This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happens.
Key events
- Coming up today: NRL grand final reveal and jobs figures
- Severe weather in New Zealand causing major damage
- Dominic Perrottet defends time to re-build post floods
- LeBron James becomes highest-earning player in NBA history
- One thing from overnight: Mosque explosion in Afghanistan
- More news while you snoozed: Will Cheney run for president?
- One more thing: We used to have *really* giant sharks
Live updates
By Peta Fuller
That's all for The Loop this morning
You can keep up-to-date on the ABC's website, by watching News Channel or listening to local radio here, and by subscribing to our mobile alerts.
We'll be back tomorrow morning to cover the latest updates.
By Peta Fuller
Coming up today: NRL grand final reveal and jobs figures
After a marathon meeting last night, the Australian Rugby League Commission is expected to announce *where* the grand final will be played.
Will it move to Queensland after disagreements with the NSW government?
Rugby league great Wally Lewis has told ABC Radio Brisbane he believes a change of venue is unlikely:
"I would be very surprised if it didn't go to Sydney. They probably believe that it deserves to be played there each and every year, " Lewis said.
"I'm a little bit of a different decision maker there, if it was up to me and it was the National Rugby League, which they call it, I think they should be playing it in Melbourne, one year, Sydney the next, Brisbane the year after."
And after we got wage figures yesterday (not great news, up just 0.7% for the last quarter...), we'll hear about jobs data from the ABS at 11:30am today (eastern time).
By Peta Fuller
Severe weather in New Zealand causing major damage
Red warnings are out for parts of the South Island as winds and heavy rain continue to hit New Zealand.
The NZ Metservice says there's a "slow-moving complex trough" coming through with significant rain for the north and west, and gales for other regions.
It won't be over quickly though, with heavy rain forecast to return tomorrow afternoon — and *that* rain will exceed warning criteria levels.
The Metservice says it will probably lead to more flooding and landslips.
These are some shots from the damage in Nelson, which is in those red zones:
By Peta Fuller
Massive drug haul found in concrete slabs in Sydney
Almost 750kg of methylamphetamine has been found by Australian Border Force officers.
Its potential street value was $675 million, and the haul was found in Port Botany last month.
Three men were charged yesterday, refused bail, and are due to appear in court today.
A Border Force official said: "There's no doubt the concealments are getting sophisticated."
By Peta Fuller
Dominic Perrottet defends time to re-build post floods
The NSW government has promised to offer land swaps and buybacks in the state's north.
But the Premier said setting up the criteria would "take some time" given the "catastrophic nature of this event" but they needed to do it the "right way".
He told ABC's News Breakfast:
"I know that even yesterday's announcement still creates uncertainty because the criteria need to be finalised, but directionally the government is committed to this approach. I believe it's the right approach.
"And it's not just in the Northern Rivers, obviously, right across the state we've had significant flooding, and we need to do it in the right way possible."
By Peta Fuller
LeBron James becomes highest-earning player in NBA history
Basketball star LeBron James has reportedly agreed to a two-year, $140 million ($US 97.1 million) contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers.
He now has $767 million in guaranteed earnings (beating Kevin Durant).
It means he is set to stay with the team until at least the 2023-24 season, and James has a player option for the following year.
The 37-year-old has previously said he wants to play on the same NBA team as his son Bronny, who is eligible to be drafted in 2024.
Earlier this year, his net worth was estimated at $US1 billion ($1.4 bn), according to Forbes — making James the first active NBA player to reach billionaire status.
By Peta Fuller
NSW and Federal governments accused of not acting quickly enough post floods
Nationals MP Kevin Hogan's North Coast federal electorate suffered severe damage during the floods earlier this year.
Mr Hogan says a scheme was set up months ago in Queensland, and he's furious New South Wales residents are still waiting.
He told ABC Radio:
"We have people who are literally camping in their own houses. They have no internal walls. They may have hot water if they are lucky. They need to make decisions about are they going to invest back in their homes? What are the options that they have? And all we have done is simply say we need to look at those three issues. It is not quick enough."
Yesterday, the state government announced it planned to introduce a house buyback scheme, but couldn't provide details about how it would work.
