NORTH AMERICA UK AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALAND · Graham Brady indicated he could swing behind the PM’s...

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MARCH 3 (GMT) – MARCH 4 (AEST), 2018

AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALANDUKNORTH AMERICA

Car hits crowd, two people killed

Two people have been killed and six injured after being struck by a vehicle on a busy New Orleans thoroughfare, authorities say. Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said a suspect is in custody following the incident that happened along a multiple-block stretch of Esplanade Ave. Ferguson said the suspect is being tested to determine whether he was intoxicated. His identity was not released.

Trump lashes out at Democrats

In a slashing speech packed with braggadocio and grievance, President Donald Trump denounced Democrats as the party of “the socialist nightmare”, earning him the unvarnished adoration of cheering conservatives. After a trying week of tumult and setbacks, Trump delivered a stemwinder that extended beyond two hours and hardly left him winded.

Wind change spreads fire risk

Bushfires raging across Victoria will put more communities at risk with a wind change expected to spread fires and challenge firefighters working to contain the blazes. The Bunyip State Park fire has burnt more than 10,000 hectares and is racing towards the Princes Highway with firefighters putting out spotfires along the road. Lightning strikes sparked the blaze, with a handful of fires joining into the dangerous inferno.

Labour voters back Brexit shift

Labour voters in the North and Midlands strongly back the party’s shift on a new Brexit referendum, according to a poll. The move is supported by 75 per cent of people who voted Labour in the 2017 general election and expressed a preference, a YouGov survey for the People’s Vote campaign shows.

Key Tories support Brexit plan

Theresa May’s Brexit agenda received a boost as the chairman of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbench Tories said he thought a breakthrough on the Northern Ireland backstop was near. Sir Graham Brady indicated he could swing behind the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement if the right deal on the controversial backstop emerged.

Doubts over glacier road’s future

The future of the only road to Fox Glacier is under threat after a massive landslide again wiped the road out, but local politicians are divided over whether the closure could affect tourism. A massive slip in mid-February destroyed 150 metres of the road, and badly damaged another 150m.

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 3

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AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALANDUKREST OF THE WORLD

Joint military exercises to end

South Korea and the US are ending their massive military drills as part of efforts to support diplomacy aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. The decision will likely raise worries about how the allies will maintain their readiness in the event that military tensions erupt again in the wake of the recently failed summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Search for MH370 could resume

Malaysia’s transport minister said the government is open to new proposals from US technology firm Ocean Infinity or any other companies to resume the hunt for Flight 370, as families of passengers marked the fifth anniversary of the jet’s mysterious disappearance. Ocean Infinity mounted a “no cure, no fee” search for the plane in the southern Indian Ocean in January 2018 that ended in May without any clue on where it could have crashed.

‘I would have beaten Labor’

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has opened up about her leadership ambitions last year and claims Christopher Pyne was the reason why she failed. Bishop, who will quit politics at the federal election, also said the coalition would be in a winning position if her colleagues had picked her to lead the Liberal Party.

Corbyn urged to join forces

Jeremy Corbyn has been urged to join forces with other opposition leaders to push for a new Brexit referendum. The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable, and the Westminster heads of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, Ian Blackford and Liz Saville Roberts, have written to Corbyn, inviting him to a joint meeting. The move follows Labour’s shift in favour of backing a new referendum on Brexit.

Storm Freya set to batter UK

Storm Freya is set to bring strong winds of up to 80mph, dangerous conditions and travel disruption to England and Wales. Forecasters predict the storm will be severe enough to risk injuries and danger to life from flying debris and large waves. There could also be damage to buildings and trees, with road hazards and power cuts possible.

Headline here…

Long-time Labour MP Ruth Dyson has revealed she will not be seeking re-election in 2020. It will mean that after 27 years in Parliament, she’ll bid the place goodbye to “pursue other challenges in my life”. “I truly love my job and adore my electorate and constituents,” Dyson said.

YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS

FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 6

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NORTH AMERICA

President Donald Trump. - AP

Trump lashes out at ‘nightmare’ DemocratsIn a slashing speech packed with braggadocio and grievance, President Donald Trump denounced Democrats as the party of “the socialist nightmare”, earning him the unvarnished adoration of cheering conservatives.

