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The great moth revival: how bogongs have bounced back

This animated map shows the insect’s population exploding in Australia’s eastern states, with the endangered species coming back from the brink

If you live anywhere on the eastern side of Australia, you’ve probably noticed that bogong moths are back in a big way.

While we don’t yet have figures from ecologist-led surveys to compare with previous years, there is a wealth of data on the great moth revival being generated by citizen scientists across the eastern states.

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© Illustration: Guardian Design

© Illustration: Guardian Design

© Illustration: Guardian Design

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Sexualised, violent threats: female Victorian MPs fear for their safety as they fight more than just next month’s election

Hostility from constituents is not new for the state’s politicians, including its premiers. But the alleged attack on Helen Haines has sent a chill down the collective spine

On Monday night, Georgie Purcell shared a statement on social media in support of Helen Haines, who earlier that day had been allegedly attacked by a constituent in her regional Victorian electorate.

Purcell, a Victorian upper house MP whose region partly overlaps with Haines’s federal electorate, wrote that the alleged attack had sent chills down her spine. Being a woman in politics, she said, had changed the way she moved through the world – where she parked her car, which route she took home, even whether she held public events at all.

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© Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

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Ilhan Omar says she plans to move out of Washington home after federal raid

Democratic lawmaker says family’s safety is at risk amid death threats and raid making apartment’s address public

Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar said she plans to move out of her Washington DC apartment after federal agents raided her residence last week as part of a larger immigration investigation.

“I mean obviously, I can’t continue to live there,” Omar told MS Now in an interview that aired on Wednesday. “So we have to figure out where to move to, because our address has been public and with the death threats that I deal with, it’s no longer going to be feasible to be in that house and have my kids, like, visiting off and on, having people track them.”

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© Photograph: Tim Evans/Reuters

© Photograph: Tim Evans/Reuters

© Photograph: Tim Evans/Reuters

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UK must prepare for infrastructure attacks by hostile states, says Streeting

Warning by defence secretary comes as he opens a tank gun barrel factory in the West Midlands

The defence secretary, Wes Streeting, has said Britain should prepare for the threat of “state-sponsored terrorism” by hostile powers targeting everyday infrastructure as part of a national conversation about resilience in the face of emergencies.

He said on Thursday the public should consider how to respond to hybrid warfare risks, such as cyber-attacks that could knock out payment systems used by businesses or cause supply chains to collapse. He also said the public should consider natural risks, such as flooding or wildfires.

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© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

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One in 10 adults in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse in last year, ONS finds

Charities say ‘tip of iceberg’ figures show government is not fulfilling pledge to halve violence against women and girls

Almost one in 10 adults in England and Wales have experienced domestic abuse in the last year, a survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) found that 9.6% of people aged 16 and over had experienced domestic abuse in the last year – which equates to about 4.7 million people.

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© Photograph: Tinnakorn jorruang/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tinnakorn jorruang/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tinnakorn jorruang/Shutterstock

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Judi Dench says sight loss means she can no longer perform but she is still ‘besotted by’ Shakespeare’s sonnets

Age-related macular degeneration has also left actor, 91, unable to read or recognise faces any more

Judi Dench has said she can no longer perform on stage or in films because of her deteriorating eyesight, more than a decade after revealing she had been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration.

“I can’t be on stage. I can’t do a play any more. I can’t do a film any more. I can’t read any more,” the 91-year-old actor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday.

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© Photograph: Paul Stuart

© Photograph: Paul Stuart

© Photograph: Paul Stuart

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Florida police officer finds man dead and steals his house and identity, authorities allege

The officer says he took possession of the property and renovated it ‘to prevent criminal activity’ and ‘squatting’

A Florida police officer who discovered a man dead during a welfare check stole his house and identity and spent years renovating the property for himself, authorities said.

Brian Louis Sguros, 35, an officer with the Lauderhill police department near Miami, appeared in court Wednesday on charges including criminal use of a deceased person’s identification.

