Morning Mail: Harvey Weinstein conviction overturned, Trump immunity weighed, Masterchef’s gas deal
Morning everyone. If you like courtroom drama, you’re in the right place. First, a New York appeals court has overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for rape after it ruled that the trial judge prejudiced the disgraced Hollywood mogul by allowing “irrelevant” testimony. We have a full report on the surprise ruling, plus sensational evidence in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, and US supreme court arguments about whether or not he should be immune from charges that he tried to overturn the 2020 election. Phew. At home, our top story is that Westfield security guards in Victoria warned bosses they needed more protection before the Bondi attack.
Australia
Cooking with gas | Environmentalists have accused MasterChef Australia of greenwashing after the Network Ten reality TV show announced sponsorship deals with gas companies.
Personal protection | Westfield security guards in Victoria have claimed that their requests for more protection were not acted on in the months before the mass stabbing at Bondi Junction.
Right to stay | The Australian son of a 68-year-old Palestinian woman with ill health has expressed his “shock and surprise” after her temporary visa was cancelled on the grounds that she poses a risk to Australia’s national security.
Power shortage | Electric vehicles are routinely being written off after minor accidents, as a shortage of skilled mechanics and parts, as well as outdated laws, leads Australian insurers to scrap EVs prematurely instead of repairing them.
Detention blunder | Andrew Giles closed off an avenue to avoid the high court case on indefinite detention before the Australian government made a failed attempt to head off defeat by deporting the plaintiff, a new document reveals.
World
Trump v the US | The US supreme court has suggested presidents may have some level of immunity from criminal charges, expressing interest in returning Donald Trump’s criminal case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election back to a lower court to decide whether certain parts of the indictment were “official acts” protected by presidential immunity.
Playboy model ‘bought off’ | The former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker told the court in Trump’s hush-money trial that he specifically bought a story from the Playboy model Karen McDougal to bury it so that it did not “embarrass or hurt the [Trump] campaign” on another day of high drama in New York.
Weinstein win | Harvey Weinstein could face a retrial for sex offences in New York after his 2020 conviction was sensationally overturned by an appeal court because judges ruled by four to three that the original judge was wrong to allow testimony from women who were not part of the case.
Hostages plea | The leaders of 18 countries including the US and the UK (but not Australia) have called on Hamas to free Israeli and dual-national hostages held in Gaza.
Scot split | Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, could be forced to quit as early as next week after the Scottish Greens announced they would back a Conservative motion of no confidence after their coalition deal collapsed.
Full Story
Newsroom edition: Musk, Meta and TikTok – can governments control big tech?
As the Australian government faces off with Elon Musk, editor-in-chief Lenore Taylor and deputy editor Patrick Keneally discuss the difficulties of regulating social media giants, and how it will affect the future of journalism.
In-depth
Rural Queensland has become an unlikely hotbed for renewable energy developers, putting farmers on the frontline and the state on course to decarbonise its grid more quickly than previously thought.
The renewables developers are following tracks laid down by the gas industry in the Western Downs – but some say they’re also making the same mistakes, failing to get local communities onside and creating anxiety and confusion.
Not the news
Some people don’t like one-pan pasta dishes, writes Alice Zaslavsky, with complaints ranging from the pasta being either undercooked or overcooked. But she reckons she has the solution to this problem in the shape of her recipe for one-pan angel hair pasta with tomatoes and burrata – “a risotto-paella-pasta situation, where the starch should be embraced and mitigated with cheesiness and acid”.
The world of sport
AFL | Collingwood and Essendon players hung their heads after a thrilling draw at the MCG yesterday which either team could have won with better kicking.
NFL | American football will expand its international search for talent by opening an academy on the Gold Coast to develop promising teenagers in the Asia-Pacific region into college and pro prospects.
Premier League | Manchester City are bidding to keep up with Arsenal at the top as they visit Brighton this morning, while it looks all over for Klopp’s Liverpool.
Media roundup
The Sydney Morning Herald has an exclusive with Rosie Batty calling for a royal commission into domestic violence after a spate of attacks on women, one of whom, Emma Bates, is remembered in the Age as a woman who dedicated her life to others. With six months before a state election, the Courier Mail carried a “shock poll” which shows half of Queenslanders would prefer former Labor premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to her successor, Steven Miles.
What’s happening today
Sydney | The Imams Council is expected to hold a press conference in Lakemba to discuss the Wakeley terror incident.
Woolworths | Sentence for supermarket on more than 1,000 criminal charges for allegedly failing to pay long service leave to hundreds of Victorian staff.
Domestic violence | Rally to end violence against women is being held in Ballarat.
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Brain teaser
And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
