Lina Chernykh tells the BBC her niece Matilda was a joyous child who spread love everywhere she went
The family of the Bondi shooting's youngest victim Matilda urged the community to not let her death fuel anger, as they said a final goodbye to the 10-year-old on Thursday.
Matilda was among 15 people who were shot dead when two gunmen opened fire on an event marking the start of Hannukah at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday.
Speaking to the BBC at Matilda's funeral, her aunt Lina Chernykh said the Jewish community is right to want more action to stamp out antisemitism – she does too.
But she said Matilda was a joyous child who spread love everywhere she went, and urged the community to do the same in her honour.
"Take your anger and… just spread happiness and love and memory for my lovely niece," Ms Chernykh said.
"I hope maybe she's an angel now. Maybe she [will] send some good vibes to the world."
Jewish community leaders have in recent days suggested the tragedy was an inevitable result of Australia struggling to address rising antisemitism.
The attack on Sunday, which targeted the Jewish community at an event celebrating the first night of Hanukkah, was the country's deadliest incident since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people during the Port Arthur massacre.
Ahead of Matilda's funeral on Thursday, Ms Chernykh said the family was devastated.
"I look at their faces [and] I don't know if they will be ever happy again," she said of Matilda's parents.
Matilda's younger sister, from whom she was "inseparable", is shattered and confused, she said.
"She doesn't have enough tears to cry."
At a flower memorial on Tuesday, Matilda's mother Valentyna told mourners that the family came to Australia from Ukraine more than a decade ago, thinking it would be a safe place for them.
"I couldn't imagine I'd lose my daughter here... It's just a nightmare," she said.
Ms Chernykh told the BBC she too has struggled to make sense of what is happening.
She was gardening at her home on the Gold Coast when Matilda's mother called on Sunday.
"Truly, I was thinking something happened to my father because he's 84 years old... and she says Matilda was shot," she recalled.
"How [could] someone in Australia understand, if someone tells you your kid was shot… I couldn't understand it. I was thinking I have bad reception. I asked a few times what I'm [hearing]."
Police have designated the attack a terrorist incident, with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying it appears to have been "motivated by Islamic State" group ideology.
Police allege that the two gunmen were a father and son. Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead at the scene, while his son Naveed, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act.
Australia on Thursday announced it would strengthen laws to crack down on hate - including by introducing powers to cancel or refuse visas on grounds of antisemitism.
Anthony Albanese has announced new laws that will target 'those who spread hate'
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government will crack down on hate speech following Sunday's deadly shooting at Bondi Beach that targeted a Jewish festival.
Fifteen people were killed when two gunmen opened fire at an event to mark the first day of Hanukkah.
New laws will target "those who spread hate, division and radicalisation", Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
The home affairs minister will also be given new powers to cancel or refuse visas for those who spread hate and a new taskforce will be set up to ensure the education system "prevents, tackles and properly responds to antisemitism".
The new laws will also include penalties for preachers and leaders who promote violence, a new federal offence of "aggravated hate speech", and the introduction of "hate" as an aggravating factor in sentencing crimes for online threats and harassment.
"Every Jewish Australian has the right to feel safe, valued and respected for the contribution that they make to our great nation," Albanese said.
"The terrorists, inspired by ISIS... sought to turn Australians against each other. Australians have responded to that act of hatred with love and sympathy for those in mourning."
Albanese added that his government would be "fully supporting and adopting" the recommendations put forward in July in a report by antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal, who also spoke at the press conference.
She said the country was "at a very important moment not only for our community, but for fighting antisemitism around the world."
Her report was criticised by some upon its release in July due to its implications for free speech, including plans to monitor universities and arts organisations and withhold funding if they were deemed to have failed to act against antisemitism. There were concerns for instance, that the funding could be used to silence pro-Palestinian protests.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government was "shifting the threshold".
"There have been individuals who have managed to exploit a nation that had different principles of freedom of speech and have gone right to the limits of language that is clearly dehumanising, unacceptable, having no place in Australia, but have not quite crossed the threshold to violence," he said.
Meanwhile, Albanese acknowledged accusations from the Jewish community that his government had not done enough to prevent antisemitism since the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas, and said more could have been done.
"I accept my responsibility for the part in that as prime minister of Australia," he said. "But what I also do is accept my responsibility to lead the nation and unite the nation. Because what people are looking for at this time isn't more division."
President Trump in an address from the White House on Wednesday argued that U.S. economy under his leadership is in better shape than many voters think.
“Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history,” President Trump said in his address to the nation on Wednesday night from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.
The attack on Wednesday brings the total number killed to at least 99 since the Trump administration began bombing boats suspected of ferrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
U.S. attacks on boats off South America have drawn the ire of legal experts and many members of Congress, who contend that the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings and, potentially, war crimes.
Nick Reiner, facing murder charges in the deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, appeared at an arraignment that lasted just minutes before it was rescheduled for January. He has not entered a plea.
Alan Jackson, Nick Reiner’s lawyer, speaking to the media outside Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday. He asked the public not to “rush to judgment.”