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© Photograph: Google Maps

© Photograph: Google Maps

© Photograph: Google Maps

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Vivek Ramaswamy campaign ad for Ohio ‘shameful, disgusting’, says Republican congresswoman – US politics live

Nancy Mace said: ‘This ad is going to go down as the most shameful, disgusting, offensive ad this election season’

Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska

Mary Peltola’s campaign to represent Alaska in the US Senate has taken her to parts of the massive state’s interior that are inaccessible by road and on the frontlines of the cost-of-living crisis she hopes will make her the first Democrat to win the seat in nearly two decades.

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© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

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Arizona storms topple trees and bring golf ball-sized hail in possible tornado

Violent storms overnight knocked over utility poles and carried thunder and heavy winds through central Arizona

Trees fell on to homes and utility poles were knocked down by a possible tornado in a central Arizona community during a series of violent storms that moved through the state overnight into Thursday.

Storms capable of causing hail and wind damage were traveling through central Arizona early on Thursday, with some flood watches and the possibility of tornadoes, the National Weather Service said.

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© Photograph: Ross D Franklin/AP

© Photograph: Ross D Franklin/AP

© Photograph: Ross D Franklin/AP

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BBC News to axe education editor role in cost-cutting move

Fears over lack of scrutiny for key sectors as health editor position also to go in cuts aimed at saving £5.5m

The BBC will no longer have a dedicated education editor as part of a cost-cutting drive in which 100 jobs are to go across BBC News under a plan that school leaders described as “deeply regrettable”.

BBC staff have been told that the roles of education editor and social affairs editor are to be combined into a single position as part of a round of changes that will save £5.5m. However, prominent unions and campaigners are saying the reform will dilute scrutiny of two specialisms that are too important to go without a dedicated BBC role.

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© Photograph: Jeff Gilbert/Alamy

© Photograph: Jeff Gilbert/Alamy

© Photograph: Jeff Gilbert/Alamy

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Chiricahua monument in Arizona is now the 64th US national park

New designation of the Land of Standing-Up Rocks, known for its historic rock spires, passed with bipartisan support

An area of towering rock spires in south-eastern Arizona known among Native Americans as the Land of Standing-Up Rocks has become the nation’s newest national park.

Legislation to create Chiricahua national park was sent to the White House and Donald Trump signed it on Tuesday. It passed Congress with bipartisan backing and is now the 64th US national park.

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© Photograph: Ron Kerbo/National Parks Service/AP

© Photograph: Ron Kerbo/National Parks Service/AP

© Photograph: Ron Kerbo/National Parks Service/AP

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‘Nunchucks’ wielded by agitated man in Hannah Beazley’s office may have been drumsticks, court told

John Lawrence Smart charged with being armed in a way that may cause fear but Perth lawyer expresses concern for mental health

A man accused of making threats while armed with “improvised nunchucks” at a Western Australian MP’s electorate office could have been holding a musical instrument, not a weapon, a court has been told.

John Lawrence Smart appeared on Thursday in the WA magistrates court where his lawyer expressed concern for his mental health. He was not required to enter a plea.

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© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAPIMAGE/AP

© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAPIMAGE/AP

© Photograph: Richard Wainwright/AAPIMAGE/AP

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Almost every shallow-water coral reef on the planet faces ecosystem collapse by 2075, UN advisors say

Assessment finds global heating is endangering 96% of coral reefs across 80 countries – a figure scientists say should serve as a ‘wake-up call’

Almost every shallow-water coral reef on the planet, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, faces a high risk of ecosystem collapse before 2075 because of global heating, according to an assessment by United Nations nature advisers.

About 24% of the planet’s reefs across more than 80 countries are already critically endangered, the assessment said, but when the expected impacts of global heating were added this rose to 96%.

Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter

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© Photograph: Lindsey Kramer/Hawaii Wildlife Fund/IUCN

© Photograph: Lindsey Kramer/Hawaii Wildlife Fund/IUCN

© Photograph: Lindsey Kramer/Hawaii Wildlife Fund/IUCN

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Tax online sales more heavily to save high streets, Burnham urged

Exclusive: British Chambers of Commerce president calls for overhaul of business rates and greater powers for local leaders

Andy Burnham has been urged by one of his most senior former advisers to tax internet sales more heavily than in-store purchases to help “level the playing field” for struggling high streets.

