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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Martin Farrer

Morning Mail: Oil hits US$100 as Trump threatens Iran, Musk muses on ‘meaningless’ money, Commonwealth Games begin

oil
Petrol prices could rise again after oil soared over US$100 a barrel. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

Morning everyone. The cost of living issues clouding Labor’s national conference could become more acute after oil soared over US$100 a barrel again overnight and Donald Trump threatened “a massive attack” on Iran. We have full reports on the worsening situation in the Middle East.

We also look at how Pauline Hanson is mining the US president’s playbook after a week of controversy, Elon Musk says money might become meaningless and speculates that the universe is a computer simulation created by aliens, and – speaking of which – the Commonwealth Games have opened in Glasgow with King Charles stepping out of Doctor Who’s Tardis.

Australia

  • The Games begin | The Commonwealth Games have opened in Glasgow in a scaled down event forced on the organisers by the late withdrawal of Victoria. Follow the opening ceremony live, while the Commonwealth’s fastest man on two wheels, Matt Richardson, has brushed off the impact of his controversial switch to England as having “zero effect” on him.

  • Labor ‘allergic’ | Outspoken Labor backbencher Ed Husic claims the party has become “allergic” to dissent and dispute, warning the unity on show at its tightly controlled national conference could backfire.

  • Bird song | Seven-year-old Miles Phillips’ song about the eastern rosella has gone viral and been compared to the Strokes, the B-52s and Taylor Swift. He tells Rafqa Touma how he wrote it.

  • Origin hack | Origin Energy customers’ addresses, phone numbers and partial bank account data have been accessed in a hack, the company has confirmed.

  • Poles apart | A Northern Territory minister has been criticised for scientifically inaccurate claims that groundwater in the territory needs to be used to prevent the Earth’s magnetic poles from flipping.

World

  • Musk musings | Elon Musk has admitted he became too consumed by politics during his volatile alliance with Donald Trump and his brief appointment as the president’s financial axeman. In an interview with the Economist, he also said robots would usher in an era of “amazing abundance” that would make money meaningless.

  • ‘Massive attack’ | The US president, Donald Trump, has said he is close to deciding whether to launch “a massive attack” against Iran, on a scale larger than strikes already witnessed during the months-long conflict with Tehran. The oil price has climbed back above $100 a barrel for the first time in two months helped by a Houthi blockade on Saudi shipments out of the strait of Bab al-Mandab. Dubai is offering to pay family and friends of residents to visit in an effort to revive tourist numbers. Follow developments here.

  • Al-Aqsa ‘stormed’ | Israel’s far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined thousands of Jewish extremists who stormed Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site overnight.

  • French flee | More than 20,000 people, including thousands of tourists, have been evacuated as a “particularly intense” wildfire advances on the Atlantic coast of south-west France.

  • Parkinson’s clue | Long-term exposure to road traffic noise is associated with a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease, the biggest study of its kind has found.

Full Story

Newsroom edition: An El Niño summer looms – we need to talk about climate change

Jo Tovey is joined by Mike Ticher and assistant climate editor Donna Lu to discuss whether Australia is being too complacent about the changing climate.

In-depth

Pauline Hanson has hit out at the media for taking her remarks “out of context” after she was criticised for describing paid leave for those experiencing family and domestic violence as “ridiculous”. Blaming the messenger is straight from the Trump playbook, Josh Butler argues.

Not the news

The fearsome reputation of freezing Canberra winters had Brigid Delaney worried when she moved to the capital. An electric blanket would be essential but how to avoid sleeping with “malevolent, dangerous energy”? The answer, it seems, is flannel.

Sport

  • AFL | The former Carlton co-captain Sam Docherty talks to Jonathan Horn about cancer and the other hardships that took him to “rock bottom” and the “obsession” that helped him carve out a 13-year AFL career.

  • Cycling | Richard Carapaz won stage 18 of the Tour de France after a breakaway group of six riders but uncertainty surrounds the health of race leader Tadej Pogacar, whose team has been swept by a virus since Monday’s rest day.

  • World Cup | Norway’s football federation is considering a complaint to Fifa ethics investigators next month over Donald Trump’s role in clearing Folarin Balogun from a mandatory one-game ban at the World Cup.

Media roundup

A Geelong healthcare company has been thrust into the spotlight after Tour de France leader Tadej Pogacar wore its branded nasal strips, the Advertiser reveals. The Age reports on the imminent arrival of a new long-distance Qantas plane. The Australian features a speech by Liberal James Paterson in which he warns against the perils of populism.

What’s happening today

  • Society | ABS release data on fertility rates by age cohort.

  • Courts | Kyle and Jackie O interlocutory hearing in Sydney.

  • Melbourne | Application for temporary stay in retrial of Greg Lynn at Victorian supreme court.

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Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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