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Club leadership grilled at state conference about merits of using gambling revenue to fund veterans’ welfare servicesWhile the supermarket giants and AFL clubs are pulling out of the poker machine business, Victoria’s Returned Services League branch is not following suit yet – despite a push from some veterans and declining gambling revenue.At the 104th RSL Victoria state conference in Melbourne, there was a heated generational showdown between the the league’s top brass – predominately ex-Vietnam servicemen – and younger veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor. Continue reading...

My mother, Anna Koller Eady, who has died aged 95, was a woman of enormous pluck and energy. As well as her professional roles as a physiotherapist and later as a teacher of Medau (rhythmic movement), she made two radical moves in life through her two marriages.Born into a farming family in Asperup, Denmark, she was the daughter of Carl Olsen and Helga (nee Hansen Margaard). She went to school at Brenderup, from where, aged 15, just before the second world war broke out, she went on a school cycling trip and pedalled the length of the Rhine in Germany. It was the start of her international outlook. Continue reading...

Malian was one of four out of over 80 people on board who were rescued after raft sankOne of only four survivors after an inflatable raft carrying more than 80 people capsized off the coast of Tunisia has recounted his ordeal as 54 rescuees from a separate shipwreck headed to Malta.Soleiman Coulibaly, from Mali, said he had spent two days clinging to a piece of wood after the engine caught fire and the inflatable sank. Continue reading...

Former leader of Revolutionary Guard says impounded Iranian oil tanker must be released

Four men are first of 15 to be brought from Turkey after long wait for resettlementFour newly arrived LGBT Syrian refugees will be able to openly express their sexual identity when they join the Pride celebrations in central London on Saturday.They arrived in London on Thursday after waiting for more than two years to be airlifted to safety. Their situation was resolved after the Guardian highlighted the plight of 15 LGBT Syrian refugees stranded in Turkey this year. Others in the group were expected to follow soon. Continue reading...

Cinemagoers spent almost $19bn in first six months of the year, down from $20.2bn in 2018The global box office has so far failed to sizzle this summer, with ticket sales down 6% in the first half of 2019 as misfiring Hollywood sequels give cinemagoers a case of franchise fatigue.Film fans spent almost $19bn (£15bn) on going to the cinema in the first six months of the year, compared with the $20.2bn spent in the same period last year. Continue reading...

Follow the day’s political news, with Tory leadership frontrunner telling hustings he is no fan of austerity as 160,000 Tory members begin voting

Two boys who lost legs are among those lying low after a series of deadly crackdowns by the militaryIn a nondescript apartment block in downtown Khartoum, 14-year-old Faisal Ali rests with his father. In the entrance hall, the strong traditional smell of Sudanese brides’ perfume still lingers. Before last month’s brutal crackdown, the building was home to young newlyweds and visitors to the capital.Today, it is a safe house for protesters, including children, who face life-changing injuries. Continue reading...

Kyriakos Mitsotakis could end era of fragile coalitions with decisive win, polls suggestAs the sun sets over the Acropolis, bathing the monument in the gentle light of a dying day, Kyriakos Mitsotakis ascends the podium, punching the air in jubilant mood. The backdrop may be antiquity’s most famous site but before him is a sea of blue and white, the colour of the Greek flag being waved by the crowd.The man poised to become Greece’s next prime minister takes in the scene. “On Sunday Greece will become blue, the blue of the sky, the blue of the sea,” he thunders. “On Sunday we vote, on Monday we turn a page.” Continue reading...

Ronald dela Rosa says ‘shit happens during operations’ after three-year-old girl killedA senator who oversaw the most violent period in the Philippines’ war on drugs has dismissed the killing of a three-year-old girl in a police drug operation as collateral damage, stating that “shit happens”.Ronald dela Rosa, who was the police chief running President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown on drugs before he was elected as a senator two months ago, defended the shooting by police during a sting operation last week. Continue reading...

Why do we root for them? Whatever the reason, there was plenty to cheer this weekWhy do we root for the underdog?Is it because of a deep-seated compassion that exists in all of us? Is it because of a sense of justice and fairness? Or perhaps because we know that we are all just two or three strokes of bad luck away from being underdogs ourselves? Continue reading...

