Australian celebrity chef Pete Evans under fire for sharing views of UK conspiracy theorist David Icke

Labor MP Josh Burns writes to the chef to warn him about Icke’s ‘long history of anti-Semitism’

The celebrity chef Pete Evans has come under fresh criticism for promoting the coronavirus views of David Icke, the British conspiracy theorist previously accused of Holocaust denial and barred from entering Australia.

On Tuesday, 11 days after the Therapeutic Goods Administration fined him $25,200 for spruiking a $15,000 light machine to fight coronavirus, Evans urged his Instagram followers to watch a three-hour-long interview in which Icke simultaneously claims Covid-19 is “a fake pandemic with no virus” and links infections to 5G antenna installations.

Continue reading...

Corruption watchdog warns it can’t investigate drug and bribe allegations at Australia’s borders

Exclusive: Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity says gaps in its powers make it harder to police borders

Allegations of drug use, bribes, facilitation of drug importation and terrorism financing by agriculture department officers were unable to be investigated because of gaps in the federal anti-corruption watchdog’s powers.

That is the warning from the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) to a parliamentary inquiry into the integrity of Australia’s borders.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: New Zealand could allow gatherings of 100 from next week

PM Jacinda Ardern outlines easing curbs to allow domestic travel and eating out; White House says US-China relationship one of ‘disappointment’; eurozone’s future threatened. Follow the latest updates

A gas leak at a chemical factory in southern India has killed at least nine people and led to hundreds being taken to hospital, amid warnings that the death toll could climb higher.

Styrene leaked from the Korean-owned LG Polymers plant during the early hours of Thursday morning when families in the surrounding villages were asleep, a local official in Andra Pradesh state said.

Related: Gas leak at chemical factory in India kills at least nine and hospitalises hundreds

Donald Trump has again suggested the US may need to accept the reality of more deaths in order to start reopening the economy, as governments around the world continued to ease out of lockdown restrictions.

Related: Global report: deaths are price of reopening, says Trump, as China warns risks remain

Continue reading...

Covidsafe app: how Australia’s coronavirus contact tracing app works, what it does, downloads and problems

The app will ask for your name (or pseudonym), age range, postcode and phone number. Scott Morrison says the Australian government’s covid safe tracking app won’t be mandatory to download and install, but its uptake numbers could play a part in easing Covid-19 restrictions

The Australian government has launched Covidsafe, an app that traces every person running the app who has been in contact with someone else using the app who has tested positive for coronavirus in the previous few weeks, in a bid to automate coronavirus contact tracing, and allow the easing of restrictions.

Here’s what we know about the app so far.

Continue reading...

George Pell: cardinal was aware of children being sexually abused, royal commission report finds

Previously redacted findings from the commission’s report into Pell’s handling of child sexual abuse claims have now been made public

Cardinal George Pell was aware of children being sexually abused within the Archdiocese of Ballarat by notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, Australia’s child abuse royal commission found, and it was “implausible” that other senior church figures did not tell Pell abuse was occurring.

More than 100 previously redacted pages of the child abuse royal commission report relating to Cardinal George Pell and what he knew about child sexual abuse within the Catholic church were tabled to parliament on Thursday morning.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Trump wants to disband Covid-19 taskforce; Germany looks to reopen shops and restart amateur sport

President says it’s time to reopen businesses as US deaths top 70,000; number of Russian cases rises by more than 10,000 for fourth consecutive day; Spain set to extend state of emergency for two more weeks

Pope Francis has urged employers to respect the dignity of workers, particularly migrants, in the face of economic difficulties brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the end of his general audience, held from the papal library instead of St Peter’s Square because of Italy’s lockdown, he said:

It’s true that the crisis is affecting everyone but the dignity of people must always be respected.”

Baseball fans will be let back into Taiwanese stadiums this week as the government begins relaxing some controls implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Taiwan has been relatively successful at controlling the virus, with 439 cases to date and six deaths, and 100 active infections, thanks to early prevention and detection efforts. The island has never gone into total lockdown, though the government has promoted social distancing and face masks.

