in east Ukraine, embarrassing Putin and forcing him to reportedly seek the help of 12, 000 North Korean mercenaries last November.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, assessed that Russian forces had managed to recapture 655sq km (250sq miles) by last month, more than half the Kursk territory Ukraine had held at the height of its operation.
]Al Jazeera]
Ukraine launched surprise offensives in early January and February to consolidate its positions, demonstrating the importance it placed on Kursk as an active defence.
Ukrainian military analyst Petro Chernyk expressed the view that “Putin gave a firm order to kick our group out of there by May 9, and if this does not happen, then for him it will really be a very serious ideological defeat”, in an interview, referring to the anniversary of the capture of Berlin by Soviet forces in 1945. Ukraine’s incursion on Russian soil was the first since the second world war.
A Ukrainian government source told Time magazine the role of the US intelligence cutoff had been key in the Russian advance, as Ukraine was unable to detect Russian bomber and fighter jet takeoffs or use US intelligence to set targeting coordinates for its most precise weapons.
After then-US President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use US-made ATACMS rockets to strike deep inside Russia last November, Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, had said the move amounted to “direct involvement of the US and its satellites”.
Europe to the rescue?
Europeans scrambled to find alternatives to US government intelligence and the Starlink satellite system Ukrainian forces use to communicate and coordinate counter-battery fire.
Four satellite operators in France, Spain, the UK and Luxembourg told the Financial Times on Friday they were offering services to replace Starlink.
Maxar Technologies, the commercial satellite imaging company, said European governments were able to pass on its images to Ukraine even though the US had stopped doing so.
Europe also tried to step up its deliveries of weapons to prevent Ukraine from suffering setbacks similar to those of early 2024, when US military aid was suspended for six months.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov on Saturday met with eight Nordic and Baltic countries – Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania – to coordinate weapons deliveries.
“We are waiting for important decisions that will help Ukraine strengthen its defence capabilities”, he said.
]Al Jazeera]
Ukraine was in talks with Poland and Lithuania to step up joint production of weapons and ammunition.
Umerov signed two key private sector agreements – one with Germany’s Diehl Defence, which manufactures the IRIS-T air defence system, which he said would “increase threefold the supply of missiles and air defence systems”, and one with Britain’s Anduril for advanced roving munitions drones paid for by the International Fund for Ukraine.
Germany, which has supplied 37 billion euros ($40bn) in military and financial aid under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, announced on March 6 that it would up its defence spending by up to 1 trillion euros ($1.09 trillion) under an expected coalition between the Christian Democrats and Scholz’s Social Democrats. Polls suggested three-quarters of Germans supported this.
Ukraine has also been expanding its domestic defence industrial base impressively, and now supplies 40 percent of its own weapons.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said it would triple its purchase of domestically made first-person view drones this year.
“The capabilities of the domestic defence industry in 2025 amount to approximately 4.5 million FPV drones, and the Ministry of Defence plans to purchase them all”, said Gleb Kanevsky, head of procurement. These figures did not include long-range drones used to strike deep inside Russia.
Deep strikes inside Russia and Ukraine
Those deep strikes continued last week, despite the US intelligence cutoff.
Ukraine said a massive Ukrainian drone operation had succeeded in striking Moscow and the Diaghilev air force base in Ryazan on Tuesday. State wire service RIA Novosti reported a total of 337 drones were used, 91 of them over Moscow. Russian authorities reported three people were killed and 18 wounded.
Ukraine’s general staff said they struck the Ryazan refinery on Sunday, which they said produced jet fuel. The following night, the staff said they struck the Novokuybyshev refinery in the Samara region, which they said produced fuel for Russia’s northern grouping of forces. Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, said the plant was one of the 10 largest in Russia.
Kovalenko also said Ukrainian forces had struck the NLMK metallurgical plant at Novolipetsk, in Kursk. Its rolled steel was used in ships and submarines, combat vehicle hulls, missiles and aircraft, Kovalenko said.
]Al Jazeera]
Russia also struck Ukraine with one of its largest drone swarms of the war.
At least 11 people were killed when Russia conducted a combined strike using an Iskander ballistic missile, Tornado multiple launch rockets and Geran drones in the town of Dobropillya on March 7. The toll was high because the Russian drones attacked in two waves to kill first responders.
The Dobropillya attack was part of a nationwide shower of 67 missiles and 194 drones.
French-donated Mirage jets went into combat for the first time in the war, knocking out Russian Kh-101 missiles.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder punched their ticket to the playoffs with an impressive 118-112 victory over the reigning champion Boston Celtics in a potential NBA Finals sneak preview.
Gilgeous-Alexander enhanced his credentials as favourite for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award with a superb performance to silence Boston’s TD Garden home crowd in an absorbing duel settled by a burst of fourth-quarter Thunder scoring.
The Canadian point guard shot 11-of-20 from the field to finish with five rebounds, seven assists and 34 points, including 10-of-11 from the free throw line.
The victory lifted Western Conference leaders Oklahoma City to a 54-12 win-loss record for the season and guaranteed their place in next month’s playoffs.
Wednesday’s win over a vastly more experienced Boston lineup marked another mature display from a Thunder side that is the youngest in the league.
