Good morning, this is James Murray bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 3 March.

Top stories

The global death toll for coronavirus has now exceeded 3,000, with more than 90,000 infections recorded. In Iran, the death toll rose to 66 – the highest outside China. In Italy, 52 people have died, while three have died in France. South Korea has reported almost 500 new cases and a second person has died in the US. In Australia, the first two cases of community transmission have been recorded and in New South Wales, health authorities will soon begin briefing doctors about their role should the spread of the virus worsen. Meanwhile Scott Morrison says the government is weeks away from releasing plans to prop up the economy amid fears the virus could cause a recession.

Guardian Australia has revealed that 84 police officers in Queensland have been accused of domestic violence in the past five years as concerns mount about the force’s handling of domestic violence. Queensland police defended their record by saying officers were less likely to be accused of domestic violence than the general public. An increasing number of incidents has thrown the spotlight on police, and their language about domestic violence, after Queensland police said they were keeping an “open mind” about the murder of Hannah Clarke and her children by her partner.

More than 80% of Indian Ocean dolphins may have been killed by commercial fishing in recent decades. Around 4m dolphins are thought to have been caught as by-catch in tuna fishing nets since 1950. As many as 100,000 cetaceans – mainly dolphins – were caught in commercial gill nets as by-catch in 2006, with current annual numbers at about 80,000. Results from 10 programs counting by-catch between 1981 and 2016 – carried out in Australia, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan – were used to extrapolate how many cetaceans were caught across all Indian Ocean fisheries covering 24 countries. Co-author of the study, Dr Puti Liza Mustika, said the vast majority of those animals would die. “It’s a painful death. Dolphins are clever, but because the net is very thin in the water, the dolphins’ sonar misses them.”

Australia

Australia is heating more rapidly than the global average, with this past summer the second-hottest ever recorded. Temperatures were 1.88C above average and the Bureau of Meteorology estimates a 4C rise by 2100. The hot summer, which was marked by the unprecedented bushfire crisis that devastated communities and wildlife in much of the country, is part of a long-term warming trend that has seen the country heat by 1.4C since 1910.

Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells says the term “right wing” can offend conservatives. She attacked the the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio), Mike Burgess, for using the term in a speech about rightwing extremism.

Energy minister Angus Taylor says the “doctored documents” saga is over since Australian federal police say the case is closed. Taylor says he wants to move on from his erroneous attack on the City of Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore.

Labor has called out Scott Morrison for being the sole MP in a “one-man” cabinet committee. The committee was open to an “abuse of process” that enables Morrison to call meetings protected by cabinet confidentiality, even if no other cabinet members are present.

The world

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Amy Klobuchar announcing her run for Democratic presidential nomination in February 2019. She has now dropped out. Photograph: Craig Lassig/EPA

Amy Klobuchar has dropped out of the race to become the Democratic presidential candidate for the 2020 US election. Campaign officials for the Minnesota senator, who campaigned as a pragmatic and moderate midwesterner, told the Guardian she plans to endorse her rival Joe Biden, in an apparent effort to unify moderate voters behind the former vice president.

Three billion years ago the world may have been covered by a global ocean. If the findings are confirmed researchers will be able to refine theories on where and how the first single-celled life emerged on Earth and what other worlds may be habitable.

Israel’s third election in the space of a year is under way as voters try to finally decide between incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz. The election is fought against a backdrop of Netanyahu’s upcoming trial for corruption.

The UK’s home secretary Priti Patel will be investigated over claims she bullied public officials. The incident came to light after Sir Philip Rutnam quit as permanent secretary of the Home Office, accusing Patel of a “vicious campaign” against him.

The Taliban have ended a partial truce in Afghanistan just two days after signing a peace deal with the US. Three people were killed and 11 injured in a motorcycle bomb attack at a football match in eastern Afghanistan.

Recommended reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I was asked not whether, but how much I enjoy repetitive, monotonous tasks. So the fact that I am to be replaced by a robot after 14 months is not in itself unexpected.’ Photograph: Artem Burduk/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Ellen Wengert hated her monotonous data-entry job, but still had mixed feelings when she lost it to automation. First described as an “exciting innovation” that will streamline mundane tasks and free up time for the more important aspects of her role, Wengert ends up teaching an old high-school friend-turned-robotics engineer how to do her job so he can teach a “robot” to do it in her place. Research published by the Committee of Economic Development of Australia in 2015 found that as much as 40% of the Australian workforce could be replaced by automation by the year 2035.

It’s never too late to achieve your dreams. Ustad Saami’s “mind-boggling” album God Is Not a Terrorist is the 76-year-old virtuoso’s first record. The Pakistani classical music master, who is performing at Womadelaide this week, is the world’s last surviving practitioner of an extraordinarily complex 49-note scale (seven times that of the western scale) that has been passed down through the generations. When Grammy-winning US music producer Ian Brennan tracked him down in Karachi in 2017 to record Saami live on his rooftop, his voice, Brennan says, would suddenly escalate to “10 times heavier than anything Metallica has ever produced”.

Listen

A terrorist attack in Hanau is just the latest incident of far-right violence in Germany in recent years. It left local residents outraged, with many questioning the effectiveness of the police and security services in the battle against far-right extremism. On the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast, Berlin bureau chief Philip Oltermann tells Anushka Asthana that this latest attack comes at a worrying time for Germany with political upheaval as Angela Merkel prepares to depart as chancellor, and the far-right AfD making gains.

Today in Focus What's behind the rise of Germany's far right? Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2020/02/28-68502-200302TIFGermanfarright.mp3 00:00:00 00:33:20

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adam Goodes in 2014. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Sport

Donald McRae interviews Adam Goodes, the former AFL star who walked away from the game due to racist abuse. Named Australian of the Year in 2014 and now the subject of a powerful new film, Goodes talks about his difficult relationship with the game and the moment his life was upended after he was subjected to racist abuse by a 13-year-old spectator.

Australia are into the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup semi-final after a narrow win against New Zealand. The joy of victory was tempered by an injury to star player Ellyse Perry who is likely out of the tournament.

Media roundup

Most of the news websites lead with the coronavirus after Australia recorded its first person-to-person case of the disease. The ABC describes it as “the start of the epidemic”. The Sydney Morning Herald’s front page is topped by its live blog, noting that global deaths now exceed 3,000, with details of the Australian doctor who contracted the virus locally further down the page. The Daily Telegraph has bad news for lovers, it’s live blog headline highlighting advice that Australians have been advised to avoid kissing to stop the spread of the disease. Meanwhile the West Australian has an exclusive story about a huge drug bust involving MDMA and meth that was headed for Perth.

Coming up

The Reserve Bank will make a decision at 2.30pm on whether to cut interest rates.

A Melbourne court will hear an appeal by Jaymes Todd, seeking to reduce his minimum 35-year jail sentence for the rape and murder of Eurydice Dixon.

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