Morning Mail: strikes on ships raise stakes in Middle East, royal commission shock, art’s forgotten ‘genius’

Want to get this in your inbox every weekday? Sign up for the Morning Mail here, and finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter Morning everyone. Iranian attacks on shipping in the strait of Hormuz have ratcheted up the stakes in the Middle East conflict and prompted a massive release of oil reserves. And a preliminary investigation has reportedly determined that the US was responsible for a deadly February strike on an Iranian school that killed scores of children. At home, the royal commission into antisemitism and the Bondi attack has suffered a blow after former spy chief Dennis Richardson quit the inquiry two weeks after it started. Plus how government subsidies are encouraging fossil fuel use, an exclusive on senators calling for an inquiry into “overt” racism in parliament, and the forgotten “genius” of Australian art. Richardson quits | The former spy chief Dennis Richardson has resigned from the royal commission into antisemitism and the Bondi terror attack, just a fortnight after its opening hearing. Burning question | Federal and state government subsidies that encourage fossil fuel use and help drive the climate crisis will reach $16.3bn this year afte