Newsroom edition: the real net zero questions do not involve the Coalition
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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Sudoku 6,981 easy
Click here to access the print version. Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9. To see the completed puzzle, buy the next issue of the Guardian (for puzzles published Monday to Thursday). Solutions to Friday and Saturday puzzles are given in either Saturday's or Monday's edition.
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Delays, breakdowns, frustration': NSW commuters left waiting at the station
As more families seek affordable housing outside Sydney, they are experiencing a daily stress: their bosses want them back in the office more frequently but the train services to get there are becoming more and more unreliable. NSW has just recorded its worst year for on time running for Sydney trains, with nearly one in five running late, but the real problem is with intercity trains. Since July, one in three have failed to meet the punctuality benchmark. 'It's usually late. It's a surprise when it's on time,' says Elita Bird, who travels from Gosford. 'The slightest thing with the weather, which is increasing, it just runs late.' 'Terrible,' says Kim, who asks not to use her surname. She makes the one hour, 40 minute journey from and to Tuggerah on the Central Coast to Central station every weekday. 'They just constantly cancel, reschedule them and they're very slow because we get stuck behind the all-stations trains.' Sign up: AU Breaking News email It raises serious questions for the Minns Labor government as it attempts to deal with a housing crisis and skyrocketing house prices, which are sending families farther afield to find a place to live. 'If you want to take the pressure off house prices we have to make it easier for people to live outside the major cities. That means having reliable public transport,' says Dr Geoffrey Clifton, senior lecturer in transport at the University of Sydney. The headline numbers the NSW government releases on train performance do not fully capture the agony of the state's long-distance train commuters as Sydney Trains combines the performance of the city and the intercity services. 'Whilst Sydney Trains did not reach its own 92% performance target over the past three years, in part due to protected industrial action during this period and severe weather events, on time running in 2022 was 92.1%, 95% in 2021 and 92.5% in 2020,' a spokesperson told the Guardian in an official statement. But it is an entirely different story if the focus is on the intercity services – trains to the Central Coast, South Coast, Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands. Those services have failed to meet the 92% benchmark – trains arriving within six minutes of their timetabled arrival during peak hours – for all seven years, where data is available. So far, in the first three weeks of the 2025-26 financial year, just 65.2% of trains on the four main intercity lines were 'punctual'. It was little better in the previous 2024-25 year: just 70% Worse still, punctuality is worse when commuters are trying to get home. In the week 30 June to 4 July 2025 just 37% of trains taking commuters home from the city were 'on time'. In the week 19 May to 23 May, when the east coast was hit by huge rainfall, just 21% of evening peak trains were on time. Rain leads to several problems: subsidence on to the lines, as well as crowding into middle carriages as passengers huddle under cover in the central part of platforms. Bird says she now looks at the weather to decide whether she should commute or work from home. 'If there is rain or wind, then often there's a line down. I know what the problem is: Cockle Creek station [on the Newcastle line] just floods really easily and that then leads to delays further down the line. It doesn't feel like they are being upfront about what's going wrong,' she says. Communication is another bugbear of commuters. 'My train stops multiple times and is often about half an hour to 40 minutes late to the final station,' says Liam, who commutes to and from Springwood in the Blue Mountains. 'There's some very quiet message. One of the days there was someone on tracks but delays are a very common occurrence.' Clifton says Sydney Trains relies on phone calls and paper instructions to tell train drivers what to do – such as skipping stations or terminating early. Digital systems are being introduced. The Central Coast and the Blue Mountains lines have seen a significant decline in the punctuality of their services since Labor was elected in 2023. The Central Coast line was on time 60 to 70% during 2024-25, with some weeks as low as 35%. On the Blue Mountains line, most weeks only 45 to 65% of trains run on time. The South Coast line's punctuality is also deteriorating while there has been some improvement on the Southern Highlands line. Clifton says NSW has struggled to provide a reliable service between cities partly because the lines are so complicated, with 'lots of old tunnels and bridges'. The other part of the equation is maintenance, he says. Sydney Trains admits maintenance backlogs are at 'a new maximum', which means temporary speed restrictions are now in place on parts of the network. A spokesperson says the maintenance backlog built up during the industrial action from September 2024 to February 2025. It's not the same story elsewhere. In Europe, Switzerland topped the list with 95% of its long distance trains arriving within five minutes of the timetabled time in 2024. The Netherlands was not far behind with 94%, followed by Belgium at 90%, France 89%, and Italy 80%. Surprisingly Germany, once a poster child for train punctuality, has achieved only 54% on the same measure, with commentators saying the deterioration is due to ageing infrastructure and a lack of investment. Sydney Trains points to the new Mariyung trains as one of the investments the Minns government has made. 'New trains can certainly help once the new fleet is introduced but the teething problems can last at least a year or so,' Clifton says. The transport minister, John Graham, says: 'Settling the rail agreement means all energy can now be focused on reliability. We have got that message loud and clear.' But Clifton says Graham and other members of the government should experience the train system for themselves. 'If they did, they'd see the delays, the breakdowns, the frustration… The truth is Labor thinks they can take these seats for granted.'
