Good morning. The world appears set to meet a major climate milestone, there is hopeful news for long Covid sufferers, and Labor is calling for more jobkeeper paybacks.
The world’s emissions trajectory could be on the path to below 2C for the first time. India’s pledge to reach net zero by 2070, initially perceived as an unambitious target, could help keep emissions at a peak of 1.9C this century – though this is still not enough to reach the stated Cop26 target of 1.5C. The Climate Action Network has said the Cop26 summit would still represent “a failure”, unless it agrees concrete financial support to those already dispossessed by climate breakdown. Meanwhile, more than 20 nations and major financial bodies have pledged to halt all funding for overseas fossil fuel development from next year – but China and Japan have declined to sign.
Damage to one’s sense of smell due to contracting coronavirus might be less long-lasting than previously feared, with a major new study by German and Belgian researchers suggesting the virus does not infect human brain cells. The findings offer hope for long Covid sufferers that they haven’t permanently lost their sense of smell, virologists claim. In Australia meanwhile, one of the four main seasonal flu viruses may have become extinct due to Covid-19 health measures.
The company overseeing the Australian government’s controversial cashless debit card claimed $2m in jobkeeper payments, despite increasing its revenues during the pandemic. Labor’s Andrew Leigh has said Indue should voluntarily return the money, following the lead of companies such as Cochlear, Mirvac Group, Seek and Santos. There is no suggestion Indue did not qualify for the payments under the rules of the scheme, but parliamentary budget office analysis suggests the federal government paid out $38bn to businesses that did not suffer sustained downturns during the pandemic.
Australia
Australian fossil fuel projects were backed by $36.7bn of overseas financing over the past decade, over 11 times the amount directed towards renewable energy initiatives, according to new research.
Liberal party backbenchers are threatening to cross the floor over a divisive religious freedom bill that one MP has described as a “diabolical mess”.
Soaring freight costs and disruption to global supply chains could disrupt the timely arrival of overseas Christmas gifts, the ACCC has warned.
The world
The Israeli Pegasus spyware manufacturer has been placed on a US blacklist by the Biden administration, as part of a push to put “human rights at the centre of US foreign policy”.
Prince Andrew could face a civil trial in the US over alleged sexual abuse in late 2022, a US district judge has confirmed. US district judge Lewis Kaplan said he anticipates a trial date of “somewhere in the September to December period of next year”.
Germany’s health minister has said the nation is experiencing a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”, with 2,220 patients in intensive care – the highest figure since June. 66% of the German population is fully vaccinated, a rate much lower than France, Spain, Italy or the UK.
US Democrats are reeling from two domestic political setbacks, amid falling polls for Joe Biden. Following Republican Glenn Youngkin’s shock win in Virginia, the governor’s race in New Jersey has gone down to the wire, ringing early alarm bells for next year’s midterm elections.
Recommended reads
Now in its 16th year, the CEO of consumer advocacy group, Choice, can’t believe their annual “Shonky awards” are still running. And yet some products are still proving to be “the worst we’ve ever tested”, Alan Kirkland tells Guardian Australia – including a $499 compost bin that’s “bulky, expensive, complicated and noisy” and likely to cost “at least $2,000 over the course of its lifetime”.
Like rain after a long drought, news that the housing market is cooling is welcome relief for many trying to buy their first home. But as Greg Jericho argues, talk of rising interest rates and cooling housing finance are unlikely to translate to increasing opportunities for those on the outside: “The difficulty of affording a home is now greater than it was before the pandemic, and unless prices actually fall, it will remain so for a long time to come.”
“I am the biological father of [my ex’s] 21-year-old daughter, she insists I take this information to the grave”. Guardian Australia’s advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith this week faces an especially thorny question this week – and as she counsels,“sometimes other people’s bad choices leave us with nothing but bad options.”
It’s not been a good international relations week for Scott Morrison, but as political comedian Pat McCaffrie reminds us, the prime minister’s ability to correctly identify a boom microphone is one of the chief reasons he’s in the job to begin with. From Peter Dutton gaffes to lasagna soup in a cob bun, there are all things unnatural or hilarious in this week’s ten funniest things on the internet.
Listen
She’s accused of failing to report corruption and breaching public trust. After a torrid week of disclosures, on this episode of Full Story, reporter Michael McGowan examines the chief revelations from former premier Gladys Berejiklian’s cross-examination on the Icac stand.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
As more and more Australian sporting leagues return, it’s the turn of AFLW to tackle the thorny issue of mandatory vaccination. But as nurse and anti-vaccination protester Deni Varnhagen is set to find out, freedom of choice is not freedom from consequences, Emma Kemp writes.
Ahead of the most politically contentious Olympic games in half a century, Australian athletes are in a tight situation, Kieran Pender explains. “China is credibly accused of committing crimes against humanity in its treatment of the Uyghur people. The Chinese regime has eroded civil rights and freedoms in Hong Kong and systematically discriminated against minority groups” – but according to the IOC, a boycott on the basis of human rights is not within their “remit”.
Media roundup
The NSW government has given the green light on a long-awaited judicial inquiry into gay and transgender hate crimes, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.The US has capacity to supply nuclear submarines to Australia, Democrat representiative Joe Courtney tells the Australian, amid concerns American shipyards are too busy.
Coming up
NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is scheduled to appear at budget estimates hearings.
A hearing into the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 resumes in the Netherlands.
And if you’ve read this far …
It’s oft been claimed that philately will get you nowhere. But the Isle of Man has cemented the affection of one of its living legends, with news that it will feature the Bee Gees’ Sir Barry Gibb in seven new stamps, commemorating his career between 1969 and 2019. Gibb has said he’s “very proud” of his Manx roots, having grown up on the “ancient, mystical, magical Isle”.
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