Morning, everyone. The sporting gods giveth and they taketh away. While Australia’s men’s team have made an excellent start in the fifth Ashes Test, the Matildas hopes of World Cup glory are in the balance after a disastrous 2-3 defeat against Nigeria. They must now win their last group game against Canada next week or suffer a humiliating exit from their home tournament. The UN chief has warned the “era of global boiling” is upon us, Australian police are cracking down on vape stores, and Birmingham is considering stepping in for Victoria as Commonwealth Games host.
Australia
Freedom to screen | Dendy, the cinema chain co-owned by actor Mel Gibson, will screen the film Sound of Freedom, which amplifies QAnon-style conspiracies and has been a hit among the far right in the US.
‘I’m disappointed’ | The Matildas coach, Tony Gustavsson, admitted he might have left his substitutions too late as his team chased the game against Nigeria last night in their shock Women’s World Cup Group B defeat. Despite going 1-0 up after a dominant opening 45 minutes, the Matildas lost their grip and now face a “date with destiny” against Canada on Monday or risk going out.
Gouge away | Food inflation has been running at about 8% but grocery bills have risen much higher, bringing accusations of gouging against the big two supermarkets.
Vape crackdown | More than 25,000 allegedly illegal vapes have been seized in a police raid on a store in central Melbourne in a crackdown aimed at sending a “clear message” to other stores.
Birmingham again? | As Daniel Andrews tries to move on from suitcases of cash and the Ibac report, the consequences of his decision to pull the plug on the Commonwealth Games continue, with Birmingham said to be considering holding the 2026 event in Victoria’s place.
World
Grain offer | Vladimir Putin has promised free grain supplies to six African nations as Moscow seeks to capitalise on the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal while hosting his Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg. Ukraine’s Volodomyr Zelenskiy has called for more air defence systems from the west.
Coup backed | Niger’s military leadership has thrown its weight behind a coup against the president as the latest country in the “coup belt” to suffer instability.
‘Going to be a good girl’ | Police officers found Sinéad O’Connor unresponsive in a London flat just weeks after she posted a video about facing up to life after the death of her son. Morrissey has issued a furious condemnation of the music industry for failing to support his friend.
Quilombola recognised | More than 1.3 million Brazilians who identify as descendants of Africans who escaped slavery have finally gained recognition in official statistics, marking a victory for the quilombola population.
Flown the Coutts | The Nigel Farage bank account saga has claimed another victim after the head of private bank Coutts followed his boss out of the door. Knives are now out for NatWest group’s chair, Howard Davies, in a saga that shows the government running scared of the Brexiter-in-chief.
Full Story
Newsroom edition: how to protect Australians from scams
Gabrielle Jackson speaks to editor-in-chief Lenore Taylor and head of news Mike Ticher about how the big banks and big platforms can better protect Australians from scams.
In-depth
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, stepped up the climate crisis rhetoric overnight by declaring that the era of global warming has ended and “the era of global boiling has arrived” after scientists confirmed July was on track to be the world’s hottest month on record. Drone footage showed the scorched land around the 2,500-year-old Segesta temple in Sicily as wildfires continued in the Mediterranean. In the US, more than 170 million people are under heat alerts this week as the heatwave moves north. Our climate editor wonders how the global community will respond.
Not the news
For any bookworm with limited space at home, storing all those volumes becomes quite the problem in the age of minimalism. For Paul Daley, it’s becoming so acute that he is considering a one-in, two-out policy to clear some room. But what if he wants to check something in one of the 12 volumes of The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918? Or dip back into that history of surfing? It’s a real-life dilemma for our resident bibliophile.
The world of sport
Men’s Ashes | Pat Cummins won his first toss of the series and saw his decision to put England into bat pay off as they were dismissed for 283 on the first day at the Oval, with Mitchell Starc taking four scalps. The batsmen then added 61 for the loss of David Warner.
Football | Bayern Munich executives will have talks about signing Harry Kane with the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, Daniel Levy, amid growing interest in the England captain from Paris Saint-Germain.
Swimming | Australia’s swimmers have continued their golden run at the world championships with Kyle Chalmers claiming the 100m freestyle, Kaylee McKeown the 50m backstroke, and the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team setting a world record.
Media roundup
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the attack on the city’s “cocaine kingpin” Alen Moradian was the spark for a spate of shootings. Daniel Andrews will press ahead with a plan to limit the power of local councils ($) in planning issues after a damning Ibac report, the Herald Sun says. Macquarie has defended ($) the $1m-a-week salary of its star commodities trader Nick O’Kane, the Australian reports. And the Courier-Mail issues an “SOS Sam” ($) after the Matildas defeat in Brisbane.
What’s happening today
Courts | The defamation case brought by the former soldier Heston Russell against the ABC begins.
Sydney | Missing and murdered First Nations women and children across Australia will be the focus of a federal public hearing.
Commonwealth Games | Craig Phillips fronts a media conference to discuss the withdrawal of Victoria as host for 2026.
Sign up
If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here. And finish your day with a three-minute snapshot of the day’s main news. Sign up for our Afternoon Update newsletter here.
Prefer notifications? If you’re reading this in our app, just click here and tap “Get notifications” on the next screen for an instant alert when we publish every morning.
Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