By Jessica Riga
Inflation in the UK has just hit a 40-year high
The UK's inflation rate has risen to a new 40-year high of 10.1 per cent — climbing at a faster pace than in the US and Europe.
It's the first time that soaring costs have pushed British inflation into double digits since 1982, with prices continuing to rise.
The Bank of England has warned that inflation could peak at more than 13 per cent this year.
Back home, Aussies are well aware that the cost of living is increasing thanks to the inflation rate rising to 6.1 per cent in June – a 21-year high.
By Jessica Riga
Battery glitch forces early end to Russian spacewalk
Let's zoom out (a lot) and see what's making news in *space*.
A Russian spacewalker had to rush back inside the International Space Station when the battery voltage in his spacesuit suddenly dropped.
Russian Mission Control ordered Oleg Artemyev, the station commander, to quickly return to the airlock so he could hook his suit to station power.
The hatch remained open as his spacewalking partner, Denis Matveev, tidied up outside — as one does.
NASA said neither man was ever in any danger. Matveev, in fact, remained outside for another hour or so, before he, too, was ordered to wrap it up.
Matveev's suit was fine, but Russian Mission Control cut the spacewalk short since flight rules insist on the buddy system.
By Peta Fuller
One thing from overnight: Mosque explosion in Afghanistan
An explosion inside a mosque in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, with one hospital saying at least 27 people, including five children, have been brought to their facility.
One Taliban intelligence official said around 35 people were wounded or killed and the toll could rise further.
Video posted online showed multiple bodies lying across the bloodied floor of the mosque amid debris.
Witnesses said the powerful blast shattered windows in nearby buildings and local media reports said the Imam of the mosque was among those killed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the latest to strike the country a year after the Taliban seized power.
Last week a prominent pro-Taliban cleric was killed in a suicide bomb blast claimed by the Islamic State group.
By Peta Fuller
More news while you snoozed: Will Cheney run for president?
Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney has vowed to keep fighting Donald Trump even after losing her primary election in Wyoming.
She told NBC's Today show overnight:
"I will be doing whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office."
When pressed on running for the White House, she said it: "is something I’m thinking about and I’ll make a decision in the coming months."
And there were a couple of things coming out of Canberra overnight (not Morrison-related):
- The plan for an Indigenous Voice to parliament has been hashed out a bit more with the states and territories
- The Commonwealth says yesterday's meeting outlined practical steps on how the Voice will be implemented across government, and they say they've secured bipartisan support from the states and territories on working towards a Voice
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And the climate safeguard mechanism will be up for consultation with industry (the centrepiece of the government's plan to reach its 2030 emissions target — it puts caps on Australia's 215 biggest emitters to prompt them to lower their pollution)
- Those talks will run until late September
And back in the US, former vice-president Mike Pence implored fellow Republicans to stop lashing out at the FBI over the search of Donald Trump’s Florida home and denounced calls by some of the former president's allies to defund the FBI, saying that was "just as wrong" as a push by Democratic activists to shift money from police.
He also said he would give "due consideration" if asked to testify before the House committee investigating the US Capitol riot.
By Peta Fuller
News Australia is searching for
- Cristiano Ronaldo: The Manchester United star has received a police caution after smashing a 14-year-old boy's phone following a defeat to Everton last year
- Elon Musk: Let's just make this the Man U section today — the billionaire is trending after he joked he'd buy the team, which is having a particularly bad time this season (to be clear, he's not):
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But British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe *is* interested in buying the club, his spokesperson told The UK's Times overnight. Owners the American Glazer family are under pressure with United sitting bottom of the Premier League after two games of the season — and Bloomberg reported they would consider selling a minority stake
By Peta Fuller
One more thing: We used to have *really* giant sharks
A giant shark that roamed the oceans millions of years ago could have devoured a killer whale-sized creature in just five bites.
Researchers used fossil evidence to create a 3D model of the megalodon — one of the biggest predatory fish of all time — and find clues about its life.
The 16-metre-long shark was the size of a bus (about two to three times bigger than a great white).
Co-author John Hutchinson, who studies the evolution of animal movement at England’s Royal Veterinary College, said:
"It would be a superpredator just dominating its ecosystem. There is nothing really matching it."
