Good morning. There’s been jubilation for Jess Fox who doubled up to take her second gold medal of the Paris Games, defending her women’s canoe single title in a tense final. In the pool, Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack missed out on 100m freestyle medals. And the Matildas are out of the Olympics, after a 2-1 loss to the USA.
Back at home, university administrators investigating allegations of cheating have been the target of horrifying online threats of violence from the promoters of organised criminal schemes. Meanwhile, there are fears the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran could ignite a regional war across the Middle East.
Australia
Lures and violent threats | Criminal gangs are organising schemes offering to complete assignments for Australian university students in exchange for payment.
Property | Adelaide homes may soon be more expensive than Melbourne, with property prices falling in the Victorian capital for the fourth month in a row while prices in the South Australian capital continue to climb.
‘Deeply troubling’ | The number of Indigenous Australians imprisoned, taking their own life and losing children to out-of-home care have all increased in the first Closing the Gap report since the voice referendum was defeated.
Period poverty | New survey finds that one in five Australians have improvised period products due to cost barriers, which affect more Indigenous people and people with disability.
Banking | After Labor’s promise to force banks to reimburse scam victims, critics claim the planned anti-scam laws are too complicated, too slow and let the banking system off the hook.
World
Middle East crisis | Fears of escalation are mounting after the killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. The risk of regional Middle East conflict looms after two weeks of airstrikes and the humiliation of Haniyeh’s killing creates an early crisis for Iran’s new president.
US politics | A surge in Democratic enthusiasm has raised hopes of winning swing states. We take a look at how Trump and Harris are honing their messaging – are the candidates “dangerously liberal” or “just plain weird”? Meanwhile, Trump questioned Harris’s racial identity in a heated interview with Black journalists.
UK stabbings | Police are bracing for further violence from far-right “hooligans” in Southport as the town struggles to comes to terms with the knife attack that killed three children.
Phone hacking scandal | British police will examine whether current Washington Post chief, Will Lewis, presided over the destruction of emails at Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper business 13 years ago.
Spying case | Two Russian deep-cover spies arrested in Slovenia have pleaded guilty in a swift court case that could see them included in a prisoner exchange between Russia and the west.
Full Story
How the pursuit of profit is devaluing Australian degrees
More than a dozen academics and students have told Guardian Australia that universities’ financial reliance on foreign students over many years has hollowed out academic integrity and threatened the international credibility of the sector. Caitlin Cassidy talks with Nour Haydar about the claims that academics are being pressured into passing students with no grasp of “basic English” to maximise revenue.
In-depth
Yvonne Weldon has already made history; now she’s out to shake up Sydney’s mayoral race. The council’s first Aboriginal councillor in its 180-year history will challenge the longstanding Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, for the top job later this year. But for the Wiradjuri woman who grew up in Redfern, being re-elected to council – possibly to lead it – is not just about history-making: it is about “cycle changing” the city.
Not the news
Sydney’s Kakigori Kaiji takes its kakigori (shaved ice with syrup) so seriously, it only uses ice made from mountain waters from Kanazawa for its specialty dessert. This designer ice is also reflected in the price: a bowl of kakigori can cost up to $26. But is ice imported from Japan any different from regular frozen water? Lee Tran Lam boldly wields a spoon and finds that a sweetened bowl of finely crushed ice is a marvel worth documenting.
The world of sport
Olympics | Jess Fox secured a golden double with her second win of the Paris Games; Natalya Diehm wins first women’s Olympic BMX medal for Australia; the Matildas went down 2-1 against the US; Penny Smith holds steady to win trap bronze in shooting and an Australian swim duo was left stunned by 100m freestyle sprint upset.
Swimming | Katie Ledecky is the first female swimmer to win gold at four Olympic Games after dominating the 1,500m freestyle final.
Tennis | Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic stay on course for gold-medal showdown at Paris 2024.
‘Horses don’t choose to take part’ | Should equestrian events be removed from future Olympics?
Media roundup
There are concerns for rural health services with doctors who depend on the airline Rex – now in administration – to allow them to deliver regional care now facing disruptions, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Labor has promised to present a bill on Territorians’ right to die within the next parliamentary term if re-elected, reports NT News.
What’s happening today
Queensland | The inquest into what appeared to be an ambush of police by three extremist Christian conspiracy theorists at Wieambilla continues.
Tasmania | A public hearing in the parliamentary inquiry into the importance of Antarctica to Australia’s interests is scheduled in Hobart.
Culture | The winner of the 2024 Miles Franklin Literary Award is due to be revealed this evening.
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Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
