Morning mail: wholesale power prices triple, Covid death rate rises, Commonwealth Games open

Good morning. Wholesale electricity and gas prices tripled in Australia’s main grid in the June quarter. The winter Omicron wave leaves Australia with one of the highest recent Covid death rates in the OECD. And the Commonwealth Games are getting under way in Birmingham.

The cost of wholesale electricity and gas tripled in the June quarter compared with a year ago, as failing coal-fired power plants and soaring global gas costs combined to create “unprecedented” market disruptions, the Australian Energy Market Operator said. Aemo’s latest report found average spot prices for electricity in the national electricity market were $264 per megawatt-hour. That’s more than double the previous high of $130 in the first quarter of 2019, and a little more than three times the average price in the June quarter of 2021.

A winter Omicron wave has left Australia with one of the highest recent Covid death rates in the OECD, according to globally aggregated data. Australia’s seven-day average of deaths per million residents (2.77) up to Wednesday now only trails New Zealand (4.37) and Norway (3.15) among OECD countries, according to figures from Our World in Data. But that fact should be considered alongside some important context.

Cities in Germany are switching off spotlights on public monuments, turning off fountains, and imposing cold showers on municipal swimming pools and sports halls as the country races to reduce its energy consumption in the face of a looming Russian gas crisis. Meanwhile, Shell made record profits of nearly £10bn between April and June and promised to give shareholders payouts worth £6.5bn as the oil supermajor benefited from the surge in energy prices prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The US economy shrank again in the last three months, unofficially signalling the start of a recession. The commerce department announced yesterday that gross domestic productdecreased at an annualised rate of 0.9% in the second quarter after falling at an annualised rate of 1.6% in the first three months.

Australia

As Australia’s most diverse federal parliament opened, new members introduced themselves and set out priorities. Guardian photographers Mike Bowers and Blake Sharp-Wiggins document Labor’s first sitting week in government for nearly a decade.

About 500 children aged under 15 were fined a total of $20,000 for not wearing or carrying a mask in NSW in the past 12 months, including 34 who remain in an unpaid work and development scheme to reduce their debts.

Conservative action groups are mobilising supporters against a government push to allow territories to make their own laws on euthanasia, raising concerns about potential impacts on Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory.

The Albanese government has abandoned a controversial high court case that sought to restore the commonwealth’s power to deport Aboriginal non-citizens. The decision by the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, guarantees that a dozen Aboriginal non-citizens at risk of deportation will be able to stay in Australia.

A senior Queensland police officer reportedly told a co-worker that police did not investigate the suspicious death of a domestic violence victim because she and her husband were a “a pair of scumbags who live in a shit area in a shit house”, an inquiry has heard.

The “unprecedented” and near total secrecy that hid the prosecution and imprisonment of a former Australian intelligence officer has prompted the federal government to order a review of laws governing the handling of sensitive national security information.

The world

Xi Jinping has warned Joe Biden against “playing with fire” over Taiwan in a highly anticipated phone call that lasted more than two hours, as tensions remain high over the House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential trip to the island next month.

Human rights campaigners have hit out at Emmanuel Macron’s decision to host Mohammed bin Salman for talks in Paris during the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to Europe since the murder nearly four years ago of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Bangladesh is to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund after applying for a bailout to prevent the country running out of cash.

Two activists who helped lead mass demonstrations that toppled Sri Lanka’s president have been arrested, police said, as parliament extended tough emergency laws imposed to restore order.

Asia’s wealthiest woman has lost more than half her fortune over the past year as the crisis engulfing China’s real estate sector continues to worsen, a billionaire index showed on Thursday.

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Listen

In 2017 Jacindamania swept the world. A young, charismatic New Zealander led the Labour party to victory. But lately, Ardern and her government have slumped in the polls. In this episode of Full Story, Gabrielle Jackson talks to Mike Ticher and Bonnie Malkin about the challenges facing New Zealand’s government and Ardern’s enduring appeal abroad.

Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.

Sport

With a 10-metre-tall raging bull, a union jack made from 72 cars and an appearance by Malala Yousafzai, the Commonwealth Games has kicked off with an unashamedly loud celebration of everything Birmingham. Crammed with references to the host city’s history and culture, the two-and-a-half-hour opening ceremony marks the start of Britain’s biggest multisport event since the London Olympics.

The reigning Commonwealth champions England will begin the defence of their netball title on Friday with an understanding that what lies ahead will not be easy. Four years ago, on Australia’s Gold Coast, the Roses dramatically stole victory from the home team, bringing an end to the antipodean stranglehold on the Commonwealth title that had existed since netball was introduced to the Games in 1998.

Media roundup

Two secondary school students are taking their fight against their school’s uniform policy to the Australian Human Rights Commission, the ABC reports. Amayah and Safhira Rowe have been barred from attending the independent regional Victorian high school Highview College until they tie up their hair. They both have their African hair braided and say it is painful to wear tied back. And more paramedics are needed to stop deaths in rural towns, according to the West Australian.

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