Refugee funds ‘missing’; Australian family trapped in Gaza; Antarctic ice melt locked in

Good morning. Australian funds meant to be used for the welfare of exiled asylum seekers have “gone missing”, according to a whistleblower within Papua New Guinea’s immigration authority. The whistleblower also claims that police investigations into corruption within the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority have been abandoned due to political pressure. But PNG’s chief migration officer said the allegations were false.

Meanwhile, an Australian family trapped in Gaza have told us they are running out of bread, water and medications as they seek a way to escape the besieged territory. It comes as Hamas has released two Israeli hostages, with hopes rising that up to 50 more may soon have their freedom.

There are warnings that rapid ice melt in west Antarctica is now inevitable, with new research suggesting that coastal cities around the world will be at risk from some sea level rises no matter how many carbon emissions are cut. And, in sport, Afghanistan have pulled off another giant-killing act at the Cricket World Cup, beating Pakistan and sending England to the bottom of the table.

Childcare is like a game of Tetris for Prue Barlow. The rural region where she lives in northern Victoria desperately needs workers, and Barlow says she could easily work close to full time doing relief teaching. But her career is being stymied by the lack of childcare on offer in the area. It is a “childcare desert” where there are dozens of young children for every available place – and the local daycare centre is only open two days a week. With huge variations in costs across Australia, we have mapped the average fee for an hour of childcare by statistical area, revealing many deserts like Prue’s.

Catching the wind may seem a futile task. But as countries across the world scale up renewable energy projects, our relationship with wind is changing. Wind can make us fearful of its destructive power but we also see within it the opportunity for innovation and liberation. From outsized otherworldly kinetic sculptures to the “alien effects” of weather-responsive musical instruments, artists are uing novel methods as they also seek to harness the wind’s energy.

There are plans to stage a historic clash between two NRL sides in Fiji as early as next year as the game prepares to expand into another international frontier, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Big-spending premiers are damaging efforts to curb inflation, with research revealing that the states for the first time are set to borrow more than the commonwealth ($) at ­nearly $100bn thisfinancial year, the Australian says.

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