Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 28 June.
Top stories
The mother of Fariborz Karami, the Iranian asylum seeker who died by suicide on Nauru two weeks ago, has pleaded with the Australian Border Force to give her son’s body back so she can bury him “anywhere but Nauru or Iran”. In an excoriating letter written to the ABF and obtained by Guardian Australia, Fazileh Mansour Beigi blames those who held her son on Nauru for his long mental decline and ultimate suicide.
“For five years you incarcerated me and my innocent children in Nauru and ignored us,” she writes. “I know that your violence and cruelty is deeply rooted and against that I am a powerless woman. You even deprived me from having a mobile phone, lest I speak up? But I always told you if any harm befell my children, I wouldn’t remain silent.”
Germany have crashed out of the World Cup in a shock defeat that saw the tournament favourites beaten by South Korea 2-0. This is the first time the defending champions have exited the competition in the first round in 80 years. In the end, it was video assisted referee that undid them. But who is to blame? Read the full match report here, view our picture gallery here , and see how the internet reacted to “the end of the world” here.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have agreed a time and place to hold their first official summit, with the date and location to be announced today. The Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists that the summit would be held in a third country. The announcement followed a one-on-one meeting between Putin and the US national security adviser, John Bolton.
Indigenous traditional owners from north Queensland have threatened to try to pursue an order that could shut down Adani’s Abbot Point coal terminal, amid concern that sacred sites in the area have not been properly protected. Guardian Australia can reveal Adani has ignored repeated demands by Juru traditional owners to inspect “unauthorised” cultural assessments conducted by former directors of the embattled Kyburra Munda Yalga Aboriginal Corporation. Cultural heritage assessments are a significant requirement of any major development on Indigenous country in Queensland.
It looks cold, dark and empty, but astronomers have revealed that interstellar space is permeated with a fine mist of dirty, toxic, grease-like molecules. The study provides the most precise estimate yet of the amount of “space grease” in the Milky Way, with the Australian-Turkish team discovering more than expected – 10 billion- trillion-trillion tonnes of gloop, or enough for 40 trillion-trillion-trillion packs of butter. The findings bring scientists closer to figuring out the total amount of carbon in interstellar space, which fuels the formation of stars, planets and is essential for life.
Sport
Michael Lewis’s Moneyball was published 15 years ago but its relevance is still felt today in the AFL. The book’s thesis is simple: it uses statistical analysis to bring in assets that are undervalued by other teams and trades out ones that are over-valued by other teams. Its concept has been embraced and its impact on Australian rules football has been profound.
In tennis, Kyle Edmund has beaten Andy Murray 6-4, 6-4 at Eastbourne. The big questions now is will the Scotsman be fit for Wimbledon after nearly a year on the shelf? Serena Williams – officially ranked 183 in the world after taking maternity leave – has been granted a discretionary seeding of 25th to play Wimbledon next week.
Thinking time
Who is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the new progressive star of the Democratic party? From cocktail waitress to insurgent victor, Ocasio-Cortez beat one of the Democrat’s most senior congressman in a stunning New York election victory this week. “Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office,” said the 28-year-old. Not only was her opponent Washington powerbroker, but he was one of the most influential Democrats in the state. Other than Ocasio-Cortez, almost no Democrat would dare rebuke him publicly. Her victory is part of a larger story of a Democratic party in revolt.
When the gynaecologist Graham Reeves, dubbed the “Butcher of Bega”, was found guilty of mutilating a woman’s genitals, health authorities in NSW vowed to reform the complaints system. But another obstetrician and gynaecologist, Emil Shawky Gayed, has been revealed by Guardian Australia to have performed needless surgeries on the reproductive organs of women over almost two decades. Melissa Davey looks at how Gayed was able to keep practising for so long, despite so many red flags.
After 14 years of marriage, single mum Tara Rose tells of the reality of her constant financial struggle to live on $260 a week. In the latest in our series Life on the breadline, Rose tells of lying awake at night wondering: “what else I can sacrifice?” She tells her three teenage children she is “not hungry” or “ate earlier” when they ask why she isn’t eating. “As a mum who is generally running on empty, it’s debilitating,” she writes. “Sleep often eludes me, as I lie awake for countless hours wondering how I’m going to pay the rent and bills and provide my growing kids with new winter wardrobes as the temperatures start to drop and cold sets in.”
What’s he done now?
Despite a desperate situation on the Mexico border, an impending meeting with Vladmir Putin and having to find a replacement for the US supreme court justice, Donald Trump still has time to continue his feud with Harley-Davidson, tweeting overnight: “Harley-Davidson should stay 100% in America, with the people that got you your success. I’ve done so much for you, and then this. Other companies are coming back where they belong! We won’t forget, and neither will your customers or your now very HAPPY competitors!”
Media roundup
The Financial Review reports that any move by Labor to limit tax cuts to firms with a turnover of less than $2m would be considered a “declaration of war” by small business. Legalising euthanasia is back on the table in the Northern Territory, the NT News reports, with a motion passed by the Senate on Wednesday meaning the assisted suicide legislation will be debated in during the August sittings. Law changes will now make calling on the military to assist domestic terrorism incidents easier, the Age reports. The move comes three years after the Lindt Cafe siege exposed obstacles to deploying the Australian defence force.
Coming up
South Australian police officers Sean Hobbs and Andrew Allan Jaunay will appear in court over the alleged assault of a teenager in 2013.
There will be a bail hearing at the supreme court in Sydney for Yunxiang Gao over sexual assault charges. Gao’s lawyer reportedly described him as “the Hugh Jackman of China” during a previous local court bail hearing.
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