Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 2 March.
Top stories
Australia, the US and Thailand have confirmed their first fatalities from the coronavirus after a 78-year-old Australian man who had been aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship died in a Perth hospital on Sunday. The former chair of the Global Health Council has confirmed “[t]he worst-case scenario for coronavirus is likely”, meaning that the disease becomes endemic, circulating permanently around the globe. Confirmed cases in Italy have risen to 1,700 with 34 dead, and Iran’s health ministry has confirmed a toll of 54 and 978 cases. Concerns have also grown in the UK as a patient in Essex became the second Briton to test positive without having travelled overseas.
Australian pensioners have been caught up in a $100m global cryptocurrency scam run out of a call centre in Kiev that’s been exposed in an investigation conducted by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. More than 200 fake “traders” based in the Ukraine conned prospective investors with false ads including celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Jackman. Thousands have already been caught up in the scam, with some losing their life savings. The inner workings of the fraudulent Milton Group have been revealed by a whistleblower from within the organisation.
The family of an Australian man fear he could die in jail after a Vietnamese court sentenced the 70-year-old to 12 years in prison on terrorism charges they’ve labelled a “charade”. Chau Van Kham, a retired baker, was accused of meeting with a pro-democracy group that is proscribed by the Vietnamese government and convicted of “financing terrorism” in a trial that lasted just four hours. “My father was given one hour to consult with his lawyer after being subject to investigation for 11 months,” Chau’s son Dennis told a UN summit for human rights. “I don’t believe I’ll ever see him alive, a free man. It’s effectively a death sentence.”
Australia
Channel Seven’s boss, James Warburton, faces a ticking clock as the ailing media company rushes to refinance $683m of debt. Rebuffed in attempts to take control of the debt-free regional affiliate Prime, Seven could follow fellow broadcaster Ten, which went into administration in 2017.
Scott Morrison will announce a new recycling policy for commonwealth agencies, aiming to increase demand for recycled products. Australia produces 400m tonnes of plastics a year, and the prime minister hopes government departments can lead the way in reducing consumption.
Josh Frydenberg has been accused of “derisive” and “heartbreaking” comments by prominent Hindu organisations after he mocked the opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers’ potential pursuit of a “wellness budget”.
The world
A decisive win in South Carolina has breathed life back into Joe Biden’s preselection bid, establishing him as the main moderate competitor to Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic nomination. Their centrist rival Pete Buttigieg has announced he won’t drop out before Super Tuesday, despite finishing a disappointing fourth.
Turkey says it has destroyed Syrian air defence systems, more than 100 tanks and two planes in retaliation to an airstrike that killed at least 33 troops last week. Fighting between Turkey-backed rebels and Russian-backed Syrian government forces has escalated.
Meanwhile, on Turkey’s western border, 13,000 refugees have massed after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reneged on a deal with Brussels to prevent migrants entering the EU.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has denied that a major stumbling block has emerged in his newly proclaimed US-Taliban deal, after the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, rejected a key clause that included the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners.
Revealing Vatican archives on Pope Pius XII – accused by critics of being a Nazi sympathiser – will be released on Monday after Pope Francis’s historic granting of permission, stating “the church isn’t afraid of history”.
Recommended reads
A warming climate is changing the food we eat and the wine we drink. In some parts of Australia’s cropping and grazing industries projected output has dropped by as much as a quarter. That is only at 1C degree of global warming – scientists predict that the planet will reach about 3C of warming by 2100. In today’s episode of The Frontline, a major multimedia series from Guardian Australia about the lived reality of climate change, we talk to a winemaker who is racing to adapt.
In the middle of Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens is a curious, somewhat magical place called “Captain Cook’s cottage”. Imagine my surprise, writes Paul Daley, to discover that Cook, “as it happened, never actually lived anywhere on the land in Australia, least of all in Melbourne”. And as a “frenzy of commemoration” arrives to mark the 250th anniversary of his arrival in Australia, we may as well set out some facts.
Living in the shadow of a serious illness as a young person can bring your priorities into sharp relief. “The drama of a life-threatening event is less of a sexy Grey’s Anatomy storyline and more like an emotionally exhausting House episode,” writes Olivia Gee. But when faced with “mortality salience” many respond positively. “People can really learn what they’re capable of.”
Listen
One of Scott Morrison’s key messages is that radical action to reduce emissions could damage Australia’s economy. But what about the effects of inaction? The cost of the climate crisis is becoming clear for the wine industry. In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to environment reporter Lisa Cox about how winemakers are racing to adapt.
Sport
Manchester City have won their fourth League Cup in five seasons, prolonging Aston Villa’s 24-year trophy-less run, after goals to Sergio Agüero and Rodri saw Pep Guardiola’s side emerge 2-1 winners despite Mbwana Samatta scoring.
It was a battle for control that set back Australian football several years. But now that clubs, the governing body and the players’ union have rediscovered collaboration, several regulatory reforms are having a significant effect on developing young talent.
Media roundup
One of Australia’s biggest energy companies, Chinese-owned Alinta Energy, could be jeopardising the security information of 1.1 million customers, claims the Sydney Morning Herald, due to “reckless” cyber security and data protection systems. Hundreds of Holden workers could be retrained to work on Australia’s flagging submarine-building program, writes the Adelaide Advertiser, with the defence department in talks with General Motors. And a high-tech Chinese research vessel has been detected mapping strategically sensitive waters off the Western Australian coast, reports the ABC.
Coming up
Officials from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet will be questioned at a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on the sports rorts saga.
The Australia Institute will release a report into global warming based on two decades’ worth of Bureau of Meteorology data for the nation’s cities.
And if you’ve read this far …
In Major League Baseball something odd happened last year – teams started hitting home runs at an unprecedented rate. The only problem is nobody knows why. But Greg Woods has a cracking theory. It involves mosquitoes and their millions of tiny proboscises.
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