Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 5 April. Top stories More than five years and with $9bn spent since the basin plan began, the Murray-Darling river system is in crisis. As part of Guardian Australia's Our Wide Brown Land series, we will be publishing a series of stories exploring what's gone wrong. In an immersive feature Anne Davies looks at the problems, including water theft, a lack of planning and enforcement and ghost water, that have arisen under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. And our multimedia feature, featuring photos by Mike Bowers, explores the trouble spots along the Murray-Darling river system. Follow the 3,000km journey along the rivers, travelling from inland Queensland to the Murray mouth, to understand where the plan has failed those who live and work on this land. The Facebook data of up to 87 million people – 37 million more than previously reported – may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, the company has revealed. The larger figure was buried in the penultimate paragraph of a blogpost by the company's chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, which also provided updates on the changes Facebook was making to better protect user information. The updates come two weeks after the Observer revealed that the data analytics firm that worked with Donald Trump's election team and the Brexit campaign acquired millions of profiles of US citizens and used it to build a software program to predict and influence voters. China has raised the stakes in the escalating trade showdown with the US, unveiling tariffs on a targeted list of American imports in response to levies on more than 1,300 Chinese goods put forward by Donald Trump. Sending a message to Washington that economic threats made by the White House would be matched with equal force, Beijing said it would impose additional tariffs of 25% on 106 American products from 14 categories, including soybeans, cars and chemical products. Wall Street slumped as global financial markets assessed the risk of tensions mounting further after the latest advance towards a full-blown trade war between the two nations that would have damaging consequences for the world economy. Humanitarian migrants from eight countries will be prioritised under one of Australia's refugee resettlement programs, and other nationalities told their applications are highly unlikely to be accepted. Guardian Australia understands the priority countries are: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Bhutan, Syria and Iraq. Nationals of several other specific countries that were previously considered for resettlement, such as South Sudan, Somalia and Iran, are now excluded and will not be able to access the program. The resettlement scheme, known as the community support program, is one element of Australia's broader humanitarian program. This year it offers up to 1,000 places within the broader program of 16,250 humanitarian places. The move has been condemned by some community leaders as "clear discrimination". The woman who is believed to have opened fire at YouTube's headquarters in a suburb of San Francisco yesterday, injuring three before killing herself, was apparently furious with the video website because it had stopped paying her for her clips. Police in California named the shooter as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, aged 39. San Bruno's police chief, Ed Barberini, said Aghdam's anger at the website appeared to the motivation for her shooting spree. Questions are now being raised about why police did not act on an earlier warning from her father about her hatred for the company. Aghdam's online profile shows she was a vegan activist and ran a website where she posted about Persian culture and veganism, as well as long passages critical of YouTube. Sport The Commonwealth Games opening ceremony was held last night and included a speech read by Prince Charles and written by the Queen. Outside the stadium Indigenous Australian protesters chanted "No justice, no Games", and many arrests took place, writes by Martha Kelner. With the Games under way, there are 10 questions to be answered over the next week and a half. Can Sally Pearson win a third consecutive hurdles title? Or will Indigenous protests force action on treaties and a national voice? And can Australia'a sporting pride be restored after a week of scandal? Thinking time |
For her book Perfect Imperfection, the Australian pet photographer Alex Cearns set out to capture the personalities of animals who adapt to their damaged or different bodies without complaint. "They push on, wanting to be included and involved in everything as much as they can," the Perth-based photographer says. "These are the creatures who have lost a leg, been born without eyes, or are still showing the scars of former abuse." You don't have to be a climate science denier to join the Monash coal forum – but it helps, writes Graham Readfearn. Look no further than Tony Abbott, Eric Abetz, Kevin Andrews and George Christensen – four of 20 MPs that are members of the Monash Forum, which aims to promote the continued use of coal-fired energy. The Coalition's backbench group of coal fans have a history of attacking climate science. And while it's easy to be flippant about the role and impact of climate science denial on Australia's climate policy, the undermining of scientific evidence has poisoned and politicised an issue that was urgent two decades ago. Do you suffer from phone boredom? From Twitter to Tumblr, swiping through your mobile's apps is the new doing something while doing nothing at all. Is it simply a case of new technology, same old humans? Is trawling apps with little pleasure or engagement the new version of bouncing a ball repetitively against a wall? What's he done now? Special counsel Robert Mueller has informed Donald Trump's attorneys that the president is not currently considered a criminal target in the Russia investigation, according to reports in the Washington Post. Although Trump remains of interest, there is not enough evidence to bring charges against him. Media roundup Western Australians are Australia's biggest users of methamphetamine, the West Australian reports, after waste water tests by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission found WA's use of the drug is increasing and almost double the Australian average. The Conversation has a piece by a University of Sydney clinician arguing that not all vaginal mesh implants are a problem, and treating all of the products the same way puts women at risk. And the ABC reports that a parliamentary inquiry has been established to investigate Australia's role in the ivory trade, and will examine how ivory is being passed off in the antique trade in this country. Coming up In the first competition day of the Commonwealth Games 19 medal events will be held across five sports: triathlon, weightlifting, gymnastics, track cycling and swimming. The defence minister, Marise Payne, will address the Lowy Institute in Canberra on the importance of stability in the Pacific to Australia. Supporting the Guardian We'd like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a supporter today. Thank you. |
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The Paroo River on the Wilcannia to Tilpa road. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian 
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