A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability.
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English. I'm Gareth Boreham.
Two new opinion polls have given Labor a big lead over the coalition as the Prime Minister prepares to call an election.
While the government has closed the gap slightly in the latest Newspoll, Labor still holds a 54 to 46 per cent lead on the two-party preferred vote.
The Labor party's primary vote has fallen three percentage points, while the coalition's has improved by one.
But another poll in the Financial Review shows the Coalition trailing Labor by ten percentage points - 45 to 55 per cent on the two-party preferred.
Opposition Leader Antony Albanese says voters are ready for change.
"This is a tired old government that is out of ideas and out of time. They want to change. They want a government that actually has a plan for a better future, not a plan that's divided, not a government that's just arguing."
But Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has seized on the closer Newspoll result, saying it shows people are starting to see the choice between the two major parties in a different light.
The federal election is expected to be called this week and must be held by the 21st of May.
Ukraine is demanding new sanctions on Russia from major western powers
The mayor of the town of Bucha, 37 kilometres from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, says there has been a massacre of 300 of its residents by Russian forces.
The report has sparked condemnation from across Europe.
The Russian government denies the allegations, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says international war crimes investigators should visit the area to collect evidence.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia's actions now are a result of western powers being too soft on the superpower in recent years.
He's singled out former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
"I invite Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see what their policy of concessions towards Russia has led to in 14 years. See with your own eyes the tortured Ukrainians and Ukrainian women."
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has survived an attempt to oust him, and is seeking fresh elections.
The deputy speaker of the Pakistani parliament, a member of Mr Khan's party, blocked an oppostion no-confidence motion that Mr Khan had been expected to lose.
The deputy speaker said the motion was part of a foreign conspiracy to get rid of Mr Khan, and unconstitutional.
Mr Khan says the country's National Security Committee has accepted his argument that the attempt to oust him was driven by the United States.
"Those minutes of the conversation between our ambassador and their official, that entire conversation was shared with our national security council. The minutes of that meeting were confirmed and it was confirmed that this plan to oust me was from abroad which was interference in Pakistan’s internal politics. And the basis of this no-confidence vote was from abroad."
Six people have been killed and another ten injured in a shooting in the US city of Sacramento.
The shooting occurred in the early hours of the morning in the Californian capital, near the Golden 1 Centre, a venue for basketball games and concerts.
Police say they are still searching for suspects, with no one in custody.
Sacramento's mayor, Darrell Steinberg, says tougher gun control laws are needed.
"This morning our city has a broken heart. This is a senseless and unacceptable tragedy. And I emphasise the word unacceptable'. Thoughts and prayers are of course appropriate for the victims and their families, and for the people who are fighting for their lives now in the hospital. But thoughts and prayers are not nearly enough."
To sport and in tennis, Carlos Alcaraz has become the youngest-ever winner of the Miami Masters.
The Spanish eighteen-year-old has beaten Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final, 7-5, 6-4.
It continues a rapid rise for Alcaraz, who was not even ranked in the world top 100 this time last year.
He'll be ranked eleventh after this triumph.
He won a tournament in Rio De Janeiro in February, and made the quarter-finals of the US Open last year.
I’m Gareth Boreham, this is SBS News in Easy English.
