Bushfires have swept large parts of Australia since October, leaving more than 23 people dead, destroying thousands of homes and devastating wildlife – 1 billion animals have been killed. Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor describes reporting on the crisis. And: Julian Borger on the US response to Iranian missiles in Iraq

Since October, unprecedented bushfires continue to ravage south-east Australia. Fanned by strong, changeable winds, temperatures above 40C and widespread drought conditions, some of the more than 200 fires are burning so powerfully they are forming their own weather systems, even causing lightning strikes and sparking new blazes through pyrocumulonimbus clouds.

Melinda Plesman describes losing her home, while the Guardian Australia editor, Lenore Taylor, talks to Anushka Asthana about the impact the fires have had on the country. She discusses the criticism that Scott Morrison has faced over his government’s inaction over the bushfires – some of which have been burning since September – and over his government’s climate crisis policies, criticised as unambitious and ineffective in reducing emissions.

And: Julian Borger on the American response to missiles fired at US airbases in Iraq.

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