The Guardian
19 hours ago
- The Guardian
Missionaries using secret audio devices to evangelise Brazil's isolated peoples
Missionary groups are using audio devices in protected territories of the rainforest to attract and evangelise isolated or recently contacted Indigenous people in the Amazon. A joint investigation by the Guardian and Brazilian newspaper O Globo reveals that solar-powered devices reciting biblical messages in Portuguese and Spanish have appeared among members of the Korubo people in the Javari valley, near the Brazil-Peru border. Drones have also been spotted by Brazilian state agents in charge of protecting the areas. The gadgets have raised concerns about illegal missionary activities, despite strict government measures designed to safeguard isolated Indigenous groups. Uncontacted peoples, or 'peoples in voluntary isolation', avoid contact with modern society to protect their way of life and stay safe from violence or exploitation. They live in remote areas such as rainforests and deserts, maintaining traditional cultures free from outside influence. Governments and organisations aim to protect their rights and territories to prevent disease, cultural disruption and exploitation, safeguarding their autonomy and lands. What constitutes contact? In anthropology, 'contact' means interactions between cultural or social groups. 'Contacted' individuals have continuing relations with society. Contact can be direct, for example trade or conflict, or indirect, such as disease transmission. It involves cultural exchange and economic interactions. Colonial contact often imposed systems that disrupted Indigenous cultures. Brief or accidental interactions don't count as contact. Where are their territories? Most uncontacted peoples live in the Amazon basin, especially in Brazil and Peru, often within protected areas. Others are in the Gran Chaco, Andaman Islands, North Sentinel Island and West Papua. The Amazon basin, a vast region spanning several countries in South America, including Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, is home to the largest number of uncontacted communities, with estimates suggesting there could be dozens of such groups living in isolation. Western Brazil and eastern Peru are known for having some of the last uncontacted groups, including some that live in voluntary isolation within protected Indigenous territories and national parks. Is it essential to protect uncontacted peoples? Some oppose protection, citing a lack of modern benefits, concerns about land use or safety issues. Advocates argue that they survive using natural resources, contact harms health and evangelisation weakens cultures. They emphasise these peoples' rights to their territories and the inability of governments to ensure their safety. Even after contact, Indigenous peoples have rights to their full traditional territories according to some national and international norms. Why is the idea controversial? Governments and NGOs work to protect uncontacted peoples' territories from logging, mining and agriculture as they threaten their survival. Demarcating protected zones reduces human activity and preserves the way of life within them. In some countries, such as Brazil, legislation requires the government to demarcate Indigenous territories in the event of identifying uncontacted peoples – a measure that often conflicts with economic interests linked to land rights and use. This is not thought to be the first recent attempt by missionary groups to reach isolated and uncontacted communities in the Javari valley. Shortly before the pandemic, a group of US and Brazilian citizens affiliated to evangelical churches were allegedly reported to be planning to contact the Korubo people. It was claimed they had used seaplanes to map trails and locate longhouses. Three missionaries were identified as planning these alleged contact efforts: Thomas Andrew Tonkin, Josiah McIntyre and Wilson de Benjamin Kannenberg, linked to the Missão Novas Tribos do Brasil (New Tribes Mission of Brazil – MNTB) and a humanitarian group known as Asas de Socorro – or Wings of Relief. They were prohibited from entering Indigenous territory by court order during the Covid crisis. Now it has emerged that missionaries have returned to the Javari valley and surrounding towns, such as Atalaia do Norte, with a new tool. The first device uncovered, a yellow and grey mobile phone-sized unit, mysteriously appeared in a Korubo village in the Javari valley recently. The gadget, which recites the Bible and inspirational talks by an