Good morning. Victoria is waking up to its fifth lockdown. The national cabinet is convening to decide on lockdown support payments. Australia is under growing pressure as the US follows the EU lead on carbon tariffs. And a leaked Kremlin document suggests Russia launched a secret multi-agency effort to interfere in the 2016 US presidential elections.
Protesters rallied in Melbourne against Victoria’s five-day lockdown that state officials imposed until 11.59pm on Tuesday in an effort to contain 18 cases and two chains of transmission linked to the Sydney outbreak. In NSW, 65 new cases were recorded yesterday – but Gladys Berejiklian warned residents to expect higher numbers today. And people visiting GP clinics and pharmacies while infected have been identified as a new driver of the coronavirus spread.
Before the meeting with state premiers to discuss lockdown relief, Scott Morrison agreed to provide financial assistance to workers in Victoria affected by the snap lockdown. Across Sydney, business owners and staff have said they are still confused who is and isn’t an essential worker.
Australia is facing growing pressure over its climate policies as the US edges closer to following the EU in imposing new tariffs on imports of emissions-intensive products. Experts and opposition MPs say Australia should work with Europe on the new imports scheme instead of criticising it.
Australia
A protein in the venom of a deadly Australian funnel-web spider may be able to reduce cardiac damage from heart attacks and extend the life of donor hearts used in transplants. University of Queensland researchers are studying whether the protein known as Hi1a could be used as a drug to stop cardiac cells dying.
Coral and ocean scientists have dismissed the claim of the Coalition’s Great Barrier Reef envoy that warm water from the northern hemisphere was a chief cause of mass coral bleaching as “far-fetched” and “ill-informed”. On Thursday, Warren Entsch accompanied more than a dozen ambassadors on a snorkelling trip to the reef.
A major study suggesting that a drug called ivermectin was effective against the novel coronavirus has been withdrawn due to “ethical concerns”. The drug was promoted by rightwing figures worldwide for treating Covid-19.
The world
Leaked Kremlin documents appear to show how Russian intelligence worked to support Donald Trump, who is described as “mentally unstable”, impulsive” and “unbalanced”, in the 2016 US presidential election. Vladimir Putin’s expert department was urging a multi-layered plan to interfere in the race for the White House. The goal was to “destabilise” America.
An Israeli company that sells spyware to governments is linked to fake Black Lives Matter and Amnesty International websites that are used to hack targets, according to a report by researchers at the University of Toronto. Candiru, a Tel Aviv-based firm marketing “untraceable” spyware, allegedly infects and monitors computers and phones through web domains masquerading as NGOs, activist groups, health organisations and news media.
Thousands of people protested throughout France about the requirement for a vaccine health pass or a negative Covid test to visit most public places. For them, the health pass equals “segregation” and “dictatorship”. A record number of people have booked appointments for vaccines since the announcement of the new rules on Tuesday.
Recommended reads
There’s almost no way you haven’t heard Dance Monkey, a global hit by Melbourne-via-Byron musician Tones and I (AKA Toni Watson). It would seem that Watson was in an ideal position artistically as her rare oddness proved commercial success. Instead, her debut album, Welcome to the Madhouse, is unadventurous and occasionally exhausting, writes Shaad D’Souza.
“Can you draw someone from memory?” This question repeats through the pages of Melbourne-based author Sophie Overett’s charmingly odd and hypnotic debut novel, The Rabbits. It’s an ambitious undertaking to interweave literary fiction and magic realism, but Overett executes it beautifully in this deliciously unsettling debut, writes Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen.
The bee hunches over, lowering its head to the silicone. Its mouth opens and closes, kissing the ground. This is its final gesture before it dies. The bee’s favourite thing to do is to crawl inside a flower, where petals turn the light pink or yellow or red, writes Helen Sullivan in this week’s “The nature of … ” column.
A study has found that a majority of Australians think recycling is the most positive thing they can do for the environment. And the first place they turn to for information about how to recycle is the product’s packaging. Yet it’s rare to see clear, step-by-step recycling instructions on labels. There are companies which are trying to change that and help Australians recycle properly.
What is specifically cruel and canny about coronavirus is its ability to make you acutely aware of your own specific, individual life circumstances – good and bad. This awareness can then spiral into an identity crisis, Brigid Delaney writes on the pain of lockdown.
Listen
The Delta variant has seemingly foiled Australia’s best laid pandemic plans. As politicians point fingers, case numbers are growing, and cities are going back into lockdown. Guardian Australia’s editor in chief, Lenore Taylor, and its head of news, Mike Ticher, discuss why lessons have not been learnt from the first wave.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Tyson Fury’s world heavyweight title defence against Deontay Wilder, originally scheduled for 24 July, has been postponed after Fury tested positive for Covid. The fight will now take place on 9 October at the same venue, the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy on Sunday, police have arrested four people over alleged racist abuse on social media directed at three England football players, while warning other perpetrators that they will be tracked down.
Media roundup
South Australia will close its border to travellers from greater Melbourne and reimpose a series of internal restrictions, including a return to 50% capacity at public venues, as outbreaks worsen in the neighbouring states, InDaily reported. Amid confusion about what are considered “essential” goods and services, luxury brands including Gucci and Louis Vuitton are considered “essential” under the existing lockdown restrictions in NSW, the ABC reports. And Queensland authorities should continue using the term “attack” when describing shark bites, says a group that represents victims, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. “You can’t sanitise it too much,” a spokesman for the Bite Club said.
Coming up
Opening statements will be made as Crown Perth royal commission enters its second phase.
The supreme court of Victoria is to deliver a judgment in the case of an Indigenous man, Wonyarna Edwards, against the Victorian government for holding him in solitary confinement in an adult prison for three months when he was 16.
And if you’ve read this far …
“It’s raining cocaine in Sardinia,” the Italian press reported back in March when a suitcase stashed with 8.5kg of pure cocaine worth more than €9m (A$14m) landed on the roof of a home in a small town of Baratili San Pietro. The suitcase was intended to fall from a light aircraft into the hands of drug traffickers waiting on the ground. After a four-month search, police have arrested the plane’s pilot.
Sign up
If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com.
