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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Charlotte Graham-McLay

Morning Mail: fresh warning over Antarctic melt; gas move before new cost-of living relief; De Minaur out of Open

Melting icebergs in Antarctica
Melting icebergs in Antarctica. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Good morning. Australia is not prepared for how Antarctic ice changes could pummel the country’s economy, a leading Antarctic scientist is warning. Prof Matt King says he finds it embarrassing how little is known about the local and global ramifications of the accelerated melting – which he says could transform the country and affect the viability of some agricultural industries.

Meanwhile, a new deal guarantees gas supply for Australia’s south-east coast as the government put the finishing touches to new cost-of-living relief, the death toll in Gaza passes 25,000, and Alex de Minaur is out of the Australian Open after losing a four-hour epic.

Australia

Melting icebergs on Horseshoe Island in Antarctica
Melting icebergs on Horseshoe Island in Antarctica. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

World

A car destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Rafah, Gaza
A car destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Rafah, Gaza. Photograph: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images

Full Story

Anthony Albanese speaks to media during a press conference in Sydney
Anthony Albanese speaks to media during a press conference in Sydney. Photograph: Flavio Brancaleone/AAP

Can the Australian economy pull of a miracle in 2024?

Last year was a horror one for household budgets as Australians struggled against rising interest rates, soaring rents and cost-of-living pressures. Will things get better or worse in 2024? Guardian Australia’s economics correspondent Peter Hannam tells Jane Lee about the certainties and uncertainties that lie ahead.

In-depth

Kenneth Smith
US death-row inmate Kenneth Smith. Photograph: Alabama Department of Corrections via AP

Here is the horrifying story of an Alabama man who is one of two Americans to survive a prison execution. This week the state will make another attempt to kill Kennedy Smith, using an untested gas method, after the torment of his failed lethal injection in 2022.

“I am not ready for that,” Smith, who has PTSD from the four-hour ordeal of his first execution, told the Guardian. “Not in no kind of way. I’m just not ready, brother.”

Not the news

Conservator Bethan Bryan with the Roman arm guard
Conservator Bethan Bryan with the Roman arm guard. Photograph: Duncan McGlynn/National Museums Scotland

A spectacular brass guard that would have protected the sword arm of a high-ranking Roman soldier some 1,800 years ago has been reconstructed from more than 100 fragments found at Trimontium, the Roman fort complex in Scotland.

Made in the second century – with brass strips overlapping like an armadillo’s scales – it is one of only three known from the whole Roman empire, and the most intact.

The world of sport

Russia’s Andrey Rublev with his arms in the air
Russia’s Andrey Rublev celebrates after beating Australia’s Alex De Minaur at the Australian Open. Photograph: Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

Media roundup

The Australian reports that a business visa program which makes up a quarter of all the ­nation’s migration allocations has been quietly axed by Labor over claims it has had a negative impact on the economy. Tenants are under additional cost-of-living pressure as rents rise faster than wages, the Sydney Morning Herald says. The ABC explores whether mega-fires, which are increasing as the climate crisis escalates, are also contributing to global heating.

What’s happening today

  • Heat warnings | We’ll have the latest on the effects of Australia’s scorching temperatures this week.

  • Fair work | A Senate inquiry into fair work legislation will hold a hearing in Canberra.

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Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.

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