Morning Mail: Pauline Hanson’s right-hand man, warnings Moscow may target Nato, and the end of card surcharges

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Good morning.

Episode two of The Populist, out today, tracks the rise and influence of Pauline Hanson’s right-hand man: James Ashby.

Overseas, there are warnings from intelligence chiefs that Russia may soon test the resolve of the Nato military alliance.

Meanwhile, China is taking a dim view of US warnings over the breakneck speed of AI development.

Explainer | Debit and credit card surcharges will be eliminated from 1 October, as part of Reserve Bank reforms that will do away with extra checkout fees on Visa, Mastercard, and Eftpos payments.

Exclusive | One Nation’s national director, James Ashby, is enjoying generous benefits as a result of his role working for One Nation, with documents showing that a company linked to the party built a $56,000 shed on his central Queensland property.

The road ahead | Australian households will shrink but more people can expect to live well into their 90s , according to the Treasury’s latest intergenerational report looking ahead 40 years into the future.

Valley Heights stabbings | A child has died in a stabbing attack in the Blue Mountains, with two other children and a woman being treated in hospital in a critical condition, NSW police say.

Outfoxed? | Most people can identify wombats and kangaroos as Australian animals, but one in six people surveyed in Queensland, NSW and Victoria think red foxes are native wildlife .

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