Evening edition
The day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy.
The Confession podcast
Murder was just the beginning in this astonishing new podcast.
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Analysis
Media & marketing
Bruce McWilliam is known for his fiery emails and texts. We pull apart one he sent today
Seven’s outgoing commercial director has fired off a text in a bid to minimise the fallout from a new network expenses scandal.
Exclusive
Media & marketing
Seven expenses investigation ‘not of great consequence’: McWilliam
Seven largely went to ground on Wednesday following the publication of details about the Sunrise contra investigation, codenamed Project Rally.
Opinion
Workplace culture
Seven West Media’s culture needs rehabilitation
Hollowing out of management was the punishment dealt to other listed companies when serious cultural, ethical or governance breaches were uncovered.
Elizabeth Knight
Business columnist
Exclusive
Scams
‘Once you pay I will delete the photo’: How scammers are snaring hundreds of children each month
Sextortion scammers are using frighteningly simple tricks to target Australian children. The tech giants have “blood on their hands”, the family of one victim claims.
Exclusive
School funding
NSW cut public school budgets. Now it’s asking for an extra $8b
The NSW government and Commonwealth are at loggerheads over funding contributions to the state’s public schools.
Sydney set for giant pumped hydro project to rival Snowy 2.0
A green energy company backed by WaterNSW plans to use an abandoned coal washery as the site for a pumped hydro scheme big enough to power a third of the city’s households.
Opinion
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Wong’s Palestine remarks had all the substance of a cloud
Penny Wong made no proposal. There was no plan. It was simply a restatement of Australia’s long-standing position. So what was it for?
Peter Hartcher
Political and international editor
What it’s like to return home and find your entire city destroyed
Stunned Palestinians found Khan Younis unrecognisable as they filtered in to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left by Israeli troops.
Strip-searched women can’t sue Qatar Airways: court
Three women who had attempted to sue Qatar Airways in the Federal Court after they were strip searched at Doha Airport have been unsuccessful.
Wrong track: Racehorse shocks commuters on Sydney train platform
The fare-dodging horse trotted into Warwick Farm station seven minutes before midnight last Friday, cantering up and down the platform as alarmed passengers leapt from its path.
Cut-price road solution to avert ‘a runway surrounded by sheep paddocks’
The preference for “gold-plating” infrastructure has created a vicious cycle of delays at Western Sydney Airport, an inquiry has heard.
Opinion
Education
Public schools have an image problem, even without cuts
Enrolments at public schools have been dropping and this is cited as a key reason behind a slashing of schools’ budgets, revealed to principals in an all-staff note earlier this week.
Alexandra Smith
State Political Editor
Catholics outraged as ad swaps communion wafers for chips
An association of Catholic television viewers said the ad, shown on Italian TV channels and social media, offended the sensibility of millions of Catholics.
Contentious UK gender medicine report prompts reflection, outrage in Australia
LGBTQ advocates have slammed a report by British paediatrician Hilary Cass who concluded there was inadequate evidence to support the use of puberty blockers.
Two-week ban for a headbutt? Rebels fume about soft suspension
A Fijian Drua forward was red-carded for a headbutt on a Melbourne player but the Super Rugby judiciary decided it wasn’t serious given it only made “limited contact”.
A teen girl sanctuary: Name the movies these bedrooms are from
From Cher’s automated wardrobe in Clueless to the Gothic gloom favoured by Wednesday Addams, adolescent decor is a time-honoured cultural trope.
Opinion
Music festivals
Festivals are hard, kids are soft. But there is hope for Generation Z
I’ve had some of the best and worst times of my life at festivals: from having my head stomped on by a crowd surfer at Big Day Out, to reaching for the wrong bottle of water one morning. Every moment has been worth it.
Mikey Cahill
Contributor
★★★★
Review
Horror addicts and nostalgia buffs will relish this spooky Aussie film
Inspired by Don Lane, the American who dominated the Australian chat show in the mid-’70s and early ’80s, Late Night with the Devil hits the right notes.
NRL 2024
Why the next four weeks are the most crucial of Broncos great’s career
These are the four weeks which could determine the fate of Corey Oates, one of the Broncos most loyal servants, as he revealed the factors that will determine his future.
Exclusive
I’m all in: Inside the crunch meeting where Latrell vowed to do Souths proud
Those close to the Rabbitohs superstar feared he may have lost his love for the game. They told him if he didn’t want to play any more, it was time to quit. He then met with Souths.
Sydney
Updated
WestConnex
‘Squid game’ for school drop-off and Balmain abandoned: Fury over Rozelle chaos
Surveyed residents give Transport for NSW a one-out-of-10 rating for its response to the traffic problems created by the opening of the interchange.