It remains unclear why the student, who says he will not be doing media interviews, was detained in North KoreaThe Swedish diplomat who secured the release of 29-year-old Australian, Alek Sigley, from North Korean detention said the moment he was told Sigley could leave with him was one of “great relief and great joy”.Sigley was freed from detention in North Korea on Thursday after going missing for more than a week, and on Friday released a statement pleading for privacy and saying he wants to return to “normal life”. Continue reading...

Construction of a fence along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, one of the world’s most dangerous crossings, is splintering families while failing to halt the flow of smugglers and terroristsKeramat used to visit her sons all the time, crossing the border between her home in Afghanistan’s Kunar province into Pakistan, where they live and work.But a fence built to mark a border between the two countries, which has not been recognised by the Afghan government, has made the 55-year-old’s journey much longer, and more bureaucratic. Continue reading...

Coroner finds 36-year-old Aboriginal woman who was arrested for public intoxication should have been taken to hospitalThe death of an Aboriginal woman in custody in 2016 could have been prevented if police had called an ambulance or conducted more thorough searches while she was in custody, the state’s coroner has found.Rebecca Maher, 36, was found dead inside a police cell at the Maitland police station in the NSW Hunter region just before 6am on 19 July 2016, about five hours after being taken into protective custody because she appeared intoxicated and had wandered into oncoming traffic. Continue reading...

Former Met commissioners attack Tory record on crime as chief inspector of constabulary warns of strain on policingThe five former top police officers in Britain have attacked the Conservatives’ record on crime, saying that “resources drained to dangerously low levels” have contributed to a “feeling of lawlessness” and saying confidence in the police has to be urgently restored.The attack came from a string of commissioners of the Metropolitan police, Britain’s biggest force, who claimed the crisis was so deep that “the public have perilously low expectations of the police today”. Continue reading...

Friday: The Coalition passed its $158bn tax cuts last night, which taxpayers will start to receive from next week. Plus: Majak Daw’s returnGood morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 5 July. Continue reading...

Carl Beech repeats claim that alleged paedophile gang ran over his childhood friendA former nurse accused of lying about a VIP paedophile ring that he claimed murdered three boys has given a graphic account of the alleged killings and insisted: “I was there and I know it took place.”Carl Beech is alleged to have fabricated claims that he was among the victims of a group of high-profile establishment figures who he said raped, kidnapped and murdered boys in the late 1970s and early 80s. Continue reading...

Four men were pulled from sinking vessel with one later dying in hospital, says officialMore than 80 people trying to reach Europe from Libya are feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Tunisia, according to the UN migration agency.The boat sank on Wednesday off the port town of Zarzis and 82 of the migrants who had been onboard were missing, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Fishermen pulled four men from the sinking boat, said Lorena Lando, the agency’s head in Tunisia. One of the four died later in hospital. Continue reading...

Colum Eastwood has been accused of contempt of court after remarks he made about ‘Soldier F’The leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour party has been reported to Northern Ireland’s attorney general over claims he prejudiced the upcoming trial of a former soldier charged with killing civilians on Bloody Sunday.Jamie Bryson, a loyalist blogger-activist, has complained to the region’s chief law officer about Colum Eastwood and remarks he made on Twitter and in a press statement about ‘Soldier F’. Continue reading...

High court judge rules that gay asylum seeker who feared persecution in Uganda should have been allowed to remainThe Home Office has been ordered to help a woman deported to Uganda six years ago to return to Britain after a high court judge ruled that the handling of her case was “procedurally unfair”.If the judgment stands, the woman may become the first deportee whose case was processed through fast-track rules operational between 2005 and 2015 to return to the UK and appeal against the decision to deport her. Continue reading...

