Morning, everyone. An increasingly organised alliance of political groups is harnessing real fears about the local impact of renewables projects across Australia – and using them to spruik nuclear power. We have a special investigation today.
Plus: power is being handed over in Syria, police have made an arrest over the New York City shooting death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and what Australians searched for online this year.
Australia
Top Trump | The US presidential election topped our Google searches in 2024, with Raygun, Julian Assange and the CrowdStrike outage being some of the other key people and moments Australians wanted to know more about.
Exclusive | Several federal politicians have urged Sportsbet to immediately pull its ads from the social media app Snapchat after Guardian Australia reported that they can be viewed by children.
Falling flat | Starbucks’ Australian business has posted a financial loss in a blow to its turnaround plans, raising questions about the coffee chain’s ability to win over the market for Frappuccinos.
‘We need to stand up’ | Indigenous advocates are hoping a rally in Alice Springs today can be a catalyst to start reducing the number of women being killed at then hands of their partners.
Tall order | Brisbanites have expressed alarm about a plan to allow people climbing the city’s Story Bridge to take alcohol with them, despite experts assuring the public that it could be safe “with the right protocols in place”.
World
Syria raids | Bombing raids have hit sites across Syria as regional powers scrambled to defend their interests after the sudden fall of the Assad regime. The prime minister has handed power to the rebel leaders. You can follow developments in our live blog. Our reporter in Damascus has gained access to the notorious Sednaya torture complex where relatives of long-imprisoned victims of Assad are desperately searching for their loved ones. And Syrians storming the Assad family residences have marvelled at the collection of luxury cars, designer clothes and artwork abandoned by the fleeing dictator. In the country’s north-east, Australian women and children trapped inside detention camps say they are “scared … praying for a miracle”.
Shooting suspect | Police are have named a man arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with the New York City shooting death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Follow developments in our live blog.
‘Horrifying savagery’ | A criminology student could have stabbed a woman to death on a UK beach because he wanted to know what it would be like to take a life and how it would feel to make a woman feel afraid, a jury has been told.
Vodou targeted | About 200 people were killed in violence in Haiti’s capital at the weekend, many in a massacre in which a gang boss reportedly targeted Vodou practitioners.
‘Mindboggling’ | Google has made a computing chip that takes just five minutes to complete tasks that would take 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years for some of the world’s fastest conventional computers to complete.
Full Story
How the housing crisis is reshaping Australia
Daisy Dumas tells Reged Ahmad what 150 Guardian Australia readers have to say about how the pressures of both renting and buying have affected their income, relationships and health.
In-depth
As renewable energy projects roll out around Australia, there are real fears among nearby residents – including the farmer John Conroy from Bobinawarrah in Victoria – about their environmental, financial and social impact.
Critics say the federal government and industry have left an information gap on renewables that is now being exploited by an increasingly organised alliance of thinktanks and political advocates who are flatly against the clean energy transition. And they are using the opportunity to spruik nuclear power.
Not the news
Jacques Audiard’s daring crime musical Emilia Pérez has dominated the Golden Globe nominations in Hollywood, taking 10, including nods for best comedy or musical, best director and for its leading performer, Karla Sofía Gascón. The epic postwar drama The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, followed with seven nominations in awards seen as a pointer to the Oscars. Nicole Kidman is nominated for Babygirl while Cate Blanchett is up for best female actor in a TV series for Disclaimer. Here are those nominations in full.
Sport
Cricket | Australian batter Travis Head and Indian bowler Mohammed Siraj have been found guilty of breaching the International Cricket Council code of conduct for their verbal spat in the second Test in Adelaide.
Football | West Ham take on Wolves in the Premier League this morning in a clash dubbed “El Sackico”, with both bosses’ jobs on the line. And we look at how Chelsea became title contenders.
Formula One | Toto Wolff has bid Lewis Hamilton a heartfelt final farewell with what the Mercedes team principal called the most important message he has ever sent as Hamilton prepares to join Ferrari next season.
Media roundup
Residents have outlined their case against a housing development for Indigenous people at an impassioned meeting in the northern beaches, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Anthony Albanese has hit back at critics who complained about him playing tennis after the arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue, the Age says. The case for the Reserve Bank cutting rates today is “compelling”, a Financial Review columnist argues. Australia’s new sporting sensation, teenage sprinter Gout Gout, is planning to change his name, the Courier-Mail reports.
What’s happening today
Economy | The Reserve Bank will announce its decision on interest rates at a media conference at 2.30pm AEDT.
NSW | An inquest into the death of baby Kevin Patten in Albury will hold a hearing.
Alice Springs | Arrernte protest action against Pine Gap military base is planned outside a courthouse when two activists go on trial for trying to blockade the base.
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Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