Beijing is using its messaging tools to show off its prowess at building infrastructure and project power, taking advantage of what it says is “deep anxiety” in U.S. policies.
当时，主持镇压的党内元老邓小平赞扬军队忠诚不二，就连一些国外的报道也保留了部队坚定冷酷地服从命令的形象。不过，1989年6月4日前夕及后来几个月的军队讲话和报告显示，对于下达的残酷任务，官兵们心存疑虑、感到困惑，流言和悔恨也让他们颇为不安。在普林斯顿大学图书馆(Princeton University Library)取得的中国军方文献中，有一份评估报告写道，武警杨德安称，“情况多变，很混乱。我们对斗争的残酷性估计不足。敌友难分，攻击目标也不明确。”
British fashion designer Anthony Price (L) with singer David Bowie (C) and his wife Angie Bowie at King's Cross station in London in 1973
Antony Price, the British fashion designer responsible for some of the looks favoured by David Bowie, Roxy Music and Queen Camilla among others, has died aged 80.
Price was best known for his sculptured silhouettes and theatrical styles, including pastel suits which featured in rock band Duran Duran's music video Rio.
The band released a statement on social media remembering him as a "visionary" and a "kind, intelligent and razor-witted friend".
Price's death comes less than a month after he unveiled his latest collection in London in more than 30 years, where singer Lily Allen modelled a dress inspired by the black velvet "revenge dress" worn by Diana, Princess of Wales.
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Price styled rock group Duran Duran for their music video Rio in 1982
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Price (C) with Duran Duran at his 70th birthday party in London in 2015.
Born in Yorkshire in 1945, Price moved to London in the early 1960s to study at the Royal College of Art.
A year after graduating, he began designing menswear at Stirling Copper and was responsible for the body-hugging, buttoned trousers Sir Mick Jagger wore during The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter tour in 1969.
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Sir Mick Jagger wearing Price's buttoned trousers on tour in New York City in 1969
He founded his own label in 1979 and staged his first fashion show a year later, opening the collection with looks from model Jerry Hall, who also wore the dress Price designed for her wedding to Sir Mick.
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Model Jerry Hall and Price attending an event in 1985
A long-time collaborator of David Bowie, Price designed the jacket the singer wore for his As The World Falls Down music video in 1986.
His signature ability to blend menswear and womenswear along with his technical proficiency to shape body-hugging looks made him a "true original", said the British Fashion Council.
In the 1990s, he began working on pieces for Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, including several ensembles for her US tour after assuming the title.
After a career spanning more than five decades, Price staged what would be his last show in London last month in collaboration with fashion brand 16Arlington.
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Price (L) with singer Lily Allen (C) at his fashion show in London last month.
Pandas have stood for friendship between China and Japan since 1972. But the last two are about to go, and a dispute over Taiwan could get in the way of sending more.
The affordability crisis that upended global politics last year continues to ripple across some of the world’s biggest democracies — punishing incumbents and undermining longstanding political alliances.
New international POLITICO polling shows the voter frustration with persistent financial strain remains a deeply potent force today. In five major economies, The POLITICO Poll found ongoing cost-of-living pressures continue to reverberate through politics:
In the United States, where Donald Trump returned to power on a campaign of economic populism, nearly two-thirds of voters — 65 percent — say the cost of living in the country has gotten worse over the last year.
In the United Kingdom, where voters ousted the Conservative Party in 2024 after 14 years of rule, 77 percent say the cost of living has worsened.
In France, where President Emmanuel Macron is grappling with historically low favorability ratings, almost half of all adults — 45 percent — say their country is falling behind comparable economies.
In Germany, after prolonged infighting over the economy, former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition collapsed last year. There, 78 percent of respondents say the cost of living has gotten worse over the last year.
And in Canada, a post-pandemic affordability crisis helped fuel a public backlash against then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government ahead of his resignation earlier this year. The POLITICO Poll found that 60 percent of adults in the country say the cost of living is the worst they can remember it being.
The results, from POLITICO and Public First’s first-ever joint international poll, illustrate the uphill battle many leaders face in trying to contain the intertwined economic and political unrest. Five years after the coronavirus pandemic upended the global economy — and as the world contends with competing conflicts and AI rapidly becoming a defining force — meaningful shares of respondents across the U.S., Canada, and Europe’s biggest economies of Germany, the United Kingdom and France view the cost of living as among the biggest issues facing the world right now.
But as leaders seek to address the affordability concerns, many say that their leaders could be doing a lot more to help on the cost of living, but are choosing not to.
That has left incumbent governments grappling with how to manage the rising economic dread — and control the resulting political backlash. It has also created an opportunity for opposition parties on economic messaging.
“For incumbents it’s very difficult to run on these platforms,” said Javier Carbonell, a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre. “Today, center-left and center-right parties are seen as incumbents, and as the ones who are to put the blame.”
Voters are pessimistic about the cost of living
There is a pervasive sense in the five countries that their economies are deteriorating.
In France, 82 percent of adults say the cost of living in the country has worsened over the last year, as do 78 percent of respondents in Germany; 77 percent of adults in the United Kingdom and 79 percent in Canada say the same.
