Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 17 July.
Top stories
Nearly 80% of patients admitted to a Sydney acute care hospital with Covid-19 in March are still experiencing symptoms more than three months after being discharged, a study by St Vincent’s hospital has found. Patients with both mild and severe infections have reported enduring after-effects including fatigue, heart palpitations, chest discomfort and loss of smell. “It’s been an incredibly anxious, uncertain time for individuals,” said Prof Gregory Dore. “But I have no doubt that this syndrome has triggered, in a proportion of people, an abnormal immune response.” Meanwhile, public health experts in New South Wales have ruled out further tightening of social restrictions within the state, unless there are sustained increases of current new infections over the next week.
Russian hackers are targeting US, UK and Canadian companies working on a coronavirus vaccine, British security agencies have alleged, with a Kremlin-affiliated group known as APT29 believed to be orchestrating the attacks. It’s not been confirmed whether any infiltration attempts have been successful, but British officials have stressed vaccine research has not been compromised as a result. The vaccine team at Oxford University has completed a phase-one trial involving 1,000 volunteers, but is looking to move to a “challenge trial” in which healthy volunteers are deliberately infected with the virus before the end of the year. No time has yet been set on any vaccine’s global availability.
US president Donald Trump is rolling back major environmental protections that require the US government to comprehensively analyse how proposed projects like pipelines and highways affect surrounding communities. The new rules reduce the number of projects subject to review, narrow the scope of reviews and exclude effects related to climate change from being considered significant. Critics say the effect on the environment and marginalised communities could be extreme. Lisa Ramsden, a Greenpeace USA senior climate campaigner, said “the Trump administration’s anti-environment agenda is a racist agenda” and “dismantling Nepa is a blatant attempt to silence the working-class communities of colour who are resisting the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure into their communities”.
Australia
The federal government will tip an additional $400m into a program designed to attract big film studio productions to Australia, in a bid to generate more work for the coronavirus-ravaged local film industry. “Behind these projects are thousands of workers that build and light the stages,”prime minister Scott Morrison said.
Delays in the release of a report into Australia’s national environment laws has prompted concern among conservationists, with a three-week lag between the report’s submission and its public release sparking fears over political interference.
Westpac is facing a class action lawsuit representing hundreds of thousands of car buyers, over allegations customers paid as much as three times the bank’s going interest rate under so-called “flex commissions”, subsequently condemned by banking royal commissioner, Kenneth Hayne.
The world
Zoran Zaev’s Social Democratic party has declared victory in key elections in North Macedonia, claiming the win paves the way for the Balkan nation’s integration into the EU. It’s the first election since the nation changed its name following tensions with Greece but the slender ballot margin could further galvanise political divisions.
An oil tanker moored off the coast of Yemen could spark an environment disaster “four times worse than Exxon Valdez”, the UN’s environment chief has warned – which would affect one of the “most important repositories of biodiversity on the planet”.
Three French police officers have been charged with manslaughter over the chokehold death of Cédric Chouviat. The 42-year-old said “I’m suffocating” seven times before he died, in circumstances similar to the killing of George Floyd in the US.
Taiwanese troops have war-gamed simulated coastal attacks from Chinese attackers, in a major five-day drill involving fighter jets, warships and ground forces. Chinese president Xi Jinping last year warned that the forcible reunification of the island with mainland China was “inevitable”.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of attempting to “bribe the masses”, announcing a $2.5bn program of cash handouts as the country faces fresh lockdown measures, in a plan that’s been criticised by the Bank of Israel governor.
Recommended reads
After just five weeks of serving eat-in customers, restaurants in Melbourne are facing a reversion to delivery and take-away service only. And while the shifting landscape might radically challenge traditional norms of dining out, key establishment players like chef-owner Shane Delia are fighting back, writes Sofia Levin. “If you speak to any profitable, smart person about what sector they’re forecasting growth in, it’s food delivery, and that’s a global perspective.”
“Robert was incontinent, wonky-eyed, totally deaf and semi-blind. I fell in love immediately.” For Brigid Delaney, the trade off of losing her glamorous lifestyle as a travel writer was the opportunity to finally become a foster dog parent. Only there was one catch – a month into lockdown 1.0, the entire nation had the same idea, and their driveways were appropriately gated. “Finally, I dropped in on a builder neighbour. Might he know where I could get a gate from?”
The great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote: “truth in her dress finds facts too tight. In fiction she moves with ease.” And yet when it comes to Australian fiction, there’s still a snobbishness, writes Alice Pung, that sees “literary” voices elevated, and “yarns” from Aboriginal women like Melissa Lucashenko, denigrated. But her work Too Much Lip is the Australian book you should read next: “I couldn’t understand how so many failed to acknowledge the crazy, lusty, pulsating-with-life joy that permeates every page.”
Listen
Containing Covid-19 outbreaks. While Victoria battles a surge in new coronavirus infections and NSW deals with a cluster from a single Sydney pub, how has Australia adapted to face the spread of this virulent disease? On this episode of Full Story, Melbourne bureau chief Melissa Davey speaks with infectious diseases expert Prof Peter Collignon about how to stop the spread.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
With the increasing attractiveness of England’s Women’s Super League for Australia’s best players – where has this left the domestic W-League? The fourth PFA W-League annual report is out, and not all the numbers make for comfortable reading, writes Samantha Lewis.
England have moved to 207-3 at stumps on day one of the second Test against West Indies, with Dom Sibley and skipper Ben Stokes combining for a 126 run partnership on a day of “dour cricket” in “dany, chilly conditions”, writes Vic Marks.
And, it wouldn’t be Friday without David Squires ... on bad haircuts and the return of the A-League.
Media roundup
Australian universities could be set to lose 6,700 jobs due to shortages of foreign students, modelling by the elite Group of Eight body has claimed, reports the Australian. Chancellors for leading universities say they face a $2bn funding shortfall due to Covid-19. A series of “administrative issues” led to Pauline Hanson’s failure to disclose shares in a recycling company for six months, writes the Sydney Morning Herald, in contravention of parliamentary reporting obligations. And, Kangaroo Island could be set for a “world class” gin distillery, in a plan to stimulate the region devastated by fires over the summer, the Adelaide Advertiser reveals.
Coming up
The deadline for counting postal votes in the Eden-Monaro byelection will pass on Friday, allowing the AEC to formally announce a winner.
The Ruby Princess special inquiry holds its final day of hearings.
And if you’ve read this far …
Why is the sun’s atmosphere so staggeringly hot compared with its surface? It’s the paradox that’s puzzled solar physics for aeons, but thanks to the closest images of our sun ever produced, that mystery might now be resolved. And a spoiler alert: it’s due to coronal “campfires”.
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