Good morning, this is Emilie Gramenz bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 29 June.
Top stories
Global coronavirus cases have passed the 10 million mark. Concerns are mounting over the dangerous resurgences of the disease in several countries, most prominently the US, where infections are rising in 29 of 50 states. In Australia, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has said the state will consider stay-at-home orders and suburban lockdowns to contain several coronavirus clusters in Melbourne after another 49 cases of Covid-19 were detected on Saturday – the highest daily increase since April.
A new report argues Australian governments need to pour an extra $70bn to $90bn into stimulus and support measures to weather the economic crisis. Setting out a wide-ranging agenda for the next six months, the Grattan Institute report says governments need to phase out coronavirus-related emergency support measures more slowly than currently planned to avoid a “fiscal cliff”. It also calls for more stimulus measures including extra rent assistance and childcare subsidies.
Donald Trump has deleted a tweet he sent featuring a video of a supporter shouting, “White power! White power!” It was deleted following a fresh outpouring of grief and outrage at racist language flowing directly from the White House. The tweet drew fierce criticism from across the political spectrum, and White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere claimed Trump had not heard the man screaming “white power” at the start of the video.
Australia
A study backed by business and investment leaders has found hundreds of thousands of jobs could be created in Australia by hurrying the shift to zero greenhouse gas emissions. The report focuses on proposals it says are already being planned and could create jobs by accelerating private and public investment.
More than 100 regional newspaper publishers and broadcasters across Australia are set to gain funding through a federal scheme to help media deal with “catastrophic” declines in advertising revenue. The successful applicants include 92 publishers, 13 radio broadcasters and five television broadcasters.
The federal attorney general, Christian Porter, says his department will investigate sexual harassment allegations against the former high court judge Dyson Heydon. It is alleged Heydon sexually harassed a former staffer of the trade union royal commission.
The Australian government insists it is focused on the next phase of “short-term measures” to support people through the coronavirus pandemic. After reports it was considering a permanent $75 per week lift in unemployment benefits, the social services minister indicated the government was not yet looking at long-term changes.
The world
The Israeli cabinet is set to meet to finalise plans to annex parts of the West Bank. There has been growing international opposition and calls for sanctions to be imposed if the proposal is implemented.
Care home residents were more likely to die of Covid-19 in the UK than in any of the major European countries apart from Spain. An analysis of global data has revealed the proportion of residents dying in UK aged care homes was 13 times higher than Germany.
Steve Bannon and his allies are trying to return the former chief White House strategist to media circles known to influence the Donald Trump’s thinking. Bannon, who has extensive links to global far-right nationalist movements, led Trump’s campaign in 2016.
The incumbent Andrzej Duda won the most votes in Sunday’s Polish presidential election. But an exit poll suggests he fell short of the 50% he would need to win without a second round of voting.
Recommended reads
“This could be a pivotal moment in Australian history – but it’s up to you,” write Cheryl Axleby and Nerita Waight today, in an examination of what it will take to end Indigenous deaths in custody. They say: “As CEOs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services we are not tired of telling the truth about injustice, we are tired of people not listening. People are listening now, even as the state-sanctioned violence against our people continues.”
The Other Two, a comedy from two former Saturday Night Live writers, tackles generational conflict and the impact of internet fame. This sharp 2019 series follows two adult siblings whose 13-year-old brother has made a viral video and become famous. It manages to pull back the curtain on the murky, shallow and often dark world of social media stars without moralism or condescension.
As takeaway became the key option for lacklustre cooks and people wishing to support the hospitality industry during the coronavirus pandemic, the single-use plastic containers started stacking up. There’s only so many you can store for future use, so Aleksandra Bliszczyk has tips on other ways to reuse and recycle them.
Listen
On Full Story today: how damaging is John Bolton’s scathing account of Donald Trump’s presidency? The publication of the former US national security adviser’s White House memoir has caused a sensation. Jonathan Freedland assesses the lurid claims of cosying up to authoritarian leaders as well as descriptions of the “stunning” ignorance of Donald Trump.
Sport
Geelong’s three-point win over Melbourne on Sunday came at a significant cost. Star defender Tom Stewart suffered a suspected broken collarbone. Here’s the wrap of the weekend’s AFL.
For the first time in 30 years, Covid-19 has disrupted long nights of Tour de France on the TV. The race has been postponed until 29 August, and there is no certainty it will go ahead at all. Kieran Pender has written a love letter to the cycling coverage on SBS.
Media roundup
The Australian Financial Review has a story about the NSW Aboriginal Land Council pulling its investment from Rio Tinto over the destruction of 46,000 year-old rock shelters in Western Australia. The Age is reporting that dangerous spikes in Covid-19 cases in parts of Melbourne are being driven by young people either refusing or failing to heed social distancing rules. On the ABC, a citizen scientist has made a 460-million-year-old find in central Australia.
Coming up
The federal health minister, Greg Hunt, will address the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (Ceda) about how Covid-19 will change healthcare systems.
The NSW Ruby Princess special inquiry continues.
And if you’ve read this far …
It has all the hallmarks of a 21st-century political thriller, including a plot to assassinate a controversial monarch, an MI5 double agent, and claims of a high-level cover-up. A historian says the discovery of the would-be assassin’s memoir – in which he detailed the plot, his subsequent arrest and trial – suggests Britain’s spy agency was told in advance about the 1936 attempt to assassinate King Edward VII.
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