Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 25 September.
Top stories
Nancy Pelosi is expected today to announce a formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump. House Democrats have gathered for a caucus meeting to discuss impeachment, after which the House speaker will deliver a statement in which she is expected to announce a formal impeachment inquiry. Reporters are gathering outside Pelosi’s office on Capitol Hill. Support for impeachment proceedings has increased this week after revelations that the president apparently sought to blackmail a foreign government by withholding military aid unless it helped investigate a political opponent. Earlier today, Pelosi and the majority leader, Steny Hoyer, confirmed that the House would vote on a resolution tomorrow condemning Trump’s efforts to block the release of the whistleblower complaint about his call with the Ukrainian president.
Barnaby Joyce spent less than three weeks on the ground while engaged as the government’s special drought envoy, according to MP travel records. And while the government is refusing to release details of how much the position cost taxpayers, the former Nationals leader claimed $675,000 in expenses for the nine months in the role, and was allocated two staff members to conduct his work at a cost of an estimated $200,000. The $675,000 figure includes Joyce’s normal work as a backbencher, but the government has declined to say how much was related to his work as special envoy. The analysis comes as the former deputy PM continues to defend his work in the position, which has come under scrutiny after it was revealed to parliament last week that he did not produce a final report.
The Australian government is seen globally as climate “denialist”, UN summit observers say. Scott Morrison is increasingly seen as running a government that is not serious about finding a global climate solution and uses “greenwash” to meet its emissions commitments, according to analysts and former diplomats. Australian observers in New York said the PM’s failure to attend a UN climate action summit on Monday despite being in the US, and his apparent rejection of the need for Australia to do more to address its rising greenhouse gas emissions, had eroded goodwill for the country on the issue.
The Australian Taxation Office has accused Huang Xiangmo of intentionally structuring businesses to hinder creditors. In documents filed with the federal court, the ATO, which has hit Huang with a $140m tax bill, said it had concerns that he had “intentionally structured his asset holdings in such a fashion so as to delay or hinder recovery by creditors”.
World
Jeremy Corbyn has called for Boris Johnson to resign after the landmark ruling by Britain’s highest court that Johnson’s suspension of parliament was unlawful. The PM has indicated he may renew an attempt to suspend parliament, after condemning the ruling.
The climate activist Greta Thunberg seemed to troll Donald Trump, changing her Twitter bio to reflect the US president’s mockery of her emotional address to the UN on Monday. It now reads: “A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”
French police have searched the Paris apartment of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as the offices of a model agency belonging to his alleged associate Jean-Luc Brunel, himself accused of rape and of procuring minors for his friend.
In a major victory for Google, the EU’s highest court has ruled that the “right to be forgotten” online does not extend beyond the union’s borders. The right, enshrined in a 2014 legal ruling, required search engines to delete embarrassing or out-of-date information when requested by the individuals concerned.
An early Renaissance masterpiece has been discovered in a kitchen on the outskirts of a town north of Paris. Christ Mocked, by the 13th-century artist who taught Giotto, is estimated to be worth €4m-€6m (A$6.5m-£9.7m).
Opinion and analysis
Ihumātao truly is a piece of New Zealand’s soul, writes Lucy Mackintosh. The site on the edge of Auckland hit national and international headlines when a group, who had been occupying the area for years to protest against a planned housing development, was served an eviction notice. Few seemed to understand what was happening and why it was important, writes Mackintosh: “Yet Ihumātao is a place that every New Zealander should know. In a city that has destroyed or forgotten most of its past, fragments of Auckland’s deep histories still survive here.”
Trudeau’s blackface photos are awful but then so are many of his policies, writes Arwa Mahdawi. “There has been a lot of looking away by some progressives regarding Trudeau’s problematic policies and less in-your-face bigotry. Trudeau has defended arms sales to Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s worst human rights violators. He has approved an oil pipeline expansion opposed by many environmental and Indigenous groups. He has publicly belittled Indigenous activists. He has violated ethics laws.”
Sport
The Wallabies should know precisely what to expect from Wales in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup clash, having watched the Six Nations champions’ 43-14 win against Georgia on Monday. Whether Michael Cheika’s side possess the armoury to negate the Welsh aerial assault remains to be seen, writes Bret Harris.
Andy Murray claimed his first ATP Tour singles victory since January, by beating Tennys Sandgren in the opening round of the Zhuhai Championships.
Thinking time: The joy of divorce parties
If you had stumbled across the get-together, you would have been forgiven for thinking you had crashed a wedding party. But, looking closer, you would have noticed something amiss. First, the groom was nowhere to be seen. And that heart-shaped piñata? Black. The cupcakes – reading “Newly unwed” and “Just divorced” – would have given it away. Barua wasn’t getting married. She was having a divorce party.
Many cultures have rituals to mark the transition from married life to singledom. In Judaism, a divorce document called a get is presented from husband to wife, in the presence of rabbis and witnesses, to spiritually dissolve the union. Divorcing couples in Japan smash a wedding ring with a mallet. Members of the north African Beidane ethnic group hold divorce parties to welcome women back into the community and signal to potential suitors that they are available to remarry. In western cultures, however, divorce is typically met with hushed silence, whispered gossip or sympathetic looks. Divorce isn’t commemorated – and certainly not celebrated. Until now …
Media roundup
The Australian reports that “an Olympic hopeful who was once on Equestrian Australia’s high-performance eventing squad has been charged with raping another rider”. The Oz also carries a story about the death of the former ALP national secretary David Combe, aged 76. “Freeze in China relations deepens” is the headline on the Sydney Morning Herald’s front page today, as a high-level Chinese embassy delegation describes Australia as “the pioneer of a global anti-China campaign”. The ABC reveals that Chinese ridesharing platform DiDi, which operates in Australia, now “identifies verified Communist Party drivers to customers”.
Coming up
Scott Morrison attends UN leaders week in New York.
The ACT Legislative Assembly is expected to pass a bill legalising possessing and growing cannabis for personal use in the nation’s capital.
