Morning mail: new Weinstein charges, bushfire donations, Trump Iran threats
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Version 0 of 1. Tuesday: Harvey Weinstein faces fresh rape charges in LA, just as his New York trial begins. Plus, starting again in the ruins of Cobargo Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 7 January. Top stories Los Angeles prosecutors have announced fresh criminal charges against Harvey Weinstein as the disgraced movie mogul’s rape trial began in New York. Weinstein was charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013, officials said. The New York trial erupted into furious name-calling between lawyers, who decried each other’s behaviour as “abominable”, “degrading” and “humiliating”. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to five counts, of which the most serious is predatory sexual assault, carrying a maximum sentence of life. The massive influx of donations after the bushfires poses a “nice challenge” for the Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons says, as questions begin to be asked about the distribution of funds. The NSW fire chief pledged to spend the extraordinary influx of money, now into the tens of millions of dollars, “where it was intended”. But Michael Eburn, an expert in emergency management at the Australian National University, said while donating to the RFS was commendable, the public should be clear that the organisation was a government-funded and run agency. “The RFS is not an organisation run by volunteers and funded by community donations,” he wrote. “The RFS is not a volunteer organisation, it is a government organisation that relies on volunteers.” On Monday Scott Morrison announced that at least $2bn would be spent on bushfire recovery as the government stepped away from its pledge to deliver a budget surplus amid the crisis. The Cobargo post office has been turned into an animal rescue centre, writes Michael McGowan, as local residents are left numb by the devastation wrought on their homes by fires. Kyle Moser and his partner, David Wilson, are caring for a kangaroo and two wallaby joeys. Next door is the remains of a burnt-out cafe. Across the road are the charred ruins of what used to be a leather shop, a yoga studio and an incense shop. But what happens to people like Moser and Wilson after the initial crisis has passed? “That was my first thought. My initial thought was, like, what’s next?” Moser said. “Like, what happens now? I still don’t know.” Australia Western Australia’s first tropical cyclone of the summer has developed off the northern coast with heavy rain and strong winds to batter the Kimberley region. The WA shark attack victim Gary Johnson was an experienced scuba diver, his wife has said. The president of the Esperance Dive Club was attacked off Cull Island, in an area notorious for shark attacks. A serious rift has developed between senior NSW Liberals and Scott Morrison over claims the state government rejected offers of navy ships to help with evacuations from south coast towns ravaged by bushfires. The world Donald Trump has defended his threat to target Iranian cultural sites – widely seen as a war crime – if Tehran retaliates for the killing of General Qassem Suleimani. An urgent ‘roadmap to recovery’ could reverse the insect apocalypse but requires the eradication of pesticide use, prioritisation of nature-based farming methods and urgent reductions in water, light and noise pollution, experts have warned. A man described as “Britain’s most prolific rapist” has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years for 136 rapes of dozens of young men in Manchester. Protesters in London have demonstrated outside the Cypriot high commission on the eve of the sentencing of a 19-year-old woman convicted of lying about being gang-raped in Ayia Napa. Recommended reads This apocalyptic Australian summer is our Sandy Hook moment, writes Brigid Delaney. “With Sandy Hook, many of us in Australia assumed that after the grief, there would be a reckoning: the National Rifle Association would lose much of its power and influence, its spokespeople and shills would become pariahs, and meaningful legislation would pass so that this tragedy wouldn’t happen again. Right? Wrong.” Now it is Australia’s time to choose. “These fires without precedent have the potential to profoundly shift the national consciousness. This summer could shake us awake – if we let it.” Every TV win at the Golden Globes was well deserved – apart from Olivia Colman’s, writes Stuart Heritage. “This is supposed to be the piece where I pull the Golden Globes apart for their poor taste, and revel in all their bad decisions. But I broadly agreed with everything, which puts me in a sticky position. So – and I am truly sorry to do this – it falls to me to take the nuclear option. OK, deep breath. Olivia Colman should not have won her Golden Globe.” Listen On Today in Focus, Ed Pilkington hears from some of the most influential journalists in the US about the hard lessons of their coverage of the 2016 election. But will 2020 be any different? Plus: Carol Anderson on voter suppression and the US election. Sport Australia completed a perfect summer of Test cricket after beating New Zealand by 279 runs at the SCG. Nathan Lyon claimed five wickets to make it 10 scalps for the match, while Mitchell Starc also finished with 3-25. Less than a fortnight before the start of the Australian Open, Melbourne lies under a thickening blanket of bushfire haze and air quality has been downgraded to “very poor” and “hazardous”. There is a chance the tournament will be delayed, although conditions are expected to ease before the start on 20 January. Media roundup The Age reports that Melbourne’s urban fringe is at risk of suffering another catastrophic bushfire with experts warning the trees and undergrowth that have grown back since the 2009 Black Saturday fires are now tinder dry. Bushfires are also affecting the Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme, the ABC reports, with a significant loss of heavy machinery and communications equipment expected. The Australian reports that the Packer family foundation has raised its donation to bushfire relief to $5m. Coming up The funeral of the firefighter Andrew O’Dwyer, killed in the NSW bushfires before Christmas, will take place in western Sydney. 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