Sydney man fears Australia losing interest in Nepal flood disaster as parents remain missing

Morning everyone. A Sydney man whose parents are missing in Nepal fears Australia is losing interest in the aftermath of the devastating flooding disaster and has pleaded for more help from the Albanese government.

We also pick out the three main takeaways from the national accounts, Hannah Ferguson writes about the scourge of sexual choking (also the subject of our Full Story podcast), and Paul Keating talks about meeting the Queen, Trump and his “big vision”.

Australia

‘Unfathomable’ suffering | Family members of the Australians missing in Nepal are continuing their agonising wait for information, including Akash Venkatraman, a student in Sydney who hopes to hear from his missing parents and four family friends. His uncle has travelled to Nepal to try to find out more but Akash tells Kat Wong and Cait Kelly he fears “Australian attention is falling away” and called for more help from the government. Our south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, has travelled to the disaster-hit districts of northern Nepal, where she has found suffering on an “unfathomable scale”.

Taking account | Yesterday’s national accounts revealed three key points about the economy: that growth is slowing but not collapsing, that we spent on new EVs rather than overseas holidays, and that population growth is still driving GDP rather than productivity. Greg Jericho writes that, with growth so weak, the RBA must think hard before raising rates.

AI onslaught | Chairs of key federal parliamentary committees have warned that an onslaught of AI-generated material is introducing “hallucinated” information into policymaking, cautioning MPs to be vigilant about the veracity of material.

Herzog protest | A Palestinian Australian man who alleges he was punched in the face when trying to stop police from harassing Muslim men praying during an anti-Isaac Herzog protest is suing New South Wales over “a series of [alleged] false accusations”.

Sydney shooting | NSW police are investigating the death of a man who was shot dead in a home in Sydney’s west as a potential case of mistaken identity, marking the second fatal shooting incident in as many days.

World

Gaza gambit | Israel’s defence minister has said his country is seeking Donald Trump’s support to approve plans to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in what has widely been condemned as a potential war crime. Iran has accused the US of a war crime after a missile blast killed at least four people and injured 68 who were attending a wedding at a private home in a coastal city of southern Iran.

Russia ‘unsafe’ | Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia’s airspace is becoming unsafe for commercial airlines, as Vladimir Putin promised to step up strikes against Ukraine’s energy facilities in the run-up to winter. Our Berlin correspondent says the fallout of the Leipzig airport attack lays bare Germany’s polarisation on Russia.

Hegseth backlash | A social media post by Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defense, body-shaming female members of a Canadian youth development program has remained online despite a furious backlash.

His kinda Guy | Rupert Murdoch is “very happy” that he’s being portrayed by Guy Pearce in a new film about the origins of British tabloid the Sun, the Australian actor has said.

Full Story

What’s behind the dangerous rise of sexual choking?

Today, Matilda Boseley speaks to Lucy Clark and Alyx Gorman about why so many people wrongly believe sexual choking is “safe”, and how it could be tackled with better education and regulation.

Separately, the campaigner Hannah Ferguson writes today about how she was once ashamed to admit she had been strangled non-consensually during sex, but is now speaking up to save women’s lives.

In-depth

As a major new biography of Paul Keating goes on sale, the former prime minister talks about meeting the Queen and her then position in Australia (“banal, even sad”), Trump’s aims (“he wants to avoid world war three”), and why his big vision will never fade (“Timidity is a virus in the bloodstream”).

Not the news

An exhibition running in Sydney highlights the work of Cybele Malinowski, who has spent 20 years photographing celebrities. DEEPFAKE shows what happens when she turns her camera on celebrity impersonators from Marilyn Monroe to Cher, and from Frank Sinatra to Tom Cruise.

Sport

AFL | As they go into tonight’s qualifier against Hawthorn, the Dockers must beware of recent finals when the favourites were upset – or almost upset – by the less fancied side.

Tennis | Follow today’s action here.

Golf | Tiger Woods has pleaded no contest to reckless driving as part of an agreement with Florida prosecutors that reduced a DUI charge stemming from his rollover crash in March.

Media roundup

Victoria’s opposition is vowing to legalise vapes and cut tobacco tax, the Herald Sun claims. The Courier Mail leads on the “bizarre reasons” why the public is not allowed to see the designs for Olympic stadiums that have been rejected. The Age says that Alastair Clarkson did not expect the sack when two North Melbourne chiefs arrived for a meeting in his kitchen. A 15-year-old film-maker from the Gold Coast is taking Hollywood by storm after she won her second junior Oscar, the Bulletin reports.

What’s happening today

Housing | Public hearing into intergenerational housing inequality.

Orange | Sentence hearing for Molly Ticehurst’s murderer.

Arts | Australian Museum Eureka Prize winners announced at 10.30pm.

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Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

Quick crossword

Cryptic crossword

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