TRANSCRIPT
- A blast at a market in Syria kills at least seven people.
- Palestinians in the West Bank rally for Land Day and protest the Gaza war.
- Surprise local star of the Rip Curl Pro Ellie Harrison knocked out by French surfer Johanne Defay.
In Syria, at least seven people have been killed and thirty injured in a car blast in a busy marketplace in the rebel-held town of Azaz, near the Turkish border.
The blast occurred on Saturday (30 March) during peak late night shopping after the breaking of the fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan.
No group has claimed immediate responsibility.
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Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and their supporters around the world have rallied to mark Land Day and protest Israel's assault on Gaza.
The event marks the day in 1976 Israeli security forces killed six Arab citizens of Israel during protests about government land confiscations in northern Israel.
Political analyst Khaldoun Barghouti attended the protest in Ramallah, saying there is a lot of anger among West Bank Palestinians about what is happening in Gaza and Jerusalem.
"So what we see today in the street is kind of a reaction to these things, the crimes that Israel is committing, the massacres Israel is committing in Gaza, the procedures Israel is taking in Jerusalem, and the pressure that Israel is practising in the West Bank itself. It's a sign of the anger that is maybe arising in the West Bank, and nobody knows how things will end."
Land Day rallies also gathered to protest the war and call for a ceasefire in Tunisia, Jordan, and New York - as well as in the Galilee region of Israel.
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Proposed federal government laws aimed at forcing detainees to co-operate with their deportation or face jail won't work, say the Greens.
Home affairs spokesman David Shoebridge says rejected refugees afraid of returning to oppressive regimes in countries like Iran or Russia would like choose the option of one to five years in jail in Australian prison.
The Labor government last week tried to push through the laws, which would impose a minimum one year prison sentence - and up to five years - for deportees who don't co-operate.
The coalition, Greens and the entire Senate crossbench blocked the push and instead sent the legislation to a committee that will report its findings on May 7.
Mr Shoebridge has told Sky News the government couldn't convince the Senate the legislation would work - or that it was urgent.
"People who say their life is at risk if they go back to their country of origin, they're not going to suddenly want to go back to Afghanistan or Iran or Russia. Literally returning political dissidents to Russia - would you rather go to jail here for a year here or go back and roll the dice with Vladimir Putin? I don't see how this is actually going to work."
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia's attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure are vile and are "bleeding" the country's energy.
The head of Ukraine's largest private energy firm, D-T-E-K reports that five of its six plants have been damaged or destroyed.
The company says 80 per cent of its generating capacity is lost after two weeks of Russian attacks, and that repairs could take up to 18 months.
Russian missile and drone attacks have continued to hit thermal and hydro power plants in central and Western Ukraine (overnight Friday 29 March).
"Russian terrorists are now targeting such vile strikes to cause the energy 'bleeding' of Ukraine. We gave all the necessary signals to our partners, all the specific requests to everyone who has the necessary air defence systems, to everyone who has the necessary missiles. America, Europe, our other partners - everyone knows what we need, everyone knows how important it is right now to help us protect ourselves from these blows, at this very moment."
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And in surfing,
Surprise star of the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Ellie Harrison, has been defeated at the quarter-final by French surfer Johanne Defay.
Making her Championship Tour debut at just 18, Harrison had taken down Australian superstars Molly Picklum and Tyler Wright earlier in the competition.
Harrison's opening effort of 6.93 points was the highest single-wave score of the quarter-final event, but the 2024 world ranking leader Defay did enough to win the overall contest.
