Teenager who killed friends in crash detained for two years
Edward Spencer, 19, changed his plea last month and admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury to passengers in the oncoming car when he was 17.
Harry Purcell, 17, Matilda 'Tilly' Seccombe and Frank Wormald, both 16, were passengers en route home with Spencer from Chipping Campden School in Gloucestershire. Their Ford Fiesta collided with an oncoming Fiat 500 at 64mph on a country road near the village of Shipston-on-Stour in April 2023.
Two children in the oncoming car, aged ten and 12, have been left with
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ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
Israel wants to take Gaza City. IDF orders show Palestinians have nowhere left to go
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intend to launch a new ground offensive on Gaza City in what an army boss has called a turning point in the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the assault to take control of the city will happen "fairly soon", but military officials have warned it will take weeks to evacuate the population there. While Gaza City was home to about 700,000 people before the war, Israeli media now reports the number of people there has swelled to about 1.2 million, all while much of the city has been destroyed. Palestinians shelter in a tent camp in Gaza City. ( Reuters: Dawoud Abu Alkas ) After a month of deteriorating conditions, further evacuations will be even harder for Gazans. It would mean moving again, but this time without means of transport or adequate humanitarian assistance. And after nearly two years of war, there is nowhere left to go. There is now just a sliver of Gaza left untouched by "evacuation orders" issued by the IDF. Early in the war, the IDF published a new map of Gaza. It was the first time it had been seen. It shows Gaza divided into hundreds of suburban blocks, with each one assigned a number. The IDF issues warnings of imminent strikes according to those block numbers. An example of an IDF-issued evacuation order for residents of Gaza. ( X: Avichay Adraee ) The instructions are regularly posted by the IDF's Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, on social media. They often have QR codes attached. There have been pamphlet drops too, and text messages are sent to phones. Israeli drones, or "quad copters", have also been reported flying through neighbourhoods broadcasting messages from loudspeakers. For hundreds of thousands of Gazans, this confusing patchwork of what the United Nations calls displacement orders, has forced them to repeatedly uproot their lives and move to areas that were supposed to be safe from Israeli air strikes and ground operations. The reality, humanitarian groups say, is that nowhere on the Gaza Strip is safe. By stitching together all the displacement orders that have been issued since March 18 this year, a picture emerges showing just how much of Gaza is already effectively under Israel's control, and how little space Gazans have to exist. It also helps explain why humanitarian groups say these orders — issued under the guise of keeping the people of Gaza safe while the IDF targets Hamas fighters and facilities — appear to be another tool of war. As Mr Netanyahu urges his military to move into one of the last remaining population centres in the strip, analysis of the IDF evacuation orders shows how they are being used to position the people of Gaza for the next phase of the war. During the fragile eight-week truce in Gaza, Israeli forces had withdrawn to an area wrapping around the strip — something Israeli forces called the "buffer zone". But by mid-March, Israeli warplanes returned to the sky. Strikes in the early hours of Tuesday, March 18, killed more than 400 Palestinians and injured more than 560, according to local health authorities. Not only was the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas shattered in the pre-dawn strikes, but the moment also set the tone for a mass displacement of Palestinians in the weeks and months that followed. Displacement orders were issued amid the March 18 strikes. And they continued. The next warning came for one of the areas where border residents were told to move towards — on March 20, a notice to move was issued for Bani Suheila, near Khan Younis. Highlighted blocks of land, sometimes accompanied by arrows, drawn onto a satellite image of Gaza, are all its residents have to figure out where they are supposed to be, and how to avoid military strikes. The ABC spoke to people fleeing, as they rested along the road. Abeer Mohammed Adwane, 45, said she had already been forced to move 30 times during the war. At this point, she was again evacuating and said, "we are so tired, I wish we could die". Israeli forces then started moving back into the Netzarim corridor — a six-kilometre strip of land cleared by the IDF. This cut off access between northern and central Gaza along Salah al Din Road, which runs the length of Gaza. Over successive days, further warnings were put in place. They included orders that covered northern coastal areas. And southern regions around Rafah and Tel al-Sultan. It was at this moment that the IDF laid siege to the city in southern Gaza, laying the groundwork to take full control of the area. The pincer movement continued on March 24, with Palestinians told to leave the areas around Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun — some of the hardest hit regions of the war, before the ceasefire. Two days later, the warnings were issued for the southern reaches of Gaza City, with Palestinians told to head towards the Netzarim corridor — the area the IDF had returned to days prior. In southern Gaza, there have been repeated references to move to the Al-Mawasi area — a