Good morning, this is David Munk in a special guest appearance to bring you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 4 August.

Top stories

Overnight a little bit of history was made on the stock markets. Apple became the world’s first trillion-dollar public company as a rise in its share price pushed it past that landmark valuation. The company, co-founded by the late Steve Jobs in 1976, reached the milestone as its shares hit $207.05, the day after it posted strong financial results.

Apple’s share price has grown 2,000% since Tim Cook replaced Jobs as chief executive in 2011. Its stock market value is now coming up to two-thirds the size of Australia’s economy. The company is sitting on a $285bn mountain of cash reserves and made a net profit of $48.5bn in 2017, its last set of full-year results.

Queensland police took no disciplinary action against 52 of the 59 officers investigated internally for computer hacking during a 13-month period, and there is growing concern that the police do not have adequate measures in place to prevent the wrongful access of private personal data. Four police officers were charged with computer hacking offences last year under what was considered a crackdown on improper access of the QPrime database. In one case, an officer was charged for looking up personal details of his former girlfriends and the former Australian netball captain Laura Geitz “out of curiosity”.

The Guardian can exclusively reveal that US counter-intelligence investigators discovered a suspected Russian spy had been working undetected in the heart of the American embassy in Moscow for more than a decade. The Russian national had been hired by the US Secret Service and is understood to have had access to the agency’s intranet and email systems. She had been working for the Secret Service for years before she came under suspicion in 2016 during a routine security sweep.

Concerns about the award of a $444m grant to a small not-for-profit with no tender or consultation have been dismissed by the environment and energy minister. The unsolicited grant was handed to the small Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which had only six full-time staff at the time. Appearing on last night’s 7.30 program on the ABC, Josh Frydenberg rejected claims that the grant process lacked transparency, saying the process complied with governance guidelines on grants and the Australian Audit Office would be able to follow how the money was being spent. “There is a lot of transparency,” Frydenberg said.

Atheist military chaplains could be introduced in the ADF if a complaint before the Australian Human Rights Commission is successful. The commission has accepted a complaint from Justin Murray, a volunteer chaplain at Canberra hospital, in a case that could open the way for atheists and agnostics to hold posts as military chaplains. Australian army chaplains are now required to be “from an endorsed denomination or faith group” represented in army personnel. Murray’s complaint argues that 53% of ADF personnel are not religious, meaning there was “no provision” of pastoral services for “the majority of ADF personnel”.



In media news Andrew Bolt has been reported to the press council for his latest column in the Daily Telegraph in which he argues a “tidal wave” of migrants are swamping Australia, forming enclaves and “changing our culture”. Bolt singles out groups including Chinese, Cambodian, Indian and Jewish and quotes what percentage of the community where they live that they represent. The president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Jennifer Huppert, said articles such as Bolt’s do nothing for the cohesion of Australian society.

Sport

The Matildas could be crowned Tournament of Nations champions for a second year running this morning, with Japan the opposition in their final game. We have a live blog for you here to follow all the action starting at 07.30 AEST.

In cricket Virat Kohli singlehandedly dragged his team to a respectable total with the innings of a lifetime in the first Test against England at Edgbaston. His knock of 149 spanned three sessions and lasted 225 balls as India reached 274 all out.

Thinking time

In a recent interview, Australia’s attorney general, Christian Porter, agreed that the race discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, is “paid … by the taxpayer, to ruin our society”. As Soutphommasane has shown in his role, there is quite a bit of actual racism around. “Outside of politics, it really shouldn’t be hard to be aware of and pleased with the extent of cultural ‘harmony’ in our society, and at the same time be honest, caring and concerned about persisting levels of racial discrimination and exclusion,” writes the law professor Simon Rice. Should we be worried about who Porter will appoint to replace Soutphomassane later this month?

After the Nine takeover of Fairfax, data and interactives editor Nick Evershed has taken a look at media concentration – how it can be measured and how severe it is in Australia compared with similar countries. He finds a landmark 2016 study that shows that, in 2011, Australia’s content media industry was among the most concentrated in the world, and had been getting steadily more concentrated over time. Since then, News Corp bought APN, Nine is set to take over Fairfax and things are looking much worse.

A Kurdish Iranian writer sought refuge in Australia but was instead sent to an offshore detention centre. For the next five years he wrote a book, one text message at a time. Behrouz Boochani has become an award-winning voice from Papua New Guinea’s remote Manus Island, acting as a source for journalists in Australia and internationally, writing his own articles and creating a film. He could not attend his book launch on Thursday night so he Skyped in from the refugee accommodation centre where he lives in East Lorengau.



What’s he done now?

The UN has warned that Donald Trump’s vitriolic rhetoric could result in violence against journalists. Two experts on freedom of expression said the US president’s attacks “are strategic, designed to undermine confidence in reporting and raise doubts about verifiable facts”.

Media roundup

The Australian reports that federal Labor is preparing to dump the MP Emma Husar, who has been caught up in allegations of bullying staff. Meanwhile the Sydney Morning Herald says the NRL’s top referee is walking out of the game because of pressure put on match officials. The West Australian says Scott Morrison is signalling a “war on banks” and will force them to offer competitive borrowing and deposit rates to customers.

Coming up

The Australian federal police and home affairs portfolio are due to appear before Senate estimates.

Today is National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day and the first day of 20th Garma festival in Arnhem Land.

A few questions …

If you can spare a minute, please answer three quick multiple-choice questions about Guardian Australia’s morning mail.

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