Good morning. This is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 28 February.

Top stories

An alarming heatwave in the Arctic is causing blizzards in Europe and forcing scientists to reconsider even their most pessimistic forecasts of climate change. The record warmth this month could yet prove to be a freak occurrence, but experts warn it is unprecedented and are concerned that global warming is eroding the polar vortex, the powerful winds that once insulated the frozen north. Seasoned observers have described what is happening as “crazy”, “weird” and “simply shocking”, with an influx of warm air pushing temperatures in Siberia up by as much as 35C above historical averages this month. At the world’s most northerly land weather station – Cape Morris Jesup at the northern tip of Greenland – recent temperatures have been, at times, warmer than London and Zurich, which are thousands of miles to the south.

“This is an anomaly among anomalies ... It is a suggestion that there are further surprises in store as we continue to poke the angry beast that is our climate,” said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Centre at Pennsylvania State University. “The Arctic has always been regarded as a bellwether because of the vicious circle that amplify human-caused warming in that particular region. And it is sending out a clear warning.”

Barely a day after prevailing in a National party ballot to become leader and deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack has wasted no time in making clear his expectations of his predecessor, Barnaby Joyce. In an interview with Guardian Australia, the politician from Wagga Wagga said: “I want, expect and know that he will get in behind me and support me as leader – but more than that, I know he will support the National party.” He readily concedes Joyce achieved celebrity status with the public and accepts he will need to call on the expertise of a man who said his replacement has “a big job in front of him”.

Labor intends to harden its opposition to the Adani coalmine, including promising to revoke its licence if elected, the businessman and environmentalist Geoff Cousins said. The former president of the Australian Conservation Foundation said Bill Shorten had given him reassurances, although it was clear he faced internal resistance over the stance. Cousins used an ABC TV interview on Tuesday night to pressure him over his leadership. “Sooner or later you’ve got to take your heart in your hands if you want to be a leader,” Cousins said. “You actually have to face down those people who won’t allow you to lead and say: ‘I’m sorry, this is where we’re going.’ ”

Fighting has resumed in eastern Ghouta despite the “humanitarian pause” declared by Russia on Monday. Airstrikes and rocket fire continued into the night, preventing aid from reaching the rebel-held Syrian enclave, and raising fresh doubts about the sincerity of the Russian-led humanitarian pauses. “Only the fighter planes have been reduced, but the shelling and land-to-land rockets are continuing,” said Nour Adam, an activist in the area. “None of the families or civilians have come out of the bomb shelters because nobody trusts the regime or the Russians.” The Russian president, Vladmir Putin, ordered the pause after a week-long blitz, hundreds of civilian deaths and the failure of a UN-sponsored ceasefire agreed at the weekend.

One in six Australian women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or former partner, a new report has found. The research confirmed the violence is committed disproportionately against women, with a woman killed every week in 2012–13 and 2013–14, compared with one man every month. Other findings by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare include that roughly eight women and two men were hospitalised every day in 2014-15 as a result of family violence, and that police record an average of 52 sexual assaults against women every day.

Sport

Since the crimes committed by Barry Bennell at Crewe came to light, the seeming lack of empathy and common decency shown by the people in charge has been incomprehensible, writes Adam Breeze, a former Crewe obsessive, who has since “divorced” his once-beloved club.

Chelsea’s manager, Antonio Conte, is Italy’s top choice as national coach. “I haven’t chosen yet but I think Conte is the one who could do the best,” the Italian football association’s vice-commissioner, Alessandro Costacurta, said on Tuesday.

Thinking time

Mardi Gras began as a gay and lesbian rights protest in 1978. This year the parade will have same-sex and gender-diverse couples who have married in Australia for the first time. So although there are very good reasons to celebrate (and dance to Cher), there’s still more work to be done, said Alex Greenwich, independent member for Sydney and former co-chair of the YES marriage equality campaign.

Society still frowns on women who don’t want to go through having children, despite the immense toll it can take on them. For Arwa Mahdawi, pregnancy is a life experience she’d rather avoid. But that doesn’t mean she’s selfish. “Surrendering your body to a growing mass of cells for nine months feels like a necessary evil rather than something to savour or actively desire,” Mahdawi wrote. “And yet women are often told that pregnancy is a beautiful and amazing experience they should welcome and rejoice in, and that you are selfish if you resent it.”

What’s he done now?

Not usually known for brevity, Donald Trump has published a mysterious tweet of just two words, and it’s unclear who, or what, he is referring too. “WITCH HUNT!” the president tweeted overnight.

Media roundup

‘Do whatever you have to’. The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald splash with an exclusive that staff in pubs owned by Woolworths have been instructed to spy on vulnerable people, and record habits such as how much they gamble and their favourite football team, in a bid to make them stay longer and spend more money.

The NT News reports that child protection staff in the NT were ordered to undertake urgent training after ignoring the sexual assaults of Indigenous girls on cultural grounds, according to a confidential memo obtained by the paper, and turning a blind eye to young girls living and sleeping with much older men. And the ABC reports on the rising rates of dementia, with the latest data showing 250 Australians develop dementia every single day.



Coming up

Margaret Gardner, the chair of Universities Australia, will address the National Press Club. The organisation also begins its annual conference today.

Bradley Robert Edwards, accused of the Claremont killings, will face court in Perth.

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