As the prime minister and his chancellor, John Healey, prepare for their first budget next week, Andy Haldane joined calls for action to stop more shops closing across the UK.

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© Composite: Guardian Design

© Composite: Guardian Design

© Composite: Guardian Design

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Economy set to worsen, with higher unemployment and weaker growth on the way, Jim Chalmers reveals

Treasury is revising all the numbers for the mid-year budget update as economists warn of a difficult six months ahead

Jim Chalmers has revealed December’s mid-year budget update will project weaker growth and higher unemployment, as economists warn of a difficult six months ahead for the Australian economy.

Two days after a senior Reserve Bank official foreshadowed the potential for another interest rate hike in under two weeks’ time, the treasurer in a speech on Friday morning will say “higher inflation is putting people under pressure, tighter monetary policy is weighing on domestic activity, and we can see that in the softening of the labour market”.

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© Photograph: Darren England/AAP

© Photograph: Darren England/AAP

© Photograph: Darren England/AAP

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Oil prices jump to five-month high as attacks threaten global supply

Iran’s IRGC says it hit four vessels in the northern Gulf and three more struck mines near the strait of Hormuz

Oil prices jumped to a five-month high on Thursday after ​attacks in Saudi Arabia and hits to tankers in the strait of Hormuz threatened further disruptions to the world’s crude supply.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose by 3% to hit $112 a barrel for first time since 18 May.

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

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How Middleton’s revival could be grist to the mill for Britain’s struggling towns

Turnaround initiated by Andy Burnham and led by Steve Coogan could provide blueprint for other neglected areas

The former England footballer Paul Scholes and the actor Steve Coogan stare out from beside a fish and chip shop in Middleton, near Manchester. Looming over a mural of the pair – and the whole town – is an enormous former cotton mill that powered its economy a century ago.

The deafening looms and spindles of Warwick Mill fell silent decades ago, replaced in recent years by TikTok “urban explorers” who share videos of themselves crawling through its abandoned shell.

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© Composite: Guardian Design

© Composite: Guardian Design

© Composite: Guardian Design

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Angry lawyers and bewildered defendants: the fallout from fast-tracking French rioting cases

Politicians have called for ruthless sentencing, but lawyers blame the politicians for the poverty, and anger, behind their clients’ looting

Awa, 18, stood in the dock in the tribunal de Paris, a small, mute and bewildered figure seeming unable to understand, let alone answer, the simplest of questions.

The court was told she had joined young people who looted an Yves Saint Laurent store on Boulevard Saint Germain in Paris’s Left Bank late on Sunday and stripped it bare within minutes.

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© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

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‘America, this is a warning’: pro- Trump Maga media in a froth over Europe protests

Fox News and others have toed president’s line – seemingly hoping unrest abroad will make people vote Republican

Donald Trump sought to capitalize on the scenes of unrest in France, telling a crowd in Kansas on Monday that “migrants” and “communists” were responsible, and that the scenes were “what the radical ‘Dumocrats’ want to do to America”.

As Republicans struggle to convince voters across the country ahead of November’s midterm elections, Trump’s allies in the conservative media have followed suit, seemingly hoping that the scenes in France can scare people to the polls.

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© Photograph: Aurélien Morissard/AP

© Photograph: Aurélien Morissard/AP

© Photograph: Aurélien Morissard/AP

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Snowy Hydro 2.0 has blown out to 12 times its original cost – but the CEO says it ‘could have been worse’

New projections by the Snowy Hydro company show tunnelling work is now 65% finished, but the completion date has been pushed back to 2029

The cost of Snowy Hydro 2.0 has blown out to as much as $25bn, with a major reassessment finding the long-delayed renewable energy project will not be completed until the end of the decade.

First touted by the Turnbull government in 2017 with a price tag of $2bn, the cost of the project in the Kosciuszko national park has increased dramatically over time. In 2023 it was revised to almost $13bn, with construction due to completed by the end of 2028.

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© Photograph: Snowy Hydro

© Photograph: Snowy Hydro

© Photograph: Snowy Hydro

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