After a trying week of tumult and setbacks, Trump delivered a stemwinder that extended beyond two hours and hardly left him winded.

Trump let loose against House Democrats, who are broadening their investigations of him, predicted he would win re-election by a greater margin than his 2016 victory, taunted his potential White House challengers and sounded themes that are staples of his rallies. He complained often of getting “no credit” for his achievements as he proudly drifted “off script” at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

His remarks capped a week that saw his nuclear summit with North Korea’s leader collapse without an agreement, his former lawyer deliver damaging congressional testimony about his character and business practices and Congress take action to nullify his emergency declaration to secure money for the border wall that lawmakers have denied him.

On the stage, he was a prideful and at times profane figure. Trump reached back to old criticisms of his ex-attorney general, mocking Jeff Sessions’ southern accent. And he laced into the “New Green Deal or whatever they call” the plan floated by some liberal Democrats that Trump showcased as creeping socialism.

It took him more than an hour to get to the message that Republicans and members of his administration have been spreading in recent weeks as they brand Democratic policy ideas as socialism.

“America will never be a socialist country,” he said. “Socialism is not about the environment, it’s not about justice, it’s not about virtue.” He said it’s about “power for the ruling class.” ■

Two damaged bicycles lay in the street as police officers respond to a fatal hit and run

accident in New Orleans, Louisiana. - AP

NORTH AMERICA

Car crashes into crowd, two people killedTwo people have been killed and six injured after being struck by a vehicle on a busy New Orleans thoroughfare, authorities say.

Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said a suspect is in custody following the incident that happened along a multiple-block stretch of Esplanade Ave.

Ferguson said the suspect is being tested to determine whether he was intoxicated. His identity was not released. The police chief said bystanders in the area were the ones who stopped the driver.

“We were able to apprehend the subject so quickly because citizens stopped this individual, because they thought they were helping someone who had just been involved in a one-car accident,” Ferguson said.

EMS spokesman Jonathan Fourcade said a man and a woman – both about 30 years old – were killed. The injured ranged in age from 28 to 65. Five of the injured were taken to the hospital while one refused treatment, Fourcade said.

Photographs of the scene showed mangled bikes along the side of the street.

One onlooker, Dane Barrymore, said he was outside a market when he saw a dark sports car speeding down the street. The driver swerved into the bike lane to try to go around a vehicle.

“It just happened there were people there – bicyclists,” Barrymore said. Barrymore said he saw two women and one man get struck. He said he went to help but it quickly became apparent that one of the women and the man didn’t survive.

The vehicle sped off down the block, hit another vehicle and then spun out into the median, Barrymore said. ■

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UK

Sir Graham Brady. – PA

Key Tories support May’s Brexit planTheresa May’s Brexit agenda received a boost as the chairman of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbench Tories said he thought a breakthrough on the Northern Ireland backstop was near.

Sir Graham Brady indicated he could swing behind the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement if the right deal on the controversial backstop emerged.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, the Altrincham and Sale West MP said: “The whole country is tired of vacillation and delay.

“When the right compromise is offered, we should pull together behind the Prime Minister and help her to deliver our exit from the European Union on March 29.”

Many Brexiteers have expressed opposition to the backstop as it would leave the UK obeying EU customs rules if no wider trade deal is agreed after a transition period.

Sir Graham added: “This is not a time to make the best the enemy of the good, and most MPs are in a mood to compromise, but the danger of this backstop becoming permanent is a real one and it has to be tackled.

“My conversations with senior diplomats and politicians from across Europe have given me cause for optimism that a breakthrough is near.

“Those who have pressed for delay or for no-deal to be taken off the table have weakened Theresa May’s hand and made a deal less likely, but I still believe a compromise is fundamentally in our interest and that of the EU.

“We know what is needed to shift the logjam. The Attorney General needs to give a legally binding guarantee that the backstop is temporary.

“Once we have that, my colleagues in Parliament need to recognise the strength of feeling.” ■

- AP

UK

Labour voters back new Brexit referendumLabour voters in the North and Midlands strongly back the party’s shift on a new Brexit referendum, according to a poll.

The move is supported by 75 per cent of people who voted Labour in the 2017 general election and expressed a preference, a YouGov survey for the People’s Vote campaign shows.