When women are secure and optimistic they produce more boys than usual, writes Sebastian KraemerZoe Williams cites the American sociologist Elizabeth Armstrong, who “examined the evidence for the detrimental effects of stress on a pregnancy. The only demonstrable correlation was between a profound stress event – the death of an existing child, or spouse – during pregnancy, and a negative outcome” (The Handmaid’s Tale comes to life in Alabama, 2 July).Several scientific studies have shown a significant effect on the offspring of pregnant women living in the area of catastrophic events, such as 9/11 and the earthquake in Kobe, Japan, in 1995. The ratio of boys to girls born alive a few months later is always reduced. The male foetus is more vulnerable than his female sister to death from severe maternal stress. Continue reading...

German president echoes Angela Merkel in saying the backstop will not be revisitedGermany will stand fully in “solidarity” with Ireland over Brexit, the country’s president has said, and look to “underpin rather than undermine” the peace process that has kept the border with Northern Ireland invisible in the past 20 yearsFrank-Walter Steinmeier told Ireland’s president, Michael Higgins, on a visit to Berlin that Germany “stands firmly by Ireland’s side”, raising questions about Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson’s optimism that the Irish border backstop can be revisited. Continue reading...

Former UK chancellor’s austerity agenda will count against him, say opponentsGeorge Osborne’s interest in running the International Monetary Fund has met immediate criticism because of the former chancellor’s austerity policies and Brexit-related question marks over the UK’s international standing.The former chancellor has signalled to friends that he views himself as a potential candidate to replace Christine Lagarde, the current head of the Washington-based fund, who was nominated to lead the European Central Bank this week. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison says package is a win for ‘hardworking Australians quietly going about their lives’Scott Morrison has declared the passage of the government’s $158bn tax cut package through the Senate a victory for “quiet Australians”, after Labor capitulated and joined the Coalition to vote for the 10-year plan.Speaking after the package passed with only the Greens voting against it, the prime minister said parliament had voted to “reward aspiration”. Continue reading...

Japan’s culture of cute has embraced poo, which gets a pop twist at the Unko Museum in Yokohama, near Tokyo. Visitors can play a poo-themed video game and pose on a variety of WCs. All the twisty ice-cream and cupcake shapes on display are artificial, and come in a variety of colours and sizes Continue reading...

A nationwide search is underway for unique strains of the plant, as the country prepares to vote on full legalisationDave has been growing cannabis since he was 14 years old, when he began using it to treat his ADHD. Known in his part of New Zealand as a “green fairy”– someone who grows and supplies cannabis to patients suffering from pain and disability – he estimates he has supplied more than 1,000 people over the last decade.With a few hundred plants on the go, the 33-year-old says what was once a hobby has morphed into a full-time occupation, mostly avoiding the attention of police. Continue reading...

Mission to the UN complains after US sent letter urging other countries to send back its North Korean workersNorth Korea has complained after the United States sent a letter urging countries to send back workers from the Stalinist state as President Donald Trump was inviting Kim Jong-un to hold talks.The North Korean mission to the United Nations said on Wednesday that the letter sent to all UN member-states showed that Washington was “practically more and more hell-bent on the hostile acts” against Pyongyang, even though it is seeking dialogue. Continue reading...

Move reinforces expectations of fresh stimulus package for ailing eurozone economyThe prospect of a fresh stimulus package to support the ailing eurozone economy when Christine Lagarde takes up the reins as boss of the currency bloc’s central bank sent shares higher across Europe and the US on Wednesday.The FTSE 100 closed up 0.7% at 7,609 points after starting the week at 7,497, while the New York S&P 500 sailed to another record high and moved closer to the 3,000 mark. Continue reading...

My father, Humphrey Fisher, who has died aged 85, was an academic and priest deeply committed to inclusion and diversity. He never achieved high office, but instead sought to support his students and to bridge religious and ethnic differences.Born in Dunedin, New Zealand, he was the son of Allan Fisher and his wife, Airini (nee Pope), both academics. His father’s career as an economist took the family to Australia and Britain. Humphrey was evacuated to Canada during the second world war. Continue reading...

