Good morning, this is Emilie Gramenz bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 3 June.
Top stories
Joe Biden says Donald Trump is “part of the problem and accelerates it”, as heated demonstrations over the police killing of African American man George Floyd continue in the US. It’s emerged that attorney general William Barr personally asked for a perimeter around the White House to be extended, resulting in the forcible removal of peaceful protesters, including the tear gassing of episcopal clergy linked to St John’s church where Donald Trump held a photo opportunity. Police have been criticised over their heavy-handed response and Australia’s embassy has raised concern over an apparent assault on a Channel 7 news team. Millions of people have posted black squares on social media in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, though others say it’s reductive. In some cities, police have marched with protestors. In Sydney, hundreds of people have marched protesting Indigenous deaths in custody and George Floyd’s killing.
Recordings of internal meetings of the World Health Organisation show it struggled to get needed information from China during critical early days of the coronavirus pandemic. The recordings, obtained by the Associated Press, contradict the WHO’s public praise of Beijing’s response to the outbreak. Germany is lifting its travel warning to Europe; and Greek authorities admit their too-good-to-be-true travel offer to Australians would breach travel restrictions anyway.
Documents released under Freedom of Information reveal that despite warnings of dire bushfire risks, the federal government’s follow-up was sluggish. The documents show that while some parts of the bureaucracy were aware by August that the country was facing a horror season, that urgency did not reach their political masters. Most notable was the commonwealth’s ad hoc response on aerial firefighting, which was well documented during the fires. Meanwhile the royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements has been told pilots flying water-bombing aircrafts are “consistently tasked too late for fires”.
Australia
The historian Jenny Hocking says she is “extremely disappointed” that the National Archives of Australia has asserted it has 90 business days to declassify palace letters as ordered by the High Court. The correspondence is between the Queen and the governor general John Kerr in the lead up to former prime minister Gough Whitlam’s 1975 dismissal.
A Sydney police officer is under investigation after video emerged showing him slamming a 16-year-old Indigenous boy face-first onto pavement. The constable has been placed on restricted duties.
The Greens say a government promotion for the forestry industry that encourages Australians to “look up at the trees, think about wood” should be taken down after a recent federal court ruling on native forest logging. The videos aim to promote Australia’s logging industry as environmentally sustainable.
The world
A government-ordered inquiry has found death rates from Covid-19 in England have been higher among people of black and Asian origin than any other ethnic group. The disease has claimed almost 50,000 lives in the UK since February.
Experts say DNA has helped them piece together fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls, and determine which texts may have travelled a distance, and how widespread the writings were.
Austrian authorities have unveiled a design for turning the house where Adolf Hitler was born into a police station, trying to make it unattractive as a pilgrimage site for those who glorify the Nazi dictator.
Recommended reads
Window therapy is bringing joy to residents in Australia’s aged care facilities. Benhur Helwend sanitises his ukulele, meticulously washes his hands and slaps on a cheery boater hat once a week before he performs – behind glass – for residents in an effort to engage them in the arts. He’s also become something of a Mr Squiggle, using liquid chalk markers to draw and write messages on windows as a way to connect with his audience.
Scott Morrison should use Cook’s 250th anniversary to insist Britain return the Gweagal shield, writes Paul Daley. The artefact, held by the British Museum, is a symbol of Indigenous survival, resistance and endurance. Rodney Kelly, a sixth-generation descendant of the warrior Cooman, who Cook shot on that day of first contact in 1770, has long been lobbying the museum. He says, “It’s at the point now where [Morrison] could make a real difference in getting it back here for good if he wanted to.”
Clem Bastow highlights the addictive web series dissecting your favourite TV and movie performances. YouTube’s Technique Critique sets out to answer such burning questions as: Is that accent dire? Is that disguise realistic? Could that car chase have really happened like that?
Listen
Today on Full Story, is it too late to save the Great Barrier Reef? This summer, the world’s largest coral reef system suffered the worst mass bleaching outbreak ever witnessed. Graham Readfearn looks at whether people are ready to accept the reality that at least 70% of the world’s coral reefs will soon be lost.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
A return to a local focus is a major win for the NRL, which has struggled to attract sizeable crowds to behemoth stadiums that are filled a handful of times a year. Nick Tedeschi writes that a renewed focus on smaller venues is what the league needs.
The English Premier League is close to presenting a provisional fixture list for the remainder of the season to its clubs. But the unlucky ones face a sequence of three games in seven days.
Media roundup
In the Daily Telegraph, ex-NSW minister Don Harwin plans to contest a fine for breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions. A disgraced former police officer whose conviction for assaulting a teenager was overturned is taking Victoria Police to court to compel the force to reinstate him, reports The Age. And The Advertiser reports travel bubbles between Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra could open by school holidays.
Coming up
The March quarter national accounts will be released and are expected to show the Australian economy shrank between 0.1% and 0.5% at the start of the year.
The bushfire royal commission will consider whether the federal government should get new powers to trigger the deployment of the Australian Defence Force after natural disasters.
The high court will hear Binsaris, Webster, O’Shea and Austral v Northern Territory over the use of tear gas on the appellants at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.
And if you’ve read this far…
Beleaguered zoo owner Joe Exotic, subject of Netflix’s hit documentary series Tiger King, has now suffered the indignity of rival Carole Baskin gaining control of what was once his zoo. Exotic failed to pay her $1m in copyright and trademark suits, and now self-styled conservationist Baskin’s been given control of the Wynnewood, Oklahoma premises by the courts.
