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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Guardian staff

Afternoon Update: Tropical Cyclone Alfred delayed; report finds voice referendum normalised racism; and a battle of the birds

Record-breaking waves at Coolangatta on the Gold Coast on Thursday as the outer fringe of Tropical Cyclone Alfred started whipping eastern Australia.
Record-breaking waves at Coolangatta on the Gold Coast on Thursday as the outer fringe of Tropical Cyclone Alfred started whipping eastern Australia. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images

Tropical Cyclone Alfred may have slowed down, but authorities warn the delay won’t diminish the impact. The system is now expected to make landfall on Saturday, roughly 24 hours after previous forecasts, but will likely maintain its status as a category two storm.

On Thursday, the system “spun around on itself” and briefly stalled before resuming its path to the south-east Queensland coast where approximately 3.8 million residents have been asked to hunker down in their homes.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Matthew Callopy said it was important not to get “hung up” on the precise crossing time because impacts would occur before and after. An extensive list of evacuation centres in both Queensland and New South Wales have been opened as both states prepare for the worst.

Top news

In pictures

Who won? An Ontario photographer has captured a symbolism-laden battle on ice while watching a 20-minute clash between a Canadian goose and bald eagle.

What they said …

***

“A big paradigm shift. It’s proven sexual transmission of BV.”

Prof Catriona Bradshaw, of Monash University’s Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, has celebrated results of a new study that found more than double the rate of women are being cured of bacterial vaginosis if their male partner is treated at the same time.

In numbers

Hakoishi, who received official recognition from Guinness World Records this week, said she had no plans to stop working at her salon in the town of Nakagawa, Tochigi prefecture some nine decades after she started to cut hair. She told reports she is “truly happy”.

Before bed read

Even though it took Wing Kuang’s father until she turned 27 to approach her about safe sex, it’s never too late to have “the talk”, she writes. It turned out to “be one of the best conversations” of her life.

Daily word game

Today’s starter word is: DIN. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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