Good morning. The Greens say they will stall passage of the government’s “help-to-buy” housing scheme in an effort to force Labor to reduce tax breaks on investment properties. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, yesterday said the government had no plans to change negative gearing. But the Greens say they will use their balance of power in the Senate to compel Labor into action on negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts, in exchange for their support in the Senate on help-to-buy. “Pressure works,” the party’s spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Australia’s private job agencies have been forced to hand back $8.5m in government payments, Nato has decried Trump’s inciting of Russia to attack member nations, and UK politics may be about to see the return of Boris.

In less than three years, between 1919 and 1921, the founding fathers of the Irish state killed and disappeared 94 people, five times more than the Provisional IRA would later do over 30 years, according to new research.

“It’s well known that people in the north disappeared during the Troubles,” said Pádraig Ó Ruairc, a historian and archaeologist who investigated the phenomenon. “What people don’t know and in some cases don’t want to admit is that the same thing happened in the fight for freedom in southern Ireland on a much wider scale over a much shorter period.”

“Saving animals pretty much saved my life,” says Iain Jenkins, a raccoon rescuer who has become the go-to person if an exotic animal is on the loose in the UK. At present he is helping to lead the hunt for a fugitive raccoon, Meeko, in Sunderland.

Jenkins shares his semi-detached home with raccoons, a parrot and a friendly skunk named Stinky Pete – and previously, a crocodile.

The Australian says bosses will end flexible working ­arrangements when the new right to disconnect laws come into effect. The Herald Sun has tributes for the Melbourne man who died during the Murray River waterski race. The ABC covers a Grattan Institute report that says one-third of Australian children can’t read properly. And a commemorative plaque has been placed at the site of Barnaby Joyce’s so-called footpath incident, the Canberra Times reports.

Enjoying the Morning Mail? Then you’ll love our Afternoon Update newsletter. Sign up here to finish your day with a three-minute snapshot of the day’s main news, and complete your daily news roundup.

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.

If you have a story tip or technical issue viewing this newsletter, please reply to this email.

If you are a Guardian supporter and need assistance with regards to contributions and/or digital subscriptions, please email customer.help@guardian.co.uk