Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 11 July.

Top stories

Relations between the US and UK have been thrown into fresh turmoil after the resignation of Sir Kim Darroch as British ambassador to Washington, as critics of Boris Johnson accused him of throwing the envoy under the bus. In a shock move Darroch announced on Wednesday he could no longer continue in his role following a leak of official cables in which he criticised Donald Trump. He is believed to have concluded he could not go on after he watched Tuesday’s Conservative leadership TV debate, where Johnson repeatedly dodged questions about whether he would sack the ambassador if he became PM. Theresa May is understood to be considering appointing a new ambassador in her last week as prime minister, amid concerns Johnson could seek to make a controversial political appointment in the hope of pleasing Trump.

The Liberal MP Craig Kelly has said he could “actively campaign for the no side” if Ken Wyatt pursues an ambitious proposal for Indigenous constitutional recognition. Kelly told Guardian Australia the government would be better placed working on practical matters, such as addressing high youth suicide rates, rather than contemplating “a separate body with people voting for people based on race”. The Sydney conservative said if Wyatt, the Indigenous affairs minister, wanted to pursue “words in the constitution that don’t really mean anything, that are symbolic, then that’s fine”. But if the proposal included an idea like the “first nations voice” set out in the Uluru statement from the heart, that would be unacceptable to him.

The NSW deputy premier has vowed to introduce legislation to open up a national park in the state’s Riverina region to logging. John Barilaro wants to remove protection of the 42,000 hectare Murray Valley national park by either de-gazetting the entire park or reducing its size. The conservation area is known for its river red gum forests and is home to several threatened species and a Ramsar-listed wetland. Whether it takes the form of a private member’s bill or government bill will depend on there being broader Coalition support for reversing the listing of the park. Such a move would be a first for NSW and is fiercely opposed by environment groups.

World

Facebook Twitter Pinterest US labor secretary Alex Acosta wants to cut funds to the agency that combats child sex trafficking. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

The US labor secretary, Alex Acosta, has proposed 80% funding cuts for the government agency that combats child sex trafficking. Acosta is under fire for having granted Jeffrey Epstein immunity from federal prosecution in 2008 after the billionaire was investigated for having run a child sex-trafficking ring.

Angela Merkel has insisted she is in good health after experiencing a third bout of shaking in as many weeks at a public event in Berlin. “I am doing fine and you should not worry,” she said after the meeting.

In three decades’ time, London will have a similar climate to that of Barcelona today, Madrid will feel like present-day Marrakech by 2050, and Stockholm like Budapest, according to a report on the likely impacts of the climate crisis.

A broken skull chiselled from a lump of rock in a cave in Greece is the oldest modern human fossil found outside Africa, researchers claim. If the claim is verified, the finding will rewrite a key chapter of the human story.

A Spanish court has ruled that pop star Julio Iglesias is the biological father of a 42-year-old man whose mother said she had a brief affair with the singer in the 1970s. In a case that has dragged on for two years, a judge made the ruling despite Iglesias repeatedly refusing to give a DNA sample.

Opinion and analysis

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Australia’s waste industry says governments must invest in recycling manufacturing after Indonesia announced it would return 210 tonnes of rubbish. Photograph: Fully Handoko/EPA

Australia could quickly solve the problem of Indonesia and other countries rejecting its waste if governments invested in manufacturing of recycled-content products and required public servants to use them, industry and environmental groups say. Jakarta announced on Tuesday it would return 210 tonnes of Australian household rubbish in the latest demonstration of opposition in south-east Asia to receiving exported waste. Peter Shmigel, the head of the Australian Council of Recycling, which represents about 70 companies, said one major project could be enough to make a difference to the industry. “If the federal government decided tomorrow that the 27km of roads and tunnels required for Snowy Hydro 2.0 was to be built out of recycled products you wouldn’t have an export problem,” he said.

Now that the Australian federal election has been won, suddenly employer groups and the government are talking up the need for industrial relations “reform”, writes Greg Jericho. “It is a push that, inevitably, is for more flexibility. But as the latest annual data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on labour force participation, mobility and job search reveals, this increased flexibility is a major driver of the current historically high levels of underemployment and the associated low wages growth.”

Sport

NSW swept in with 32 seconds left to settle a thrilling State of Origin finale in Sydney. After 80 minutes of high emotion, intense action and huge momentum shifts, a last-minute try by James Tedesco took NSW to a 26-20 win over Queensland, and with it the 2019 series.

New Zealand are in the final of the cricket World Cup after sensationally dismissing India for 221 when their rain-delayed semi-final resumed at Old Trafford. India’s top three were all dismissed for a single run each, reducing them to 24-4 chasing 240 to win. Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni fought back, but a brilliant runout by Martin Guptill sent the delirious Kiwis through.

Thinking time: Inside Egypt’s dream to conquer the desert

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Schoolboys in one of the sprawling open spaces of 10th of Ramadan. Photograph: Rachel Keeton/INTI

Seen from space, Egypt is a vast dusty land with a green Y opening into the Mediterranean Sea – a fertile valley that makes up 5% of the country but is home to 95% of the population. This pattern of human occupation had characterised the country for thousands of years, but in the 1970s, as ever more precious green land was eaten up by urban growth, an idea that had been taking shape in the national consciousness for decades was finally put into action. Egypt would “conquer the desert” and redistribute its burgeoning population across the white sands of the Sahara – an Egyptian version of the 19th-century US “manifest destiny” to move west, no matter how punishing the consequences.

With Cairo bursting at the seams, plans were drawn up for satellite cities to take the strain. After many failed attempts, 10th of Ramadan – a blue-collar industrial city – was the first experimental new city to take shape in the 1970s. For four decades the new cities program has remained the only vehicle for Egypt’s urban development. Today there are 22 built or part-built Egyptian new cities – and the New Urban Communities Authority has plans for 19 more. About 7 million people now call these new cities home. It is arguably the most ambitious new cities program the world has ever seen – a dream of bustling cities in an almost lunar desert landscape that outstrips the visions of even China and India.

Media roundup

The Australian Financial Review reveals that Sydney landlords have experienced the biggest fall in rents in over 15 years. The ABC reports on an alleged Sydney property scam perpetrated on foreign students and backpackers, exposed by a group of victims previously unknown to one another. And the Advertiser reports on the dramatic weather in South Australia, where strong winds overnight lifted roofs off of houses, knocked down trees and sent a caravan rolling into a paddock.

Coming up

Afghan Files whistleblower David McBride returns to the ACT supreme court, two weeks after the ABC asked to vary orders in the case.

Australia play England in the second semi-final of the cricket World Cup at Edgbaston, starting at 7.30pm AEST. Follow our live blog from 6.30pm.

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