Good afternoon, and welcome to the Afternoon Update.
Hamada was in northern Gaza when Israel invaded after the 7 October Hamas attack. Thousands of kilometres away, his friend and fellow musician Nahed watched on in horror as Hamada and his family moved south to flee the fighting.
Here, we share their harrowing story, as told by social media conversations between the decade-long Palestinian friends.
“Are you okay? How are you, the friends and the family?” Nahed asked his friend more than three months into the conflict.
“We survived certain death last Friday. I don’t know how we survived until now,” came Hamada’s answer.
Top news
Linda Reynolds v Brittany Higgins | Doubts over the health of Reynolds’ former chief of staff, Fiona Brown, may change the date for Higgins’ evidence in the defamation trial. Brown was expected to provide evidence about what unfolded in the days after Higgins was allegedly raped in the minister’s suite in 2019.
Zali Steggall’s ‘stop being racist’ comment | The teal MP has hit back against Peter Dutton, branding his comments “outrageous bullying” and describing the demonisation of refugees a “true and tried dog whistle”.
‘Giant question mark’ over $23bn fund | The independent MP Helen Haines on Monday questioned the integrity and transparency of Labor’s Future Made in Australia legislation. There is $22.7bn attached to the legislation, but Haines says there are not enough guardrails around the fund to protect its integrity.
Chinese and Philippines ships collide in the South China Sea | The Philippines says two coast guard vessels have been damaged by China’s “unlawful manoeuvres” near a disputed shoal. China and the Philippines have had repeated confrontations in the vital waterway in recent months.
Explainer: Kyiv says it destroyed second Kursk bridge | Ukraine is seeking to disrupt Moscow’s supply routes as Kyiv’s unprecedented incursion on Russian soil stretched through its second week. Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.
Properties set ablaze linked to underworld figure | A home reportedly linked to a former bikie and underworld figure is among four properties, including a hair salon and an apartment, set alight in suspicious fires across Melbourne.
‘We can’t just vote’ | As Kamala Harris prepares to be formally nominated, organisers are expecting widespread protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Ship joke named funniest of Edinburgh fringe | A joke by Mark Simmons has been declared the funniest of this year’s Edinburgh festival fringe, chosen by a public panel from a shortlist compiled by comedy critics. The joke was included in an anonymous shortlist of 15 one-liners put to 2,000 members of the public. Here are this year’s best gags, as voted by the panel.
Sunflowers and windmills | Here are some of our favourite images from the 2024 Tour de France Femmes.
In video
Ride the new Sydney Metro line, in under 90 seconds
The first new train line running underneath Sydney’s city centre in more than four decades opened to the public on Monday morning. Guardian Australia took a quick trip from Central station to Sydenham to try out the new line. Watch the timelapse video here.
What they said …
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“The leader of the opposition has moved this motion today because the man is irresponsible and a sook and the country doesn’t like either … People have never put up with someone who’s a sook.”
Home affairs minister Tony Burke responds in parliament to Peter Dutton’s motion attacking the PM over Palestinian refugees and demanding a “proper and thorough security assessment of all visa applicants from the Gaza war zone”.
In numbers
All Booktopia employees will keep their jobs, too, after Shant Kradjian, the owner of camera store digiDirect, bought the bookseller, resulting in the immediate resumption of trading. Booktopia fell into administration in July.
Before bed read
The good tourist
In many tourist haunts, the resident:visitor ratio is out of whack – but can we learn to travel without absolutely infuriating the locals? Author Paige McClanahan says there is a way to be your best self abroad, and it starts by visiting fewer places and spending longer there. Can her approach end the growing anger around overtourism?
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: TOLE. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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