More than one third, 35 per cent, said the policy change to push for a new Brexit vote made them feel more favourably towards Labour, while 14 per cent said it made them feel less so.

The survey of 5000 voters across the North, Yorkshire and Humber and the Midlands found that 76 per cent would support staying in the EU, with 24 per cent against.

If it was a choice between Remain and backing Prime Minister Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, the split would be 81 per cent to 19 per cent in favour of staying in the EU, according to the survey.

Only 14 per cent of those polled wanted their MP to back the Government’s proposed terms for leaving the EU.

And more than two thirds, 68 per cent, said it was more important to maintain frictionless free trade than control immigration, while 17 per cent disagreed with the statement.

Peter Kellner, former president of YouGov, said: “The myth that Labour voters in the party’s heartlands favour Brexit is just that - a myth.

“Those who voted Labour in 2017 in the Midlands and North favoured Remain by two-to-one in 2016, support Remain by three-to-one today; and, if given a referendum choice between Remain and Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, back Remain by four-to-one.

“That explains why such big majorities of these Labour voters want a new public vote and approve of Labour’s new policy.

“This survey also suggests that Labour’s heartland supporters are less hostile to immigration than is commonly thought.” ■

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AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALAND

Fox Glacier. – 123RF

Doubts over future of Fox Glacier roadThe future of the only road to Fox Glacier is under threat after a massive landslide again wiped the road out, but local politicians are divided over whether the closure could affect tourism.

A massive slip in mid-February destroyed 150 metres of the road, and badly damaged another 150m.

The access road is on Department of Conservation land, and had just reopened in December after $430,000 of repairs to earlier damage from the same active landslide, said operations manager Wayne Costello.

Another repair before that was understood to have cost more than $700,000.

The slip causing the issues is the largest active landslide in New Zealand right now, and if the road was repaired again there was no guarantee the next big rainfall would not repeat the damage, Costello said.

So the future of the road will be reconsidered over the next few weeks.

“We may have to wait until conditions in the valley settle, which could be several years,” Costello said.

Visitors can still get to the glacier by helicopter, but access is cut off for people travelling by foot or in vehicles. Nearby State Highway 6 is unaffected.

Westland mayor Bruce Smith said if the access road was closed there would be no impact on tourism, as most visitors travelled to the glacier by helicopter or went to the nearby Franz Josef glacier instead.

“I would say there’s no impact on tourism in South Westland ... most people don’t even realise it is closed. And it’d be great to come up with something [else], but it’s certainly not necessary,” Smith said.

The slip has been active for at least 10 years, but had “really picked up steam in the last year”, pushing millions of cubic metres down Mills Creek, he said. ■

CFA fire tankers are seen along the Princes Highway outside of Bunyip in Vicrotia. - AAP


Wind change spreads Vicrotia bushfire riskBushfires raging across Victoria will put more communities at risk with a wind change expected to spread fires and challenge firefighters working to contain the blazes.

The Bunyip State Park fire has burnt more than 10,000 hectares and is racing towards the Princes Highway with firefighters putting out spotfires along the road.

Lightning strikes sparked the blaze, with a handful of fires joining into the dangerous inferno.

The wind change is due to hit the Bunyip area, pushing fires to the east.

“We are certainly concerned with the change that’s going to come through at about nine o’clock tonight, we know that will mean the eastern flank of the fire will become the head of the fire,” Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

“It will present certain challenges for our firefighters,” he said of the wind change.

But more than 2000 firefighters are working to contain blazes around the state, he said.

The Bunyip fire is worse than one that burned in the same spot on Black Saturday, the Country Fire Authority assistant chief officer Trevor Owen said.

“Whilst it damaged some property (in 2009) it was a very narrow finger compared to what we’re facing with this fire, because this fire has been growing,” Owen told a community meeting in Pakenham.

Despite the resources, the fire is so large, terrain so difficult and wind so gusty that crews are focusing their efforts on stamping out spot fires to reduce the spread and protect assets.

There have been reports of a house and sheds destroyed at Tonimbuk and Garfield North, but so far authorities have only been able to confirm three properties were lost in the blaze.

