Morning, everyone. The success of the rightwing activist group Advance in helping defeat the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum has galvanised its “unprecedented” campaign against Labor in the upcoming Dunkley byelection. We have a special investigation, along with the latest on the disappearance of the former TV presenter Jesse Baird and his boyfriend Luke Davies, world stock markets have hit a record high on the back of an AI boom, and does Israel’s Eurovision entry contain a reference to the 7 October Hamas attack?
Australia
Sydney disappearance | Police are seeking a third person as they investigate the suspicious disappearance of the former Network Ten presenter Jesse Baird and his partner, Luke Davies, pictured, from Sydney’s eastern suburbs after bloody items were found in a skip bin.
Advance attack | The rightwing group Advance is outspending the Liberal party in its attempts to ensure that Labor does not retain the Victorian federal seat of Dunkley in next Saturday’s byelection, using attack ads blaming Anthony Albanese for the cost-of-living crisis and playing on fears about immigration. The prime minister said the group wanted to “frighten” people and “spread a whole lot of misinformation”.
Reef fears | Scientists are reporting that corals are bleaching white and dying from rising ocean temperatures across a more than a 1,000km stretch of the Great Barrier Reef.
Class divide | Five elite private schools spent about the same amount of money on new facilities in 2021 as governments gave to more than half of Australia’s public schools for building works, research has found.
Fire warning | An out-of-control bushfire in western Victoria will “get worse before it gets better”, a fire chief says, as thousands of people in 28 communities are being urged to evacuate their homes.
World
AI stock boom | Japan’s main stock index, European shares and Wall Street’s S&P 500 have hit record highs as strong results from the chipmaker Nvidia stoked investor exuberance over an artificial intelligence investment boom.
‘Extrauterine children’ | A second Alabama provider announced that it would pause its in-vitro fertilisation treatments, days after the state supreme court ruled in a first-of-its-kind decision that embryos are “extrauterine children”.
Gaza shift | Australia voted for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza after officials advised the government the “shifting positions” of allies could justify a policy shift. The organisers of the Eurovision song contest have said they are “scrutinising” the lyrics of Israel’s entry after it was claimed it makes reference to the Hamas attacks on 7 October.
Vaccine side-effects | Two new but exceptionally rare Covid-19 vaccine side effects – a neurological disorder and inflammation of the spinal cord – have been detected by researchers in the largest vaccine safety study to date.
Navalny ‘blackmail’ | Alexei Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila, has said she has been shown the body of her son but that the authorities were “blackmailing” her into burying him in a secret ceremony without mourners.
Full Story
Newsroom edition: the political resistance to clean energy
Gabrielle Jackson talks to Guardian Australia’s climate and environment editor, Adam Morton, and national news editor, Patrick Keneally, about why the public’s support for clean energy is being met by political resistance.
In-depth
Our medical editor, Melissa Davey, brings us the story today of a Melbourne surgeon being sued for negligence by a woman who alleges he did not fully advise her of the risks before an operation on her jaw which she claims left her with life-changing injuries. She alleges that her condition wasn’t serious enough to warrant the operation and that the maxillofacial surgeon Dr George Dimitroulis failed to disclose his commercial interest in the company that manufactures the prostheses he inserted into her jaw. In his defence filed to the court, Dimitroulis denied wrongdoing and said the woman had been adequately advised of the risks and likely results of the procedure.
Not the news
The launch of the new Super Rugby Pacific season seemed to come and go with little fanfare last week but that’s hardly surprising for a sport that for “two long decades, has rotted from its head office to its heartland”. Angus Fontaine looks at how the once-mighty code has descended into such a sorry mess with “heavy debt, struggling participation rates, anaemic broadcast numbers, bleak crowd figures” and, of course, a disastrous men’s World Cup performance.
The world of sport
AFL | Tarryn Thomas has been cut by North Melbourne after he was handed an 18-match suspension for several conduct breaches including threatening a woman by direct message.
Formula One | Christian Horner wants his future as Red Bull’s team principal to be resolved as soon as possible as the investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour continues.
Football | There’s a busy program of Europa League and Europa Conference matches this morning, including a heavyweight clash between Roma and Feyenoord.
Media roundup
Homes are under threat as out-of-control bushfires head towards the town of Beaufort in western Victoria, the Age reports. A Gold Coast builder has gone bust leaving 38 half-built homes and subcontractors out of pocket, the Bulletin says. A Taylor Swift fan who lives on a remote cattle station tells NT News she has braved a cyclone, floods and a 300km chopper ride to make the star’s concert in Sydney.
What’s happening today
Canberra | The house economics committee will hold a hearing into insurers’ responses to 2022 flood claims.
Media | The Senate inquiry into the prominence and anti-siphoning bill will hear from the heads of free-to-air, pay TV and streaming services.
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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.
