Hello and welcome to our national news live blog for Wednesday, August 5. Here’s what you need to know this morning.

• One in five Australian bird and mammal species is at high, very high or extreme risk from the H5N1 bird flu virus spreading in Australia, according to new data from the federal environment department. Australia now has 102 confirmed detections of the strain in wild seabirds.
• A Senate inquiry into Labor’s contentious gambling package continued yesterday, as Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys dismissed senators leading an inquiry into Labor’s wagering laws as “publicity-seeking extremists”. Betting companies also denied any knowledge of claims agents were using drugs and escorts to encourage clients to gamble.
• Remember when the Bureau of Meteorology spent $96 million on a website redesign? Environment Minister Murray Watt revealed yesterday that an independent review into the BoM will look at “more than any one particular incident”, including the $96 million website redesign that left users unable to navigate the site during a spate of bad weather. The independent review will not be published until the end of March 2027.
• The US stock market rallied to records as companies kept piling up profits and oil prices eased, with the Australian sharemarket set to rise today.
• And Iran is considering allowing European nations to remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz, in a potential deescalation that could form part of a deal to normalise shipping in the waterway and ease peace negotiations with the US. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said overnight that some kind of deal, likely related to the Strait of Hormuz, is imminent.