Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Martin Farrer

Morning Mail: Trump lashes Maga ‘weaklings’ over Epstein case, Australia’s birthrate falls, and a Hiroshima love story

Many Maga voters think the administration is hiding details of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes to protect establishment figures.
Many Maga voters think the administration is hiding details of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes to protect establishment figures. Composite: Corbis via Getty Images, AP

Morning everyone. He was meant to be the man to defeat the “deep state” – but Donald Trump has found himself defending the transparency of his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, calling his Maga supporters “weaklings” for not accepting the administration’s line. At home, the birth rate is slumping in cities amid the cost-of-living crisis, Aldi is taking on Coles and Woolworths with home deliveries, and an Australian love story born out of the ashes of Hiroshima.

Australia

  • Price challenge | As Aldi announces a trial of grocery delivery, our consumer affairs reporter Catie McLeod has put it to the test, pricing a basket of goods from the discount supermarket against the same products from Coles and Woolworths.

  • Birth-rate blues | Low birthrates in Australia’s biggest cities deepened last year amid sustained cost-of-living pressures, dragging the national figure to a near-record low. Outer-suburban and regional residents are increasingly likely to have higher numbers of children per person than inner-city dwellers.

  • Strait talking | After Torres Strait Islanders lost their legal case about climate change, experts and advocates say it’s time for the law to change.

  • Race warning | Australia’s race discrimination commissioner has warned there is limited detail in how Jillian Segal’s plan to combat antisemitism would be implemented, and said he would work with her to ensure it does not restrict fundamental rights and freedoms.

  • Albanese in tune | Anthony Albanese will return home from China after hitting the right notes on his diplomatic mission but it could become harder for the two countries to stay in tune, writes our chief political correspondent Tom McIlroy.

World

  • Iceland eruption | A volcano on Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland has erupted for ninth time since 2023 and residents have been told to stay indoors because of high levels of toxic gas from the 2.4km fissure.

  • Maga uproar | Donald Trump has called his own supporters gullible “weaklings” for questioning the transparency of a secretive government inquiry into the late high-profile socialite and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as he spent another day trying to stamp out a conspiracy-fuelled uproar among his Maga base. We have a timeline of the Epstein story and you can follow developments in Washington live at our blog. Elsewhere in Trumpland, the president has privately indicated he is on the verge of firing the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, rattling Wall Street and renewing questions over the US central bank’s independence.

  • Gaza crush | At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in a crush at a food distribution site in southern Gaza after guards used teargas or pepper spray on hungry crowds arriving at the centre.

  • Mega Meta | Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on developing AI products and will build a data centre the size of Manhattan to drive the plan.

  • We’re not going on a bear hunt | The hunt for a brown bear that bit a man on the elbow in Norway has been put on hold after officials shot the wrong bear.

Full Story

Will this weekend’s election end the political chaos in Tasmania?

Guardian Australia’s Adam Morton speaks to Reged Ahmad about the issues at stake in this weekend’s state election and whether the winner will be able to work across the aisle to get things done.

In-depth

It is nearly 80 years since the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and today we have the remarkable love story of a 16-year-old Japanese survivor who met and fell in love with an Australian serviceman. The couple settled in Melbourne in defiance of the White Australia policy, and their children tell Stephanie Convery why they are heading to Japan for the anniversary to honour their 96-year-old mother.

Not the news

When Australia’s over-80s basketball team (the Boomer Boomers, we might call them) went to the world championships, Kieran Pender went along to hear inspirational stories of keeping active and never losing the dream of representing your country. There are also wonderful photographs by Marco Serventi.

Sport

  • Cycling | There was chaos on stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse as the defending champion, Tadej Pogacar, crashed and an anti-Israel protester ran on to the final straight. Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen claimed the stage win.

  • Golf | The R&A says it has held a “really good discussion” with Donald Trump’s family over the thorny issue of when their Turnberry course might stage the Open again.

  • Rugby union | Wallabies coach Geoff Parling knows all about the pressures of a Lions tour because he was once a tourist himself back in his England playing days, writes Robert Kitson.

  • Football | Italy are in a women’s major tournament semi-final for the first time since 1997 after a stunning 2-1 victory over Norway in the dying minutes of the first Women’s Euros quarter-final. Follow all the reaction on our live blog.

Media roundup

The family of outback murderer Bradley Murdoch tell the NT News that he was a “devoted” family man and would be missed. Many people in the Liberal party are “pissed off” about the plan to challenge the Bradfield election result in the courts, the Daily Telegraph claims. The Geelong Advertiser reports that dozens of people have been arrested and weapons seized in police raids across the city. Rugby Australia has defended the cost of tickets to see the Lions test, as the Sydney Morning Herald points out that a seat in the nosebleeds is going for $379.

What’s happening today

  • Sydney | Public hearing of the NSW inquiry into the impact of renewable energy zones on rural and regional communities and industries.

  • Canberra | Anne Hollands and Grace Tame speak at a roundtable at 9.30am on the rise in AI child sexual exploitation.

  • Economy | The latest employment data is released by the ABS at 11.30am.

Sign up

If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.

Brain teaser

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

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.