Morning mail: Thai boys speak, One Nation rapist, Johnson's Brexit attack
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Version 0 of 1. Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 19 July. Top stories The 12 Thai boys and their football coach have described the “miracle” of their cave rescue in their first press conference. The faces of the boys showed little trace of their ordeal, and coach Ekaphol Chantawong confirmed reports that the whole team wanted to be ordained as Buddhist monks to honour the former Thai navy Seal who died during the rescue mission. Chantawong said the boys had dug tunnels of up to four metres in an attempt to find a way out in the days before they were discovered. “We were digging stones on top of the hill and we heard voices,” 14-year-old Adul said, recalling the moment of rescue. “We weren’t sure if it was for real. So we stopped and listened. And it turned out to be true. I was shocked.” Sean Black, who was convicted of rape and assault last week, remained a senior member of One Nation’s national executive and was put in charge of increasing party membership in the lead-up to his trial. One Nation documents and emails seen by Guardian Australia list Black as the party’s national secretary and manager of membership services a few months before his Brisbane district court trial was due to begin. It is understood Black was not stood down from the party until late last week. He was charged in May last year and his trial began in early July this year. Last week Black was found guilty of raping his former wife, Tanya, in 2007. Boris Johnson has used a stinging resignation speech in the House of Commons to urge Theresa May to change tack on Brexit, branding the future she sketched out a “miserable, permanent limbo”. Johnson resigned as foreign secretary last week. With the Conservative party deeply divided over Brexit, some at Westminster had expected him to urge his colleagues to dislodge the prime minister. But he insisted there was still time for May to change course. Australian federal police have accused the chairman of a government-funded clean coal and gas institute of conspiring to bribe public officials in the Philippines when he was chief executive of a major Australian aid contractor. Paul Dougas, 67, the current chairman of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute chairman, has been named in connection with a long-running bribery investigation targeting his old firm, Sinclair Knight Merz, a large Australian consultancy and significant corporate player in the foreign aid program. Dougas strongly denies the bribery allegation. Donald Trump has said he does not believe Russia is still targeting the United States, directly contradicting the nation’s top intelligence officer, who said Moscow continues to attack America’s electoral system. Asked directly by reporters whether he believed Russia was “still targeting the US”, Trump responded: “No.” The White House swiftly sought to clean up Trump’s comments by claiming the president was saying “no” to taking more questions. “Certainly, we believe the threat still exists,” Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, told reporters hours later. Sport Geraint Thomas of Team Sky has climbed into a Tour de France yellow jersey with a win at stage 11. Thomas broke from peloton to overhaul Mikel Nieve, and now has a lead of 1min 25sec over ChrisFroome in second place. Among the race’s other top contenders, France’s Romain Bardet, Italian Vincenzo Nibali and Colombian Nairo Quintana crossed the line 59 seconds behind Thomas. The choice of 16-year-old Amy Sayer and 15-year-old Mary Fowler in the Matildas’ squad for the Tournament of Nations shows that women’s football has its sights set firmly on the future, writes Lisa Portolan, as Australia gets serious with its bid for the 2023 World Cup. Thinking time “It’s a pretty tough old time,” says farmer Ambrose Doolan. “But if you’re working with your family and everyone is looking out for each other, you count your blessings.” In the central-west region of New South Wales, farmers continue to battle a crippling drought that many are calling the worst since 1902. Photographer Brook Mitchell and environment reporter Lisa Cox visited Coonabarabran, where there are real fears the town will soon run out of water. Twenty years after his discredited paper linked autism to the MMR jab, disgraced anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield has become a leading light in the US, and frighteningly influential worldwide, writes Sarah Boseley. After being struck off the medical register in the UK, Wakefield went to ground in Texas. But since Trump’s election he has risen like a phoenix, emboldened by the administration. This week it became clear he had been accepted by celebrity-smitten US society, as it was revealed he was dating supermodel Elle Macpherson, who has her own nutrition brand. Australians love recycling – it’s rated as our number one sustainability activity. But the recycling crisis has shown that most of the waste we were steadily sorting has ended up in mountains of toxic garbage in China. Even worse, companies have shifted the responsibility on to individuals rather than looking after their own garbage. It’s time for a change, writes Jeff Sparrow. What’s he done now? Donald Trump has accused critics of “Trump derangement syndrome”, as the fallout from his summit with Vladimir Putin showed no sign of abating. “Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!” Media roundup The Mercury reports on Tasmania’s increasing popularity as a tourist destination. In the year to March, a record 300,000 international visitors spent time in the state. “White feminists” are to blame for a taxpayer-funded report which claims violence towards Indigenous women and children is caused by colonisation, the Australian reports. Indigenous academic Marcia Langton says the report ignored the voices of Indigenous women and minimised the responsibility of male perpetrators in domestic violence. And the Conversation has a piece arguing for the introduction of rhinos to Australia. Academic Bill Laurance says they could thrive in the country’s savannah and rainforest regions, and would be protected from poaching by strong wildlife protection laws. Coming up Malcolm Turnbull will meet senior Catholics today to discuss issues including school funding and the child sexual abuse redress scheme. Unemployment figures out today will reveal the jobless rate in June. Supporting the Guardian We’d like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a supporter today. Thank you. Sign up If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here. |