While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 28, 2025
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on March 28 called a national election for May 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Australia PM Albanese calls national election for May 3
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on March 28 called a national election for May 3, launching a five-week campaign that is set to be dominated by cost-of-living pressures.
Albanese’s Labor party won a majority at the last federal election in 2022, but most recent opinion polls show the party neck-and-neck with the opposition Liberal-National coalition when votes from smaller parties are redistributed.
“Our government has chosen to face global challenges the Australian way - helping people under cost-of-living pressure, while building for the future,” he told a press conference. “Because of the strength and resilience that our people have shown, Australia is turning the corner. Now on 3 May, you choose the way forward.”
Albanese earlier in the morning met the country’s Governor-General Sam Mostyn to seek permission to call a nationwide federal election.
Era of close ties with US is over, says Canada PM Carney
The era of deep economic, security and military ties between Canada and the United States “is over,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said March 27, after President Donald Trump announced steep auto tariffs.
Mr Trump’s planned 25 per cent levy on vehicle imports to the US is to come into force next week and could be devastating for a Canadian auto industry that supports an estimated 500,000 jobs.
After Mr Trump’s announcement, Mr Carney paused his campaign ahead of Canada’s April 28 election to return to Ottawa for a meeting of Cabinet members working on tactics in the trade war with the US.
Paris summit rules out sanctions relief for Russia
European countries agreed at a summit in Paris March 27 to ramp up rather than lift sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine, as Britain and France began sketching out plans to send a “reassurance” force after any peace.
President Emmanuel Macron hosted the meeting of Ukraine’s European allies and President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the latest effort to agree a coordinated policy after Donald Trump shocked Europe by opening direct talks with the Kremlin.
The meeting of over two dozen heads of state and government set out to agree what security guarantees Europe can offer Ukraine once there is agreement on a ceasefire, including the possible deployment of military forces by a so-called “coalition of the willing”.
Five hurt, two seriously, in Amsterdam stabbing
A man injured five people, two seriously, in a stabbing attack in the heart of Amsterdam on March 27, Dutch police said, before he was overpowered by a bystander then taken into custody.
Police had earlier given a toll of four seriously wounded, but confusion appeared to have resulted from the fact the suspect himself was also hurt.
Police declined to give any indication as to a motive for the stabbings near the Dam Central Square, saying their investigation was under way.
Fungi vital to life face growing risk of extinction, study shows
Nearly a third of species of fungi assessed by an international conservation group are at risk of extinction from threats like deforestation and agricultural expansion, the latest “Red List” of threatened species showed on March 27.
Fungi - which comprise a scientific “kingdom” second only in size to the animal kingdom - play a critical role in a range of functions from decomposition, to mammalian digestion to forest regeneration.
For human beings, they also play an important role in making several powerful medicines, including antibiotics, as well as bread and beer.