Billionaire sued over play about two wealthy Britons who live in a castle in the Channel IslandsThe reclusive billionaire owner of the Daily Telegraph and the Ritz hotel has been ordered to pay damages to an obscure French playwright who wrote a play that satirised the lives of him and his twin brother.Sir David Barclay unsuccessfully sued Hédi Tillette de Clermont-Tonnerre for defamation and invasion of privacy after the French author wrote a work entitled Two Brothers and the Lions, about the lives of two Britons “who become cold, selfish monsters in the heart of our democratic societies”. Continue reading...

Chaos erupted at a huge party to celebrate the 90th birthday of the former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos on Wednesday, with more than 200 friends and supporters taken to hospital in Manila with suspected food poisoning. The health ministry said 261 people had been taken to hospital by Wednesday afternoon after eating food that had been prepared for 2,500 people. Guests were fed rice, boiled eggs and chicken adobo, a traditional Filipino dish of meat stewed in vinegar and soy sauce

Guests at celebration for former first lady of Philippines rushed to hospital with suspected food poisoningMore than 200 guests fell ill with suspected food poisoning after a meal at a birthday party for Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines.Ambulances rushed vomiting friends and supporters from a sports stadium in Manila, where about 2,500 people gathered to honour the 90-year-old widow of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Continue reading...

Secretary for equality promises review of working conditions for cleaners, most of whom are womenThe French government has held talks with hotel cleaners’ agencies amid several strikes and picket-lines by staff at hotels across the country over working hours and conditions.Marlène Schiappa, the secretary for gender equality, has promised a review of working conditions for hotel cleaners, most of whom are women, and who are often made to work staggered hours early in the morning and late at night. Continue reading...

Surprise choice to lead European commission criticised by Socialists and GreensUrsula von der Leyen, the nominee to lead the European commission, will seek to build bridges with members of the European parliament in Strasbourg after a mixed reaction to her historic appointment.Germany’s defence minister was a surprise choice to lead the commission, as EU leaders struggled to reach a compromise during three days of summit talks dedicated to finding people to lead the EU’s most important institutions. Continue reading...

Police investigating the murder of a pregnant woman are seeking to identify a man who was filmed walking to her address and then running away from the scene minutes later. Kelly Mary Fauvrelle, 26, who was eight months pregnant, was found with stab injuries at a property in south London in the early hours of Saturday morning Continue reading...

Wednesday: Border police are secretly installing apps on the phones of travellers to Xinjiang. Plus: US into women’s finalGood morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 3 July. Continue reading...

Two interactive maps give a new perspective on the pollA fair bit has now been written about the Australian election and which electorates swung hard, and the characteristics of those places and the type of people who voted for each party.Beyond electorates, it’s possible to get an even more detailed picture of the geographic trends by mapping results at the polling booth level. This approach reveals some potentially surprising results, such as the small areas within the larger electorate where minor parties like the Greens or One Nation won out over the major parties, or blocs of booths where independents won the day. Continue reading...

The storming of the Legislative Council building may alienate ordinary residents, but reflects a growing sense of despair as Beijing tightens its gripFive years ago, when Hong Kong residents flooded the streets to demand true democracy, the movement was named Occupy Central With Love and Peace. On Monday, as a group of protesters overran the region’s legislature, a banner hung outside carried a harsher, more pessimistic message borrowed from the Hunger Games films: “If we burn, you burn with us.”Half a million had peacefully marched against the extradition bill that day. Even the splinter group who broke into the building, spray-painted slogans and hung the British colonial-era flag had their limits. They put up signs urging others not to damage antiques and left cash for drinks from the cafe. Force was directed at property rather than people. But the angry, destructive scenes nonetheless reflect a hardening of feeling. Continue reading...

American football stars talk of their troubled backgrounds as boys vie for place at academyAmerican football stars who escaped gangs, drugs and crime in some of the United States’ toughest neighbourhoods arrived in Tottenham on Tuesday to seek out British teenagers who might follow their path to gridiron fame.They watched as 120 boys from across the UK underwent trials at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for places at a new NFL academy in north London that will offer further education and coaching in America’s most popular sport. Continue reading...

Energy minister unveils plan to schedule biggest public listing in history within two yearsSaudi Arabia has reignited plans for a $2tn mega-float of its state oil company, Aramco, just months after putting on hold the biggest public listing in history.The Saudi energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, said on Tuesday that officials are working to list the company for the first time within the next two years. Continue reading...

