Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 12 July. Top stories Donald Trump Jr has been forced to release emails that reveal he embraced what he was told was a Russian government attempt to damage Hillary Clinton's election campaign. The emails show the music promoter Rob Goldstone telling the future US president's son that "the crown prosecutor of Russia" had offered "to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father". Trump Jr quickly responded: "If it's what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer." The stunning disclosure – you can read the emails in full here – raises questions over whether campaign laws were broken and why senior Trump associates failed to report a hostile act by a foreign power. With the FBI special prosecutor Bob Mueller investigating if the Trump campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 US election, the Guardian's Luke Harding writes that the emails appear to be "the first concrete proof of collusion". The Australian federal government is allowing land clearing in Queensland, which has has accelerated to almost 300,000 hectares each year, to destroy the habitat of threatened species and increase pollution on the Great Barrier Reef, according to analysis by WWF. The environmental charity takes aim at the Turnbull government for failing to enforce commonwealth laws intended to prevent land clearing that threatens protected species and habitats. The permissive state clearing laws have also attracted the criticism of Unesco, which noted Australia's failure to regulate clearing and found Australia's water quality targets would not be reached without further action. A full 9% of the habitat of the threatened northern hairy-nosed wombat is thought to live in has either been cleared or earmarked for clearing. Martin Taylor, protected areas and conservation science manager at WWF, said: "State laws should prevent this but the last line of defence is the commonwealth … if the federal government isn't enforcing their laws, which appears to be the case at the moment, then there is no last line of defence." Labor has pledged to revisit a notorious tax loophole that is still being exploited by Australia's biggest private companies despite years of intense political attention on corporate tax avoidance. The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, has said Labor will push in this term of parliament to dramatically reduce the number of companies that can use the loophole, and says if the Senate does not support it Labor will take its plan to the election. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan together buy 70% of Australia's export coal. Now new analysis forecasts a likely reduction in demand from those countries of up to 2% each year. The finding raises questions over the viability of new coal projects as Australia mulls the building of its biggest export thermal coal mine. Dozens of beachgoers formed a human chain stretching almost 100 metres into the Gulf of Mexico to rescue a group of swimmers in danger of drowning after they were caught in a powerful riptide. Six members of the same family, including a grandmother who suffered a heart attack, were among nine people passed along the chain to safety at Florida's Panama City beach on Saturday evening. "It was a wave of humanity that brings some things back into focus, that maybe we haven't lost all hope in this world," said Derek Simmons, who helped to organise the spontaneous rescue, using ant chains as inspiration. Sport Novak Djokovic enters the quarter-finals of Wimbledon after a straight sets win but is frustrated by a decision that means he will play on consecutive days, the only men's competitor to have to do so. On Tuesday Djokovic beat Adrian Mannarino6-2, 7-6, 6-4 but was unhappy with the condition of the court, and said he should have played the night before on centre court after Gilles Müller's epic five-set defeat of Rafael Nadal. Venus Williams has also surged ahead to the semi-finals in straight sets, as has Jo Konta – the first British woman into Wimbledon semi-finals since 1978. Queensland are depleted and NSW have a great chance to end a Maroon dynasty in tonight's State of Origin decider, but questions remain over the Blues' ability to handle pressure, writes Matt Cleary. Thinking time | 
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Donald Trump Jr with his father Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the end of the first presidential debate in September 2016. New emails raise questions over Russian attempts to damage Hillary Clinton's election campaign. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images 
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