A majority of people in all five countries go even further, saying the cost of living crisis has never been worse.
In a further sign of the trouble facing leaders, the poll results suggest many view affordability as a systemic problem more than a personal one. Majorities across the countries, for example, say the issue of affordability is the high cost of goods, not that they are not paid too little.
In the U.K., roughly two-thirds of adults say the country’s economy has deteriorated — greater than the 46 percent who say their own financial situation has worsened over the last year. That same pattern holds for France, Canada and Germany, suggesting the public holds broad concerns about the economy and affordability that go beyond their individual lives.
While the European Union’s economy is set to grow by 1.4 percent in 2025, the economy in Germany has weakened over the past two years, and is expected to stagnate this year. In France, a series of government policies aimed at addressing cost-of-living concerns have contributed to an exploding national debt, which currently stands at nearly $4 trillion USD.
In the United Kingdom, the results come against a backdrop of sluggish economic growth, with incumbent Prime Minister Keir Starmer struggling to convince voters that his center-left Labour Party can drive down the cost of living.
And in Canada, the country’s deep-seated anxiety is born out by federal inflation data. Statistics Canada reported this week that the consumer price index ticked up 2.2 percent in November compared to the same month in 2024 — nearly a bullseye on the central bank's 2 percent target.
Negative economic views are shaping politics
Voters’ economic concerns are roiling politics.
In 2024, Trump ran a campaign on economic concerns without having to oversee the economy himself. That dynamic has shifted in recent months, with voters beginning to sour on his handling of the economy, underscoring the difficulty of convincing voters of economic progress amid stubborn cost-of-living concerns.
That feeling of falling behind was particularly acute among European respondents in the POLITICO Poll, with nearly half of adults in Germany, France and the United Kingdom saying that their country is “generally falling behind other comparable economies.”
That pessimism has pushed many people out of the political process, Carbonell said, “because there’s no expectation that things are going to change.” For others, it’s fueling a search for political alternatives.
“There is this increasing demand for a very anti-system politics,” he said.
In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz made revamping the economy a central campaign promise. But since taking office, he has been preoccupied with geopolitical issues, including the ongoing trade war and the Russia-Ukraine war.
That has become a successful line of attack for Merz's critics — among them the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, now polling in first place. The party has accused Merz — whose approval ratings are at an all-time low — of not paying enough attention to the needs of the people in his own country, nicknaming him the “foreign policy chancellor.”
In France, the government is looking to roll back some of the policies it rolled out in response to cost-of-living concerns, but doing so could prove particularly unpopular with a population laser-focused on high costs. It could also fuel anti-establishment parties on the right and left, which have made the issue a central weapon against France’s crumbling political center.
David Coletto, a longtime pollster in Canada and CEO of the firm Abacus Data, has for years tracked affordability concerns — and found widespread concern among most survey respondents.
"This is not a marginal concern or a background anxiety," he wrote of results from POLITICO’s November poll. "It is a dominant lived experience that continues to shape how Canadians interpret government performance, leadership, and competing policy priorities, alongside concern about Donald Trump, trade, and global instability."
Affordability messaging will be a central message in upcoming elections
Affordability will be a central feature of elections across the globe next year — with some of that messaging already underway. In the U.S., Democratic candidates from New York to Georgia focused much of their 2025 campaigns on lowering the costs of living, and both parties are planning to center the issue in the midterms.
"For now, the cost of living remains a warning light rather than a red light for the Carney government," Coletto wrote. "But the intensity of feeling, combined with seasonal pressures and fragile household finances, means the issue is unlikely to fade quietly into the background."
Starmer’s government — languishing in the polls and facing local elections in 2026 — has pivoted in recent weeks to a more explicit focus on affordability.
The U.K. government has also floated freezing train fares, lowering energy bills, and boosting the minimum wage in an attempt to solve the affordability crisis, but a record-high level of taxation confirmed at a government-wide budget last month risks blunting its economic message.
In Germany, the issue of affordability may gain new momentum when voters in five federal states head to the polls to elect new state parliaments next year. In Berlin, the far-left Left Party, for example, plans to take a playbook from the affordability-centered campaign of New York's Zohran Mamdani as a model for the state elections in September.
With local elections also taking place across France next year, and a presidential election in 2027, these issues are likely to continue to take center stage, especially in the larger cities where pricing pressures have been particularly acute.
In Paris, the outgoing center-left administration has been praised for making the city greener and more pedestrian-friendly, but far more needs to be done on affordability, said David Belliard, a member of the outgoing administration and the Green Party’s candidate for mayor.
“We’ve spent a lot of time fighting against the end of the world,” Belliard said, “but maybe not enough helping people make it to the end of the month.”
POLITICO’s Matt Honeycombe-Foster contributed to this report from the United Kingdom, Victor Goury-Laffont contributed to this report from France, Nette Nöstlinger contributed to this report from Germany and Nick Taylor-Vaisey contributed to this report from Canada.
Beijing is using its messaging tools to show off its prowess at building infrastructure and project power, taking advantage of what it says is “deep anxiety” in U.S. policies.
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