Good afternoon – we’re almost at the weekend.
More hard work lies ahead for firefighters in central Victoria, however. A wind change sweeping across the state, combined with catastrophic heatwave conditions not seen since 2019-20, has sparked new bushfires as three people remain unaccounted for.
Locals fear the out-of-control blaze at Longwood has destroyed at least 20 properties in the township of Ruffy. Further south, residents in towns affected by the 2009 Black Saturday fires including Kinglake and Marysville were told this afternoon to “prepare to leave”.
“When the forecasts for this week started to roll in, my mind immediately drifted back to black summer,” the climate scientist Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick wrote today.
Heatwaves in Australia will get worse, she warns – saying the time to start preparing is now.
Top news
Victoria police revokes powers to allow warrantless pat-downs across inner Melbourne
FBI takes over case of ICE agent killing US woman and cuts Minnesota’s access to evidence
At least 13 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, including five children, civil defence agency says
Three luxury yachts sink in Sydney as fire rips through exclusive Mosman marina
Nick Kyrgios rules out playing singles at Australian Open to focus on doubles
In pictures
Late last year, Alolita Tekapu and her family moved to Melbourne, among the first arrivals under a world-first agreement that allows people from Tuvalu – which is on the frontlines of climate change – to migrate to Australia.
Her hopes for the new year are a job, a home and a school for her children. She tells Prianka Srinivasan she misses the languid rhythm of life in Tuvalu, “but we needed to think about the future of our kids”.
What they said …
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“I don’t need international law.” – Donald Trump
The US president has told the New York Times that his power is limited only by his “own morality”, adding that he is “not looking to hurt people”. Read the key takeaways from the interview here.
Full Story
The Birth Keepers: Growing an empire – episode four
Episode four of a year-long investigation by Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne looks at the Free Birth Society’s transformation into a global multimillion-dollar empire after it took membership private in the wake of public backlash.
Before bed read
“A plate created by Outback Steakhouse is now wildly popular in South Korea. This is as delightful as it is puzzling.”
Bec Shaw has dug into “the deliciously delusional popularity of Toowoomba pasta” – a viral seafood dish inexplicably named for her (very inland) home town.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: HAIR. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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