About 30 homes were doorknocked in the Labertouche area with residents being told to evacuate. ■

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REST OF THE WORLD

- AP

Malaysia could resume search for flight MH370Malaysia’s transport minister said the government is open to new proposals from US technology firm Ocean Infinity or any other companies to resume the hunt for Flight 370, as families of passengers marked the fifth anniversary of the jet’s mysterious disappearance.

Ocean Infinity mounted a “no cure, no fee” search for the plane in the southern Indian Ocean in January 2018 that ended in May without any clue on where it could have crashed. But the company’s CEO, Oliver Plunkett, said in a video shown at the public remembrance event at a mall near Kuala Lumpur that the company hopes to resume the hunt with better technology it obtained in the past year.

The Ocean Infinity mission came a year after an official search by Malaysia, Australia and China ended in futility.

Plunkett said his company has better technology now after successfully locating an Argentinian submarine in November, a year after it went missing. He said the firm is still reviewing all possible data on Flight 370 and thinking about how it can revive its failed mission.

“We haven’t given up hope … We hope we can continue the search in due course,” Plunkett said.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said it’s been frustrating that the two searches failed to produce any clues and that he “welcomes credible leads and also concrete proposals to resume the search”.

He said the government is “waiting for specific proposals, in particular from Ocean Infinity.” He brushed off suggestions of offering rewards to find the plane, but said the government is willing to discuss proposals from any companies prepared to resume the search.

“There must be a proposal from a specific company … we cannot just be out there without credible leads. That’s the most practical thing to do,” Loke said. ■

South Korean marines march after landing on the beach during US-South Korea joint

landing military exercises in Pohang, South Korea. - AP

REST OF THE WORLD

US, South Korea to end joint military exercisesSouth Korea and the US are ending their massive military drills as part of efforts to support diplomacy aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.

The decision will likely raise worries about how the allies will maintain their readiness in the event that military tensions erupt again in the wake of the recently failed summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The Pentagon said in a release the US and South Korean defense chiefs decided to conclude the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises.

It said the allies agreed to maintain firm military readiness through newly designed command post exercises and revised field training programs.

Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo “made clear that the alliance decision to adapt our training program reflected our desire to reduce tension and support our diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a final, fully verified manner,” the statement said.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry released a similar statement.After his second summit with Kim ended without any

agreement in Hanoi on Thursday, Trump complained about the cost of annual military drills. “It’s a very, very expensive thing and we do have to think about that, too,” Trump said.

Following his first summit Kim in Singapore last June, Trump also suspended the allies’ summertime military drills, calling them “very provocative” and “massively expensive.” The US and South Korea also have suspended a few other smaller joint drills.

The end of the springtime war games will benefit North Korea, which has described them as a rehearsal for invasion and responded with its own costly military exercises. ■

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UK

- AAP

Storm Freya, strong winds set to batter UKStorm Freya is set to bring strong winds of up to 80mph, dangerous conditions and travel disruption to England and Wales on Sunday.

Forecasters predict the storm will hit on Sunday afternoon and be severe enough to risk injuries and danger to life from flying debris and large waves.

There could also be damage to buildings and trees, with road hazards and power cuts possible.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning.It is warning people to be aware of possible hazards

including tiles being blown from roofs, fallen branches, and beach material being thrown on to sea fronts and coastal roads.

Strong winds were seen across Scotland on Saturday night as a separate weather system moved over.

A gust of around 70mph was recorded at South Uist, while winds of 45 to 50mph blew through Glasgow and Edinburgh.

“Eyes really now start to turn towards the South West and this afternoon when we will start to see the winds rip up,” Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said.

“In our warning area we are catering for gusts reaching between 50 and 60 miles per hour, even inland. Parts of Wales and the Irish Sea coast of north-west England is where we could see 70 to 80 miles an hour.

“The strongest winds will be limited to parts of western England and Wales, but the warning area includes parts of the Midlands and over towards Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as well.

“But they probably wont see the strongest winds until the very back-end of Sunday going into Monday morning.

“We can expect some branches and a few trees being blown down and there’s also scope for some tiles being blown from roofs and also some power cuts as well.”

It will still be quite breezy along the North Sea coast of England, but the winds will have died down significantly. ■

Jeremy Corbyn. – PA

UK

Corbyn urged to join forces with other leadersJeremy Corbyn has been urged to join forces with other opposition leaders to push for a new Brexit referendum.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable, and the Westminster heads of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, Ian Blackford and Liz Saville Roberts, have written to Corbyn, inviting him to a joint meeting.

