Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 4 July.

Top stories

Donald Trump plans to go on the offensive against criticism of his industry-friendly rollbacks of environment protections in a speech on Monday, according to three sources familiar with the plans. The president will tout America’s clean air and water, although his administration has advanced many efforts that experts say have undercut the country’s environmental record. Trump has little to point to in terms of environmental achievements yet in an off-the-record conference call on Wednesday, the White House requested key supporting groups spread the message that the US under Trump continues to be an environmental leader. Critics are meanwhile savaging Trump’s Independence Day jamboree. More than US$2.5m has reportedly been diverted to pay for the military parade.

The not-for-profit aid sector has warned that Palladium, is among a handful of powerful private contractors increasingly dominating Australia’s foreign aid program in a way that undermines the national interest. Julie Bishop, the former foreign minister, announced on Tuesday she was joining the board of the private aid contractor, prompting immediate criticism from Labor. The Australian Council for International Development chief executive, Marc Purcell, said private aid contractors were concerned chiefly with profit and the job at hand, rather than pursuing Australia’s broader national interest.

The Australian Border Force has defended its detention of refugees for extended periods in a Brisbane hotel as “appropriate”, despite the government claiming earlier this year that such conditions were intended only for short-term and transit housing.

Guardian Australia reported on Sunday that a cohort of refugees has been kept in the hotel, in dirty rooms and under heavy guard, for up to six months. Uncertainty remains about the long-term status of refugees in the hotel and several hundred others who have been transferred to Australia for medical treatment. Most have no visa status in Australia and remain in custody.

World

Play Video 0:37 Volcano erupts on Italian island of Stromboli – video

A volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli has erupted, killing a hiker. “It was like being in hell because of the rain of fire coming from the sky,” Italian news agencies quoted a local priest, Giovanni Longo, as saying.

The UN has called for an independent inquiry into the bombing of a Libyan migrant detention centre, which left at least 44 dead and more than 130 severely injured, describing the attack as “a war crime and odious bloody carnage”.

Boris Johnson has sent an unsolicited email to his rival Jeremy Hunt seeking his support, which is possibly a breach of data protection rules. Johnson’s campaign to become the Conservative leader is facing the threat of an inquiry into its use of data.

Rahul Gandhi has announced his resignation as president of India’s opposition Congress party in the wake of a catastrophic defeat in national elections in May.

The man whose frozen body fell from plane London “could be Nairobi airport employee”. The man’s fingerprints are being analysed.

Opinion and analysis

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A group of biologists is trying to bury the idea that plants are conscious. Photograph: Michael Preston/Alamy

A group of biologists is trying to bury the idea that plants are conscious. Frustrated by more than a decade of research which claims to reveal intentions, feelings and even consciousness in plants, more traditionally minded botanists have finally snapped. Plants, they protest, are emphatically not conscious. US, British and German biologists have argued that practitioners of “plant neurobiology” have become carried away with the admittedly impressive abilities of plants to sense and react to their environments. While plants may curl their leaves in response to touch, grow faster when competitors are near and spring traps when prey wanders into them, the vexed biologists argue that is no reason to believe they choose their actions, learn along the way or occasionally get hurt in the process.

Empathy is more useful than fear in the fight for progress, writes the sociologist John Falzon. “There is a popular Chinese proverb that goes: ‘The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.’ It would have been great if neoliberalism had been defeated 20 years ago. It wasn’t. Sections of the left found neoliberalism to be so nebulous, so difficult to pin down, that many even fell for its warped logic and were co-opted by it instead of fighting it … If Australians want the kind of society in which no one is left out or pushed out … we will need collectively to fight for them.”

Sport

England have defeated New Zealand by 119 runs and thereby secured their semi-final slot at Edgbaston next Thursday, against either India or Australia.

Fernando Verdasco has beat Kyle Edmund 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4 at Wimbledon. Verdasco looked resigned to his fate after an hour and a half, then cashed in on a steady decline to win in three hours and 43 minutes in front of a disbelieving audience on Centre Court. Heather Watson has tumbled out of the tournament as 20th seed Anett Kontaveit took command to clinch a 7-5, 6-1 win.

Thinking time: Jair Bolsonaro’s first six months

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘It’s the worst start to a presidency’ in decades, says pollster. Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images

Brazil was just weeks from last year’s electoral earthquake when the rock legend Lobão sat down outside his backyard studio, fired up his smartphone and announced he was backing the far-right frontrunner. “I’ve reached the conclusion I’m going to vote for Jair Bolsonaro,” the rocker declared in his YouTube endorsement. “Bolsonaro is the only chance of something new.” On a recent afternoon, however, the gravel-voiced singer sank into a chair on the same terrace and admitted to a severe case of buyer’s remorse. “It’s a marmalade of madness,” Lobão grumbled of Bolsonaro’s crisis-packed opening act in power which has been plagued by factional struggles, mass protests, claims of mafia ties and corruption involving his family, a cocaine smuggling scandal involving a presidential plane and damaging revelations involving his celebrity justice minister, Sérgio Moro.

Not to mention a series of bizarre gaffes – including sharing a pornographic video with his 3.4 million Twitter followers – that have led some to question whether Bolsonaro will even see out his four-year term. “Not even Syd Barrett ever had such a bad trip,” Lobão said. Six months after Bolsonaro took office, Lobão, 61, has emerged as one of the rightwing populist’s most ferocious critics, assailing his administration in a succession of searing media appearances. And he is not alone in his dismay.

Media roundup

PM wins battle over tax cuts is the Australian’s splash this morning, as Jacqui Lambie confirms she’ll vote for the package. Lambie is on the front page of the Mercury, which reveals that “she had decided to support the tax cuts, but only on the condition the government work with her to see Tasmania’s historic $157m social housing debt waived.” The Canberra Times reports the ACT’s economy is weakening and the Age’s top story is that “Victoria’s economic growth has ground to a five-year-low”.

Coming up

Australia can cement their early authority in the Women’s Ashes when they take on England in the second ODI of the seven-match, multi-format series in Leicester tonight. Follow the game with our live blog from 10pm AEST, for an 11pm AEST start.

Both houses of federal parliament sit with the government putting its tax cut legislation up for debate in the Senate and attempting to repeal the medevac laws.