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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to SBS News In Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
Fourteen people have been charged over antisemitic incidents that took place in Sydney late last year and earlier this year.
New South Wales Police says 65 offences have been laid against the individuals, following 11 search warrants yesterday.
Police allege an 18-year-old male and 20-year-old male provided vehicles that were used during an arson attack on a childcare centre in Maroubra on January 21.
Two men, aged 40 and 30, were charged with graffitiing a home and school at Maroubra, a shopping centre at Eastgardens and home at Eastlakes.
Some of the accused have been granted bail, while others have been remanded in custody until they appear in court either today or at a later date.
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Authorities in New South Wales say the post-Cyclone Alfred response has officially moved into recovery mode.
There are no emergency warnings in place for evacuation.
River levels are receding and the State Emergency Services will remove evacuation notices, advising residents they can return with caution.
Deputy Commissioner of the state's SES, Damien Johnston, says residents should be aware of the hazards as they return home.
"Returning safely is critical. You need to be aware that floodwaters, both riverine and flash flooding can cause risks to your home, travelling to your home; and once you reach your home. The floodwaters can have contaminants. They can have snakes and vermin that can actually be transported within rivers. There can be debris, but also electrical hazard. So if your home or premise is impacted by floodwaters, it is important that you make sure that it is safe."
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Healthcare workers have held remembrance events on the fifth anniversary of the COVID pandemic.
Today marks five years since the official declaration of the coronavirus crisis as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
The WHO estimates that nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems during the first two years of the pandemic.
In the United Kingdom, healthcare worker Helen Hughes attended a commemorative event to remember the lives lost, including her 79-year-old mother, who died from the virus early on in the pandemic.
She's told Sky News UK that she and her partner, who's also a healthcare worker, found the pandemic was a tough time.
"We were still trying to stay strong for the family, weren't we? And still trying to do our day jobs as well. Yeah, it is something that as a family, we're never going to get over."
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A new study suggests women with foreign accents are seen as less employable than men, and speakers without a foreign accent more broadly.
The researchers from the Australian National University have identified what they call a "double disadvantage" that some women face.
The study's lead author and a senior lecturer in linguistics, Ksenia Gnevsheva, told SBS Russian that both accent and gender played a role in what they examined.
"We conducted a perception experiment in which listeners listened to interview excerpts with these speakers - and how to rate them on an employability scale. We found that accent played a role, but not just accent by itself. For the men speakers in the study, the accent didn't matter. But for women, it did. And Russian-speaking women were rated significantly less employable than Australian English-speaking women in particular."
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In Tennis, Alex de Minaur has made it to the fourth round at Indian Wells.
In his 50th ATP Masters 1000 win, the Australian defeated Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 6-0.
De Minaur, a nine-time ATP title winner, will next face 25th seed Franciso Cerundolo.
That was SBS News In Easy English. I'm Catriona Stirrat.
