Good morning. It's Monday 4 July 2022 and here's a round up of the latest news.
Anthony Albanese visits Ukraine
Australia has pledged further support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian forces.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited destroyed towns near Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Mr Albanese announced Australia will provide 34 additional armoured vehicles and prohibit Russian gold imports; and impose sanctions and travel bans on 16 more Russian ministers and oligarchs, bringing the total number of Russian individuals sanctioned by Australia to 843.
"In Bucha today I saw clear evidence of a war crime. People need to be held to account for their actions," Mr Albanese said.
"Australia stands ready to continue to support the government and the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to emerge victorious in defence of your national sovereignty and your homeland. Because you are fighting for the international rule of law."
Australia will also supply 14 more armoured personnel carriers and 20 Bushmaster vehicles.
Mr Albanese's visit is a side trip on his way home from Paris.
Thousands evacuate from floods in NSW
Thousands of people have been asked to evacuate or prepare to evacuate with more flooding with dangerous conditions across much of New South Wales.
Areas stretching from Newcastle to the South Coast and as far inland as Oberon are at risk, but especially western Sydney's flood-prone Hawkesbury-Nepean area.
Locals save furniture from a house threatened by floodwaters in Camden in South Western Sydney, Sunday, July 3, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE
The state emergency response department answered more thousands of emergency calls over the weekend, dispatching dozens of rescue squads.
New South Wales Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke warned affected communities not to take their safety for granted.
"Please be sensible and make good decisions on behalf of yourself and loved ones around you so you don't put your life at risk or the lives of your loved ones and the lives at risk of our emergency services volunteers," Ms Cooke said.
Australia's COVID-19 death toll surpasses 10,000
Australia has recorded more than 10,000 deaths from COVID-19, with more than 70 per cent of the fatalities reported in the past six months.
That's compared to 2021, when about 1,300 people died.
There were 909 deaths the year before that.
Experts warn that the virus is on track to become the second leading cause of death in Australia this year, behind heart disease.
Virologist Nigel McMillan from Griffith University says if the current trend in COVID deaths continue there could be 14,000 fatalities from the virus by the end of the year.
"At our current rate from deaths from COVID-19, which is twice for example the current road toll per day, we are going to reach some 14 thousand deaths by the end of the year," Mr Griffith said.
"That would put COVID-19 at number two or three in the list of causes of deaths. Now that puts COVID at number two behind coronary heart disease"
A combination of successive Omicron sub-variants, and few to no restrictions, have kept infection rates high.
Danish police arrest shooting suspect
Danish Police say a suspected after opening fire in a Copenhagen shopping centre killing several people and wounding several others.
A view of police holding a man under arrest at Field's shopping centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday July 3, 2022. (Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Credit: Claus Bech/AP
Copenhagen police say labelling this attack as terrorism has not been ruled out yet but investigations are ongoing.
Floods continue to ravish Bangladesh and India
Floodwaters have inundated more of Bangladesh and northeast India as authorities struggle to reach more than nine-and-a-half million people stranded with little food and drinking water.
The floods also triggered mudslides, killing dozens of people in India's Manipur state, where rescuers are still looking for survivors.
Arvind Kumar Tiwaris form the Central Reserve Police Force says even emergency personnel are not safe.
People wade through a waterlogged street after a heavy monsoon rainfall in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India on 1 July 2022. Source: ABACA / ABACA/PA
"Water entered our office area, barracks of soldiers and many other places."
In neighbouring Bangladesh, more than 100 people have died in the floods with another seven million have left homeless.