Experts suggest heat sensors could help detect people hiding in landing gear compartmentThere are calls for fresh scrutiny of aviation security as efforts continue to identify a man whose frozen body fell into a garden in London from the landing gear of a Kenya Airways plane.Investigations have centred on Nairobi airport, where the man is believed to have concealed himself in the aircraft, but one aviation expert suggested airlines and plane manufacturers could take steps including fitting heat sensors to detect stowaways. Continue reading...

Eight-metre-long work which imagines whimsical train journey should fetch six figuresAn enormous kinetic sculpture of a whimsical train journey made by the inventor who designed for the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is to appear at auction in London.Rowland Emett is most famous for designing the magical flying car and madcap contraptions made by the character of Caractacus Potts, played by Dick Van Dyke in the 1968 film. Continue reading...

Biodun Fatoyinbo steps aside amid allegations of historical attack on photographerA celebrity pastor in Nigeria is to take a leave of absence after a photographer accused him of rape.Nicknamed “Gucci Pastor” for his expensive taste in clothes and cars, Biodun Fatoyinbo runs the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (Coza), one of the country’s fastest-growing pentecostal churches. Continue reading...

Johnson’s Brexit plans are almost as hard to assess as his lack of principles – he believes in neither leave nor remainThe problem with assessing the intentions of a serial liar is that disbelief becomes second nature. So when Boris Johnson stated his Brexit plans in interviews last week and over the weekend it was largely overlooked. The media and public preferred to focus Johnson’s absurd claim that he enjoys arts and crafts of the vehicular variety. Less a dead cat than a dead kitten.What makes Johnson’s intentions even harder to assess is his absence of principles. He belongs to a vanishingly small group of Britons who believe in neither leave nor remain. It is not that he has changed his mind but that he has never much cared either way. For Johnson, Brexit was a passing bandwagon to the premiership, and he was prepared to climb aboard. It is testament to his political skill that he has hoodwinked the Brexit zealots into believing he is their man. Continue reading...

The only person who looked delighted to be back was Jacqui Lambie, who was passed from arm to arm like a newbornIt was a strange sort of opening to a strange sort of parliament. Our federal representatives are back, but nobody is quite sure what happens next, because perhaps only Scott Morrison believed the story would end the way it did on 18 May.When the Senate reopened for business on Tuesday, Mathias Cormann kissed Penny Wong by way of greeting. This geniality is unsurprising. The two are good mates. Continue reading...

At the first plenary session of the newly elected European parliament on Tuesday, 29 Brexit party MEPs marked the opening by turning their backs during the playing of Ode to Joy, the European anthem

Uneasy calm in city as cleanup begins after storming of parliament … Antarctic sea ice plunges to record low ... Stormzy says sorry for Glastonbury claimGood morning briefers. This is Martin Farrer bringing you all top stories in one neat package this Tuesday morning. Continue reading...

‘I couldn’t relate to prog rock. We never had any wizards in my neighbourhood. We had ’58 Chevys and good-looking girls’My dad had been in the Korean war with some guys from the deep south, and when I was a kid he told me: “This is the music they liked and I like it too.” He played me Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. I thought, “Wow.” I’d never heard anything like it. Rockabilly was dead in America by then, but we lived for the music and the whole lifestyle. I loved the old cars and motorcycles, the music, the fashion. Nobody was doing anything like that in 1979. I couldn’t relate to prog rock with its lyrics about dungeons and dragons. We never had any wizards in my neighbourhood. We had ’58 Chevys on my block and a couple of good-looking girls, so that’s what I wrote about. Continue reading...

Woman who alleges she was raped by the actor tells court why she didn’t report him to police for decadesA woman who alleges she was raped by the actor John Jarratt has told a Sydney jury she didn’t report him to the police for decades because she didn’t think she would be believed.Jarratt has pleaded not guilty in the New South Wales district court to raping his former housemate in 1976 in a home they shared with his wife, Rosa Miano, and another woman. Continue reading...