coastal enclave which the IDF has referred to as a humanitarian zone at points throughout the war, but which has also been targeted in strikes. The final move in March was a demand for everyone in the area of southern Gaza around the city of Rafah, to move north. The IDF evacuation order issued on March 31, covered almost all of Rafah, which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the Gaza Strip. Over the course of the war, evacuation orders have instructed Palestinians to move in and out of Rafah. But by April of this year, the city had been destroyed. From there, the population of Gaza was squeezed into a smaller area still. From May 14 to 31, huge swathes of land were placed under evacuation orders. This coincided with the launch of the so-called "Operation Gideon's Chariots", which had a stated goal of seizing territory. One of the evacuation orders issued on May 26, covered 43 per cent of the Gaza Strip just on its own. With most of Gaza's south now declared out of bounds to its people, another order was issued four days later. By the end of May, more than three-quarters of the Gaza Strip had at some point been included in an evacuation order. At that time, that was more of Gaza covered by the evacuation orders than at any other moment since October 7. By this time, Palestinians had been pushed to the south-west of the strip, and were surrounded — to the north, south and east — by areas the IDF had deemed possible targets for air strikes. Throughout June and July, the gaps reduced even more, closing in on the population as food and aid was restricted and hunger took hold. By July 20, all that was left untouched by these orders was a small coastal strip in southern Gaza, as well as blocks that make up Gaza City. Even Deir al-Balah, an area largely untouched during the war as it was believed to be the location where Israeli hostages were being held, was now in the firing line. By July 26, Israel was promoting its so-called "tactical pauses" in further alerts to the population, saying it was halting the bombardment of certain densely populated areas of Gaza for 14 hours a day. But in an evacuation order issued on August 6, the IDF was warning some blocks were being excluded from those "tactical pauses". According to the evacuation orders issued by the IDF, the population is left with the small coastal strip of the Al-Mawasi camp along with some areas in central Gaza. Taking all of the evacuation orders issued since March, when the last ceasefire collapsed, and all of the warnings issued at other times throughout the nearly two-year war, almost no areas in Gaza have been untouched. Since the start of the war, the people of Gaza have been forced into a state of endless displacement according to the layers of evacuation orders issued by the IDF. Each time, the onus has been on Gazans to know which block they're in, and which might have a chance at being out of harm's way. Now, the population of more than 2 million people is being asked to exist in just a few of those blocks. The Al-Mawasi camp, hugging the coastline to the west of Khan Younis, is one of the areas outside the displacement zone — which means hundreds of thousands of people have already moved there. Row after row of tarpaulin tents have been erected to deal with the influx. But it's incredibly crowded and supplies for the population are basically non-existent. "We've evacuated many times before," Salah Abed, 64, said. "I was terrorised. I am usually stubborn, and I don't like moving. I was so scared, I forced myself to evacuate." Adlah Abdul-Razzaq and her family were originally from Beit Lahiya in the north of Gaza. "We came to the sea because we are banned from the south," she said. Adlah Abdul-Razzaq and her family were originally from the north of Gaza. ( ABC News ) Many tents in Gaza are set up in the rubble of destroyed buildings. ( ABC News ) When "tactical pauses" came into force, with the IDF halting major military action from 8am to 10pm daily in an effort to allow aid into certain areas, some Palestinians took the opportunity to try to return to some of the red zones. In Shuja'iyya, the eastern bounds of Gaza City, locals were met with utter devastation. "I swear to God, animals cannot live in this situation," Tamer Al-Hindawi told the ABC. "The situation is destruction — the houses, the trees and the stone, nothing has remained. "I swear to God the sand has turned to powder as a result of the heavy machinery and the quantity of explosives that have been used here." Mohammed Abu Jabal was trying to salvage some scrap material from one building. "It has been upsetting, all the houses collapsed, people taking out martyrs from inside, very harsh situation," he said. "We just reached the houses to take things, and we were shelled. "They say there is a short humanitarian ceasefire, but there is no ceasefire at all." Now the people in Gaza City are being asked to move again. The Gaza City takeover The next military offensive, taking control of Gaza City, will affect hundreds of thousands of people. ( ABC News ) Displacement of the population is one of the biggest concerns for the future of Gaza. The issue has fuelled ferocious debate over and over again, as the war has raged on. The next military offensive, taking control of Gaza City, will affect hundreds of thousands of people. Evacuation orders that have been issued so far, tell Palestinians in the targeted blocks to move south to Al-Mawasi. For many, moving again is physically and psychologically insurmountable, and, after nearly two years of war, comes with very little promise of safety anyway. "There is no safe place, the places that they said would be safe, people were struck there, people were martyred in the tents and outside the tents, no place is safe," Ahmed Siyam told the ABC in Gaza