Updated
icare investigation
State’s highest paid public servant quits troubled insurer
The chief executive of icare, Richard Harding, will leave his $1 million-plus role as the agency has been ordered to rein in its ballooning expenses.
Updated
ICAC
ICAC ‘terminates’ probe into sacked NSW minister Tim Crakanthorp
The Newcastle MP will not be returned to cabinet immediately despite the findings that there were “no reasonable prospects” he would be found corrupt.
Kristy worked on flood rescue all night. When she got home her town was covered in coal
Coal mines in the Illawarra struggled with last weekend’s deluge, sending coal deposits into residential areas and the Royal National Park where platypus live.
School budgets slashed by $148m as deputies forced back to classroom
Thousands of deputy and assistant principals will be forced back into teaching roles to help deal with chronic staffing shortages in NSW public schools.
Politics
Updated
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Wong’s Palestine call was ‘most reckless foreign policy in decades’: Dutton
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong’s comments on Palestinian statehood have been welcomed by pro-Palestine advocates, but infuriated pro-Israel groups and the opposition.
Business
Exclusive
AI
‘Super powerful’: Australian hotshot takes on the big guns with AI image creator
Leonardo.ai is rolling out a product that will let teams collaborate on custom AI images, as OpenAI and others also look to the workplace.
Opinion
Financial literacy
Making money is a team sport, so don’t do it alone
Paridhi Jain
Money contributor
World
Videos show Chicago police fired 96 shots in 41 seconds at fatal traffic stop
The gunshots continued even after driver Dexter Reed, 26, exited his vehicle and fell to the ground, officials said in releasing the footage, 911 calls and police reports.
Opinion
Why the government’s merger law shake-up gets a tick from me
Allan Fels
Former chairman Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
China has spooked the West in the war that may never end
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Senior business columnist
Why we shouldn’t put the Spotlight on sex work
Jenna Price
Columnist and academic
Migrants – what are they good for? A lot, actually
Shane Wright
Senior economics correspondent
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Property
How to compete at auction against a downsizing Boomer or the bank of mum and dad
More than a quarter of home buyers now pay cash, no mortgage needed, so efforts to outbid them require clever tactics.
Eight of our favourite luxury homes, priced up to $82.5 million
They include a palatial architect-designed residence, a private estate with helipad and a farming oasis with vineyard.
Good Food
Recipe collection
Autumn
Eat and repeat: 10 warming new recipes to put on high rotation
Lifestyle
Exclusive
Fitness
The best time of day to exercise? It depends on your health
Plenty of studies have shown the merits of moving in the morning, but for certain groups, after-dinner exercise can be very beneficial.
Culture
Bridget Jones is back, but widowed. And with a hot new love interest
In the fourth instalment of the franchise, Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver is back from the dead. But there’s bad news for fans of Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy.
Traveller
Drivedrive
From Our Partners
Sport
Updated
NRL 2024
Souths target Meninga-Bennett combination to revive club
South Sydney have targeted two of the most revered figures in the game to turn around their fortunes.
Analysis
Australian soccer
‘Exactly what we needed’: Matildas learn plenty from Mexico showdown
Tony Gustavsson got the test he wanted from the high-pressing, high-energy world No.31-ranked side.
Roosters’ star Wallabies signing Nawaqanitawase dropped by Waratahs
Ahead of the Friday evening’s round eight clash against the Crusaders, Mark Nawaqanitawase is completely dropped from the Waratahs squad.
Why food poisoning and a freak gym accident have dented Australia’s Masters dream
For a tournament unlike any other, this year has one worrying theme: few high-profile stars seem to be in form apart from the world No.1.
Manly give Schuster permission to leave club immediately
NZ Warriors hooker has been cited over the tackle that left South Sydney halfback Lachie Ilias with a broken leg.
Bell the back-rower? Wallaby says prop could make radical positional switch if toe doesn’t get better
Star prop Angus Bell won’t feature for the Waratahs again this season, but could he play elsewhere in the forward pack down the track? A teammate says yes.
Exclusive
NRL 2024
I’m all in: Inside the crunch meeting where Latrell vowed to do Souths proud
Those close to the Rabbitohs superstar feared he may have lost his love for the game. They told him if he didn’t want to play any more, it was time to quit. He then met with Souths.
Have Your Say
Olympic officials confident triathlon won’t risk athletes’ health despite Seine pollution
A French water charity has warned of the “alarming” state of the Seine just over 100 days from the Olympic Games in Paris.
