Morning everyone. Last year’s devastating bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef has led to the biggest annual drop in live coral for decades, scientists warn today.
Plus: a 13-year-old girl has been charged with murdering another girl on the same exchange visit from China, the Gaza “apocalypse” seen from the sky, and this month’s best Australian books.
Australia
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Smart skinks | Australian skinks have evolved the means to resist snake venom by shutting down their muscles, suggests new research which could help find new treatments for snakebites.
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Coral blow | The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its biggest annual drop in live coral in two out of three areas monitored by scientists since 1986, a new report has revealed.
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Student stabbing | A 14-year-old girl on an exchange visit from China has been killed and her fellow exchange student has been charged with murder after a stabbing at their host family’s home in the Hunter Valley.
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Graduates ‘failed’ | Labor MPs are increasing pressure on the government to speed up reform of the controversial Morrison-era job-ready graduates scheme that has “failed” students. Meanwhile, the legality of the system designed to penalise jobseekers has been thrown into doubt after the commonwealth ombudsman found a government department’s automatic system unlawfully cancelled payments.
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Invasive innovation | A study has shown that two invasive weed species could be used as ingredients for clean, renewable fuel.
World
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Gaza ‘apocalypse’ | Our reporter and photographer joined a Jordanian airdrop over Gaza to witness the devastation wreaked on the territory which resembles “the aftermath of an apocalypse”. An Israeli security cabinet meeting, which had been expected to be held overnight to debate Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the “full occupation” of Gaza, has been postponed amid mounting tensions over whether the plan is feasible.
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Mea culpa | An admission by Spanish conservative MP Noelia Núñez that she had never completed her double degree in law and public administration has sparked a wave of similar confessions from politicians.
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Epstein trove | The Jeffrey Epstein scandal has broadened after the New York Times published a trove of previously unseen letters to the disgraced late financier from numerous powerful figures such as Woody Allen and former Israeli leader Ehud Barak. The House of Representatives oversight committee has subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as several former attorneys general and directors of the FBI demanding “testimony related to horrific crimes” perpetrated by Epstein.
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Genie’s out | As Google outlined its latest step towards artificial general intelligence with a new model, ChatGPT said it would not tell people looking for advice online to break up with their partner. In Sweden, the prime minister has admitted that he regularly consults AI tools for a second opinion, prompting voters to say “we didn’t vote for AI”.
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Norway search | Rescuers in Norway have resumed the search for an award-winning former Guardian journalist, Alec Luhn, who has gone missing in bad weather during a solo hike in the remote Folgefonna national park.
Full Story
The Descendants episode 2: the search for Tom Wills
In the final part of our Descendants investigation, we look at the 1861 Cullin-la-ringo massacre of white settlers in which Australian rules football pioneer Tom Wills escaped death. In today’s podcast, Indigenous affairs reporter Ella Archibald-Binge and Lorena Allam from UTS’s Jumbunna Institute discuss suggestions that Wills may also have been involved in a revenge attack on Indigenous people, and how families on both sides of the conflict are reckoning with the truth of their ancestors’ colonial past.
In-depth
In its latest report into how to improve the economy, the Productivity Commission says it is examining whether technology firms should be exempted from copyright rules so companies can freely mine text and data to train artificial intelligence models.
Not the news
Our writers have picked out the best Australian books published this month, including the second part of David Day’s biography of Bob Hawke chronicling his years as prime minister, a biography of Bryce Courtenay by his son, Adam, and campfire recipes by Outback Tom and Steve Forrest.
Sport
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Rugby union | After beating the Lions on Saturday, Australia are fit and full of fire ahead of matches against South Africa.
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Golf | Sports organisations in the US are hoping for exemptions from new UK travel rules for American citizens after Harris English’s caddie was denied a visa for the Open because of a criminal conviction.
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Football | Manchester United could thwart Newcastle’s £70m effort to sign the RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko after making a rival bid amid their belief the player would prefer a move to Old Trafford.
Media roundup
A controversial $39m office development next to St Mary’s Cathedral has been approved, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Tasmania’s premier is being “pig-headed” by announcing he will visit the governor to seek another term, the Labor leader tells the Mercury. Another state premier, David Crisafulli of Queensland, is under fire from the Courier Mail for spending $50,000 in a single day on taxpayer-funded private jet travel.
What’s happening today
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Energy | Draft findings of the national electricity market review released at 7am.
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Education | Queensland teachers to strike over pay and conditions.
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Business | News Corp full-year earnings released at 8am.
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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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Quick crossword
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Cryptic crossword
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