City. "It is a tragedy for everyone, everybody here is saying this: 'It's better stay here and die than go to other places because there is no way to leave.'" Majeda Abo Jarad says she is psychologically and financially exhausted. ( ABC News ) Majeda Abo Jarad and her family had been forced to move more than 10 times. ( ABC News ) Majeda Abo Jarad and her family had been forced to move more than 10 times. "Because it's so much. We can't bear it," she said. "All [of the] Gaza Strip is dangerous, so we can't reject any orders to move from place to place, we don't have any options. "We are so exhausted, psychologically and financially." The plan from here Even before the Gaza City occupation was given the go-ahead by Israel's security cabinet, highlighting divisions between the prime minister and his military chief who thought it wasn't a good plan, displacement has been on the agenda. From Donald Trump's "Riviera of the Middle East" pitch — which garnered significant global attention, but which was never fully explained by the US president — through to the plan floated by Israel's defence minister for a camp to be built on the ruins of the southern city of Rafah. With southern Gaza under total Israeli control, the IDF carved a new strategic line into the landscape — known as the Morag corridor, named after a Jewish settlement which existed in the area prior to Israel's withdrawal from the strip in 2005. Satellite imagery shows how the Israeli military razed Rafah to the ground, with excavators brought in to level bombed-out buildings targeted repeatedly during the war. Israel Katz briefed Israeli journalists on his proposal for a "humanitarian city" in July, although many critics of Israel's conduct in Gaza said that was a misnomer — instead likening it to a concentration camp. The idea was that an initial 600,000 people would be relocated to the camp, with hopes to continue to expand it to accommodate the entire Gazan population. And once Palestinians entered, they wouldn't be allowed to leave. It's been pilloried by the international community as a dangerous escalation in the war. It's also been questioned by Israeli politicians and the military — more with regards to its logistical and financial viability than its ethics. While the Rafah camp may not come to pass, it's an insight into how Israel is making plans for the population. In February, Mr Katz also announced the creation of a new department within the defence ministry to develop policies to encourage Palestinians to "voluntarily" leave Gaza. Pushing the population into a smaller and smaller portion of Gaza is likely evidence of that encouragement already underway, although it isn't clear where those presented with no choice other than to leave would be resettled. Tent camps in Gaza City extend onto the beach. ( Reuters: Mahmoud Issa ) Neighbouring countries, such as Jordan and Egypt, have rejected repeated public pronouncements from people like Mr Trump that they could take in Palestinians. There have been multiple reports in the Israeli and international media that other countries further afield, including in East Africa, have been sounded out by Israel and the United States as options for resettlement. While Israel rejects allegations of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, analysis of its own conduct fuels the argument it is pursuing such a policy — something which could constitute a war crime under international conventions. The IDF did not directly respond to the ABC's questions about how the block system was devised and if it would continue to use it in the future. In a statement, the IDF said it "operates with the goal of striking enemy forces while minimizing, as much as possible, harm to uninvolved civilians". "The IDF targets only military objectives, basing its strikes on intelligence indications of terrorist infrastructure or the presence of terrorists in the target area. "The IDF calls on civilians to evacuate for their own safety by issuing early, clear, and detailed warnings through various channels." Additional map design by Alex Palmer , translations by Sami Sockol
ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
Australian-first psychedelic-assisted therapy trial for terminally ill patients shows improved quality of life
Michael Quinn's prostate cancer had spread throughout his body when he came across a newspaper call-out that would change the course of what remained of his life. The newspaper was asking for people to take part in an Australian-first clinical trial investigating how psychedelics, combined with psychotherapy, could help alleviate the anguish often experienced by people who have a terminal illness. Terror-stricken about the prospect of death, and suffering from bouts of panic and catatonic depression, Michael registered his interest. His wife Pat Quinn said the results would ultimately be life-changing for her late husband. "He felt that the program softened the edges of his edges and found a new path to dealing with this illness," she said. "He still had some anxiety, obviously, and some frustrations, but he was much, much more calm." Over the course of three-and-a-half years, researchers at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne have examined the use of synthetic psilocybin — the compound naturally found in "magic mushrooms" — in combination with psychotherapy for 35 people, including Michael, with advanced terminal illness. The pool of patients was small, but the study's co-author, clinical psychologist Dr Margaret Ross said the results were promising. "We did see reductions in depression, anxiety, hopelessness, demoralisation — so we saw big reductions in psychological distress. But not only that, we also saw increases and improvement in quality of life," Dr Ross said. "Beyond the metrics we saw