Related: Taiwan to welcome baseball fans back into stadiums this week

Continue reading...

Labor wants secrecy in Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case to be examined by watchdog

Shadow attorney general says use of national security law in defamation case is a first as the Coalition denies any sort of secret trial

Labor wants the national security watchdog to examine the government’s use of powers to enforce secrecy on the defamation proceedings involving Ben Roberts-Smith.

The government confirmed this week it had invoked the National Security Information Act in a civil case brought by Roberts-Smith, a special forces veteran who says stories published by the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald defamed him by suggesting he was a war criminal. Nine Entertainment, which owns the newspapers, is defending the allegation.

Continue reading...

Room with a poo: the tiny Sydney apartment for rent with a toilet in the kitchen

The studio flat in Surry Hills leaves little to the imagination but is still attracting interest in a quiet rental market

Australia’s property market has taken a massive hit thanks to coronavirus, with sales values dropping as much as 85% in Melbourne over the past two months, and many tenants breaking their leases because they can no longer afford rent.

But you can bank on Sydney to hold on to its hot housing prices.

Continue reading...

The people left behind in Australia’s coronavirus response

Scott Morrison has said of the pandemic, ‘we’re all in this together’ but his government has excluded more than 1 million people from assistance. Laura Murphy-Oates talks to some of those people and Ben Doherty analyses the government’s response.

You can read Ben Doherty’s reporting on people excluded from coronavirus relief funding here.

Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern outlines requirements for trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia – video

After joining a meeting of Australia's national cabinet, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern explains the reasoning behind possibly easing travel restrictions between the two countries in a future trans-Tasman bubble. While Australia and New Zealand have both had success in slowing the spread of Covid-19, Ardern adds there remains a lot of work to be done before travel between the countries can recommence 

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: top UK adviser Prof Neil Ferguson resigns over lockdown breach

Austria says easing lockdown has not led to spike in infections; Macron says major foreign travel will be limited this summer; global deaths pass 250,000

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 19,138 new confirmed cases; taking the total to at least 1,171,510. The number of deaths has risen by 823 to 68,279, it added.

The figures do not necessarily reflect those reported by individual states.

A regional capital in Brazil has become the country’s first city to declare a total lockdown – in direct opposition to the president Jair Bolsonaro, who has railed against social isolation and dismissed a soaring death-toll.

The lockdown in São Luís, capital of the north-estern state of Maranhão, and three neighbouring towns, was ordered by a judge after intensive care beds in state government hospitals filled up. States such as Rio de Janeiro are watching closely. But the move came as looser social isolation measures introduced by state governors crumble across Brazil and cases soar.

Continue reading...

Jobkeeper payment: check your eligibility and when you should start getting paid

The Australian government has passed legislation for a $1,500 per fortnight wage subsidy for eligible employers amid the coronavirus. Check your eligibility, how much you’ll get, when it will be paid and how it works with the jobseeker payments

The Morrison government has passed a $130bn support package with a new jobkeeper payment – a wage subsidy to keep Australians in work.

So who exactly is eligible for this payment and how much will they receive?

Continue reading...

World leaders pledge $8bn to fight pandemic – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

We’ve launched a new blog at the link below. Head over there for live developments in the pandemic worldwide:

Related: Coronavirus live news: WHO and Five Eyes reject Chinese lab theory as global deaths pass 250,000

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is taking the lead in pressing a hard line against Beijing over the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reports.

Pompeo, in an interview Sunday on ABC, said there was “enormous evidence” that the new coronavirus came out of a Wuhan lab - not a wet market, as most scientists suggest.

Continue reading...

Dean Laidley arrest: Victoria police to investigate leaked photos of ex-AFL coach

Lawyers and civil liberties groups condemn police after images from inside station appear on newspaper front pages

Victoria police has launched an internal investigation into how photos of former AFL player and coach Dean Laidley inside a police station following his arrest appeared on the front page of two major newspapers on Monday.

