Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 28 March.

Top stories

Australia’s cricket captain Steve Smith, his deputy David Warner and Cameron Bancroft have been sent home as the first stage of punishment for their plan to tamper with the ball in the third Test in South Africa. The trio face “significant sanctions” in the coming days for breaching “the spirit and the laws of the game”, Cricket Australia’s chief, James Sutherland, said in Johannesburg early this morning, although he refused to describe their actions as cheating.

Sutherland apologised to “all Australians for what took place” and added: “It’s about the reputation and integrity of Australian cricket and Australian sport and whether Australians can take pride in their national team.” Darren Lehmann will remain as head coach and Tim Paine has been appointed captain. Geoff Lemon says Sutherland’s announcement has allowed the issue to fester.

Mark Zuckerberg has come under intense criticism from the UK parliamentary committee investigating fake news after he refused a third invitation to testify before MPs. The committee’s chair, Damian Collins, urged the Facebook boss to “think again if he has any care for users”. The committee is investigating the effects of fake news on UK democracy, and is likely to be furious if Zuckerberg testifies before the US Congress instead.



Meanwhile, the whistleblower Christopher Wylie has given four hours of testimony to the UK committee, revealing there was a “common plan” to use the network of companies orbiting Cambridge Analytica to get around election spending laws in Britain. “This is about the integrity of the democratic process, which is more important than anything else,” Wylie said. “I am absolutely convinced that there was a common plan and common purpose with Vote Leave, BeLeave, the DUP and Veterans for Britain.”

The head of WaterNSW wrote to a cotton grower saying he was exploring an exemption from freedom of information laws so the department would not be required to release water usage records. In a letter that has come to light during proceedings seeking the release of Peter Harris’s water usage data, the department head, David Harris (no relation), wrote that he was “sympathetic with the submissions” Peter Harris had made about protecting his data. The NSW Environmental Defenders’ Office had sought its release. “WaterNSW is actively exploring how waterholders’ information can be further protected, including through amendments to the Government Information Public Access Act,” he wrote in a letter dated 10 November. WaterNSW has since announced it is prosecuting Peter and Jane Harris for illegally taking water from the Barwon Darling, eight months after the allegations were aired by Four Corners.



Matt Canavan will announce a resources taskforce to help the government increase exploration, improve the “social licence” for mining and increase coal exports to Asia. The resources and minister for northern Australia will unveil the Resources 2030 taskforce at the National Press Club today and warn that environmental groups are abusing laws to delay major projects. Canavan says the taskforce’s job is to “focus on policies that can attract investment, contribute to regional economic progress, build community support, cut red tape, find new minerals and ensure that Australia gets best use of its mineral resources before they are exported”.

Lost Amazon villages have been uncovered by archaeologists in a place that was believed to be largely uninhabited. Eighty-one settlements have so far been found in the upper Tapajós basin, and there could be hundreds more. The settlements range from villages just 30 metres wide, to a large site covering 19 hectares. The discoveries are helping to unpick what the Amazon would have been like before Europeans arrived.



Sport

Bert van Marwijk, in his second game in charge of the Socceroos, will be hoping for an improved performance against Colombia in London this morning after his side fell to a heavy defeat in Norway on the new coach’s debut last week. The game at Craven Cottage is one of three remaining warm-up matches before the World Cup.

It’s day one of the men’s and women’s Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, which is the longest-running world championship contest on the world tour.

Thinking time

The Tehran-born, Melbourne-based photographer Hoda Afshar was invited inside a traditional bathhouse in an Iranian town where gay men are left to be themselves, on the condition they conduct this part of their lives in secret. Her series of images, titled Behold, is a moving glimpse into the hidden lives of gay men in the Middle East, and is now on show at the Horsham regional gallery.

“The revelations about Cambridge Analytica’s harvest of Facebook data signalled the end of the end for me,” writes Paul Daley, who quit Facebook a week ago. “The beginning of the end had come a year or so earlier when I deleted the Facebook app from my phone (yes, I reinstalled it; I’ll deal with the addiction shortly) because I felt it had become an unhealthy compulsion – somewhere between not being able to stop eating one of those huge buckets of synthetic-buttery popcorn at the cinema and hating yourself for watching Midsomer Murders week after week after week.” So how does it feel, and what does he miss?

The great film-maker James Ivory – of Remains of the Day and Howards End – reveals why he and the producer Ismail Merchant hid their love all their lives – and vents his anger at Call Me By Your Name’s lack of full-frontal nudity, even though the film won him an Oscar. “When people are wandering around before or after making love, and they’re decorously covered with sheets, it’s always seemed phoney to me.”

What’s he done now?

A poll conducted by CNN has found Trump’s approval rating is the highest in 11 months at 42%. But, compared with his recent predecessors such as Barack Obama, his approval rating is low for this stage of his first term.

Media roundup

The Canberra Times splashes with a federal inquiry being launched into severe cutbacks at the capital’s already-stretched museums and galleries, who have lost an estimated $30m since 2013. The national institutions say the government is neglecting them. A Port Arthur massacre survivor, Ursula Wright, pleads with Tasmania’s premier on the front page of the Mercury not to go soft on gun laws. And the ABC has an analysis piece on female survivors of domestic violence, saying retaining links to faith can act as a healing and protective force.

Coming up

The family of Justine Damond, who was shot by police in the US, are in line to receive a record payout of more than US$10m if they sue the city of Minneapolis, according to reports.

The committal hearing of Cardinal George Pell continues in Melbourne.

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