The Nightly live news: Jewish leaders say community lives in fear after ‘failure’ to stop anti-Semitic attacks
Keep up to date on the fallout from the widely condemned “anti-Semitic” arson attack in the eastern Sydney suburb of Woollahra as well as the latest in Australian politics and world news.
Key Events
WATCH: The moment alleged killer Luigi Mangione screams at media outside court
Alleged murderer Luigi Mangione has screamed at media outside a Pennsylvania court as he was dragged in by a hoard of police, while trying to share his message with America.
“This is an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” Mr Mangione screamed.
Mr Mangione was wearing an orange jail uniform as guards swept him into the court following his arrest for the alleged killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
NSW Premier denounces ‘horrifying’ anti-Semitic vandalism in Sydney
NSW Premier Chris Minns has condemned “anti-Semitic hate crime” in an appearance on Sunrise on Wednesday morning.
Mr Minns said the “horrifying” incident in Woollahra would be met with a “zero tolerance response by NSW Police”.
“People have moved from around the world to move to Australia to escape this kind of hatred and this kind of division in our community,” Mr Minns said.
“It is horrifying. You have to appreciate that Sydney, per capita, has the second number of Holocaust survivors in the world. They’ve come to Australia specifically to be free from this kind of hate around racism, specifically.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacks media during corruption trial
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has taken the witness stand for the first time in his long-running corruption trial, saying he is being hounded by the media.
Mr Netanyahu, 75, is Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime.
He is testifying at the same time Israel is engaged in a war in the Gaza Strip and facing possible new threats posed by regional turmoil, including in Syria.
Cars firebombed, properties sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti
For the second time in two weeks a leafy suburb of eastern Sydney, an enclave of Jewish Australians has been targeted by arsonists in a vicious anti-Semitic attack.
Emergency services attended Magney Street in Woollahra at about 1am on Wednesday in response to reports of a vehicle fire.
The vehicle and one other, as well as two buildings and the footpath, were also sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti.
After the fire was extinguished, police officers set up a crime scene and commenced an investigation into the brazen attack.
Rebel-backed figure Mohammed al-Bashir takes charge as interim Syrian PM
Syria’s new interim leader says he is taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister with the backing of the former rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad three days ago.
In a brief address on state television, Mohammed al-Bashir, a figure little known across most of Syria who previously ran an administration in a small pocket of the northwest controlled by rebels, said he would lead the interim authority until March 1.
“Today we held a cabinet meeting that included a team from the Salvation government that was working in Idlib and its vicinity, and the government of the ousted regime,” he said.
“The meeting was under the headline of transferring the files and institutions to caretake the government.”
Labor’s election pitch to parents with three days childcare
Labor is making a fresh election pitch to the parents of 1.4 million children in childcare with a promise to guarantee three days of care to everyone eligible for subsidies.
The change that effectively scraps the activity test is expected to benefit at least 66,700 families, including many not currently using care.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce the plan on Wednesday in the second of three pre-election “headland” policy speeches.
Cheaper child care was a key plank of Labor’s election pitch in the 2022 campaign and the Prime Minister wants to build on that with a second-term agenda.
“We know that making early education and care affordable for families delivers real help with the cost-of-living every week,” Mr Albanese will say, according to extracts of his speech.
Macca’s customer talks about the moment they spotted alleged healthcare CEO murderer
A man called ‘Larry’ has come forward and described the moments a group of customers at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania thought they had identified one of the most wanted people in the US – alleged killer Luigi Mangione.
Larry and his group of friends were on the way to church when they called into the fast-food restaurant, before one of his friends commented that a young man they had seen looked like the suspect wanted in the execution-style murder of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson.
“I thought he was kidding. You know what I mean?” he told media while standing in the carpark of the McDonald’s store.
His group then spoke about the similarities in what the young man they were watching was wearing and the images distributed by police of the man wanted for the killing.
“I said to Mike this morning: ‘When you said that, you were serious?’ He said: ‘Yeah I was serious.”