Lawyers and civil liberties groups have slammed the state’s police force after photos of the 53-year-old former premiership-winning player wearing a blonde wig and dress were leaked over the weekend.

Continue reading...

‘My desk isn’t usually as messy as this’: Guardian readers share their work-from-home setups

What you see on a video conference isn’t always the whole story – here, readers reveal what’s really going on around them

We asked you to share photographs of the “two yous” that exist while you’re working from home – the person that appears on a video chat screen, and the oftentimes messier space space that surrounds you.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: European leaders join forces to find vaccine as France proposes 14-day quarantine on entry

YouTube deletes Covid-19 conspiracy theorist’s account; Warren Buffett optimistic; Rohingya refugees detained in Malaysia. Follow the latest updates

As more and more state and local officials announce the release of thousands of at-risk inmates from the nations adult jails and prisons, parents along with children rights groups and criminal justice experts say vulnerable youths should be allowed to serve their time at home, AP reports.

But they say demands for large-scale releases have been largely ignored. Decisions are often not made at the state level, but instead carried out county by county, with individual judges reviewing juvenile cases one by one.

Such legal hurdles have resulted in some kids with symptoms being thrown into isolation for 23 hours a day, in what amounts to solitary confinement, according to relatives and youth advocates. They say many have been cut off from programs, counsellors and school. Some have not been issued masks, social distancing is nearly impossible and they have been given limited access to phone calls home.

The Bolshoi ballet held its first online classes only this week, more than a month after lockdown began, AFP reports.

In the middle of their bedroom, Bolshoi ballet dancers Margarita Shrainer and Igor Tsvirko have placed a linoleum mat and a barre. Since the start of the lockdown, the couple, both soloists in the legendary troupe, have largely used their own initiative to keep up their dance skills at home.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Russia and Afghanistan announce their biggest rises in cases

UK PM says doctors had prepared to announce his death; Iran to reopen mosques on Monday; global cases near 3.5 million

Head over to the UK live blog to follow Downing Street’s daily coronavirus briefing.

Related: UK coronavirus live: Gove to give daily briefing as rail unions warn against lifting lockdown

Hello, I’ll be taking over the live blog for the next few hours. If you have a news tip, comment or suggestion, please get in touch via Twitter DM @cleaskopeliti or by email at clea.skopeliti.casual@guardian.co.uk. Thanks in advance.

Continue reading...

Home affairs data breach may have exposed personal details of 700,000 migrants

Exclusive: Privacy experts say the breach in the SkillsSelect platform, which affects data going back to 2014, was ‘very serious’

Privacy experts have blasted the home affairs department for a data breach revealing the personal details of 774,000 migrants and people aspiring to migrate to Australia, including partial names and the outcome of applications.

At a time the federal government is asking Australians to trust the security of data collected by its Covid-Safe contact tracing app, privacy experts are appalled by the breach, which they say is just the latest in a long line of cybersecurity blunders.

Continue reading...

China and Australia: how a war of words over coronavirus turned to threats of a trade war

Canberra’s call for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19 sparked talk of boycotts from Beijing – but any such move could be harmful to both countries

“Downright despicable”, “petty tricks”, “menacing”, “irrational”.

The language of the diplomats and parliamentarians has been anything but diplomatic, and far from parliamentary. The robust conversations usually kept behind closed doors have tumbled into the public square, leaked to broadcasters and splashed in newsprint.

Continue reading...

Coalition credibility is only as strong as its weakest link – and right now that’s Angus Taylor | Malcolm Farr

There’s no evidence the minister did the dodgy document deed himself. But someone did and it’s hard to believe he doesn’t know who

There are 13 people who should be able to help resolve the Angus Taylor mystery – and help the energy minister get it off the political agenda.

They are the 13 who downloaded the Sydney City Council annual report 2017-18 between Friday 6 September and Monday 9 September last year.

Continue reading...