Oklahoma City effectively sealed victory late in the fourth, pulling away to open up a double-digit lead with just under two minutes remaining after Cason Wallace nailed a superb 24-foot three-pointer followed by a driving reverse layup.
Gilgeous-Alexander said the Thunder’s defensive solidity amid a barrage of 63 attempted threes from Boston had provided the foundation for the win.
“We were able to get stops, and that’s been the trend for us recently”, he told ESPN.
“When you’re coming down the stretch against a good basketball team with good players, you’ve got to find a way, and we did so tonight and gave ourselves a chance”.
While Gilgeous-Alexander grabbed the scoring headlines, the towering Chet Holmgren caught the eye with a double-double of 23 points with 15 rebounds.
“We all know the player Chet Holmgren is”, Gilgeous-Alexander said of his 22-year-old teammate. “He’s a stud, and he’s going to be a stud for a very long time. He’ll continue to grow and continue to be special”.
Boston’s scoring was led by Jayson Tatum with 33 points, while Derrick White had 22.
Despite missing Jaylin Williams from the lineup, the Thunder finished with seven players scoring in double figures against the Celtics.
Oklahoma City haven’t won an NBA title since 1979, when the franchise was located in Washington state and they were called the Seattle SuperSonics.
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) scores against Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) in the second quarter at TD Garden on March 12, 2025, in Boston, Massachusetts, US]David Butler II/Imagn Images via Reuters]
The Canadian government has announced plans to ease sanctions on Syria as the interim government in Damascus seeks international support.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Wednesday said Ottawa would provide 84 million Canadian dollars ($59m) in new funding for humanitarian assistance. It would also allow funds to be sent through certain banks, such as the Central Bank of Syria, she said.
Meanwhile, Canada’s ambassador to Lebanon – Stefanie McCollum – has been nominated to serve in a parallel role as the non-resident ambassador to Syria.
The Canadian government issued a statement announcing its “commitment to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people and to support a transition to an inclusive and peaceful future”.
It added that “these sanctions had been used as a tool against the Assad regime and easing them will help to enable the stable and sustainable delivery of aid, support local redevelopment efforts, and contribute to a swift recovery for Syria”.
Many Western nations, including Canada, placed a range of sanctions on Syria under President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled late last year by rebel forces led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
“Canada is also taking steps to ease existing sanctions for a period of 6 months, to support democratisation, stabilisation, and the delivery of aid to and within Syria during this period of transition”, the Canadian government said in its statement.
While the Syrian interim government has promised to protect its religious and ethnic minorities, security forces have reportedly killed hundreds of Alawite civilians in recent days.
According to the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 1, 500 people have been killed in outbreaks of violence in Syria this month, including at least 1, 068 civilians.
“We call on all parties to prioritise the work toward de-escalation and national reconciliation and prevent the country from descending into fragmentation and violence”, said Joly.
At least 15 people have been injured and more than 100 arrested in Argentina after football fans and retirees clashed with police during a protest in the country’s capital against economic policies implemented by President Javier Milei, including pension cuts.
Riot police in Buenos Aires used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon on Wednesday to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators angered by the government’s move.
Authorities said the injured were taken to hospital, among them a police officer who had been shot and a protester who had been hit in the head with a tear gas canister.
Retirees have been gathering each week to protest against cuts to their pensions, which have dried up since libertarian Milei took office in late 2023. On Wednesday, they teamed up with football fans from several clubs to stage a demonstration.
Al Jazeera’s Daniel Schweimler, reporting from Buenos Aires, said thousands joined in the protests after a video went viral of an elderly man in a football jersey being beaten by police.
Jose, a pensioner who joined the protest, told Al Jazeera that retirees have been denied access to medicine and have had their pensions cut.
Football fans were further angered after a resolution was published by Argentina’s Ministry of Security on Wednesday, banning anyone who engages in traffic and security disruption and “violent behaviour” from entering soccer stadiums.
The crowd chanted “Milei, garbage, you are the dictatorship”!, comparing his rule with that of Argentina’s 1976-1983 military government, as clashes erupted near the Congress building and the landmark Plaza de Mayo.
Among the injuries, the most serious was to photojournalist Pablo Grillo, seen in social media videos being hit by a projectile while taking pictures. His father Fabian told reporters that his wounded son’s life was in danger and blamed Milei’s government.
Drastic austerity
The demonstrators – many waving national flags and pictures of the late football great Diego Maradona – were met by a major security presence outside Congress, which was in session when the protests began.
Columns of riot police on foot, backed by officers on motorbikes, fought for more than two hours to clear a central avenue of protesters who threw firecrackers, stun grenades and stones taken from broken-up sidewalks.
A patrol car and garbage cans were set on fire, and several streets were barricaded with debris.
A video of a police officer pushing and hitting an elderly woman who fell to the ground, her head bleeding, has been widely shared on social media.
Emotions have been running high in the South American country with Tuesday’s start of the trial of seven medical staff accused of homicide over Maradona’s death in 2020.
The elderly Maradona died alone in a rented house in Buenos Aires, where he was being cared for after brain surgery. His medical team has been accused of being criminally negligent in his care.
In a year of drastic austerity, pensioners have taken the most pain, with pension increases having fallen far short of inflation. Nearly 60 percent of retirees receive only the minimum amount, equivalent to some $340 per month.
