Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 20 June.

Top stories

About $16bn in profits is shifted out of Australia into tax havens by multinational corporations every year, a ground-breaking study has found. The paper by economists from Berkeley and Copenhagen estimates that close to 40% of multinational profits was artificially shifted to tax havens in 2015, with Australia forgoing about 7% of its total corporate tax revenue, worth roughly $5.4bn.

The study also found that the steady decline in corporate tax rates globally since the 1980s had not been driven by countries competing harder for productive capital but through profit shifting and a failure by governments to curb the practice. It highlighted the role of tech giants such as Google, Apple and Facebook in changing the global tax system.

Donald Trump faces extraordinary backlash from the public and his own party over child separations, with a national poll finding that two in three voters oppose them. The former Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called the policy “an affront to the decency of the American people” amid ongoing debate at Capitol Hill over the issue. Many are beginning to dub the situation Trump’s “Katrina moment”, with a Guardian editorial labelling the policy – which has separated 2,000 children from their parents over the past six weeks – “immoral and unconscionable”.



Riots that erupted last week in Papua New Guinea could turn into a full-scale conflict, locals have said, as anger and chaos grip the Southern Highlands province. A group of 300 to 400 people, armed with machetes, machine guns and high-powered rifles, marched on Mendi, the provincial capital, at the weekend calling for the resignation of the prime minister, Peter O’Neill. The unrest follows the failure of a court challenge to an election result, with a local activist, Lucielle Paru, describing the scene in Mendi as “very tense”, with protesters “pushing for a civil war” and setting fire to a commercial plane, government buildings and the home of the local governor.

The EU is considering building migrant processing centres in north Africa to deter people from making life-threatening journeys across the Mediterranean, according to a document leaked before an EU summit due to take place next week. France and Germany have been pushing a new common approach amid fears that the European project is unravelling. “We see states that are turning inward,” said France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, “trying to find national solutions to problems that require European solutions.”

Labor has pledged to extend regulations governing shale gas development, promising to extend the “water trigger” that covers coal seam gas and coal mining. Up to 90% of the NT’s water supply comes from ground water, which environmentalists worry could be threatened by shale gas fracking. “Underground hydrology is incredibly complex, and you really need to have a robust scientific process to understand what the impacts might be,” Labor’s shadow environment minister, Tony Burke, has said.

Sport

Russia has ended Mohammed Salah and Egypt’s World Cup with another emphatic Group A showing, winning 3-1 in St Petersburg. Earlier Group H exploded to life with consecutive upsets as Japan edged Colombia 2-1 and Senegal handed the African continent its first win in Russia, surprising Poland by the same margin.

England have set a new men’s ODI world record, amassing a whopping 481 and briefly threatening to crack 500 against an injury-riddled and lacklustre Australian pace attack. There was better news for Australians supporters at the tennis, where Nick Kyrgios cut short Andy Murray’s injury return with a 2-6, 7-6, 7-5 win at the Queens Club Championships.

Thinking time

Twelve refugees and asylum seekers have died while in Australian immigration detention on Manus Island and Nauru. On World Refugee Day, Guardian Australia acknowledges those who have died and begins a project to record lives lost in offshore detention. They were: Fariborz Karami, Salim Kyawning, Jahingir, Rajeev Rajendran, Hamed Shamshiripour, Faysel Ishak Ahmed, Kamil Hussain, Rakib Khan, Omid Masoumali, Hamid Kehazaei, Sayed Ibrahim Hussein and Reza Barati.

After Fariborz Karami killed himself on Nauru last week, Saba Vasefi and Ben Doherty reveal the letters written by his mother containing desperate pleas for authorities to help her sons. The letters were written inside the Australian-run regional processing centre, where Mansour Beigi had watched her sons deteriorate over the last five years. On 13 June, she wrote in Persian: “Due to repetitive darkness of this life, my kids are depressed. Many times, I have asked for your help, but, instead of assisting me, each time you have wounded me more.” Two days later her eldest son was dead, another victim of indefinite detention.

Abdul Ghafar Ghulami spent four years on Manus Island before being taken to the US as part of the Australia-US refugee deal. A computer science student, Ghulami fled Kabul, where the Taliban had been beheading Hazara on the highway to his parent’s home in Maidan Wardak province. After four years of incessant tropical heat on Manus, Ghulami is coming to terms with Kentucky winters and says he has a new lease on life. “I felt like I am just born now because after very long time in detention, I got my freedom so I feel very good. That was a great time for me.”

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has blamed the Democrats for the current US immigration crisis, saying “Democrats are the problem” because they view irregular migrants “as potential voters”, while also claiming that crime in Germany has risen 10% because of migrants.

Media roundup

The NSW treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, has handed down what he calls a “people’s budget”, which the Daily Telegraph has labelled a “cash-splash” but also noted that an increase in the public service efficiency dividend could lead to thousands of jobs being shed. The Adelaide Advertiser reports on the new $300m SA Health and Medical Research Institute, for which architectural drawings and videos have been released. And the Financial Review writes that federal Labor will repeal $120bn of future income tax cuts for middle- and high-income earners if the government’s tax package passes the Senate over the next fortnight.

Coming up

The Australian Workers’ Union raids case is being heard by the federal court in Melbourne. In May the court issued a subpoena requiring Michaelia Cash to give evidence; the minister is challenging the order.

Greg Hunt will launch the 16th biennial Australia’s Health report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Supporting the Guardian

We’d like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a supporter today. Thank you.

Sign up

If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.