The move follows Labour’s shift in favour of backing a new referendum on Brexit.

Sir Vince said: “Opposition leaders have been meeting for several months working together to secure a People’s Vote.

“Now that Labour has decided to support giving people the final say, Jeremy Corbyn should join us, so we can work together and stop Brexit.

“I hope Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t waste any more time. He must do the right thing and join the Liberal Democrats in offering the people an exit from this Tory mess.”

Saville Roberts said: “Labour have a face for all occasions, but now they’ve run out of masks.

“Jeremy Corbyn must now follow his own policy and back a People’s Vote or face being the midwife of Brexit.

“Opposition MPs have worked together for months. Our door has always been open to the Labour leader, but so far he has refused.

“No more delays, no more excuses – Labour must work with other opposition parties to deliver a People’s Vote and a way out of this Brexit mess.” ■

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Dyson set to retire after next electionLong-time Labour MP Ruth Dyson has revealed she will not be seeking re-election in 2020.

It will mean that after 27 years in Parliament, she’ll bid the place goodbye to “pursue other challenges in my life”.

“I truly love my job and adore my electorate and constituents,” Dyson said.

“This has not been an easy decision to make, but it is one that has been made considerably easier by the fact that I am leaving at a time when Labour is strong and united, with a clear plan to deliver the policies that I have worked hard to develop.”

But Dyson promised that “there are no undisclosed reasons for this decision – it’s just the right time.”

Dyson has been the MP for Port Hills since the boundary changes in 2008 saw the Banks Peninsula seat renamed. She was the MP for Banks Peninsula for three terms and had previously held the seat of Lyttelton – which she won to first enter Parliament in 1993.

Before that, she was the Labour Party President and played a role in the party’s pushback against then-Finance Minister Roger Douglas’ ‘Rogernomics’ reforms of the 1980s.

“Being the president was probably the biggest challenge that I ever took on because it was such a bad time for Labour,” she said.

Dyson helped in a series of campaigns including those of Labour MPs Fran Wilde and Kerry Burke.

The long-time MP was a Cabinet Minister under the Helen Clark government, holding portfolios of Social Development, Disability Issues and Associate Minister of Health.

She currently holds the role of Chief Government Whip, and hopes to keep it until she leaves Parliament in 18 months time.

“I certainly am unless Jacinda [Ardern] says she wants somebody else to do it … but she hasn’t mentioned that so far,” she laughed.

“I’ll never stop trying to improve things for people, that’s sort of what drives me. So I’ll just keep working with my ministerial colleagues and see how I go. ■


Labour MP Ruth Dyson. - RNZ / Daniela Maoate-Cox

I would have beaten Labor, Bishop saysFormer foreign minister Julie Bishop has opened up about her leadership ambitions last year and claims Christopher Pyne was the reason why she failed.

Bishop, who will quit politics at the federal election, also said the coalition would be in a winning position if her colleagues had picked her to lead the Liberal Party.

Bishop said she believed she had the support of at least 28 colleagues, more than Scott Morrison, before going into the party room last August, only to be knocked out in the first round of voting.

Instead she got just 11 votes. Eventually, Morrison defeated Peter Dutton 45 votes to 40.

“I am now told that there was a view, led by Christopher Pyne and others, that even though I would have 28 votes – which was many more than Scott Morrison – it wouldn’t be enough to beat Peter Dutton.

“So, they wanted to make sure that happened,” she said.“If I had known that was what their thinking was, I could have

dissuaded them of it but also I would have pointed out that the question was: Who could beat Bill Shorten?

“And I was confident that I could (beat Shorten).“And that was Labor’s thought too. I felt confident (of

winning the leadership) after the assurances I had received over the phone.”

However, she emphasised she wasn’t bitter over the outcome and was looking forward to the next chapter of her life.

“I always aimed to be foreign minister and I achieved that,” she said.

“I am absolutely leaving on a high note.” ■

Julie Bishop. - AAP


NORTH AMERICA UK AUSTRALIA + NEW ZEALAND · Graham Brady indicated he could swing behind the PM’s...

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