people experiencing things like reconciliation and forgiveness in situations where there were fractured relationships in the past. As well as treating people with terminal cancer, the study was the first in the world to offer psilocybin-assisted therapy to patients with non-cancerous life-threatening conditions like motor neurone disease. Participants in the trial took two doses, six to seven weeks apart. Half the participants received a placebo for the first dose, while all participants received psilocybin for the second dose. Patients then spent roughly seven hours in a calm, dark room listening to music. Both Dr Ross and co-author, psychiatrist Justin Dwyer, were at their side, and sometimes hours would pass without anyone saying a word. Each dose was preceded and followed by psychotherapy sessions. Dr Dwyer said the accompanying psychotherapy was an essential part of the treatment, but noted the gruelling nature of the entire process could be challenging for some participants. "The narrative about psychedelics is really problematic. I think they're presented as things which are going to cure mental illness, prevent suicide — they're presented as things which are going to transform really intractable states of suffering," he said. "I have a real problem with that, a) because it's not true in the way it's presented, but b) because it sort of downplays the amount of work people have to do and the courage which is required to sort of do that work in a deep way." The clinicians also caution that psychedelic-assisted therapy was not a match for certain people, including those with some psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. "If they struggle to tell the difference between emotions and physical sensations, if they've got a lot of really raw, unprocessed trauma that they're avoiding, I think potentially it could be a very harmful treatment," Dr Dwyer said. But for others, Dr Ross said the therapy could help people face the end of their life. "It's kind of like staring at the sun, you can't look at it for too long. It's so difficult and so terrifying for many to accept that they're not going to exist anymore," she said. "So to kind of be able to sit with, and face and walk through and transform, this experience of terror in the face of the unbearable meant that people could, instead of living with this terror, this daily existence with these thudding reminders that their life was going to be coming to an end very shortly — they could actually go, no, I'm still alive." The clinicians are now trying to expand the research, which is largely still in its infancy. For decades psychedelic therapy has been shunned by researchers and the medical community, weighed down by baggage from Richard Nixon's war on drugs as well as a lack of interest from pharmaceutical companies who do not stand to profit from non-patented treatments. Australia's national medical regulator only approved the therapeutic use of some psychedelics to treat a number of mental health conditions in 2023, making the country one of the first in the world to officially recognise psilocybin as a medicine. Dr Ross said as a result, more work was needed to understand how to deliver this type of treatment more broadly and affordably, with the treatment currently requiring hours of clinician time. "It's tens of thousands of dollars. We've seen it, you know, upwards of $26,000, which is just inaccessible for, you know, 95 per cent of the population," she said. "We need to be looking at how we can roll this out in a more cost-effective, time-effective and accessible way." Co-Director of Health and Policy at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre Ian Hickie said the results of the trial were encouraging, with other treatments for terminally ill patients historically failing to ease the anguish people can experience when they know they are about to die. "The focus of the study is a really interesting one. It's a population that traditionally hasn't done well with a lot of the traditional approaches, which are often sedative medicines, slow forms of psychological care, ineffective forms of meditation, or mindfulness that really don't go to the level of distress that people are experiencing," he said. But Professor Hickie noted he was cautious about "over-interpreting" the results of a small trial, emphasising the psychedelics could be harmful for certain people, and agreeing that more research needed to be done. "There may be a window that's created to make psychological treatments more effective as a consequence of using psychedelic drugs," he said "The psychedelics alone won't be the solution. What's the best combination? What opportunity is created and can you capitalise on that?" Dr Ross and Dr Dwyer's consulting rooms are a hidden retreat in the middle of busy Melbourne, largely unnoticed by those passing by. As she enters the space, Pat Quinn reunites with the two clinicians who helped her husband face death. Dr Ross offers Pat a hug and a cup of tea, while telling her they kept the sugar they bought especially for Michael when he would come in for his appointments. "Marg and Justin, what they did for Michael I think was outstanding. The difference that it made and the difference that it made for me," she said. She said Michael participated in the trial with the hope it would not only help him, but ultimately others too. "It made a huge difference and I don't think he would have coped and I don't know that I would have coped either if he hadn't been through that process and I would hope that it could be expanded to help a lot of other people through it," she said. "I know it's not a cure, but if it helps people to deal with what they're going through it's got to be beneficial. "It meant a lot to me. It meant a lot to him. And he meant a lot to me."
ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
Productivity summit turns to building homes, with warnings housing targets will not be met
Housing will dominate discussion at the Economic Reform Roundtable this morning, with ministers, business leaders and conservationists all under pressure to solve the wicked problem of building more homes without trashing the environment. Productivity commissioner Danielle Wood, who will open the session, titled: Better Regulation and Approvals, is expected to explain to attendees that environmental approvals are one of the biggest handbrakes on housing. In her speech to the National Press Club on Monday, Ms Wood warned "regulatory hair balls" had found their way into "almost every corner of our economy". The result has included massive blowouts in approval times for housing and major infrastructure projects, and she argues it has hurt productivity. The focus has again turned to aging environmental laws that both the former Morrison government and the Albanese government last term failed to reform. Under current laws, new developments only need federal approval if they are likely to damage the environment, harm threatened species or affect culturally sensitive land. That means only a fraction of projects fall within the Commonwealth's remit. But ABC News understands that even within that smaller pool, there is still a backlog of 30,000 projects, including many of industry's largest proposals, and plenty of room to speed up approvals. Both Environment Minister Murray Watt and Housing Minister Clare O'Neil will be at the forum today, searching for the balance between protecting the environment and delivering homes faster. Ms Wood on Monday pointed out that housing approval times had blown out 50 per cent in the past three decades due to regulation. It means "hard conversations" are unavoidable, including about heritage and density restrictions. Last week, Treasury documents that were leaked to the ABC suggested the government could freeze changes to the National Construction Code to speed up housing approvals as a major outcome of the three-day summit. Labor derided a Coalition policy for a 10-year freeze at the 2025 election, arguing it would lead to the construction of "shoddy homes". Now, the government seems to be inching towards a freeze, which is feeding criticism from the opposition. "The government are hopeless when it comes to balancing the needs of more housing while protecting the environment. Labor are totally paralysed by this dilemma," Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg told the ABC. "If their only outcome from the roundtable is to copy our policy, you can forgive us for rolling our eyes." Behind closed doors, Labor MPs admit the scale of the problem. Treasury documents show the government is not on track to meet its own election pledge of building 1.2 million homes in five years. Senator Watt has been consulting for months with miners, developers, business groups and conservationists on reforms to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act he hopes to legislate by mid-next year after two previous terms of government failed. A consistent complaint of the current system is duplication. Projects require the sign off of both state and federal departments, with the federal process not beginning until state or territory approval is given. Stakeholders agrees more housing is needed and that Australia's environmental laws are outdated. The sticking point is how far each side is willing to compromise. Graeme Samuel, who reviewed the EPBC Act in 2020, has identified a number of areas where approvals can delay and cause real impediments to proper investment. "The first is local government planning laws and approvals, they can take an inordinate amount of time and of course the NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) syndrome of local objectors can hold approvals up and in fact result in them never being obtained," he told the ABC. "The environmental approvals are also important and the recommendations in the review I did back in 2020 are designed to ensure efficiency and, more importantly, to ensure certainty." The same leaked Treasury documents also recommend a national artificial intelligence plan to cut environmental red tape. Housing approvals are just one concern of the flaws in the EPBC Act. Another is accelerating approvals for renewable energy projects, which the government considers just as critical in meeting its green energy targets. A Labor source told the ABC: "Reaching renewables targets and delivering on housing are the hardest challenges for the government politically. The big question for the talks is how to speed up approvals for both." It is why BHP's Australian president Geraldine Slattery and Australian Conservation Foundation chief Kelly O'Shanassy are central voices at today's discussion — symbols of the tension between growth and conservation. For Housing Minister Clare O'Neil, the Productivity Commission's report is blunt: red tape is choking supply. In some cases, it takes up to 10 times longer to get approval for a new home than to build one. She argues this bottleneck is shutting ordinary Australians out of home ownership and driving up costs. Fixing it has become one of the government's most urgent priorities. While housing dominates today's agenda, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will step away from Canberra to travel to South Australia to make his first inspection of the state's algal bloom crisis and flex his environmental credentials. Back in the capital, pressure will remain on attendees to strike the right balance between protecting the environment and solving the housing crisis. If tensions spill over, Mr Albanese will have the chance to smooth them over tonight, when he hosts union bosses, business chiefs and bureaucrats for dinner at The Lodge.
