Morning everyone. Households could begin receiving free solar power for a few hours each day, even if they don’t have panels installed, under a new federal government plan.
Plus: Sussan Ley has no good choices in the net zero stoush, a Queensland professor wins the prime minister’s science prize for her work on Covid, Melbourne Cup punts remain popular, and Jennifer Lawrence reveals why she’s not going to “fuel the fire” over Donald Trump.
Australia
‘Pioneering’ | Prof Lidia Morawska, an expert in air quality and health at Queensland University of Technology, has won the top $250,000 prime minister’s science prize for her “pioneering research” that helped change the way the world treated the Covid pandemic.
Free power | Australian households in three states will get access to at least three hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels, the federal government has announced.
Coalition crunch | Sussan Ley is under intense pressure to drop Liberal party support for net zero targets after the Nationals came out against the idea, threatening the Coalition partnership. There are no good options for Ley, according to our political editor, who writes that she faces either losing voters or losing the backing of many MPs.
Custody death | An inmate who suffered a seizure was put in handcuffs and a spit hood by prison guards who left him naked in an “at-risk cell” before he died two days later, an inquest in Northern Territory has heard.
Sure bet | Australians are still gambling as much as ever on the Melbourne Cup despite polls saying people are losing interest in the famous race. But betting patterns are changing.
World
‘Fuel to a fire’ | Jennifer Lawrence has said she no longer feels it appropriate to speak out against the Trump administration, lest she exacerbate unhelpful debate and further divisions. Follow developments in the US here.
‘Such a huge crime’ | Navi Pillay, the South African judge who was the chair of the UN inquiiry into Gaza, tells Guardian Australia why her panel concluded that Israeli action in Gaza was genocide and why the world must fight Israel’s actions in the same way as it took on apartheid. A UN security council resolution mandating the introduction of an international stabilisation force into Gaza is likely to be ready within two weeks but faces delays over its makeup.
Rome collapse | A medieval tower in central Rome has partly collapsed twice during renovations, trapping one worker on an upper floor and injuring another. Watch the dramatic footage here.
Stabbing charge | A 32-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after Saturday’s mass stabbing on a high-speed train in Cambridgeshire in which 10 people were injured. He was also charged with a separate incident earlier in the day that left another person hurt.
Step by step | Even modest amounts of daily exercise such as 3,000 steps a day may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in older people who are at risk of developing the condition, researchers have said.
Full Story
The rising resistance to Pine Gap
Nour Haydar speaks to senior reporter Ben Doherty about the rising resistance to Pine Gap, and the questions the spy base raises about Australia’s complicity in alleged crimes abroad.
In-depth
The discovery of pieces of wood sticking up from the sand on a beach on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula sparked much excitement as it emerged that it was a shipwreck buried under the shifting sands for at least 75 years. Stephanie Convery reports on the marine archaeologists trying to solve the mystery of what vessel it was and how it got there.
Not the news
A bumper crop of Australian books hit the stores this month led by the intriguing collaboration between Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein on The Mushroom Tapes, Kate Mildenhall’s rural crime thriller and a Thai cookbook by MasterChef Australia 2024 winner Nat Thaipun.
Sport
AFLW | North Melbourne are the hot favourites to win back-to-back flags as the finals start this week. Can anyone stop them?
Concussion | The NRL confirmed last night it is assessing whether there was a failure in the application of rugby league’s concussion protocols following Eli Katoa undergoing emergency surgery for a head injury at the weekend.
Cricket | Mark Wood says England are confident as they go into the Ashes and believe they have an Australia-style blueprint to put pressure on the home batting lineup.
Media roundup
Andrew Hastie would run for the Liberal leadership if Sussan Ley is ousted amid an internal Coalition battle over net zero, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. If you’re going to the Melbourne Cup today you’d better pack a poncho, the Herald Sun advises, with inclement weather on the way. Broncos legend Gorden Tallis has joined forces with Matthew Johns in an effort to revitalise the embattled NRL club Gold Coast Titans, the Bulletin reports,
What’s happening today
Racing | Nup to the Melbourne Cup protests in Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, Brisbane and Perth.
Economy | Reserve Bank chiefs reveal their latest judgment on interest rates at 2.30pm.
Security | Asio chief Mike Burgess delivers the 2025 Lowy lecture at Sydney Town Hall this evening.
Sign up
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Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
