Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on 24 July. Top stories Donald Trump remains unconvinced that Russia interfered in last year's US election, his new communications chief Anthony Scaramucci said on Sunday. The White House has been sending mixed signals about whether it would approve new sanctions against Moscow, and Scaramucci has further obscured the president's next move by saying Trump believes Russian intelligence services are "super confident in their deception skills and hacking" and would have left no trace if they had intruded into Democratic computer systems. After six months of his presidency being consumed by the Russian controversy, Trump's view on the Kremlin's alleged interference is that "maybe they did it, maybe they didn't do it". Scaramucci also confirmed that the president had recently discussed his power to pardon people for criminal wrongdoing, contradicting White House denials of reports this week that Trump's legal team was looking into pardons as it sought to limit the reach of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating links between Trump aides and Russian meddling. On Saturday, Trump said in a tweet that "all agree the US president has the complete power to pardon". Asked on CNN if Trump had discussed pardons, Scaramucci confirmed that "it has been coming up a lot". An anti-scripture group, Fairness in Religion, has asked the NSW Department of Education to review the authorisation of Liberty Baptist church to teach scripture in state schools, saying its teachings are contrary to policies on multiculturalism and student wellbeing. Keith Piper, the pastor of the church in the Sydney suburb of Cherrybrook, has uploaded videos to YouTube that describe Islamism as "a cancer [that] we must destroy" and say the Qur'an is "a virus infecting the brains [of Muslims]". His church has been an approved provider of scripture in state schools since 1998.
Texas police are investigating a horrific human trafficking crime after eight people were discovered dead in an overheated truck-trailer outside a Walmart in San Antonio and two others died later in hospital. Up to 20 more remained in an extremely critical or serious condition on Sunday. The truck did not have a working air conditioning system despite blistering temperatures that topped 37C, authorities said. The driver has been arrested. San Antonio-based US attorney Richard Durbin said those responsible for the deaths were "ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo", who he said were victims of a "smuggling venture gone horribly wrong". It is believed there may have been up to 100 people in the truck before it stopped. The former prime minister Tony Abbott says the NSW Liberal party will no longer be an insiders club after a motion he championed to introduce one-member, one-vote for preselections was passed at a special convention in Sydney on Sunday. "We didn't like the insiders club, the closed shop which the NSW Liberal party has been for too long," he said. While the voting controversy has been framed as another round in the battle between Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, divisions in the state branch go much further back, Gabrielle Chan writes. Meanwhile, the latest Newspoll in the Australian says Turnbull has won back voters from One Nation and Labor has seen its share of the primary vote rise at the expense of the Greens.
Norfolk Island residents have ask the Australian Bureau of Statistics to explain how its 2016 census found 30% fewer people claiming Pitcairn Island heritage than a 2011 census run by the now-abolished Norfolk Island government. They say the result hurts their attempt to get the Australian government's abolition of their parliament and laws overturned by the UN. "I think there's a degree of willingness to misrepresent the situation," says former chief minister Andre Nobbs. The bureau says it is confident in the quality of its Norfolk Island data. Sport England have beaten India by nine runs to win a thrilling cricket World Cup final in front of a sell-out crowd at Lord's. Anya Shrubsole took six wickets as India collapsed to 219 all out after looking well-placed to overhaul England's 228-7. It was England's fourth World Cup win and heartbreak again for India, for whom Punam Raut top-scored with 86. Chris Froome has won his fourth Tour de France, finishing triumpantly in Paris after the Champs Élysées procession. The Team Sky rider crossed the line in the bunch behind the stage winner, Dylan Groenewegen, to win the yellow jersey by 54 seconds from Rigoberto Urán. Froome said: "It was always the tactic to ride this as a three-week race … just chipping away every stage to make sure there were no massive losses. That's normal when on a bad day in the mountains you can lose minutes. It's been about doing it in the most conservative and efficient manner. That's what Grand Tour racing is." Collingwood's finals hopes have a faint pulse that was almost impossible to find until this late stage of the AFL season, writes Craig Little, after Jordan De Goey's heroics helped them beat West Coast Eagles at the Etihad on Sunday. Thinking time | 
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Donald Trump has again failed to clarify his view of Russian interference in the US election. 
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