Good afternoon. Linda Reynolds has insisted she did not know about Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape in the days afterwards and has denied she should have known on “face value” about the alleged assault.
The Western Australian federal Liberal senator has also said she would “still do the same thing today” when asked why she never offered to listen to Higgins’ experience of the night she was allegedly raped.
Reynolds has sued her former staffer Higgins for defamation over a series of social media posts, published in July 2023, which Reynolds claims damaged her reputation.
Follow the latest updates on our live blog and see Amanda Meade’s analysis of Reynolds’ evidence in The Weekly Beast.
Separately, Bruce Lehrmann’s property has been raided by the National Anti-Corruption Commission and police investigating a “conspiracy” that he allegedly improperly held documents linked to a scrapped French submarine deal. The former Coalition staffer confirmed searches occurred but denied any wrongdoing.
Top news
News Corp considers selling Foxtel | The media conglomerate will review offers from potential buyers for its Australia pay TV platform. Foxtel has struggled to compete with streaming services as households cut back on discretionary spending.
Prison guard charged with sexually assaulting inmate | A corrections officer at a regional New South Wales prison has been charged with sexually assaulting a female inmate three times. Police allege the woman was assaulted between 18 June and 30 July, though police did not receive a report until the start of August.
Moira Deeming should testify to ‘hurt feelings’, lawyer says | Lawyers for ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming are pushing for her to take the stand in her defamation action against the Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, to outline her “hurt feelings”.
Trump prosecution further delayed | The Republican presidential candidate’s prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 US election is expected to be delayed by another month after special counsel prosecutors said they had not finished assessing how the US supreme court’s immunity decision would narrow their case. Meanwhile, Trump has falsely claimed no one was killed on the January 6 attack on Congress now linked to nine deaths.
US, Qatar and Egypt say Gaza truce talks must resume | The leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar have called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent negotiations in order to finalise a ceasefire and hostage release deal, saying there were no excuses “from any party for further delay”.
Woman dies in airport baggage-claim machinery | A dead woman was found entangled in machinery in a baggage-processing area at O’Hare international airport in Chicago on Thursday.
Walz-ing Matilda? Australia sees something familiar in Tim Walz | The vice presidential nominee’s resemblance to several former Australian PMs has seen him dubbed the most “Australian prime minister-looking American politician” of all time.
Australia v US in Olympic basketball semi-final | Australia’s Opals are determined to make history in Friday’s semi-final clash against the Americans after three decades of US dominance. See the day’s full schedule for Australia’s Olympic hopes here.
Cables powering internet under threat | Serious damage to the hidden network of undersea cables is becoming more common, after large parts of Tonga were again left without internet last month.
In pictures
Australians compete in week two of the Paris Olympics 2024
Check out this week’s highlights of Australians in action at the Games, as selected by Guardian Australia’s photography team.
What they said …
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“Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done.” – Volodymyr Zelenskiy
The Ukrainian president said Russia needed to “feel” the consequences of its war as a major Ukrainian incursion across the Russian border stretched into a third day.
In numbers
Conservationist Dailan Pugh fears the species named after him will be driven to extinction by logging in New South Wales.
Before bed read
There are a lot of bad podcasts by annoying people, but here’s why I still love the format
Rebecca Shaw gives thanks for podcasts, her unlikely saviour during a horror two-week battle with influenza. “There is always a voice on the other end, ready to talk about whatever you choose,” she writes.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: CILL. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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