Good afternoon. Russia has lost its initial bid to hold onto its new embassy site in Canberra, with the high court saying Moscow’s legal challenge was “weak” and “hard to understand”.
An hour after the ruling, a Russian official who had been squatting on the Yarralumla site left in a diplomatic vehicle.
The ruling came as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announced a further $110m in new support to Ukraine, including military vehicles, ammunition and humanitarian funding. It brings Australia’s total support given to Ukraine since the war began to $790m, including $610m in military assistance.
And eastern Australians, keep those umbrellas handy as more wet weather heads your way.
Top news
China downplays Russia turmoil | Chinese officials have described an aborted rebellion by the Wagner group of mercenaries as Moscow’s “internal affairs”. Albanese took a different view, saying it was a “disaster” for Vladimir Putin. “You can’t have events like that and just wipe them out, pretend that you will go back to stability,” he said. Read the Guardian’s view.
Daryl Maguire charged | The former Wagga Wagga MP – and ex-boyfriend to the former New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian – has been charged with giving false and misleading evidence in relation to a corruption watchdog inquiry involving Canterbury council. The announcement of the charges comes just days before the Independent Commission Against Corruption hands down its report relating to Berejiklian.
Taylor Swift presale hiccup | American Express’s ticket site crashed half an hour before some presale packages for Swift’s upcoming Eras tour went on sale this morning, signalling huge demand for the Australian shows. The Amex site was back up and running shortly after. Presale tickets for Frontier members will go on sale for the five shows across Melbourne and Sydney from Wednesday, with general ticket sales due to go live on Friday.
Unspent Qantas credits | There’s $400m in unspent Covid-related Qantas credits that are due to expire in December. The airline has launched a new Find My Credit online tool to search for bookings up to three years old, to make it easier for passengers to consolidate the credits they are entitled to.
Windfarm noise | There’s no evidence windfarms disturb sleep any more than road traffic, according to a five-year study by Flinders University. Researchers also found that very low-frequency windfarm noise is not audible to the human ear, either while awake or asleep.
Wet weather for eastern Australia | A large cloud band is poised to bring unseasonable wet weather to parts of Australia as it moves eastwards across the country this week. The Bureau of Meteorology’s forecasts suggest a rain band developing over northern Western Australia on Sunday into Monday will move towards the eastern states over the first half of the week.
Free bus rides for women | The Indian state of Karnataka in the country’s south has launched free bus travel for women and transgender people in an attempt to boost employment, and the change has been heartily welcomed. In the first nine days of the scheme, more than 40 million women climbed aboard.
Sudan fighting | Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has reportedly made gains in the capital, Khartoum. The RSF says it has seized the main base of a heavily armed police unit and captured a large amount of military equipment.
In pictures
China’s north is baking in a record heatwave. For the first time, temperatures hit above 40C in Beijing for three consecutive days. See how residents are trying to keep cool.
What they said …
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“I was just reading over [Simon Crean’s] texts this morning and the warmth and enjoyment he got out of the things that I achieved in politics, it will stay with me forever. He was a friend and a mentor.” – Clare O’Neil
Tributes have been flowing throughout the day for the former Labor leader Simon Crean, who died suddenly on Sunday after his morning exercise while in Germany.
In numbers
The teenager has an intellectual disability, with the situation described to a court as a “major failure in our system”.
Before bed read
How about this for a nifty investment? The US man Tom Stuker paid $290,000 way back in 1990 for a lifetime pass from United Airlines. Since then, he says he has “lived like a sultan”, racking up 23m miles (37m km) and visiting more than 100 countries.
In 2019 alone, Stuker flew 1.46m miles, which would have cost him $2.44m had he not used his lifetime pass.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: GAS. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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