American Baptist, can do so indefinitely, even off-grid, thanks to a solar panel. Up to seven of the units were reported by local people, but photo and video evidence were obtained for just one. A message on the device located by the Guardian states: 'Let's see what Paul says as he considers his own life in Philippians chapter 3, verse 4: 'If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more'.' The Brazilian government does not permit proselytising in the Korubo's territory. Its policy, dating from 1987, stipulates that isolated groups must initiate any contact, a stance that made Brazil a pioneer in respecting Indigenous self-determination. The state also strictly controls access, to protect the Korubo and other uncontacted peoples in the region from common diseases to which they have little or no immunity. The device that reached the hands of the Korubo is called Messenger and is distributed by the Baptist organisation In Touch Ministries, based in Atlanta, Georgia. It is now a curiosity in the possession of the Korubo community matriarch, Mayá. In Touch does not sell the Messenger. The devices are donated to 'unreached' people in countries around the world and are available in more than 100 languages. With its solar panel and built-in torch, the device is designed to bring the gospel to places that lack reliable electricity or internet connections. In an interview with the Guardian, Seth Grey, In Touch Ministries' chief operating officer, confirmed that the organisation uses devices such as the Messenger and that 'it is built for functionality, solar-powered, with a flashlight'. 'Then they discover the content,' he said, adding that the device is loud enough for 20-person 'listening groups'. Grey said he personally delivered 48 of the devices to the Wai Wai people in the Brazilian Amazon four years ago. They contained religious content in their language and Portuguese. The Wai Wai have engaged with US missionaries, who have contacted and proselytised among communities in the northern Amazon, for decades, according to anthropologist Catherine V Howard. Grey said, however, that the Messenger should not be present in the Javari valley in violation of Brazilian policy. 'We don't go anywhere we're not allowed,' he said, referring to In Touch staff. He said he was aware of missionaries from 'other organisations' who do carry the devices to regions and countries where they are prohibited. The Korubo, known for their deadly expertise with war clubs, are a recently contacted people and therefore of keen interest to certain missionaries focused on preaching to the 'unreached'. Sgt Cardovan da Silva Soeiro, a military police officer at the government protection post at the entrance to the Javari valley Indigenous territory, said he learned about the devices from an Indigenous person stationed at the base. 'I sent a report with the photos to police intelligence, but so far we haven't heard anything back. The Indigenous people didn't want to give me the devices, so I thought it best not to insist. I just managed to get the images,' he said. Cardovan said military police officers are aware of the presence of missionaries allegedly linked to another Christian group, Jehovah's Witnesses. 'Some of these religious entities are very likely trying to get closer,' he said. He also reported to police command the presence of 'mysterious drones' that had recently appeared above the base, usually in the late afternoon. Cardovan was ordered to shoot them down, but so far has been unable to do so. 'We don't know if they belong to missionaries, drug traffickers, fishers or miners who are watching the base to see if they'll have free passage through here. When I received the order from command to shoot them down, I aimed my rifle, but the drone fled at high speed. It seemed very sophisticated,' he said. Daniel Luís Dalberto, a federal prosecutor's office agent who monitors the rights of uncontacted and recently contacted peoples, said the key point to understanding the presence of missionaries is not how many there are in the territory, 'but rather the change in methods like those of the radios that are emerging now'. 'It's a stealthy, concealed, under the radar conversion,' he said. 'The method has become sophisticated and difficult, almost impossible to combat.' This series on uncontacted peoples is a partnership between the Guardian and Brazilian newspaper O Globo and is supported by the Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, the Pulitzer Center and the Nia Tero Foundation. Read it in Portuguese here
