Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 29 January.

Top stories

Fifty-one percent of voters believe Scott Morrison should have sacked the Bridget McKenzie over her handling of the $100m sports rorts affair, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. The latest survey of 1,080 respondents, taken in the wake of revelations that McKenzie used a sports grants program to favour groups in Coalition-held or targeted seats, also shows voter support galvanising for an independent federal anti-corruption body, with 80% backing the proposal. McKenzie’s controversial sports grants program awarded $248,000 to a country club that has a state National party MP as a life member and former chairman, weeks after the pair visited the venue together. Sport Australia reportedly raised concerns about the controversial $100m sports grant program, warning that the Morrison government’s administration was compromising its independence.

An 8,000-hectare blaze burning in the Namadgi national park, south of Canberra. The blaze was started by an Australian Defence Force helicopter carrying a landing light, the heat from which sparked the blaze in hot and dry conditions. Late on Tuesday afternoon, residents of Tharwa, a village of about 80 people, were told it was too late to leave. The fire was downgraded overnight but Canberra is expected to endure temperatures in the high-30s for the rest of the week and over 40C on the weekend. Meanwhile, Australian Research Council laureates have signed a letter saying Australia’s current position as “ground zero” for both the impacts of climate change and policy uncertainty presents an opportunity for the country to emerge as a leader in responding to the climate crisis. The Productivity Commission’s review of government services shows Australia has suffered a 10% decline in the number of volunteer firefighters over the past decade.

Donald Trump has launched his “ultimate deal” for Middle East peace, saying his detailed 80-page plan would be a “realistic two-state solution” that had already been agreed to by Israel, where the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has just been formally indicted in court on corruption charges after he withdrew his request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution. “Today Israel takes a big step towards peace,” Trump said in a joint press conference with Netanyahu at the White House. “I was not elected to do small things or shy away from big problems.” He said Netanyahu had already agreed to a map of how the region would look, with Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided capital” that gives Israel extra territory.

Australia

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The fluorescent pink slug, which is unique to Mount Kaputar in NSW, would have managed to survive the bushfires by retreating into rock crevices. Photograph: Michael Murphy/AFP

A rare fluorescent pink slug has survived the bushfires that burnt through much of its alpine habitat. The Mount Kaputar slug is found only on a single mountaintop in northern New South Wales.

Projects aimed at stimulating drought-affected communities are taking almost 18 months to complete, says a review of the Coalition’s drought communities program, raising doubts about the $300m scheme’s effectiveness.

The Aboriginal businesswoman Josephine Cashman has been sacked from her government advisory role, after allegations that she provided a faked letter from a senior Aboriginal leader as part of a campaign to discredit the author Bruce Pascoe.

The NSW government has advised school students recently returned from China to stay home for two weeks due to the ongoing spread of the coronavirus.

The world

Facebook Twitter Pinterest French firefighters face off with French riot police as they demonstrate to protest against working conditions in Paris on 28 January. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters

French riot police clashed with uniformed firefighters at protests in Paris on Tuesday, in extraordinary scenes where police used batons and shields against crowds of fire officers in helmets.

The first human transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus in Europe has been reported in Germany, where a man was infected by a colleague who had been in China, fuelling anxieties about the potential ease of international spread.

Bashar al-Assad has recaptured a significant town in Syria’s last rebel-held territory, in an offensive that has driven tens of thousands of people towards the border with Turkey.

A disabled man with a long history of mental illness starved to death in Britain just months after welfare officials stopped his out-of-work and housing benefits, it has emerged.

The Pacific Ocean is becoming so acidic it is starting to dissolve the shells of a key species of crab, according to a new US study.

Recommended reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I’ll rip yer bloody arms off’: Grahame Bond in The Aunty Jack Show. Photograph: LANTERN/PR IMAGE

A lovable moustachioed thug in a dress brought colour to Australia. Andrew Mercado writes: “In 1965, American primetime TV went all colour; the UK did the same in 1969. But Australia couldn’t afford a war in Vietnam and new technology at the same time, so despite leading the world in TV firsts like nudity and sexual taboos, none of it happened in colour until the mid-1970s. When colour came to Australian TVs, it came in a uniquely Australian way: ushered in by an outrageous comedy legend named Aunty Jack, whose catchphrase to ‘little kiddies’ everywhere was: ‘If you don’t behave, I’ll jump through your set and rip yer bloody arms off!’”

To address climate change, we must stop dividing people along the faultlines of class and culture, writes Emma Dawson: “The shocking levels of smoke haze blanketing Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne have meant that city-dwellers cannot avert their gaze from the impact of these massive fire fronts, so devastatingly charged by the impact of climate change on our arid land mass. So is it too much to hope that when the fires are, at least temporarily, quelled and the smoke subsides, this sense of national unity might extend beyond the immediate crisis?”

Listen

On today’s Full Story: the problem with Silicon Valley lifestyle hacks. These days Silicon Valley entrepreneurs don’t just make apps – they also spruik diets, expensive health treatments and other “bio-hacks” such as dopamine fasting and cryotherapy. Columnist Brigid Delaney considers how much stock we should put in their advice.

Full Story The problem with Silicon Valley lifestyle hacks Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2020/01/28-44256-FS__SV.mp3 00:00:00 00:18:25

Cook

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jackie Middleton’s spicy mussels with lap cheong and coconut. Photograph: Jackie Middleton

These spicy mussels can be one of those dishes that ranges from being a simple weekday compromise to a more refined dinner, writes Jackie Middleton.

Sport

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Switzerland’s Roger Federer celebrates after victory against Tennys Sandgren of the US. Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images

Roger Federer saved seven match points en route to a semifinal with Novak Djokovic. Federer beat Tennys Sandgren 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-3. “Roger Federer has had many improbable victories in his career, and a smattering of unusual defeats, but his passage into the semi-finals of the 2020 Australian Open after three-and-half hours of undiluted drama against Tennys Sandgren was in another dimension,” writes Kevin Mitchell.

LeBron James has made his first public comments since the death of Kobe Bryant, his fellow Los Angeles Laker. In an Instagram post, James said he was crying as he wrote a tribute to Bryant.

Media roundup

The Australian leads with Scott Morrison’s speech to the National Press Club today, in which he will outline “strengthening the constitutional and legal powers of the commonwealth to allow prime ministers to declare national disasters and call in the Defence Force” and “shift the Coalition’s posture on ­climate change.” The Australian Financial Review reports that “Deloitte failed to flag problems in the financial statements of three of the eight collapsed listed companies it audited over the last decade.” On the ABC: a $1m reward is being offered for information about the 1995 murder of Hasan Dastan, a Blacktown business owner.

Coming up

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will address the National Press Club in Canberra.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its quarterly consumer price index data for the three months to December.

And if you’ve read this far …

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pfft ... Chico (left) and Meow Meow. Photograph: Instagram/hazelandthegang; the_cat_named_meowmeow

Since the feline known as Grumpy Cat died last year, two furry curmudgeons called Chico and Meow Meow have emerged to fight for her crown – and merchandising possibilities.

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